Chapter Two

Thermodynamics Of IC Engines
 INTRODUCTION
 Two important areas of application of thermodynamics
are power generation and refrigeration.
Main application areas
of
Thermodynamics

Power cycles Refrigeration

cycles
- Refrigerators
Vapor power Gas power
- Heat pumps
cycles cycles

Gasoline (Otto cycle) or SI engines

Steam power plants
Nuclear power plants Diesel (Diesel cycle) or CI engines
Gas turbines (Brayton cycle)
 INTRODUCTION
 Thermodynamic cycles can be categorized as: closed and
open cycles.
 In closed cycles, the working fluid is returned to the initial
state at the end of the cycle and is circulated.
 In open cycles, the working fluid is renewed at the end of
each cycle instead of being recirculated.
 Working on an open cycle is the characteristic of all
internal combustion engines.
 Most power producing machines operate in an open cycle.
Such cycles in actual machines are difficult for
mathematical modeling because of the presence of
irreversibilities and other losses. Hence, it is better to
model actual cycles by their corresponding ideal
(reversible) cycles .
The IC engine thermodynamic cycles are:

 Ideal cycles.
 Fuel-air cycles.
 Actual cycles.
 Air standard cycles (ideal cycles)

 Ideal or Air-standard cycles:- are idealized cycles in which

the working substance is assumed to be ideal gas.

 The most widely used ideal or air-standard cycles for IC

engines are:
-The Otto cycle.
-The Diesel cycle.
-The Diesel-Dual cycle
 Ideal (Air-standard) cycle assumptions
1) The working fluid is a fixed mass of air, which
continuously circulates in a closed cycle and assumed to
behave as an ideal gas.
2) There are no intake and exhaust processes.
3) All processes that make up the cycle are reversible and
adiabatic.
4) The combustion process is replaced by a heat addition
process from an external source.
5) The exhaust process is replaced by a heat rejection
process that restores the working fluid to its initial state.
6) The specific heats (cv and cp) of air are assumed to be
constant, which means they do not depend on temperature
and pressure.
7) No chemical reaction takes place in the cylinder. Heat is supplied or rejected by
bringing a hot body or a cold body in contact with cylinder at appropriate points
during the process
SI Engine Cycle vs Thermodynamic Otto Cycle
 Air-Standard Otto cycle

Also called as constant volume cycle

 Applicable for gasoline engines.

overall processes
 1 – 2: compression – adiabatic process
 2 – 3 addition of heat – constant volume process
 3 – 4: expansion or power - adiabatic process
 4 – 1: exhaust – constant volume process.
In Otto cycle, the combustion is so rapid that the piston does
not move during the process, and therefore, combustion is
assumed to take place at constant volume.
Thermodynamic analysis of air standard Otto cycle
 Increasing Compression Ratio Increases
the Efficiency
 Higher Compression
Ratios?
 Higher compression
ratio leads to auto-ignition
(without spark)
 Causes knock
 Engine damage
 Thus, there is an upper
limit of high compression
Ratio.
 Air-Standard Diesel cycle
 Also known as constant pressure cycles
 Used for diesel or compression ignition engines
 overall Processes
 1 – 2: compression – adiabatic process
 2 – 3: heat addition – constant pressure process
 3 – 4: expansion or power – adiabatic process
 4 – 1: exhaust – constant volume process
Thermodynamic analysis of air standard Diesel cycle
•
Diesel Cycle Otto Cycle

The only
difference
is in
process 2-3
 remark
 Both Otto cycle (constant volume heat addition) and
diesel cycle (constant pressure heat addition) are over-
simplistic and unrealistic. In actual case, combustion
takes place neither at constant volume (time required for
chemical reactions), nor at constant pressure (rapid
uncontrolled combustion).

 Dual cycle is used to model the combustion process. It

is a compromise between Otto and diesel cycles, where
heat addition takes place partly at constant volume and
partly at constant pressure. This cycle is also known as
mixed cycle. In fact, Otto and diesel cycles are special
cases of dual cycle.
 Dual cycle
 Also known as limited pressure cycles
 Used for high speed engines
 The Diesel-Dual cycle is the ideal cycle for Compression
Ignition (CI) reciprocating engines. This cycle closely
approximates the behavior of the actual Diesel engines,
because the combustion process in actual diesel engines
occurs partly at constant volume and partly at constant
pressure.
Overall process
 1 – 2: compression – adiabatic process
 2 – 3: heat addition – constant volume process
 3 – 4: heat addition – constant pressure process
 4 – 5: expansion or power – adiabatic process
 5 – 1: exhaust – constant volume process
P-v and t-s diagram of dual cycle
Thermodynamic Analysis of Air-Standard Dual Cycle

 The analysis of an air-standard Dual cycle is the same as

that of the Diesel cycle except for the heat input process
(combustion) 2-x-3.
COMPARISON OF OTTO, DIESEL, AND DUAL
CYCLES
 introduction
 Air standard cycles had simplified approximations, and
therefore, performance estimate of the engine is greater
than the actual performance.
 With compression ratio of 8 , the actual indicated thermal
efficiency of an SI engine is of the order of 30%,where as
that for the air standard cycle 56.47.

 this large deviation is due to many reason such as:

non instantaneous burning, incomplete combustion ,
dissociation of the product of combustion at high temperature
variation of specific heat of gases with temperature, heat
transfer, friction, valve timing, pressure drop across the valve
during intake and exhaust etc.
 And also the working substance in the actual cycle is not
only air.
Cont.….

 Ideal Case:
􀂉 Working fluid is air
􀂉 Air is a perfect gas
􀂉 Has constant specific heats

 Actual Case:
􀂉 Working fluid is air + fuel + residual gas
􀂉 Specific heats increases with increase in
temperature
􀂉 Combustion products are subjected to
dissociation at high temperature
 Fuel-Air Cycle
 The theoretical cycle based on the actual properties of the
cylinder contents is called the fuel–air cycle.

 The fuel–air cycle take into consideration the following:

1) Actual composition of the cylinder gas (fuel+ air + water

vapor in air + residual gas)
2) F/A ratio change during operation, and hence changes in
amount of CO2, water vapor etc.
3) Specific heat changes with temperature(except for mono-
atomic gas), and hence, ratio of specific heats (k) also
changes.
4) Changes in no. of molecules in cylinder with the change
in pressure and temperature.
 Fuel-Air Cycles - Assumptions
1) The fuel is completely vaporized and adiabatically mixed
with air and residual gases.
2) There is no chemical change in either fuel or air prior to
combustion.
3) Combustion is assumed to be complete with out any heat
loss at constant volume or constant pressure or limited
pressure.
4) The expansion of burned gases is assumed to be
reversible adiabatic.
5) Piston displacement is assumed to be frictionless.

6) There is no heat exchange between the gases and the

cylinder walls during the complete cycle.
7) The velocities are negligibly small.
Note:
 Factors Affecting The Fuel –Air Cycle

1).Composition of Cylinder Gases

The actual composition of the cylinder contents are
(Fuel+Air+Water vapor+residual gas)

 The fuel air ratio changes during the engine operation

 The change in air-fuel ratio affects the composition of
gases before and after combustion particularly the
percentage of CO2,CO,H2O etc.. In the exhaust gas.
 The amount of exhaust gases in the clearance volume
various with speed and load on the engine.
 The fresh charge composition varies its composition
because when it enters in the cylinder comes in
contact with the burnt gases
 Composition of Cylinder Gases
 The composition of the working fluid, which changes
during the engine operating cycle, is indicated in the
following table.
 2) Variable Specific Heats
 Except mono-atomic gases, all other gases show an
increase in specific heats at high temperature. This
increase does not obey any law.
 Over the temperature range in general use for gases in heat
engines (300 K – 1500 K), the specific heat curve is nearly
a straight line, and can be expressed as

 Above 1500 K, specific heats increase more rapidly,and

may be expressed in the form
 Cont.…

 Increase of specific heat is that as temperature is raised,

larger and larger fractions of heat input go to produce the
motion of atoms with in the molecules.
Cont.…
 1-2-3-4 : with constant specific heats
 1-2´-3´-4´´ : with constant specific heat from point 3´
 1-2´-3´-4´ : with variable specific heats
 2´ is lower than 2 : due to variable specific heats
 3´ is lower than 3 : temperature rise due to a given heat
release ↓ as Cp ↑, and also as 2´ is lower than 2.
 3´ to 4´´ : resulting adiabatic expansion.
 3´ to 4´ : correct expansion (Specific heat as
Temperature ↓ during expansion).
 3) Dissociation Loss
• Dissociation : disintegration of combustion products at
high temperature. During dissociation, heat is absorbed,
whereas during combustion heat is liberated.

 Presence of CO and O2 in the gases tends to prevent the

dissociation of CO2 in rich mixture, which, by producing
more CO suppresses the dissociation of CO2. That means,
there is no dissociation in the burnt gases of a lean
mixture, because the temperature produced is too low for
the phenomenon to occur.
 Note
 Lean Mixture : No dissociation takes place due to low
temperature.

 Maximum dissociation : Chemically correct mixture when

the temperature is high.
 Rich Mixture : Dissociation is prevented by the available
CO and O2.

 Further, heat transfer to cooling medium causes a reduction

in maximum temperature and pressure. As temperature
falls (during the expansion stroke) the separated
constituents recombine and heat absorbed (during
dissociation) gets released. But, it becomes too late to
recover.
 With no dissociation
maximum temperature
is attained @chemically
correct A- F ratio.

 With dissociation
maximum temp is
obtained when
mixture is slightly
rich.

The curve shows the reduction in exhaust gas temperature

due to dissociation with respect to air-fuel ratio.
 The Effect of Dissociation
 Power Output is
maximum at Stoichiometric
Ratio where there is no
dissociation.
 Shaded area
represents loss of
power due to
Dissociation.

 For Lean mixture : No dissociation.

 For Stoichiometric : Maximum dissociation.
 For Rich mixture : Effect declines due to incomplete
combustion and also due to increased quantity of CO
Cont.…

 Dissociation effect are not pronounced in CI engine as

in an SI engine. This is mainly due to

The presence of a heterogeneous mixture and

Excess air to ensure complete combustion

 Both these factors tend to reduce the peak gas

temperature attained in CI engine
 4) Effect of number of moles

 The number of molecules percent in the cylinder after

combustion depends up on the fuel-air ratio, type and
extend of reaction in the cylinder

 According to the gas law

pV  N RT

 The pressure depends on the number of molecules or moles

present. This has direct effect on the amount of work the
cylinder gases can impart on the piston
Effect of Operating Variables
 At the same compression
ratio, efficiency (fuel-air)
decreases with increasing φ.

-When φ > 1, efficiency (fuel

air) decreases with increasing
φ,because insufficient air leads
to incomplete oxidation of fuel.
Effect of Equivalence Ratio on Temperature
 At a given r, maximum
temperature is reached
when the mixture is slightly
rich (about 6 - 8 %). This is
because, at φ=1, there is
still some oxygen present
at point 3 because of
chemical equilibrium
effects, and a rich mixture
will cause more fuel to
combine with oxygen at
that point thereby raising
the temperature T3.
However, at rich mixtures
increased formation of CO
counteracts this effect.
Effect of Equivalence Ratio on Pressure
 The pressure of a gas
in a given space
depends upon its
temperature and the
number of molecules.
 The curve of
p3,therefore follows T3,
but because of the
increased no. of
molecules, p3 starts
decreasing when the
mixture is about 18 to
20 % rich
 Introduction

 Ideal Gas Cycle (Air Standard Cycle)

-Idealized processes
-Idealize working Fluid
 Fuel-Air Cycle
-Idealized Processes
-Accurate Working Fluid Model

 Actual engine Cycle

-Accurate Models of Processes
-Accurate Working Fluid Model
 Introduction
Theoretical Cycle

Corrected for the

Air Cycle Characteristics of the Fuel-Air Fuel air
Composition of Cy. Gases
Variable sp.heat, Dissociation etc.. cycle

Useful work
modified to account
for Combustion loss,
Actual work loses Time loss, Heat loss
Less the friction losses Actual Cycle
Blow down loss, etc…
gives
 Introduction
 The actual cycles for IC engines differ from the fuel-air
cycles and air- standard cycles in many respects.
 The actual cycle efficiency is much lower than the air-
standard efficiency due to various losses occurring in the
actual engine operation.

 Losses – in Actual cycles

􀂉 Time Loss
􀂉 Heat Loss
􀂉 Blow-down Loss
􀂉 Blowby Loss
􀂉 Rubbing Friction Loss
􀂉 Pumping Loss
Time Loss
Spark Advance
 Optimum Spark Advance

Note : Best compromise is to go for moderate spark

advance so as to have smaller losses in both compression
and expansion strokes.
Cycle Performance At Various Ignition Timing
effects of spark-advance on p-v diagram
 Heat Loss
 This is due to the transfer of heat through water jackets and
cooling fins. Also, some heat is being transferred
during compression and expansion processes.

 Due to heat loss, temperature (Tmax) decreases, and

specific heat gets reduced. This decreases the efficiency.
Blow-down Loss
The effects of exhaust valve early
opening greatly exaggerated
Time Loss, Heat Loss and Exhaust Loss
 Blowby Losses
 The blowby loss is due to the leaking of gas flow through
crevices/gaps between the piston, piston rings and
cylinder walls. The gas usually leaks/flows through them
to the crankcase.
Compression
and oil Rings
 Rubbing Friction Losses
 Rubbing friction loss is due to friction between the piston
and chamber walls, friction in various bearings and also
includes the energy spent in operating various auxiliary
equipment such as cooling fans, water pumps etc.
 The piston ring friction increases rapidly with engine
speed. It also increases to a small extent with increase in
mean effective pressure. The bearing friction and the
auxiliary friction also increase with engine speed.
 The efficiency of an engine is maximum at full load and
decreases at part load. This is because the % of direct heat
loss, pumping loss and rubbing friction loss increase at part
loads. The approximate losses for an SI engine using
chemically correct mixture are shown as % of fuel
energy input.
 remark
 Increasing the load (load may be defined as the ratio of
power developed to normal rated power at same speed)
increases the maximum pressure in the cylinder which
results in slight increase in friction values. At the same
time, increase in load results in increase in temperature
inside the cylinder and also the temperature of
lubricating oil. The decrease in the oil viscosity (due to
higher temperature) reduces the friction
slightly.
 Pumping Losses
 Pumping work is the difference between the work done in
expelling the gases (during exhaust stroke) and the work
done in inducing the fresh charge (during suction stroke).
The loss is due to the pumping gases from low inlet
pressure to high exhaust pressure.
 Summary
 Real engines operate on an open cycle with changing
composition. Not only does the inlet gas composition
differ from what exists, but often the mass flow rate is not
the same.

 Engines which add fuel into the cylinders after the air
induction is complete (CI engines and some SI engines)
change the amount of mass in the gas composition.
Thus, there is a greater mass exiting the engine than
what entered.
 During combustion, total mass remains about the same but
the molar quantity changes. Finally, there is a loss of mass
during the cycle due to crevice flow and blowby past the
pistons. This blowby can decrease the amount of mass in
the cylinders as much as 1 % during compression and
combustion.
 Air-standard analysis treats the fluid through the entire
engine as air, and approximates air as an ideal gas. A more
serious error is introduced by assuming constant specific
heats for the analysis. Specific heats of a gas have a fairly
strong dependency on temperature and can vary as much as
30 % in the temperature range of the engine.

 There are heat losses during the cycle of a real engine.

Heat loss during combustion lowers actual peak
temperature and pressure from what is predicted. The
actual power stroke, therefore, starts at a lower pressure,
and the work output during expansion is decreased.
 Combustion requires a short but finite time to occur, and heat
addition is not instantaneous at TDC. By starting combustion
bTDC, cylinder pressure increases late in the compression
stroke, requiring greater negative work in that stroke.
Further, as combustion continues slightly aTDC, some
power is lost at the beginning of expansion stroke.
 Another loss in the combustion process of an actual engine
occurs because of combustion efficiency, which is less than
100 %. This happens due to imperfect mixing, local
variations in temperature and air-fuel due to turbulence,
flame quenching etc. SI engines usually have a combustion
efficiency of about 95 %, while CI engines are generally 98
% efficient.
 Blow-down process requires a finite time to occur and does
not occur at constant volume as assumed in the air-standard
cycle analysis. For this reason exhaust valve open 400 to
600 bBDC, and work output at the latter end of the
expansion is lost.

 Engine valves require a finite time actuate. Ideally, valves

would open and close instantaneously, but this is not
possible when using a camshaft. Cam profiles must allow
for smooth interaction with the cam follower, and this
results in fast but finite valve actuation. To ensure that
inlet valve is fully open at the beginning of suction stroke,
it must start to open bTDC. Similarly, the exhaust valve
must remain fully open until the end of exhaust stroke,
with final closure occurring aTDC.
 Because of these differences, results obtained from the air-
standard analysis will have errors and will deviate from
actual conditions. Interestingly, however, these errors are
not great, and property values of temperature and pressure
are very representative of actual engine values, depending
on the geometry and operating conditions of the real engine.

 By changing operating variables such as inlet temperature,

and/or pressure, compression ratio, peak temperature etc.
in air-standard analysis, good approximations can be
obtained for output changes that will occur in real engine.
 Indicated thermal efficiency of a real four stroke SI engine
is always somewhat less than the what air standard Otto
cycle analysis predicts. This is caused by the heat losses,
friction, ignition timing, finite time of combustion and
blow-down, and deviation from ideal gas behavior of the
real engine.

 It has been found that over a large range of operating

variables, the indicated thermal efficiency of an actual SI
four-stroke cycle engine can be approximated by:

 This will be correct to within a few % for large ranges of

air-fuel equivalence ratio, ignition timing, engine speed,
compression ratio, inlet pressure, exhaust pressure and
valve timing.