Erbil polytechnic university

Technical engineering college of Erbil

Mechanical and energy engineering department
3rd stage final assessment

Energy efficiency of
a car engine
Prepared by: Wrya Luqman Hussein
Supervised by: dr. Dlair. O Ramadan
Report subject: Engineering Dynamics

date of submission: 14-6-2020

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 List of contents
• Introduction
• Energy efficiency of a car engine
• Summary and learning outcomes
• References

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Introduction
Motor vehicles have been powered by gasoline, diesel, steam, gas turbine, and Stirling engines as well
as by electric and hydraulic motors. The discussion of engines is limited to power plants involving the
combustion of a fuel inside a chamber that results in the expansion of the air/fuel mixture to produce
mechanical work.

These internal combustion engines are of two types: gasoline spark-ignition and diesel compression-
ignition. The discussion also addresses alternative power trains, including hybrid electrics.

Gasoline engines, which operate on a relatively volatile fuel, also go by the name Otto cycle engines
(after the person who is credited with building the first working four-stroke internal combustion
engine). In these engines, a spark plug is used to ignite the air/fuel mixture.

Diesel engines, which operate on “diesel” fuels, named after inventor Rudolf Diesel—rely on
compression heating of the air/fuel mixture to achieve ignition. This report uses the generic term
compression-ignition engines to refer to diesel engines. Diesel engines are generally more fuel
efficient. For powering similarly sized vehicle, a diesel engine is about 15% - 25 % better on fuel
efficiency than a petrol engine. But diesel engines emit more unburned particles called respirable
suspended particulate (RSP) in exhaust gas, which could be harmful to people's health. Diesel engines
are more suitable for commercial vehicles, because these vehicles usually cover longer distances each
day, diesel engines' fuel efficiency advantage important.

The CO2 emissions per car produced

dropped by 30.1% between 2008 and
2017, while the overall figure went
down by 23.7% over the same period,
reflecting the industry’s efforts to
reduce CO2 emissions from production.
Even though car production has been on
the rise again since 2013, manufacturers
have been able to decouple CO2
emissions from production growth by
Chart 1. Reduced CO2 emission 2008-2017 by car
increasingly sourcing energy from renewable
manufacturers[1]
and/or low-carbon sources.

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There are also nine alternative fuels for cars which are (biofuel, electricity, steam, heat, LPG, nitrogen,
air and hydrogen). But I will be discussing about five of them only due to report size

1- Biofuel

Biofuels such as bioethanol (which can be used instead of

petrol), are made from corn and sugarcane, whereas
biodiesel is made from vegetable oils and animal fats.
Both replace non-renewable crude oil-derived fuels. The
best types are second generation biofuels which are
produced from sustainable sources rather than those grown
for food Many consider them the best medium-term solution to Fig 1. Biofuel tanks [2]
sustainable fuels.

2- Electricity

The electric car or ‘hybrid TM’, powered by a motor with

energy supplied by batteries, is getting lots of attention at
the moment, thanks to cars such as the UK's best-selling
green vehicle Nissan LEAF, Battery efficiency is still
limited though, meaning most offer a maximum range of
around 100 miles (and take several hours to recharge).
Batteries for electric cars are very expensive too Which is
Fig 2. hybrid car charging [2]
a slight negative compared to the range of economy
batteries that are available for petrol cars. Electric cars are currently the most commercially available
solution with many models ranging from £5,000 to £400,000 available today - a landmark example
being Tesla's Model S.

3- Steam

Steam cars have been around since the 19th century and were
replaced by models with internal combustion engines.
Some say they could now repay the favor. They are 'external
combustion engines' where the fuel is combusted away from the
engine, helping lower emissions.

Fig 3. Steam gauges [2]

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4- Heat

Two-thirds of the energy generated by petrol or diesel is

wasted as heat. Thermoelectric technology, which converts
heat into electricity, can help reduce this and is already under
development by several car makers. One solution is to use
thermoelectric panels to convert waste exhaust pipe heat into
electricity, which can cut fuel consumption by 5 per cent.

Fig 4. Car’s most heated areas [2]

5- LPG ‘liquified petrolium gas’

LPG stands for liquefied petroleum gas and is a type of

'liquid gas' that can be used as fuel for a variety of purposes,
including powering cars. While traditionally it was
deliberately burnt off and wasted, it’s now recognized as a
versatile low-carbon fuel – and used productively. Although
LPG is widely used by homes and business, less than one
percent of cars on UK roads are fueled by it. According to the
UK trade association for the LPG industry, UKLPG, there are
1,400 LPG refueling stations across the country compared to
around 8,500 filling stations overall.

Fig 5. LPG supplied car [2]

Energy efficiency of a car engine

The fuels and the SI and CI engines that use them have co-evolved in the past 100 years in response to
improved technology and customer demands. Engine efficiencies have improved due to better fuels,
and refineries are able to provide the fuels demanded by modern engines at a lower cost. Thus, the
potential for fuel economy improvement may depend on fuel attributes as well as on engine
technology. Implementing certain engine technologies may require changes in fuel properties, and vice
versa. Although the committee charge is not to assess alternative liquid fuels (such as ethanol or coal-
derived liquids) that might replace gasoline or diesel fuels, it is within the committee charge to consider
fuels and the properties of fuels as they pertain to implementing the fuel economy technology.

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 Chart 2. Engine efficiency based on the type of energy source [5]

The efficiency of an engine is defined as ratio of the useful work done to the heat provided.

the term work done relates to the power delivered at the clutch or at the driveshaft.

This means the friction and other losses are subtracted from the work done by thermodynamic
expansion. Thus, an engine not delivering any work to the outside environment has zero efficiency.

Other factors affecting on car’s engine efficiency

The efficiency of internal combustion engines depends on several factors and they are…

i- Expansion ratio

The expansion ratio (calculated purely from the geometry of the mechanical parts) of a typical gasoline
(petrol) is 10:1 (premium fuel) or 9:1 (regular fuel), with some engines reaching a ratio of 12:1 or
more. The greater the expansion ratio, the more efficient the engine, in principle, and higher
compression / expansion -ratio conventional engines in principle need gasoline with higher octane
value, though this simplistic analysis is complicated by the difference between actual and geometric
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compression ratios. High octane value inhibits the fuel's tendency to burn nearly instantaneously
(known as detonation or knock) at high compression/high heat conditions.

However, in engines that utilize compression rather than spark ignition, by means of very high
compression ratios (14-25:1), such as the diesel engine or Bourke engine, high octane fuel is not
necessary. In fact, lower-octane fuels, typically rated by cetane number, are preferable in these
applications because they are more easily ignited under compression

ii- FRICTION

An engine has many moving parts that produce friction. Some of these friction forces remain constant
(as long as applied load is constant); some of these friction losses increase as engine speed increases,
such as piston side forces and connecting bearing forces (due to increased inertia forces from the
oscillating piston).

A few friction forces decrease at higher speed, such as the friction force on the cam's lobes used to
operate the inlet and outlet valves (the valves' inertia at high speed tends to pull the cam follower away
from the cam lobe).

Along with friction forces, an operating engine has pumping losses, which is the work required to
move air into and out of the cylinders. This pumping loss is minimal at low speed, but increases
approximately as the square of the speed, until at rated power an engine is using about 20% of total
power production to overcome friction and pumping losses.

iii- OXYGEN

Air is approximately 21% oxygen. If there is not enough oxygen for proper combustion, the fuel will
not burn completely and will produce less energy. An excessively rich fuel to air ratio will increase
unburnt hydrocarbon pollutants from the engine. If all of the oxygen is consumed because there is too
much fuel, engine's power is reduced.

As combustion temperature tends to increase with leaner fuel air mixtures, unburnt hydrocarbon
pollutants must be balanced against higher levels of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), which
are created at higher combustion temperatures. This is sometimes mitigated by introducing fuel
upstream of the combustion chamber to cool down the incoming air through evaporative cooling. This
can increase the total charge entering the cylinder (as cooler air will be denser), resulting in more
power but also higher levels of hydrocarbon pollutants and lower levels of nitrogen oxide pollutants.
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With direct injection this effect is not as dramatic but it can cool down the combustion chamber enough
to reduce certain pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), while raising others such as partially
decomposed hydrocarbons.

The air-fuel mix is drawn into an engine because

downward motion of the pistons induces a partial
vacuum. A compressor can additionally be used
to force a larger charge (forced induction) into
the cylinder to produce more power. The
compressor is either mechanically driven
supercharging or exhaust driven turbocharging.
Either way, forced induction increases the air
pressure exterior to the cylinder inlet port.
Chart 3. Effects of oxygen enriched combustion on
pollution and performance characteristics of a diesel
engine [6]

Theoretical methods of engine efficiency improvement

Starting with the combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel and release of its energy, a small amount of fuel
does not convert fully to the ideal combustion products CO2 and H2O. The energy remaining in the
unburned fuel and combustion intermediates is accounted for by the combustion efficiency of the
energy released by the combustion process, the second law of thermodynamics determines that only a
fraction of it can be converted into useful work. This fraction is accounted for with the thermodynamic
efficiency which depends of details of the cycle being used to convert heat to work. For internal
combustion engines, the upper limit of thermodynamic efficiency is usually determined with Otto and
Diesel cycles calculations. Combustion energy that is not converted into mechanical work is lost as
heat either through exhausting hot exhaust gases to the environment or through heat transfer through
the combustion chamber surfaces. The gross indicated efficiency equals the product of combustion
efficiency and thermodynamic efficiency and reflects the total work yielded by the combustion of the
fuel,

The energy that has been converted into work, some of that work is used to induct intake gases into the
engine and expel exhaust gases. This pumping loss is accounted for with the gas exchange efficiency.

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The net indicated efficiency adjusts the gross indicated efficiency to account for the work required to
move gases into and out of the engine.

Some work must also be used to overcome friction between sliding surfaces such as piston rings and
bearings and to drive necessary auxiliaries such as oil and coolant pumps. The latter is accounted for
with the mechanical efficiency. Confusingly, gas exchange losses and friction losses are sometimes
combined into a single loss that is used to determine mechanical efficiency. This is discussed below.

The remaining work, the brake work, is thus available from the engine to do useful work. The brake
efficiency (or brake thermal efficiency) can be expressed as:

ηbrake = ηcombustion · ηthermodynamic · ηgas exchange · ηmechanical (1)

Another way to express brake efficiency is [Stanton 2013]:

ηbrake = ηclosed cycle · ηopen cycle · ηmechanical (2)

where:

ηclosed cycle is the closed cycle efficiency, the closed cycle being the part of the 4-stroke cycle when
the intake and exhaust valves are closed.

ηclosed cycle = ηcombustion · ηthermodynamic

ηopen cycle is the open cycle efficiency, the open cycle being the part of the 4-stroke cycle when the
intake or exhaust valves are open.

ηopen cycle = ηgas exchange

It should be noted that the discussion of engine efficiency is from the perspective of the process used to
convert heat to work, i.e., it is restricted to a certain type of machine, and reflects the limitations of the
machine or thermodynamic cycle used to convert heat to work. Efficiency can also be viewed from the
perspective of the fuel and the amount of fuel exergy that can be converted to work.

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Summary and learning outcomes
Transportation and energy are strongly linked. Without energy, there will be no modern transport
system; the reverse is, however, also true. As the demand of transport will increase, energy
consumption will certainly grow for a number of decades to come. Energy efficiency measures will not
be able to absorb all the increase of the demand resulting from this growth. Nevertheless, progress in
improving energy efficiency in the field of transport is fundamental. The need for improvement is
particularly crucial for road transport because it is the most relevant sector and it will continue to
expand. Car and supplier industries are investing a lot in RTD not only to increase the energy
performance of their products for marketing reasons but also to cope with increasingly more stringent
legislation and regulations. Electronics and interconnectivity will play a foremost role in this pursuit for
efficiency. While the limit of plug-in cars is linked to the battery, hybrid cars and on-road electricity
generation seem to be more attractive solutions for the car industry. Energy efficiency in all transport
chains need also to be better defined; public authorities should cooperate with stakeholders to set
unequivocal standards. Regarding alternative fuels, the environmental limitations of existing biofuels
require more innovative solutions. It is hoped that research will accelerate the development of next
generation biofuels. In the meantime, LNG appears as a readily available and cleaner alternative to oil
products, especially for freight transport. Maritime and rail transport might take advantage of this
abundant, affordable, and clean fuel. Energy efficiency in air transport is also a priority for aircraft
manufacturers and aircraft engine producers. Innovative concepts for passenger traffic already exist—
now it is time to provide a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels for transport of goods on the roads.

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References
1- European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA)
2- RAC car services
3- Heywood, J.B., 1988. “Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals”, McGraw-Hill, New York
Johansson, B., 2010. “Path to High Efficiency Gasoline Engine”, 2010 Directions in Engine-
Efficiency and Emissions Research (DEER), September 27-30, 2010 Detroit, Michigan
4- Improving energy efficiency of combustion engines
Department of Energy – Sandia National Laboratory by John Czerwinski, ACS

August 9, 2011

5- Dechard UMW blogs [ electric car, best thing so far]

6- Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal
Volume 19, Issue 1, March 2016, Pages 438-443
7- Plumer, Brad. “Cars in the U.S. Are More Fuel-efficient than Ever. Here’s How It Happened.”
Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
8- Baglione, Melody L. (2007). Development of System Analysis Methodologies and Tools for
Modeling and Optimizing Vehicle System Efficiency (Ph.D.). University of Michigan. pp. 52–54
9- Pischinger, S., 2007. “Lecture Notes Internal Combustion Engines Vol. I, 3rd Edition”, Rheinisch-
Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
10- Stanton, D., 2013. “Systematic Development of Highly Efficient and Clean Engines to Meet Future
Commercial Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Regulations”, SAE Technical Paper 2013-01-2421

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