2.

61 Internal Combustion Engine

Final Examination

Open book. Note that Problems 1 &2 carry 20 points each; Problems 3 &4 carry 10 points each.

Problem 1 (20 points)

Ethanol has been introduced as the bio-fuel entry to the transportation fuel market. We are to assess the
charge cooling effect when ethanol is used in a 4-stroke direct injection spark ignition engine. Because of
cold start consideration, E85 (which is 85% ethanol to 15% gasoline by volume) is used in practice. To
simplify the problem, however, we’ll compare the use of neat ethanol (i.e. E100) to gasoline (E0).
The gasoline has H to C ratio of 1.85, with an averaged molecular weight of 110, and latent heat of
vaporization of 305 kJ/kg.
Ethanol is C2H5OH, with a molecular weight of 46 and latent heat of vaporization of 840 kJ/kg.
For both engines, injection takes place during the intake stroke. To simplify the problem, assume that at
IVC, all the fuel has evaporated and mixed with air to form a homogeneous trapped charge, and the
engine speed is sufficiently low so that the cylinder pressure at IVC is equal to the manifold absolute
pressure (MAP). Furthermore:
 for the E0 engine, 30% of the liquid fuel lands on the wall and then evaporates (so that the latent
heat is supplied by the wall), and 70% of the fuel evaporates in flight, thereby cooling the air;
 for the E100 engine, 50% of the liquid lands on the wall and then evaporates and 50% of the fuel
evaporates in flight.
Both the E0 and E100 engines are operating at stoichiometric A/F. You may also neglect the residual gas.
a) Using the ideal gas law, show that the trapped mass of air ma per cycle is
MAP *V
ma  (If you do not finish this part, just use the formula for the rest of the problem)
 1 F / A
T   
Wa W f 

where V and T are the volume and temperature of the trapped charge at intake-valve-closing; Wa and
Wf are the molecular weights of the air and the fuel,  the universal gas constant, and F/A is the fuel
to air ratio. Identify the cooling effect and the fuel vapor displacement-of-the-air effect.
b) To assess the displacement effect only: if the trapped charge temperature are the same, what would be
the ratio of ma for the engine using E100 and using E0?
c) The trapped charge temperature T will be different with the two fuels. What are the temperature
drops,  for using the two fuels due to evaporative cooling? In this calculation, since the mass of
fuel is small compared to that of the air, you may assume that the fuel does not contribute significantly
to the sensible energy of the charge except for the latent heat of vaporization. The specific heat at
constant pressure for the air is 103 J/kg-K
d) If the temperature of the charge without accounting for the evaporative cooling (i.e. the T in part c)
is 40oC (313K), what is the ratio of ma for using the two fuels when both the fuel vapor displacement
and the charge cooling effects are accounted for?
e) If the end gas for both fuels follows a polytropic efficiency n=1.32 (i.e. pVn=constant), what are the
end gas temperatures for using the two fuels when the MAP is 1 bar and the end gas pressure is at 80
bar?
Problem 2 (20 points)

An effective way to improve the engine efficiency is to turbo-charge-downsize the engine. Then at part-
load, the engine works at a higher load point so that the pumping loss is less and the parasitic losses (heat
transfer, rubbing friction, ….) relative to the fuel energy are reduced. We are to look at the scaling law of
the parasitic losses with respect to the size of the engine.

All engine geometric dimensions (such as stroke, clearance height, piston skirt, …), with the exception of
the piston rings, scale with the bore (B). The ring thickness (h), however, remains unchanged as the engine
size changes.

We are to compare engines with different values of B operating at the same speed (N revolution/sec) and
torque (  ) output. As the engine is downsized (decreasing B) at the same  , the engine will be running at
a higher MEP. However, it could be assumed that the charge temperature in the cycle is approximately the
same since the higher heat release rate per unit volume at the higher load is counter-acted by the higher
thermal mass per unit volume.

(a) We’ll consider the heat transfer scaling. The engine heat transfer is governed by the Nusselt number
correlation
Nu = a Re0.8
where a is a proportional constant. The Reynolds number Re is based on the mean piston speed and B.
The Nusselt number Nu is based on B. Both the kinematic viscosity  and thermal conductivity k of
the working fluid may be considered as unchanged since the cycle temperature does not change
appreciably with the downsizing ( and k are not sensitive to pressure).

How does the heat transfer per cycle Q scale with B?

(b) The top ring friction is considered here. The reciprocating friction is dominated by the hydrodynamic
part of the motion. The hydrodynamic frictional coefficient f is proportional to the square root of the
Sommerfeld number S defined by
LU
SR 
Rh
where L , the viscosity of the lubricant, may be considered unchanged since the cycle temperature is
approximately the same. The velocity U is the mean piston speed; h is the ring thickness, and the normal
stress R on the ring is due to the pushing of the ring against the liner by the cylinder pressure.

How does the top ring frictional work done per cycle scale with B?

(c) The piston skirt friction is considered here. Again the friction is dominated by the hydrodynamic part
of the motion with the frictional coefficient governed by the Sommerfeld number SS similar to that in
part (b).
LU
SS 
SH
However, the length scale is now H, the skirt height, which scales with B, and the normal stress S is
now due to the pushing of the connecting rod on the piston against the liner.

How does the piston skirt frictional work per cycle scale with B?
 Problem 3 (10 points)

In many of the severe knock occurrences, there is substantial damage to the top land of the piston because
the knock-induced shock wave in the combustion chamber enters the top land crevice and detonates the fuel
air mixture there; see picture.

(i) Explain why detonating the top land crevice gas would produce more damage than detonating the
combustion chamber mixture?
(ii) For a typical piston top land crevice geometry (land height = 6mm; piston/liner clearance = 150 m),
and wall temperature of 500K, if the pressure of the crevice gas is 40 bar just prior to the detonation,
estimate the crevice pressure induced by the detonation for an engine operating at  =1 and with
negligible residual gas. The crevice gas (both burned and unburned) may be modelled as an ideal gas
with  = 1.32 and molecular weight of 29. (Hint: apply 1st Law of thermodynamics to the crevice gas,
and note that cv=RT/( -1) ).

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Problem 4 (10 points)

You are asked a venture capital firm to evaluate a proposed engine technology; see below. (The materials
are from a real company in US, and could be downloaded from the web at http://www.scuderigroup.com/.)

The basic concept of the engine is a split cycle; i.e. the engine uses a separate cylinder for compression and
expansion. At the end of the compression stroke, the compressed charge is transferred from the compressor
to the expander through the crossover passage. The timing of the transfer is controlled by the transfer
valves. The fuel can either be injected in the intake, or in the crossover passage. The combustion takes
place in the expander.

Make 5 technical comments about this technology. Each comment can either be positive or negative
respectively, but these comments should be based on sound physical principles.

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 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Mechanical Engineering
2.61 Internal Combustion Engine
Final Examination (Open book; no access to internet)
Date: Tuesday, 5/17/2016

There are 3 problems in this exam

Problem 1 (15 points)

In the car racing business, it is known that substantial power increase may be obtained by injecting
nitrous oxide (N2O) into the intake manifold. That it works is because:

(a) N2O has a higher molecular weight than air. The denser gas means that more oxidizer mass can be
packed into the combustion chamber.
(b) N2O has much higher O to N ratio than air; so one can burn more fuel for the same charge mass
and produce more output.
(c) N2O itself is a fuel, although the energy release is much less than that from hydrocarbon
combustion.

Using isooctane as fuel, we are to compare the power output of the same engine using a stoichiometric
isooctane/ air mixture and a stoichiometric mixture of isooctane and a gas comprising of 70% air and
30% nitrous oxide by volume.

The heat of formation of N2O hf0 is +82.5KJ/mole. See Tables D2 and D4 of the Heywood text book
for properties of the working fluids.

(i) What is the molecular weight of a stoichiometric iso-octane air mixture? (2 points)

(ii) What is the lower heating value (LHV) of a stoichiometric iso-octane air mixture (i.e., heating
value per unit mass of the mixture, *NOT* per unit mass of the fuel)? (2 points)

(iii) What is the molar composition of the air and N2O mixture (i.e. for 1 mole of O2, how many
moles are there of N2 and N2O)? (2 points)

(iv) What is the molecular weight of the stoichiometric iso-octane/air/N2O mixture? (2 points)

(v) What is the heating value of the stoichiometric iso-octane/air/N2O mixture? (2 points)

(vi) Using the above results, with the same engine operating at stoichiometric condition, what is the
ratio of the power output at wide-open-throttle obtained by operating with the iso-octane/air/N2O
mixture to that obtained by operating with iso-octane/air only? (5 points)
Problem 2 (15 point)

(a) Recently (2016), Toyota has introduced the EXPAD

technology to enable a gain in the engine fuel economy.
The method essentially involves wrapping a rubber pad in
the mid-section of the cylinder liner; see Fig. 2a. Explain
how does this technology work. (3 points)

Fig. 2a Toyota EXPAD technology;

from SAE Paper 2016-01-0684, 2016
(WJS stands for water jacket system).

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(b) High BMEP marine engines with large bore are

constructed with a cross-head arrangement; see Fig.
2b. In this arrangement, the piston of the combustion
chamber is driven by a second piston which is in
rectilinear motion. The second piston is connected to
the crank shaft through the usual connecting rod /
crank-arm arrangement. Obviously, the additional
components add cost to the engine, and render the
engine much taller (although the latter is not a problem
for marine engines since there is plenty of head room
in a ship). Explain why would the engine designer
choose such a configuration. (3 points)
Fig. 2b Cross-head engine.
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(c) An inventor proposed that a turbo-charged diesel engine be configured that an additional power
turbine is used to extract mechanical energy out of the exhaust gas to the drive shaft. The novelty
of the proposal is that much of the shaft power is to be derived from the power turbine instead of
the engine. Comment on the efficiency of the overall system compared to the original engine (1
points). Give two further comments on whether the concept is good or bad (each comment could
either be positive or negative respectively). (2 points)
(d) Give two reasons why retarding the spark timing at constant idle speed at cold start would make
the catalyst to light-off faster. (2 points)
(e) Give two consequences from operating a SI engine on Miller cycle; i.e. with a configuration such
that the compression ratio is less than the expansion ratio. (2 points)
(f) For a spark ignition engine, why would one pursue a cylinder-deactivation strategy, i.e. deactivate
some of the cylinders in certain part of the engine map? (1 point). Do you want to keep the valves
open or closed for the deactivated cylinders and why? (1 point)
Problem 3 (15 points)

The 3-way catalyst significantly reduces the SI engine emissions. The emission reduction capability of
a warmed-up catalyst is limited by the diffusion of the gaseous species to the catalyst surface so that
the concentration c of the emission species is governed by
 4Sh L x 
c(x)  c(0)exp   2 
 h /D U L 
Here x is the distance along the catalyst, Sh is the Sherwood number (Sh = 4 for a square channel), h is
the hydraulic diameter of the cell-channel, D is the diffusivity of the emission species in the exhaust
gas, L is the length of the catalyst, and U is the flow velocity through the cell-channel.

For a targeted catalyst efficiency, cat =1 - c(L)/c(0) is specified.

(a) The major cost of the catalyst is that of the precious metal. How does the cost ($) scales with h?
You need to justify your answer. (6 points)

In part (a), you’ll find that the cost goes down with a smaller h. However, h is limited by the
manufacturing process and the pressure drop requirement of the catalyst.

The catalyst is sized to get the targeted conversion efficiency at maximum power, which closely
corresponds to the maximum exhaust mass flow rate. Do the following analysis for a modern engine
with the following specifications.

Catalyst: Ceramic monolith with 600 cpsi (cells per square inch), and a wall
thickness of 0.2 mm. The frontal area is a 15 by 9 cm ellipse (of area =
117.8 cm2). Catalyst operates at 800K and 1 bar.
Engine: 120 kW gasoline SI engine at  =1; fuel conversion efficiency = 32%;
exhaust gas molecular weight = 29
Other useful properties: fuel LHV = 44 MJ/kg; universal gas constant = 8314 J/kmol-K

The targeted efficiency for reducing propane (a surrogate for the hydrocarbons) is 99.7%. The
diffusivity of propane in exhaust gas at 800K and 1 bar is 5.63x10-5 m2/s.

(b) What is the exhaust mass flow rate? (2 points)

(c) What is the flow velocity inside the channels of the catalyst? (2 points)
(d) What is the minimum length of the catalyst to attain the targeted catalyst efficiency? (2 points)
(e) The exhaust gas viscosity  at 1 bar and 800K is 3.6x10-5 kg/m-s. Calculate the Reynolds number
of the flow in the catalyst. You should find that the flow should be in the laminar regime with the
friction coefficient f = 64/Re.
What is the pressure drop through the catalyst? (The pressure drop is 0.5U2f(L/h). Note that the
pressure drop can be reduced by having a bigger frontal area.) (3 points)
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2.61 Internal Combustion Engine
Final examination solution, May 2017

Problem 1: ethanol cooling effect

Problem 2 soluiton

i 10(fi,
i J. Q( fl j ~ ~f:tJ5;,.O(H .

Note that since for the same torque output, if the engine efficiency does not change much, the
amount of fuel used is approximately the same. Then the losses (a), (b) and (c) go down with
the engine size B.
Problem 3 solution
Piston crevice knock

(i) Detonation is more severe in the piston crevice gas is because the gas there is denser (due to the
lower crevice gas temperature) than the combustion chamber gas. Hence the energy density is
significantly higher (by the temperature ratio).
(ii) The detonation of the crevice gas is fast; hence, the release of energy may be considered as
instantaneous at constant volume. For ideal gas, applying the first law
Problem 4: Split cycle engine

Advantages:
i. The splitting of the intake/compression and expansion/exhaust strokes to be performed by two
independent cylinders enables one to have a higher expansion ratio  than compression ratio. The
high expansion ratio gives higher fuel conversion efficiency. Note that the bore of the expansion
cylinder could be larger than that of the compression one; hence larger  can be made large
without going to longer stroke. This feature makes the packaging of the engine easier (do not have
to have a tall engine).
ii. Lower compression ratio (at the same expansion ratio) allows lower NOx emissions.
iii. Lower compression ratio also prevents knocking.
iv. The transfer of the charge into the expansion cylinder is just before ignition. Hence the turbulence
generated by the fluid motion has little time to decay. The high turbulence promotes combustion
speed.
Disadvantages
v. Substantial pumping loss in the valves and crossover passage in the charge transfer process. The
loss is especially severe at high speed and high load.
vi. Ditto for heat transfer loss.
vii. The air intake is determined by the sweep volume of the intake/compression cylinder. Have to
turbo-charge to increase power.
viii. The valve stem seal for the two transfer valves must sustain the compression pressure and
temperature. The tradeoff between leakage and friction is difficult.
ix. Because ignition is in the expansion cylinder, ignition timing is essentially at or after TDC. Since
the heat release is not instantaneous, the later combustion partly negates the effect of (ii) and
efficiency suffers.
x. If the fuel is injected in the crossover passage, there is not sufficient time for evaporation and
mixing. So the charge will be inhomogeneous. There will be soot formation in the locally fuel
rich region.
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2.61 Final solution
Problem 1
Problem 2

(a) The EXPAD technology will reduce the piston sliding friction power consumption. Because of the high piston
speed, the mid stroke is in the hydrodynamic lubrication regime. The rubber pad provides insulation of the
liner from the coolant so that the mid-section of the liner runs hotter. The viscosity of the lubrication oil
decreases exponentially with temperature. The hydrodynamic friction is reduced with the lower viscosity. For
the top and bottom part of the liner where the piston speed is low, the liner is not insulated by the EXPAD. So
the temperature is controlled by the coolant, and the viscosity is kept high with the lower temperature to
minimize mixed and boundary lubrication.
(b) For high BMEP engine with large bore (B), the force on the piston is very high (force  BMEP*B2). Also the
wall temperature will be high because of the high load; the viscosity of the lubricant on the liner will
correspondingly be low. For a normal piston arrangement, the high side force will break through the oil film
(with low viscosity) for a substantial range of the stroke, resulting in high wear and high friction.

With a cross head, because the connecting rod is normal to the combustion chamber piston face, the side force
of the piston is small. So even with the low lubricant viscosity in the combustion chamber due to the high
temperature, the lubrication film will be able to support the piston for a substantial part of the stroke. For the
driving piston, the side force is high. However, the lubrication film is now outside the combustion chamber so
that the temperature is low; correspondingly the viscosity is much higher. Then the oil film will be able to
support the high side force of the piston.
(c) To have the turbine extracting much of the charge energy, the exhaust valve is opened early so that the high
pressure cylinder charge is discharged through the turbine. Since the extraction of work via the turbine and that
via the piston are the same thermodynamic process, there is no material difference in the output work in
principle. Note that the turbine exit pressures for both the regular configuration and the one with the extra
power turbine are the same. With the same work going to drive the compressor, the combine work extraction
with the power turbine and the limited expansion stroke is the same as that with the normal expansion stroke.

In practice, however, the flow loss through the valve is much higher because of the higher density exhaust with
the early EVO.

The heat transfer loss is also much higher due to the higher temperature high speed flow through the valve and
port. Because high surface area of the blade surfaces, the heat transfer loss in the power turbine is much larger
than that in a piston engine.

The overall fuel conversion efficiency will be lower than the regular engine, and the cost will be higher because
of the extra hardware.
(d) When the combustion is retarded, the expansion will take less work out of the charge and the exhaust gas will
be hotter.

With the combustion retard, to maintain the same torque output to overcome engine friction in the idle process,
the throughput of the engine has to increase. Thus the exhaust gas mass flow rate increases.

Both effects (higher temperature and higher gas flow rate) accelerate the catalyst light off.
(e) The longer expansion stroke extracts more work out of the charge. The fuel conversion efficiency improves.

The shorter compression stroke implies that less charge is trapped. So the torque output decreases.
(f) With some of the cylinders deactivated, the remaining cylinders operate at a higher load for the same total
output torque. Thus the pumping loss is reduced.

The deactivated cylinders should have the valves closed. Then heat transfer and friction are the only significant
losses. These losses are much less than the pumping loss of the gas flowing in and out of the cylinder if the
valves are not closed.
Problem 3 soluiton

TIw.. t~ IJ-,tl. .(
L ': [-,-
-I(
(t-" )J--.!
t
t.cA" J(
.0

ri.. ~ ;'flu. l41;~ .; u>:' ';"f I.HtJ f :~ Ll{v ~

('t''1,) .
,.;:: , (If' 'IF)
~

'1 IHv

T'" uIl ~jt ~ 1.'= ( ;;~r~'~~l~:i~ ~ ~.1}~

1t... rt-.J ~ -I. 1.'- t " ":!Jj,!:.­
flv. wi.( J-ai... ~~ (filer)"" -oJ 1:~
Tt.... tL ~ rl4W~ IJ :: ttL ~ II .; t4f ~J ~
;A.( .. rf-)

~Y (/St t" ~.f/..)"• (-fJ fU. 1 ()I.....J.

r J:f-/" 1.1. .J: ~,
~....,... ,. leI-.J ~II . / 't:: -=- •
t ec -l. !:}r{f.) DC' (V ,0( ~ ww .s.-d l.
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