Combustion in

Compression Ignition
Engines
 Combustion in CI engines
• It is unsteady, heterogeneous, three-dimensional process.

• In SI engines, it is steady, homogenous, two-dimensional

process.

• Details of combustion process depend on:

– Characteristics of the fuel

– Design of combustion chamber and fuel-injection system

– Engine’s operating conditions

 Combustion in CI engines

• Fuel injected into cylinder toward the end of the

compression stroke atomizes, vaporizes and mixes with high
temperature air
• Since the air temperature and pressure are above the fuel’s
ignition point, spontaneous ignition of portions of already
mixed fuel and air occurs after a delay period
• The cylinder pressure increases as combustion occurs
• Injection continues until desired amount of fuel has entered
the cylinder
• Combustion continues well into expansion stroke until all
fuel is burned (that’s why constant pressure combustion)
 Steps of Combustion process
Injection time is usually about 20° of crankshaft rotation, starting at about 15°
bTDC and ending about 5° aTDC. Following are the steps of combustion:

1.Atomization: Fuel drops break into very small droplets

after passing through nozzle. Smaller the fuel drop size, the
quicker and more efficient will be the atomization process.
•Nozzle diameter of a typical fuel injector is 0.2-1.0 mm. An injector may have
one nozzle or several
•Liquid drop diameter size leaving the injector is on the order of 10 -2 mm and
smaller
2.Vaporization: The small droplets of liquid fuel
evaporate to vapor. This occurs due to hot air. About 90%
of the fuel injected into the cylinder has been vaporized
within 0.001 second after injection.
3. Mixing with air: The fuel vapors must mix with air to
form a mixture. Mixing occurs due to high fuel injection
velocity added to the swirl and turbulence in the
cylinder air.
4. Self-Ignition: At about 8° bTDC, 6_8° after the start of
injection, the air-fuel mixture starts to self-ignite.
5. Combustion: Combustion starts from self-ignition
simultaneously at many locations in the slightly rich
zone of the fuel jet.
• When combustion starts, multiple flame fronts spreading from the many self-
ignition sites quickly consume all the gas mixture.
• Combustion lasts for about 40° to 50° of engine rotation, much longer than the
20° of fuel injection.
 CI combustion vs. SI combustion

• There is no knock limit as in SI engines – higher

compression ratios can be used

• Torque is varied by varying the amount of fuel

injected – the engine can be operated unthrottled

• Black smoke (excessive soot) in the exhaust

constrains the air-fuel ratio – mixture composition is
always lean of stoichiometric (20% or more)
 Fuel conversion efficiency

• Diesel engines have a higher maximum thermal

efficiency than SI engines due to following reasons

– Compression ratio is higher

– Air-fuel mixture is always lean of stoichiometric

 Types of diesel combustion systems

• The major problem in diesel combustion chamber

design is achieving sufficiently rapid air-fuel mixing
to complete combustion in the interval close to TDC

• Diesel engines are divided into two basic categories

according to their combustion chamber design

– Direct-injection (DI) engines

– Indirect injection (IDI) engines

Direct Injection (DI) Diesel Engines
• DI engines inject fuel directly into the combustion
chamber, right into the top of the piston.
• The pistons on a DI engine have a bowl or cup
machined into them that the fuel is directed into.
• DI engines operate at higher injection pressures and
therefore more complete atomization occurs, meaning
these engines do not require a pre-chamber to ensure
proper diffusion of the fuel into the air.
 Direct-Injection systems

(a) quiescent chamber with multihole nozzle; (b) bowl-in-piston chamber with swirl
and multihole nozzle; (c) bowl-in-piston chamber with swirl and single-hole nozzle
Indirect Injection (IDI) Diesel Engines
• IDI diesel engines utilize a pre-combustion chamber,
generally referred to as a pre-chamber.
• Fuel is injected into the pre-chamber, where it rapidly
mixes with oxygen and ignition occurs.
• As the flame front expands in the pre-chamber, it forces
fuel to enter the combustion chamber rapidly,
effectively mixing the fuel with air in the cylinder and
atomization is achieved.
• The glow-plug is also located in the pre-chamber,
which heats the entering liquid fuel to its vapor form to
allow combustion.
Indirect-Injection systems

(a) swirl prechamber; (b) turbulent prechamber

 IDI vs. DI diesel engines
• IDI engines are known for their simplicity and ease of
maintenance/repair.
• IDI Engines are generally quieter than DI engines
• DI engines have higher thermal efficiency than IDI due
to the level of atomization that is achieved.
• IDI engines operate at much lower fuel injection
pressures than DI engines.
• Injectors for IDI engines are much cheaper than DI
engines.
• IDI injectors have longer life than DI injectors.
 Stages of combustion

• The following stages of diesel combustion process

can be defined:
– Ignition delay
– Premixed or rapid combustion
– Mixing-controlled combustion
– Late combustion phase. As with controlled
combustion the rate of combustion is governed by
diffusion until all the fuel is utilized
 Ignition delay / Ignition lag

• Ignition delay / Ignition lag is the difference in time

between fuel injection and fuel ignition.
• Ignition delay (ID) is the cause of knocking in diesel
engines.
• Higher the ignition delay, higher the knocking.
• The fuel which has long ignition delay accumulates
in the engine which undergoes explosive
combustion resulting in diesel knocking.
• Factors affecting delay period are:
– Fuel properties
– Injection timing
– Engine load
– Engine speed
– Parameters of fuel injection equipment
– Intake air pressure and temperature
– Swirl rate
 Factors affecting ignition delay:
Fuel cetane number (CN)
• Octane number (ON) is the ability of fuel to resist ignition caused by
pressure & heat. It gives anti-knock value of fuel & used for gasoline.

• Cetane number (CN) is ability of fuel to ignite easily & spontaneously.

• CN is the fuel ignition quality. Higher CN means faster ignition. It is

used for diesel. (Its range for diesel is 40 to 55)
ID indirect CN

• CN is defined by blends of n-cetane (CN of 100) and isocetane (CN of

15) and is given by

CN = percent n-cetane + 0.15 percent isocetane

• Higher the CN, shorter the ignition delay period. So higher CN means
less knocking and vice-versa.
 Factors affecting delay:
Injection timing
• At normal engine conditions, minimum delay occurs with
the start of injection at about 10 to 15˚ before TDC.

• If injection starts earlier, the initial air temperature and

pressure are lower so the delay will increase.

• If injection starts later, (closer to TDC) the temperature

and pressure are initially slightly higher but then decrease
as the delay proceeds.

• The most favorable conditions for ignition lie in between

the above two cases.
 Factors affecting delay:
Engine load & speed

• As engine load increases the residual gas temperature and

the wall temperature increase.
• This result in higher charge temperature at injection, thus
shortening the delay period.
• As engine speed increases (at a constant load) the delay
period decreases.
 Factors affecting delay:
Compression ratio, Inlet air Temperature &
Pressure

• Intake air temperature and pressure will affect the delay via
their effect on charge conditions during the delay period
• Increase in inlet air temperature and pressure results in shorter
delay period
• Also increase in compression ratio will decrease the ignition
delay