COMBUSTION PROCESS IN CI ENGINES

In SI engine, uniform A: F mixture is supplied, but in CI engine A: F mixture is not

homogeneous and fuel remains in liquid particles, therefore quantity of air supplied is 50%
to 70% more than stoichiometric mixture.
The combustion in SI engine starts at one point and generated flame at the point of ignition
propagates through the mixture for burning of the mixture, where as in CI engine, the
combustion takes place at number of points simultaneously and number of flames generated
are also many. To burn the liquid fuel is more difficult as it is to be evaporated; it is to be
elevated to ignition temperature and then burn.

STAGES OF COMBUSTION IN CI ENGINE

The combustion in a CI engine is considered to be taking place in four stages. The details are
explained below.

1. Ignition Delay period /Pre-flame combustion

2. Uncontrolled combustion
3. Controlled combustion
4. Period of After-Burning
1.Ignition Delay Period
The ignition delay period is also called the preparatory phase during which some fuel has
already been admitted but has not yet ignited. This period is counted from the start of injection
to the point where the pressure-time curve separates from the motoring curve indicated as start
of combustion.
The delay period in the CI engine exerts a very great influence on both engine design and
performance. It is of extreme importance because of its effect on the combustion rate and
knocking and also its influence on engine starting ability and the presence of smoke in the
exhaust.
The fuel does not ignite immediately upon injection into the combustion chamber. There is a
definite period of inactivity between the times when the first droplet of fuel hits the hot air in
the combustion chamber arid the time it starts through the actual burning phase. This period is
known as the ignition delay period. In above fig delay period is shown on pressure crank angle
(or time) diagram between points a and b. Point a represents the time of injection and point b
represents the time at which the pressure curve (caused by combustion) first separates from the
motoring curve. The ignition delay period can be divided into two parts, the physical delay and
the chemical delay.
a) Physical Delay: The physical delay is the time between the beginning of injection and
the attainment of chemical reaction conditions. During this period, the fuel is atomized,
vaporized, mixed with air and raised to its self-ignition temperature. This physical delay
depends on the type of fuel, i.e., for light fuel the physical delay is small while for heavy
viscous fuels the physical delay is high. The physic al delay is greatly reduced by using
high injection pressures, higher combustion chamber temperatures and high turbulence
to facilitate breakup of the jet and improving evaporation.
b) Chemical Delay: During the chemical delay, reactions start slowly and then accelerate
until inflammation or ignition takes place. Gene rally, the chemical delay is larger than
the physical delay. However, it depends on the temperature of the surroundings and at
high temperatures, the chemical reactions are faster and the physical delay becomes
longer than the chemical delay. It is clear that, the ignition lag in the SI engine is
essentially equivalent to the chemical delay for the Cl engine. In most CI engines the
ignition lag is shorter than the duration of injection.
2.Period of Rapid Combustion
The period of rapid combustion also called the uncontrolled combustion, is that. phase in which
the pressure rise is rapid. During the delay period, the droplets have had time to spread over a
 wide area and fresh air is always available around the droplets. Most of the fuel admitted would
have evaporated and formed a combustible mixture with air. By this time, the pre-flame
reactions would have also been completed. The period of rapid combustion is controlled from
end of delay period or the beginning of the combustion to the point of maxi mum pressure on
the indicator diagram. The rate of heat-release is maximum during this period.
It may be noted that the pressure reached (luring the period of rapid combustion will depend
on the duration of the delay period (the longer the delay the more rapid and higher is the
pressure rise since more fuel would have accumulated in the cylinder during the delay period).
3.Period of Controlled Combustion
The rapid combustion period is followed by the third stage, the controlled combustion. The
temperature and pressure in the second stage is already quite high. Hence the fuel droplets
injected during the second stage burn faster with reduced ignition delay as soon as they find
the necessary oxygen and any further pressure rise is controlled by the injection rate. The period
of controlled combustion is assumed to end at maximum cycle temperature.
4.Period of After-Burning
Combustion does not cease with the completion of the injection process. The unburnt and
partially burnt fuel particles left in the combustion chamber start burning as soon as they come
into contact with the oxygen. This process continues for a certain duration called the after-
burning period. Usually this period starts from the point of maximum cycle temperature and
continues over a part of the expansion stroke. Rate of after-burning depends on the velocity of
diffusion and turbulent mixing of unburnt and partially burnt fuel with the air. The duration of
the after-burning phase may correspond to 70-80 degrees of crank travel from TDC.
The sequence of the events in the entire combustion process in a CI engine including the
delay period is shown in the following Figure by means of a block diagram
Combustion phenomenon in CI engine V/s combustion in SI engine.
SL
COMUSTION IN SI ENGINE COMBUSTION IN CI ENGINE
NO
1 Homogeneous mixture of petrol vapour Air alone is compressed through large
and air is compressed (CR 6:1 to 11:1) at Compression ratio (12:1 to 22:1) and fuel is
the end of compression stroke and is injected at high pressure of 110 to 200 bar using
ignited at one place by spark plug. fuel injector pump.
2 Single definite flame front progresses Fuel is not injected at once, but spread over a
through air fuel mixture and entire mixture period of time. Initial droplets meet air whose
will be in combustible range temperature is above self-ignition temperature
and ignite after ignition delay.
3 For effective combustion, turbulence is For effective combustion, swirl is required.
required. Turbulence which is required in Swirl which is required in CI engine implies an
SI engine implies disordered air motion orderly movement of whole body of air with a
with no general direction of flow to break particular direction of flow, to bring a
up the surface of flame front and to continuous supply of fresh air to each burning
distribute the shreds of flame thought-out droplets and sweep away the products of
in externally prepared homogeneous combustion which otherwise suffocate it.
combustible mixture.
4 In SI Engine ignition occurs at one point In the CI engine, the ignition occurs at many
with a slow rise in pressure points simultaneously with consequent rapid
rise in pressure. There is no definite flame front.
5 In SI engine physical delay is almost zero In CI engine physical delay controls
and chemical delay controls combustion combustion.
6 In SI engine, A/F ratio remains close to In CI engine, irrespective of load, at any speed,

stoichiometric value from no load to full an approximately constant supply of air enters

load the cylinder. With change in load, quantity of

fuel is changed to vary A/F ratio. The overall
A/F can Range from 18:1 to 80:1.
5 Delay period must be as long as possible. Delay period must be as short as possible. High
High octane fuel (low cetane) is required. cetane (low octane) fuel is required
VARIOUS FACTORS AFFECTING DELAY PERIOD IN CI ENGINE

Many design and operating factors affect the delay period. The important ones are:

1.Compression Ratio.
2.Engine Speed:

3.Outputs

4.Injection timing:

5.Quality of Fuel used:

6.Intake Temperature

7.Intake Pressure

1.Compression Ratio. The increase in the compression

temperature of the air with increase in compression ratio
evaluated at the end of the compression stroke is shown in
Fig. It is also seen from the same figure that the minimum
auto ignition temperature of a fuel decreases due to increased
density of the compressed air. This results in a closer contact
between the molecules of fuel and oxygen reducing the time
of reaction. The increase in the compression temperature
as well as the decrease in the minimum auto ignition
temperature decrease the delay period. The maximum
peak pressure during the combustion process is only
marginally affected by the compression ratio (because
delay period is shorter with higher compression ratio and
hence the pressure rise is lower).

Then why we do not use very high compression ratio in CI?

One of the practical disadvantages of using a very high compression ratio is that the
mechanical efficiency tends to decrease due to increase in weight of the reciprocating parts.
Therefore, engine designers always try to use a lower compression ratio which helps in easy
cold starting and light load running at high speeds.
2.Engine Speed:

The delay period could be given either in

terms of absolute time (in milliseconds) or
in terms of crank angle degrees With
increase in engine speed, the loss of heat
during compression decreases, resulting in
the rise of both the temperature and
pressure of the compressed air thus reducing the delay period in milliseconds. However,
in degrees of crank travel the delay period increases as the engine operates at a higher rpm.
The fuel pump is geared to the engine, and hence the amount of fuel injected during the
delay period depends on crank degrees and not on absolute time. Hence, at high speeds,
there will be more fuel present in the cylinder to take part in the second stage of uncontrolled
combustion resulting in high rate of pressure rise.
3.Outputs

With an increase in engine output the air-fuel ratio decreases, operating temperatures
increase and hence delay period decreases. The rate of pressure rise is unaffected but the
peak pressure reached may be high.
4.Injection timing:

The effect of injection advance on the pressure

variation is shown in Fig. for three injection
advance timings of 90°, 18°, and 27° before TDC.
The injected quantity of fuel per cycle is constant.
As the pressure and temperature at the beginning of
injection are lower for higher ignition advance, the
delay period increases with increase in injection
advance. The optimum angle of injection advance
depends on many factors but generally it is about 20°bTDC.
5.Quality of Fuel used:

The physical and chemical properties of fuel play very important role in delay period. The
most important property of fuel which is responsible for chemical delay is its self-ignition
temperature. Lower the self-ignition temperature, lower the delay period. The cetane
number (CN) of the fuel is another important parameter which is responsible for the delay
period. A fuel of higher cetane number gives lower delay
period and provides smoother engine operation. The effect
of cetane number on the indicator diagram when injection
timing is same is shown in adjacent figure. The delay period
for a fuel having CN = 50 is lowest and pressure rise is also
smooth and maximum pressure rise is least as most of the
fuel burns during controlled combustion.

The other properties of fuel which affects the physical delay

period are volatility, latent heat, viscosity and surface tension. The viscosity and surface
tension are responsible for the better atomization whereas latent heat and viscosity are
responsible for the rapid evaporation of fuel.

6.Intake Temperature

The delay period is reduced either with increased temperature.

However, preheating of charge for this purpose is not desirable
because it reduces the density of charge and volumetric
efficiency and power output.

7.Intake pressure

Increase in intake pressure or supercharging reduces the auto

ignition temperature and hence reduces the delay period. The
peak pressure will be higher since the compression pressure
will increase with intake pressure.
 The following table gives the summary of the factors which influence the delay period in CI
engine.
EFFECT OF VARIABLE ON DELAY PERIOD – SUMMARY
SL Increase in variables Effect on Delay Reason
No period
1 Cetane Number of fuel Reduce Reduces the self-ignition temperature

2 Injection pressure Reduce Reduces the physical delay due to greater

surface to volume ratio
3 Injection timing advance Increase Reduces the pressure and temperature
when the injection begins
4 Compression ratio Reduce Increases air temperature and pressure
and reduces auto ignition temperature
5 Intake temperature Reduce Increase air temperature
6 Jacket water temperature Reduce Increase wall and hence air temperature
7 Fuel temperature Reduce Increases chemical reaction due to better
vaporization
8 Intake pressure Reduce Increases the density and also reduces the
auto ignition temperature
9 Speed Increase in terms of Reduce loss of heat
crank angle but
reduces in terms of
milliseconds.
10 Load ( Fuel/air ratio) Decrease Increase the operating temperature
11 Engine size Increase in terms of Larger engines operate at normally slow
crank angle but little speeds.
effect in terms of
milliseconds.
12 Type of combustion Lower for engines Due to compactness of the chamber.
chamber with pre-combustion
chamber
PHENOMENON OF DIESEL KNOCK

Knocking is violet gas vibration and audible sound produced by extreme pressure
differentials leading to the very rapid rise during the early part of uncontrolled second phase
of combustion.

In C.I. engines the injection process takes place over

a definite interval of time. Consequently, as the first
few droplets injected are passing through the ignition
lag period, additional droplets are being injected into
the chamber. If the ignition delay is longer, the actual
burning of the first few droplets is delayed and a
greater quantity of fuel droplets gets accumulated in
the chamber. When the actual burning commences,
the additional fuel can cause too rapid a rate of
pressure rise, as shown on pressure crank angle
diagram above, resulting in Jamming of forces
against the piston (as if struck by a hammer) and
rough engine operation. If the ignition delay is quite
long, so much fuel can accumulate that the rate of
pressure rise is almost instantaneous. Such, a
situation produces extreme pressure differentials and
violent gas vibration known as knocking (diesel
knock), and is evidenced by audible knock. The
phenomenon is similar to that in the SI engine.
However, in SI Engine knocking occurs near the end
of combustion whereas in CI engine, knocking the
occurs near the beginning of combustion.
Delay period is directly related to Knocking in CI engine. An extensive delay period can be
due to following factors:
• A low compression ratio permitting only a marginal self-ignition temperature to be
reached.
• A low combustion pressure due to worn out piston, rings and bad valves
• Low cetane number of fuel
• Poorly atomized fuel spray preventing early combustion
 • Coarse droplet formation due to malfunctioning of injector parts like spring Low
intake temperature and pressure of air
METHODS OF CONTROLING DIESEL KNOCK

We have discussed the factors which are responsible for the detonation in the previous
sections. If these factors are controlled, then the detonation can be avoided.
Using a better fuel. Higher CN fuel has lower delay period and reduces knocking tendency.
Controlling the Rate of Fuel Supply: By injecting less fuel in the beginning and then more
fuel amount in the combustion chamber detonation can be controlled to a certain extent.
Cam shape of suitable profile can be designed for this purpose.
Knock reducing fuel injector: This type of injector avoids the sudden increase in pressure
inside the combustion chamber because of accumulated fuel. This can be done by arranging
the injector so that only small amount of fuel is injected first. This can be achieved by using
two or more injectors arranging in out of phase.
By using Ignition accelerators: C N number can be increased by adding chemical called
dopes. The two chemical dopes are used are ethyl-nitrate and amyle –nitrate in concentration
of 8.8 gm/Liter and 7.7 gm/Liter. But these two increase the NOx emissions
Increasing Swirl: Knocking can be greatly reduced by increasing swirl (or reducing
turbulence). Swirl helps in knock free combustion.