Chapter 5

Diesel Power Plant

5.1 Introduction:
❖ A generating station in which diesel engine is used as the prime mover for
the generation of electricity is known as diesel power station.
❖ Diesel burns inside the engine and the products of this combustion act as
the working fluid to produce mechanical energy.
❖ The diesel engine drives the alternator which converts mechanical energy
into electrical energy.

❖ Diesel power plants produce power in the range of 2 to 500 MW.

❖ They are used as standby sets for continuity of supply such as hospitals,
telephone exchanges, radio stations, cinema theatres and industries.
❖ They are also suitable for mobile power generation

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 5.2 Revision of Diesel Cycle
Operation of Four Stroke Diesel Engine
In case of diesel engines, diesel is exposed to high temperature air at the end of
the compression stroke, gets self burnt. Therefore, diesel engine is also called
compression ignition (CI) engine

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Air Standard Diesel Cycle

It is an idealized model for the operation of diesel engines. It consists of isentropic

compression, isobaric heat addition, isentropic expansion and isochoric heat
rejection.

Process 1-2 (Isentropic Compression)

At the beginning of the compression,
piston will be at the BDC and the cylinder
contains air. When the piston travels from
BDC to TDC, the air inside the cylinder is
compressed under isentropic condition.
During the isentropic compression,
pressure of the system increases, its
volume decreases, temperature increases
and entropy remains constant.
Process 2-3 (Isobaric Heat Addition)

At the end of the compression stroke, the

temperature of the air reaches greater than the self
ignition temperature of the diesel. At this state, fuel
injector nozzle supplies diesel into the cylinder and
the diesel get self burnt. However in this case,
combustion of the diesel cannot complete
instantaneously and the piston move from TDC to
towards the BDC simultaneously with heat
addition. Therefore, heat addition for an ideal
diesel cycle is modeled as an isobaric process.
Hence, during the constant pressure heat addition
process, volume, temperature and entropy of the
system increases.
Process 3-4 (Isentropic Expansion)

Due to the impact of burning, piston gets further expansion isentropic condition.
During the expansion process, pressure of the system decreases, volume increases,
temperature decreases and entropy remains constant.
Process 4-1 (Isochoric Heat Rejection)

Heat is rejected by the system to the surroundings through the exhaust gas and this
process is replaced by an equivalent constant volume heat rejection process to
complete the cycle. Hence, during isochoric heat rejection process, temperature,
pressure and entropy of the system decrease.
Efficiency of an Air Standard Diesel Cycle

Efficiency of an ideal diesel cycle is given as

Heat rejected by the system during constant volume process 4-1 is given by

Heat added to the system during constant pressure process 2-3 is given by

Substituting
Applying temperature – volume relationship for isentropic compression process 1-2

where r = V1/V2, is called compression

ratio.

Applying temperature – volume relationship for isobaric heat addition process 2-3

where  = V3/V2, is called cut off ratio.

Applying temperature – volume relationship for isentropic expansion process 3-4

Substituting V4 =V1,
Multiplying temperature ratios,

Expression for the efficiency of diesel cycle can be given as

5.3 Main Components of a Diesel Power Plant

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1. Diesel engine :
➢ Diesel engine is a compression
ignition(CI) engine.
➢The air required for the diesel engine is
drawn through the air filter from the
atmosphere and compressed inside the
cylinder.
➢The fuel(diesel) from the diesel engine
is drawn through a filter from the all
day tank and injected into the cylinder
through fuel injectors.
➢ Because of the high temperature and
pressure of the compressed air, the fuel
ignites.
➢The fuel burns and the burnt gases expand
to do work on the moving part inside the
cylinder called piston.
➢This movement of the piston rotates a
flywheel and the engine is directly
coupled to electric generator.
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2. Starting system:
✓ Diesel engine used in diesel power
plants is not self starting. The engine
is started from cold condition with
the help of an air compressor.

3. Fuel supply system:

❖ Fuel from the storage tank is pumped
through a filter into a smaller tank
called all day tank. This tank supplies
the daily requirements of the diesel
engine.
❖ The all day tank is placed high so that
the fuel flows to the engine under
gravity with sufficient pressure.

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 4. Air intake system :
✓ The air required for the combustion of fuel
inside the diesel engine cylinder is drawn
through the air filter. The purpose of the
filter is to remove dust from the incoming
air.
5. Exhaust system:
The exhaust gases coming out of the
engine is very noisy. In order to reduce the
noise a silencer(muffler) is used.

6. Cooling system:
The temperature of the burning fuel inside the engine cylinder is in the order of 15000C to
20000C. In order to lower this temperature water is circulated around the engine.
The water envelopes(water jacket) the engine. The heat from the cylinder, piston,
combustion chamber etc., is carried by the circulating water.
The hot water leaving the jacket is passed through the heat exchanger
The heat from the heat exchanger is carried away by the raw water circulated through the
heat exchanger and is cooled in the cooling tower.
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7. Lubricating system:
▪ This circuit includes lubricating oil
tank, oil pump and oil cooler.
▪ The purpose of the lubrication system
is to reduce the wear of the engine
moving parts. Part of the cylinder
such as piston, shafts, valves must be
lubricated.
▪ Lubrication also helps to cool the
engine.
▪ In the lubrication system the oil is
pumped from the lubricating oil tank
through the oil cooler where the oil is
cooled by the cold water entering the
engine.
▪ The hot oil after cooling the moving
parts return to the lubricating oil tank.

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5.4 Diesel Plant Performance
Indicated Mean Effective Pressure (IMEP)
In order to determine the power developed by the engine, the indicator
diagram of engine should be available. From the area of indicator diagram it is
possible to find an average gas pressure that while acting on piston throughout
one stroke would account for the network done. This pressure is called
indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP).
Indicated Power (IP)
It is the power developed in the cylinder. The indicated horse power (IP) of the
engine can be calculated as follows:

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BRAKE POWER (BP)
Brake power is defined as the net power available at the crankshaft. It is found
by measuring the output torque with a dynamometer.

where, T is torque in N-m and N is the rotational speed in revolutions per

minute.
FRICTIONAL POWER (FP)
The difference of IP and BP is called FP. It is utilized in overcoming frictional
resistance of rotating and sliding parts of the engine.

INDICATED THERMAL EFFICIENCY (ηi )

It is defined as the ratio of indicated work to thermal input.

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BRAKE THERMAL EFFICIENCY (OVERALL EFFICIENCY)
It is defined as the ratio of brake output to thermal input.

MECHANICAL EFFICIENCY (ηm)

It is defined as the ratio of BP to IP. Therefore,

Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC)

The specific fuel consumption (SFC) of a diesel engine is an important
parameter of engine performance and is calculated to judge the economy in
production with a particular engine, using a particular fuel. It is defined as the
amount of fuel burnt per brake power per hour.

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5.5 Method of Starting and Stopping Engines
The actual process of starting may differ from engine to engine, but there are
certain common steps in the process which are as follows:
1. If air starting system is employed, the pressure of the air should be checked
and the air system inspected for possible leakage. Air should not leak into
the cylinders. The storage battery should be checked if electric motor is used
for starting. Periodic checking of battery is also required.
2. Check for fuel, lube oil and cooling water as prescribed by the manufactures
is necessary before starting engine.
3. There should be no load on the engine at starting and decompression device
is used.
4. The engine is run at slow speed for a few minutes, and the various systems
such as fuel, lubricating oil system etc. are again checked.
5. The speed of the engine should be gradually increased till it synchronizes
with the bus bars.
6. Then the generator is connected to the bus bar when it is in synchronism and
the speed is increased till it begins to share the load as desired.

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The engine should not be stopped abruptly prescribed procedure should be
followed. The methods normally used are:
1. Stopping fuel supply.
2. Stopping the action of injection pump.
3. Keeping the exhaust valve open.
4. Shutting off air supply.

Anyone of the above methods can be employed. If an engine is to be stopped,

its speed should be reduced gradually until practically no power is delivered by
the alternator. Then the unit should be disconnected from the bus and engine
allowed to idle for a few minutes. It should then be stopped in conformity with
the instructions detailed by the manufactures. Flow of coolant and lubricating
oil through the engine should be maintained for sometime after stopping the
engine.

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 5.6 Advantages and Disadvantages of Diesel Power Plant
❑ Advantages of Diesel power plant :
➢ It can respond to varying loads without any difficulty.
➢ It occupies less space.
➢ For the same capacity diesel power plant is compact and smaller than a
thermal power plant.
➢ Diesel power plants are more efficient than steam power plants in the range
of 150 MW capacity.

❑ Disadvantages of Diesel power plant :

✓ High operating cost.
✓ High maintenance and lubrication cost.
✓ The capacity of a diesel plant is limited. They cannot be constructed in
large sizes.
✓ In a diesel plant noise is a serious problem.
✓ Diesel power plants cannot supply over loads continuously where as steam
power plants can work under 25% overload continuously.
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5.7 Applications of Diesel Power Plant
• Peak Load Plants: used in combination with thermal or hydropower plants
• Mobile Plants: construction works
• Emergency and Stand by units: hospitals, tunnels, industry
• Nursery Station: power to small town in the absence of grid
• Starting Stations: starting of large steam power plants

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