Two Stroke Engine

 It is a reciprocating engine like four stroke

engine.
 The difference is that, it produces one power
stroke every crank shaft revolution.
 The air charging needs a charge device like
blower, compressor or crank case
compression.
 This diagrams shows a typical cross flow
design. You can see that two-stroke engines
are have little number of components relative
to four stroke engines.
 It's called a two-stroke engine because there
is a compression stroke and then a power
stroke where the exhaust and scavenging
processes are included in power and
compression strokes respectively. In a four-
stroke engine, there are separate intake,
compression, combustion and exhaust strokes
 The Two-stroke Cycle

• The following animation shows a two-

stroke engine in action. The biggest
difference to notice when comparing the
two stroke to the four stroke engines is
that the spark-plug fires once every
revolution in a two-stroke engine.

• You can understand a two-stroke engine by

watching each part of the cycle. Start with
the point where the spark plug fires. Fuel
and air in the cylinder have been
compressed, and when the spark plug fires
the mixture ignites. The resulting
explosion drives the piston downward.
 The Two-stroke Cycle
Power Stroke
• Fuel and air in the cylinder have been compressed
previously through the compression stroke.
• Power stroke starts with the point where the
spark plug fires. The mixture ignites and the
resulting explosion drives the piston downward
producing the power .
• Note that as the piston moves downward, it is
compressing the air/fuel mixture in the crankcase.
Exhaust Process
• As the piston approaches the bottom
of its stroke, the exhaust port is
uncovered. The pressure in the
cylinder drives most of the exhaust
gases out of cylinder. The remainder
of gases are forced out when the inlet
ports are uncovered and fresh charge
inters the cylinder
Scavenging Process
(Supplying air and fuel to the cylinder)
• As the piston finally bottoms out, the
intake port is uncovered. The piston's
movement has pressurized the mixture in
the crankcase, so it rushes into the cylinder,
displacing the remaining exhaust gases and
filling the cylinder with a fresh charge of
air fuel mixture.
Compression Stroke
• Now the momentum in the crankshaft
starts driving the piston back toward the
spark plug for the compression stroke.
As the air/fuel mixture in the piston is
compressed, a vacuum is created in the
crankcase. This vacuum opens the reed
valve and sucks air/fuel/oil in from the
carburetor.
Cylinder Pressure Variation
Comparison between four stroke and two stroke engines
(P-V diagram)
 Two-stroke engines advantages over four-stroke engines

 Two-stroke engines do not have valves in most designs, which simplifies

their construction and lowers their weight.
 Two-stroke engines fire once every revolution, while four-stroke engines
fire once every other revolution. This gives two-stroke engines a significant
power boost.
 Two-stroke engines having crankcase scavenging can work in any
orientation, which can be important in something like a chainsaw. A
standard four-stroke engine may have problems with oil flow unless it is
upright, and solving this problem can add complexity to the engine.
 These advantages make two-stroke engines lighter, simpler and less
expensive to manufacture.
 Two-stroke engines also have the potential to pack about twice the power
into the same space because there are twice as many power strokes per
revolution.
 The combination of light weight and twice the power gives two-stroke
engines a great power-to-weight ratio compared to many four-stroke engine
designs.
Regarding to the two stroke engine advantages, why it is not commonly
used in engines application?
 Two Stroke Engine Disadvantages
1. Two-stroke engines don't last nearly as long as four-stroke engines. The lack of a
dedicated lubrication system in crankcase scavenging means that the parts of a two-
stroke engine wear a lot faster.
2. Two-stroke oil is expensive, and the engine consumes about 1% of the fuel mass
consumed in crankcase scavenging.
3. Two-stroke engines do not use fuel efficiently, so you would get fewer kilometers
per kg fuel.
4. Two-stroke engines produce a lot of pollution so much, in fact. The pollution
comes from two sources. The first is the combustion of the oil in crankcase
scavenging. The oil makes the engine smoky.

Why the two stroke crankcase scavenging engine produces emissions

higher than the four strokes?
Each time a new charge of air/fuel is loaded into the combustion chamber, part of it leaks out
through the exhaust port. That's why you see a sheen of oil around any two-stroke boat motor.
The leaking hydrocarbons from the fresh fuel combined with the leaking oil is a real mess for
the environment.
 Comparison to Four Strokes

13 Cost Cheaper expensive

14 Accelerating Quicker slower
15 Orientation Work at different Works vertically
angles
 The piston Job in two-stroke engine:
• On one side of the piston is the combustion chamber, where the
piston is compressing the air/fuel mixture and capturing the energy
released by the ignition of the fuel.
• On the other side of the piston is the crankcase, where the piston is
creating a vacuum for suction air/fuel from the carburetor through
the reed valve and then pressurizing the crankcase so that air/fuel is
forced into the combustion chamber.
• Meanwhile, the sides of the piston are acting like valves, covering
and uncovering the intake and exhaust ports drilled into the side of
the cylinder wall.
• the piston surface is shaped so that the incoming fuel mixture is
directed to the e cylinder sides for scavenging the exhaust gases
towards the exhaust ports.
 Crankcase in four and two stroke crankcase scavenging engines

• In a four-stroke engine, the crankcase is completely separate from

the combustion chamber, so you can fill the crankcase with heavy
oil to lubricate the crankshaft bearings, the bearings on either end of
the piston's connecting rod and the cylinder wall.

• In a two-stroke engine, on the other hand, the crankcase is serving

as a pressurization chamber to force air/fuel into the cylinder, so it
can't hold a thick oil. Instead, you mix oil in with the gas to lubricate
the crankshaft, connecting rod and cylinder walls.
 Diesel Two-Stroke Cycle

 At the top of the cylinder are typically

two or four exhaust valves that all open
at the same time. There is also the
diesel fuel injector (shown above in
yellow). The piston is elongated, as in a
gasoline two-stroke engine, so that it
can act as the intake valve. At the
bottom of the piston's travel, the piston
uncovers the ports for air intake. The
intake air is pressurized by a
turbocharger or a supercharger
(light blue). The crankcase is sealed
and contains oil as in a four-stroke
engine.
 The two-stroke diesel cycle
 When the piston is at the top of its travel, the cylinder contains a charge of
highly compressed air. Diesel fuel is sprayed into the cylinder by the injector
and immediately ignites because of the heat and pressure inside the cylinder.
This is the same process described in How Diesel Engines Work.
 The pressure created by the combustion of the fuel drives the piston downward.
This is the power stroke.
 As the piston nears the bottom of its stroke, all of the exhaust valves open.
Exhaust gases rush out of the cylinder, relieving the pressure.
 As the piston bottoms out, it uncovers the air intake ports. Pressurized air fills
the cylinder, forcing out the remainder of the exhaust gases.
 The exhaust valves close and the piston starts traveling back upward, re-
covering the intake ports and compressing the fresh charge of air. This is the
compression stroke.
 As the piston nears the top of the cylinder, the cycle repeats with step
 Gasoline Versus Diesel two stroke engines

• The two-stroke engine article also explains that the gasoline engine cycle, where gas
and air are mixed and compressed together, is not really a perfect match for the two-
stroke approach. The problem is that some unburned fuel leaks out each time the
cylinder is recharged with the air-fuel mixture.

• It turns out that the diesel approach, which compresses only air and then injects the
fuel directly into the compressed air, is a much better match with the two-stroke
cycle. Many manufacturers of large diesel engines therefore use this approach to
create high-power engines. It has more thermal efficiency and lower air pollution
Two-Stroke Engine In-Cylinder Flow
Scavenging Process :
It is the operation of cleaning the cylinder from burned gases and filling it with fresh
charge (or air) during the period of opening both inlet and exhaust ports.
Scavenging can be classified into: (a) Cross scavenging (b) Loop scavenging (c ) Uniflow
scavenging (d) Crankcase scavenging.

• When 2 strokes are properly designed, greet percentage of exhaust gasses will be
scavenged
• This allows for a new charge to enter more rapidly for cleaner combustion
• The charge needs to be held within the combustion chamber while the exhaust port is
open

How can the exhaust system be used for helping in scavenging process?
• Well engineered exhaust systems use the energy of sound waves to control this
• As the exhaust is moving out, a megaphone shaped pipe allows the sound waves to
be reflected back towards the cylinder
• These reflected sound waves create back pressure for the exhaust system, and keeps
the incoming charge held within the cylinder
• Most 2 stroke engines will not use a straight exhaust pipe for this reason
Loop-scavenging
In this scavenging process, the exhaust ports are located on one side of the cylinder wall and upper the inlet
ports. As the piston moves downward in the power stroke, the exhaust ports are uncovered and the burned
gases starts to leave the cylinder. As the inlet ports are uncovered, The fresh charge enters the cylinder and
replaces the burned gases. The fresh charge moves upward the cylinder due to the piston surface and ports
geometry and then reverses its direction of motion toward the exhaust ports as shown in Fig 1. The fresh
charge pressure must be higher than the cylinder pressure when the inlet ports are uncovered to prevent
reverse flow of burned gases through the inlet ports. Fig. 2 (a and b) explains cross section elevation and
plane for true engine cylinder having loop scavenging.

(a) (b)

Fig. 1 Loop scavenging Fig. 2 (a) cross section elevation (b) Two
designs of cross section plan
 Cross flow scavenging
The difference between this method and loop scavenging is that, the exhaust ports and inlet
ports are in opposed direction. The piston surface must be designed to achieve upward
direction of inlet flow for scavenging. Figure (a) is a schematic diagram of cross flow
scavenging, (b) is a true cross section elevation (c) is a two designs of cross section plane of
inlet and exhaust ports.

(a) (b) (c)

Uniflow Scavenging
In uniflow scavenging, the inlet ports are completely surrounds the cylinder. The exhaust can
be done by two methods:
1- using exhaust valves in the cylinder head.
2- using opposed piston moves upward and downward simultaneously and uncovers exhaust
ports before the downward piston uncovers the inlet ports.

Uniflow scavenging opposed

Uniflow scavenging using exhaust valves
pistons arrangement
Summarizing of
Scavenging methods:

a. Uniflow scavenging
b. Loop scavenging
c. Cross scavenging
d. Original Schnuerle
scavenging
e. Laminar scavenging
f. Schnuerle scavenging
g. Schnuerle with a boost port
scavenging
h. Reverse loop scavenging
i. Swirl scavenging
j. Curtis scavenging
 Crankcase scavenging
• As the piston moves upwards in the cylinder, low pressure in the crankcase is created
• This pressure allows the higher outside atmospheric to rush into the crankcase through the carburetor
• When the air moves through the carburetor, it takes a charge of gasoline and oil with it.
• The charge lubricates the bearings and moving parts in the crankcase
• The charge of air, fuel, and oil also cool the hot combustion area, and push the previous exhaust gasses
outward
Rotary Disc Valves
• The Rotary disc is a circular disc has one cut out side. The cut has a suitable width for achieving
the opening period and timing of the inlet port.
• Intake port is located directly in the crankcase (this allows for additional transfer ports in the
engine block)
• The crankshaft holds the rotary drives, and provides the rotation for it to open and close
• As the cut faces the inlet port, new charge transfers into the cylinder.
Reed Valves
• Reed is made of a thin flexible spring
steel which is connected at one end
• It permits inlet of the charge directly
into the crankcase
• The Reed stop is made for thick
inflexible steel.
• This prevents the reed from opening too
far and becoming permanently bent

The reed valve construction

 Methods of pressurizing the fresh charge

Fresh charge can be supplied by different methods:

 Crankcase pressuring (achieves a low pressure difference less than 10 kPa.
 Root blower (achieves medium pressure difference about 30 kPa.
 Centrifugal compressor (achieves high pressure difference reach 150 kPa.
 Turbocharger-blower arrangement (economy for fuel consumption and high pressure
difference)
 Port timing
Symmetrical timing:
It occurs when using ports for exhaust and inlet flow processes like crankcase scavenging,
cross flow scavenging, loop scavenging and uniflow scavenging using opposed pistons.
The disadvantage of this timing is that, some of the fresh charge escapes after the inlet port
closed as the exhaust port is still opened.

TDC

EPC EPO
(60-65 BBDC (60-65 BBDC
IPC IPO
(50-55 BBDC)
50-55 BBDC)
BDC
 Port timing
Unsymmetrical timing:
1- It can be achieved in uniflow scavenging using exhaust and inlet ports with additional inlet
port having rotary disk.
The advantage of this timing is that fresh charge can inter the cylinder after the exhaust port
closed and hence it will not escape but the compression stroke is shortened.

TDC
Rotary
disk valve

Inlet
flow
IPC
50-55 BBDC)
EPO
EPC (60-65 BBDC
(60-65 BBDC IPO
(50-55 BBDC)

BDC
 Port timing
Unsymmetrical timing:
2- It can be achieved in uniflow scavenging using exhaust valves.
The advantage of this timing is that fresh charge can inter the cylinder after the exhaust valve
closed and hence it will not escape and the compression stroke is long enough.

TDC
Rotary
disk valve

Inlet
flow

EVO
IPC
IPO
EVC

BDC
 Scavenging analysis

Scavenging ratio
su pplied amount of air m s
sc  
Theoritica l amount of air   2 N P  r
 d * l * n * * s 
4 60 RTs  r  1

Scavenging efficiency
Trapped amount of air m t
 sc  
Theoritica l amount of air   2 N P  r
 d * l * n * * s 
4 60 RTs  r  1
Trapping efficiency
Trapped amount of air m t
tr  
Supplied amount of air m s

From the previuos equarions :

 sc  tr * sc
 Scavenging Models
1- Complete displacement model

In this model, its assumed that, the fresh charge enters the cylinder and replaces the exhaust gases
without mixing. The fresh charge moves upward through the cylinder pushing the burned gases
through the exhaust valves. Then, the mass of fresh charge equals the mass of exit gases at any
instant till the cylinder is filled by fresh charge. After that, any entering fresh charge will results
in exit of the same mass of fresh charge near the exhaust valves. This approach can be used for
uniflow scavenging engines.

 sc  s 
 for s  1
tr  1 
 sc  1 
 for s  1
tr  1 s 
 Scavenging Models

2- Complete mixing model

In this model, it is assumed that, the fresh charge inters the cylinder and mixes completely with
the burned gases. The exhaust gases is a mixture of fresh charge and burned gases. This approach
can be used fro loop scavenging and cross flow scavenging engines.

 sc  1  e   s

tr 
1
tr
1  e   s
  sc
 tr

s
The figure shows the variation of scavenging and trapping efficiencies w.r.t. the scavenging ratio
Comparison between actual and theoretical scavenging methods
 Supercharging and Turbocharging of I.C.E
The power output of an engine depends upon the amount of air inducted per unit time and the
thermal efficiency of the engine.

Three possible methods utilized to increase the air consumption of an engine are as
follows:

 Increasing the piston displacement: This increases the size and weight of the engine, and
introduces additional cooling problems.
 Running the engine at higher speeds: This results in increased mechanical friction losses
and imposes greater inertia stresses on engine parts.
 Increasing the density of the charge: This allows a greater mass of the charge to be
inducted into the same volume.

The method of increasing the air capacity of an engine is known as supercharging. The
device used to increase the air density is known as supercharger.
What is the supercharger?
Supercharger is a blower or a compressor that provides charge at high density to the
engine.
Supercharger job:
For ground installations, it is used to produce a gain in the power output of the engine.
For aircraft installations, in addition to produce a gain in the power output at sea level, it also
enables the engine to maintain a higher power output as altitude is increased.

Supercharging SI Engines:
Supercharging in SI engine is employed in aircraft and racing car engines. Apart from
increasing the volumetric efficiency of the engine, supercharging results in an increase in the
intake temperature of the engine.
This reduces the ignition delay and increases the flame speed. Both these effects result in a
greater tendency to knock. For this reason, the supercharged petrol engines employ lower
compression ratios.

Supercharging CI Engines:
In case of CI engines, supercharging does not result in any combustion problem, rather it
improves combustion.
Increase of pressure and temperature of the inducted air reduces ignition delay, and
hence the rate of pressure rise results in a better, quieter and smoother combustion.
Supercharging Methods
Mechanical Supercharger: In this case, blower is driven by the engine crankshaft. The blower
is usually a positive displacement type that runs at the engine speed. This allows quick
response to the throttle change.
 Types of mechanical supercharger

The roots blower: The two rotors are connected by gears. The working principles are as follows.
Air trapped in the recesses between the rotor lobes and the housing is carried toward the delivery
port without change in volume. As these recesses open to the delivery line, since the suction side
is closed, the trapped air is suddenly compressed by the backflow from the higher-pressure
delivery line. Roots blowers produce small pressure ratios (about 1.2).

The advantage of the roots blower is that its performance range is not limited by surge and
choking as is the centrifugal compressor. It also simple in construction and runs with the same
engine speed so it does not need complicated power transmission system.
Its disadvantages are its high noise level, low efficiency and large size.
 Types of mechanical supercharger

Screw compressors:
Advantages: High values of volumetric and isentropic efficiency are achieved.
Disadvantages:
 It must be precision machined to achieve close tolerances between rotating and stationary
elements for satisfactory operation.
 They run at speeds between 3000 and 30,000 rev/min so it needs a gear arrangement
achieving high speed.
 It is usually necessary to cool the rotors internally.
 Types of mechanical supercharger

A centrifugal compressor
Advantages: . It produces high mass flow rates at the relatively low pressure ratios (up to about
3.5) required by the engine.
Disadvantages: It is a single stage radial flow device. If two stages of compression is needed, the
unit must be doubled and fastened in series.
It must operate at high angular speed for achieving good efficiency and hence it needs a geer
arrangement to operate at this speed.
It is therefore much better suited to direct coupling with the exhaust-driven turbine of the
turbocharger than to mechanical coupling through a gearbox to the engine for mechanical
supercharging.
2- Turbocharger: The blower/compressor and the turbine are mounted on the same shaft.
The compressor is run by the turbine, and the turbine, in turn, is run by the exhaust gases.
Where the turbocharger is located in the car?
Suprchnrging and turboeharging configuration (a) Mechanical supercharger, (b)
turbocharging, (c) engine driven compressor and turbocharger, (d) two-stage turbocharging,
(e)turbocharging with turbocompounding (f) turbocharger with intercooler
Turbo lag
􀂙 One of the main problems with turbochargers is that they do not provide an immediate
power boost when you step on the gas. It takes a second for the turbine to get up to speed
before boost is produced. This results in a feeling of lag when you step on the gas, and then
the car lunges ahead when the turbo gets moving.
􀂙 One way to decrease turbo lag is to reduce the inertia of the rotating parts, mainly by
reducing their weight. This allows the turbine and compressor to accelerate quickly, and start
providing boost earlier.

Use of After-coolers/Intercoolers
􀂙 In the process of raising the input air pressure, supercharger also raises the inlet air
temperature by compressive heating. This is undesirable in SI engines. If the temperature at
the start of the compression stroke is higher, all temperatures in the rest of the cycle will also
be higher. This causes self-ignition.
􀂙 To avoid this, many superchargers are equipped with an aftercooler that cools the
compressed air to a lower temperature. The aftercooler can be either an air-to-air heat
exchanger or an air-to-liquid heat exchanger.
After-coolers/Intercoolers
􀂙 The temperature drop through an aftercooler is usually expressed in terms of effectiveness,
defined as the ratio of the measured temperature drop to the maximum possible temperature
drop that would bring the cooled fluid to the coolant temperature.

where, T1 = entrance stagnation temperature T2 = exit stagnation temperature Tw = coolant

entrance temperature Cc = cooler effectiveness
T1  T2

T1  Tw
Obviously, an effectiveness of unity would require an infinitely large cooler. An effectiveness of
0.6 to 0.8 usually keeps cooler size within reasonable limits.
􀂙 The use of cooler inevitable involves a pressure loss. A well designed cooler will involve a
loss of 2-3 % of the entering absolute pressure.
􀂙 Air-cooled aftercoolers are used in aircraft , while water-cooled aftercoolers are attractive
for marine and stationary installations where there is an abundance of water.
Effects of aftercooler effectiveness on
air density with different pressure ratios

Use of After-coolers
􀂙 The aftercoolers are not needed on superchargers used in CI engines, because there is no
concerns about engine knock.
􀂙 Aftercoolers are costly and takes up space in the engine compartment. For these reasons,
superchargers on some automobiles do not have aftercoolers. These engines usually have
reduced compression ratios to avoid problems of self-ignition.
 Two-stage Supercharger

A single stage supercharger becomes prohibitive in size and weight for high altitude planes.
Two stage superchargers are, therefore, used for high altitude aircraft. Two superchargers are
used in tandem, and the charge is compressed in two stages. Such an arrangement produces
the necessary compression without the excessive size or speed of the impeller that would be
required for a single stage supercharger of same capacity.
It also provides a convenient arrangement for the use of an intercooler between the stages to
assist in keeping the temperature of the charge from exceeding the detonation limits due to
compression. One typical arrangement of a two-stage supercharger is shown. At low altitudes,
only the main stage
(B) is used and the air enters through the main stage air inlet. At some altitude, where the
main stage no longer has sufficient capacity to provide the mass of air required, the auxiliary
stage is cut in, main stage air inlet is closed, and the air is inducted through the auxiliary air
inlet.
The auxiliary supercharger then compresses the air, which passes through the intercooler
where its temperature is reduced, and then flows into main stage compressor where it is
compressed further.
The auxiliary stage sometimes may be two-speed, and the installation is known as a two-
stage, two-speed supercharger.
 Turbo-supercharger

A turbocharger or turbo-supercharger is often used for high altitude aircraft. Figure

above represents a two-stage system in which the auxiliary stage is driven by energy
remaining in the exhaust gas.
At low altitudes, the auxiliary stage is not used and the exhaust gases are passed to the
atmosphere through an open blast gate. When it becomes necessary to use the auxiliary
stage (A) at higher altitude, the blast gate is closed forcing the exhaust gases to pass through a
turbine wheel, which in turn drives the auxiliary stage. This stage is thus a variable speed
supercharger whose capacity is increased by increasing the flow of the exhaust gases through
the turbine by reducing the blast gate opening. When the blast gate is fully closed, the
maximum capacity of the supercharger can be obtained.
Summary
• Altitude performance is improved by Supercharging.
– Compresses the air entering the manifold by means of a compressor.
• Gear Driven Supercharger – driven by a gear train from the engine crank shaft.
– Critical Altitude – power increases till this is reached. Then decreases.
• Exhaust Turbocharger – powered by engine exhaust.
– No loss of power since power is not extracted from the engine.
– Can maintain sea level rated power for much higher altitudes.