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Power Plants: Ch 5 Diesel Power Plants

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Conventional Power Plants Mechanical Engineering Dep.
4th Stage University of Anbar, 2017-2018

Chapter Five: Diesel Power Plants

1. Introduction
The oil engines and gas engines are called Internal Combustion Engines. In IC
engines fuels burn inside the engine and the products of combustion from the
working fluid that generates mechanical power. Whereas, in Gas Turbines the
combustion occurs in another chamber and a hot working fluid containing thermal
energy is admitted in the turbine.

2. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Diesel Power Plants.

The advantages of diesel power plants are listed below:

1. The Very simple design also simple installation.

2. Limited cooling water requirement.
3. Standby losses are less as compared to other Power plants.
4. Low fuel cost.
5. Quickly started and put on load.
6. Smaller storage is needed for the fuel.
7. The layout of the power plant is quite simple.
8. There is no problem with ash handling.
9. Less supervision required.
10. For small capacity, the diesel power plant is more efficient as compared
to the steam power plant.
11. They can respond to varying loads without any difficulty

The disadvantages of diesel power plants are recorded below:

1. High Maintenance and operating cost.

2. Fuel is costly where countries are expensive.
3. The plant cost per kW is comparatively more.
4. The life of a diesel power plant is small due to high maintenance (2-5)
years compared to that of a steam power plant (25-30) years.

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5. Noise is a serious problem in diesel power plant.

6. A diesel power plant cannot be constructed for large scale

3. Application of Diesel Power Plant

The diesel power plants find wide applications in the following fields:

1. Peak load plant. 2. Nursing stations

3. Mobile plants. 4. Starting stations
5. Stand by units. 6. Central stations (5-10)MW
7. Emergency plants. 8. Industrial concerns (≈500 kW)

4. Site Selection
The following factors should be considered while selecting the site for diesel
plants:

1. Foundation sub-soil condition: the sub-soil condition of the plant should

be a reasonable depth for providing strong support to the engine.
2. Access to the site: the site should be so selected that is accessible by rail
& road.
3. Distance from load centre: the location of the plant should be near the
load centre. This reduces the cost of transportation, maintenance cost and
power losses.
4. Availability of water: sufficient quality of water should be available at the
site selected for cooling.
5. Fuel transportation: the site selected should be near the source of fuel
supply to reduce the transportation.

5. Classification of Diesel Engines

Based on the cycle of combustion, the diesel engines can be groups into

1. Diesel cycle engine, combustion at constant pressure.

2. Dual combustion or semi-diesel engine, combustion partly at constant
volume & partly constant pressure.
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Conventional Power Plants Mechanical Engineering Dep.
4th Stage University of Anbar, 2017-2018

6. Diesel Plant Operation

In order to get good performance of a diesel power plant the following points
should be taken care of:

1. It is necessary to maintain the cooling temperature within the prescribed

range and the use of very cold water should be avoided. The cooling water
should be free from suspended impurities and suitably treated to be scale
and corrosion-free.
2. During operation, the lubrication system should work effectively and
required pressure and temperature maintained.
3. The engine should be periodically run even when not required to be used
and should not be allowed to stand idle for more than 7 days.
4. Air litter, oil filters and fuel filters should be periodically serviced or
replaced as recommended by the manufacturers or if found in an
insufficient condition upon inspection.
5. Periodical checking of engine compression, firing pressures and exhaust
temperatures.

7. Supercharging System of Diesel Power Plant

The purpose of supercharging is to raise the volumetric efficiency above that
value which can be obtained by normal aspiration.

The volumetric efficiency: the ratio of the volume of fuel actually displaced
by a piston or plunger to its swept volume, the displacement volume of the
piston or ram.

Since the main object of supercharging is to increase the power output of these
engine without increasing their rotational speed or the dimensions of the cylinder.
This is achieved by increasing the charge of air, which results in more burning of
the fuel and a higher mean effective pressure.

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Conventional Power Plants Mechanical Engineering Dep.
4th Stage University of Anbar, 2017-2018

Thus, three possible methods that increase the air consumption of an engine,

1. Increasing the piston displacement, but increases the size and weight of the
engine, and introduces additional cooling problems.
2. Running the engine at higher speeds, which results in increased fluid and
mechanical friction losses, and imposes greater inertia stresses on engine
parts.
3. Increasing the density of the charge, such that a greater mass of charge is
introduced into the same volume or same total piston displacement.

Advantage of Supercharging

Due to a number of advantages of supercharging the modern diesel engines used

in diesel plants are generally supercharged. The various advantages of
supercharging are as follows:

1. Power Increase: Mean effective pressure of the engine can be easily

increased by 30 to 50% by supercharging which will increase the power
output.
2. Fuel Economy: Due to better combustion because of increased turbulence,
better mixing of the fuel and air, and increased mechanical efficiency, the
specific fuel consumption in most cases, though supercharging reduces not
all.
3. Mechanical Efficiency: The mechanical efficiency referred to as
maximum load is increased since the increase of frictional losses with a
supercharger driven directly from the engine is quite smaller as compared
to the power gained by supercharging.
4. Fuel Knock: It is decreased due to increased compression pressure because
increasing the inlet pressure decreases the ignition lag and this reduces the
rate of pressure rise in the cylinder resulting in increased smoothness of
operation.

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Conventional Power Plants Mechanical Engineering Dep.
4th Stage University of Anbar, 2017-2018

5. Volumetric Efficiency: Volumetric efficiency is increased since the

clearance gases are compressed by the induced charge that is at a higher
pressure than the exhaust pressure.

8. Essential components of Diesel Engine

1. Engine 2. Air intake system
3. Exhaust system 4. Fuel system
5. Cooling system 6. Lubrication system
7. Engine starting system 8. Control system
8.1 Cooling System of Diesel Power Plant
During the combustion process the peak gas temperature in the cylinder of an
internal combustion engine is of the order of 2500 K. Maximum metal
temperature for the inside of the combustion chamber space are < 2500K by a
large number of considerations and thus cooling for the cylinder head, cylinder
and piston must, therefore, be provided.

The necessity of engine cooling arises due to the following facts:

1. During the combustion period, the heat fluxes to the chamber walls can
reach as high as 10 mW/m2. In the region of high heat flux, thermal stresses
must be kept below levels that would cause fatigue cracking.
2. The gas side surface temperature of the cylinder wall is limited by the type
of lubricating oil used and this temperature ranges from 160°C to 180°C.
Beyond this temperature, the properties of lubricating oil deteriorate very
rapidly and it might even evaporate and burn, damaging piston and cylinder
surfaces.
3. The valves may be kept cool to avoid knock and pre-ignition problems,
which result from overheating, exhaust valves (true for S.I. engines).
4. The volumetric and thermal efficiency and power output of the engines
decrease with an increase in the cylinder and head temperature.

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Conventional Power Plants Mechanical Engineering Dep.
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Based on the cooling medium two types of cooling systems are in general use.
They are:

1. Air as a direct cooling system: is used in small engines and portable engines
by providing fins on the cylinder.
2. Liquid or indirect cooling system: is used in large diesel engines.

The liquid cooling system is further classified as

I. Open cooling system

II. Natural circulation (Thermo-system)
III. Forced circulation system
IV. Evaporation cooling system

I. Open cooling system

This system is applicable only where plenty of water is available. The water from
the storage tank is directly supplied through an inlet valve to the engine cooling
water jacket. The hot water coming out of the engine is not cooled for reuse but it
is discharged.

II. Natural circulation (Thermo-system)

The system is closed and designed so that the water may circulate naturally
because of the difference in density of water at different temperatures. When the
water is heated, its density decreases and it tends to rise, while the colder
molecules tend to sink. Circulation of water then is obtained as the water heated
to rise and the water-cooled in the radiator with the help of air passing over the
radiator either by a fan.

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III. Forced circulation system

Forced circulation cooling system that is closed one. The coolant (water or
synthetic coolant) is circulated through the cylinder jacket with the help of a pump
and driven by the engine.

8.2 Lubrication System

It is the admission of oil between two surfaces having relative motion.

The main function of the lubricant is to:

1. To reduce friction and wear between the parts having relative motion.
2. To clean the surface by carrying away the carbon and metal particles caused
by wear.
3. To absorb shock between bearings and other parts and consequently reduce
noise.
4. To cool the surfaces by carrying away heat generated due to friction.
5. It removes the heat generated due to friction and keeps the parts cool.

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