Session – 1

Working Principle of 4-Stroke diesel

Engine
Alfred Franklin V
Mobile Number: 9965370082

Course: B.E/B.Tech (First Year)

Subject: Basic Civil and Mechanical Engineering.
University: Anna University Tirunelveli.
Session Objectives
At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:

• Define engine.
• Classify Engine
• Differentiate between Diesel engine and Petrol engine.
• Describe the Working principle of diesel engine.
• List out Applications of four stroke diesel engine.

Teaching Learning Material

• Black Board and Chalk

• PPT
• Animation

Working principle of 4-stroke Diesel Engine Page 2

Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
Session Plan
Skill and
Time Learning Aid and Faculty Typical Student
Content Competency
(in min) Methodology Approach Activity
Developed

Remembering/
Question and
5 Recap : Engine Facilitates Participates Knowledge
Answer
Intrapersonal

Remembering/
Knowledge
I.C Engine Understanding/
5 PPT Explains Listens
Classification Comprehension

Remembering/
I.C Engine Knowledge
15 Components & PPT Explains Listens Understanding/
their functions Comprehension

Remembering/
Knowledge
Working Principle of Understanding/
15 PPT/Animation Explains Listens
CI engine Comprehension

Remembering/
Knowledge
Understanding/
5 Applications Quiz Facilitates Participates Comprehension
Interpersonal

Comparisons between Knowledge/

Choose and
5 Petrol and Diesel Facilitates Participates compression
Defend
Engine Interpersonal

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
Session Inputs
Recap: Engine

The learners are already familiar with diesel engines. The same
can be recapped through a question and answer round before
introducing the new topic.

Suggested Activity: Question &

Answer

The following questions can serve as sample questions for the activity:
1. What is engine?
2. How engines are classified?
3. What is IC & EC engine?

What is an engine?
• Heat engines are mechanical device converting heat into
useful mechanical work

• Heat is generally generated by chemical reaction,

typically from combustion of all sorts of fuels.

• The original concept is called fire piston, which uses the

high temperature due to a rapid compression of gas to
kindle a fire.

How an engine is classified?

• Internal Combustion Engines.
- Combustion takes place inside the cylinder.
• External Combustion Engines.
- Combustion takes place outside the cylinder.

While explaining the IC and EC engines we can show the

following pictures.

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
 IC Engine classification

The students should know the classification of IC engines as a

part of curriculum; we have to classify the Internal combustion
engines by showing the following pictures.

1. Based on Basic engine design

2. Working cycle (SI & CI engine)
3. Based on Application.
1. Based on Basic engine design

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
2. Working cycle (SI & CI engine)

• 2-stroke: 1 power stroke per 1 crankshaft rev

• 4-stroke: 1 power stroke per 2 crankshaft rev

Components of I.C Engine

Before explaining the working principle of 4S diesel engine we

have to explain the components and their functions so that the
students can understand the working principle easily.

The components are broadly classified into:

a) Structural components
b) Moving components

(a) Structural Components:

1. Engine Block (Multi cylinder Engine)

• Part of engine frame that contains cylinders in which piston moves
• Supports liners & head

• Part of engine frame that contains cylinders in which piston

moves

• Supports liners & head

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
2. Engine Head or Cylinder Head Assembly

• Serves to admit, confine, and release

fuel/air
• Cover to cylinder block
• Supports valve train

3. Crankcase
• Engine frame section that houses the crankshaft.

(b) Moving Components

Three Groups – according to motion
• Reciprocating only (pistons and valves)
• Reciprocation & rotary (connecting rods)
• Rotary only (crankshafts and camshafts)

4. Piston
• Acted on by combustion gases
• Lightweight but strong/durable
• Piston Rings
• Transfer heat from piston to
cylinder
• Seal cylinder & distribute lube
oil
• Piston Pin
• Pivot point connecting piston to
connecting rod

5. Connecting Rod

• Connects piston & crankshaft

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
 • Converts reciprocating into rotary motion.

6. Crank Shaft

• Combines work done by each piston

• Drives camshafts, generator, pumps, etc

7. Flywheel
• Absorbs and releases kinetic energy of
power strokes and converts smoothes
rotation of crankshaft.

8. Valves
• Intake: open to admit air to cylinder.

• Exhaust: open to allow gases to be

rejected

9. Camshaft & Cams

• Used to time the addition of intake and
exhaust valves

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
 • Operates valves via pushrods & rocker arms

Working Principle:

After explaining the components of four stroke diesel engine,

the students can understand the working principle easily. The
following two figures are used for explaining the working
principle.

Terminology
• TDC: Top Dead Center, position corresponding to smallest
volume in the cycle
• BDC: Bottom Dead Center, position corresponding to
largest volume in the cycle
• Stroke: distance between TDC and BDC
• Bore: diameter of piston
• Displacement volume: volume limited by TDC and BDC

4-strokeCycle CI Engine Principle of Operation

• Cycle of operation is completed in 4-strokes of the piston

or 2 revolutions of the crankshaft.
• Each stroke consists of 180°, of crankshaft rotation and
hence a cycle consists of 720°of crankshaft rotation.
Stroke Valve Position

Suction Valve open

Suction Stroke
Exhaust Valve closed

Compression StrokeBoth Valves closed

Expansion or
Both Valves closed
Power Stroke

Exhaust Valve open

Exhaust Stroke
Suction Valve closed

The series of operations of an ideal four-stroke SI engine are

as follows:

Intake/Suction Stroke

 During the intake stroke, the intake valve opens as the

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
 piston moves down to allow air into the cylinder.

 The air is pushed by atmospheric pressure into the

cylinder through the intake valve.

Compression Stroke

 After the piston reaches its lower limit, it begins to move

upward and as the piston moves up, the intake valve
closes.
 The exhaust valve is also closed, so that at this point in
the cycle, the cylinder is sealed.
 As the piston moves upward, the air is compressed and
the compression of the air causes the pressure and the
temperature of the cylinder to increase.

Expansion/Power Stroke

 As the piston reaches maximum compression of the air,

diesel fuel is injected to the combustion chamber filled
with compressed air.
 The heat of the compressed air ignites the fuel
spontaneously at the self-ignition temperature of the
fuel.
 As the cylinder pressure increases, the piston is forced
down into the cylinder.
 The power impulse is transmitted down through the
piston, through the connecting rod, and to the
crankshaft, which is rotated due to the force.

Exhaust Stroke

 As the piston reaches the bottom of its stroke, the

exhaust valve opens.
 As the piston moves up on the exhaust stroke, it forces
the burned gases out of the cylinder through the exhaust
valve.
 Then as the piston reaches the top of its stroke, the
exhaust valve closes, and the intake valve opens.
 The cycle repeats again with the intake stroke.

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
4-stroke Diesel Engine Page 11
Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
Applications of Diesel engines
The applications of diesel engine can be explained by
conducting a technical quiz activity.

The applications of diesel engines are listed below with

pictures for effective understanding.

Suggested Activity: Quiz

The learners may be asked to suggest the applications of diesel engine

by showing some of the pictures. We can list their answer on the board.

1. Marine engine

Marine (Largest engine in the world)

3.
AGRICULTURE/FARM

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
4. TRANSPORTATION

5. Power plants

Comparisons between Petrol and Diesel Engine

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
 The differences between Petrol and diesel engine can be
explained by conducting an activity. The figure gives them
some clear idea about petrol and diesel engine.

Suggested Activity: Choose and

Defend

The entire class can be divided into two groups. Each group has to
support one of the engines. Each group has to predict the advantages of
the engine assigned to them and also disadvantages of the other
engines. For each advantage 2 points can be given and for each
disadvantage 1 point. We can draw two columns on the board with the
following headings: ‘diesel engine’ and ‘petrol engine’. A small space
may be provided for noting down the points.

The SI engine offers the following advantages

1. Low initial cost.

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
 2. Low weight for a given power output
3. Smaller size for a given power output
4. Easy starting
5. Less noise
6. Less objectionable exhaust gas odor and less smoke

The CI engine offers the following advantages

1. Low specific fuel consumption at both full load and part load
conditions.
2. Utilizes less expensive fuels.
3. Reduced fire hazard
4. Long operating life
5. Better suited for supercharging
6. Better suited for two-stroke cycle operating, as there is no
loss of fuel in scavenging
7. The great advantage of CI engine is lower fuel consumption
which counteracts the disadvantage of higher initial cost, if
engine used for long duties.

Disadvantages of diesel engine

1. Engine Weight high.
2. High initial cost.
3. High maintenance cost.

Disadvantages of Petrol engine

1. Fuel cost high.
2. Highly inflammable fuel.

Summary
In this session, we learnt to:

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
• Define engine & IC engine.
• Classify engines
• Name all the Components
• Describe the working principle
• List the applications
• Compare the Petrol and Diesel engine.

References
Books

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering
 • Theory & Practice in IC Engines By C F Taylor

• Fundamentals of I C Engines-J B Heywood

• Internal Combustion Engines by Ganesan

• Internal Combustion Engines by M L Mathur & S P

Sharma

Website
www.images.google.com

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Author Name: Alfred Franklin.V College Name: St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering