Internal Combustion Engine Cycles
A discussion on the thermodynamic cycles of internal combustion engines, including the Otto cycle, the Joule cycle, and the Diesel cycle.
Overview
Definitions
Working substance (WS). The WS is used as the carrier for heat energy. The heat engine carries out the conversion process by a series of changes of state of the WS. The state of the WS is defined by the values of its properties, e.g. pressure, volume, temperature, internal energy, enthalpy. These properties are also sometimes called functions of state.
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Key facts
Examples of internal combustion engine cycles are the Otto cycle (also known as the Constant Volume cycle), the Joule cycle (also known as the Brayton cycle, or the Constant Pressure cycle), and the Diesel cycle.
The thermal efficiency of the Otto cycle is given by:
where is the compression ratio, and the heat capacity ratio.
The thermal efficiency of the Joule cycle is given by:
where is the pressure ratio, and the heat capacity ratio.
The thermal efficiency of the Diesel cycle is given by:
where is the compression ratio, the expansion ratio during heating (also known as the cut-off ratio), and the heat capacity ratio.
A thermodynamic cycle comprises a series of operations carried out on the working substance (WS) during which heat is supplied, and after which the WS is returned to its original state (for a more comprehensive introduction to thermodynamic cycles also see Thermodynamic Cycles ).
An example of a thermodynamic cycle is the internal combustion engine. In this case, the WS is treated as pure air, the expansions and compressions are reversible and adiabatic, and heat can be added instantaneously if desired. Applications of such cycles are the Otto cycle, the Joule cycle, and the Diesel cycle.
Before discussing these cycles, we first have to introduce the thermal efficiency of a cycle.
The thermal efficiency of a cycle, also denoted by , is a measure of the ability to convert heat energy into work. Therefore, the thermal efficiency can be defined as:
where is the work output and the heat energy supplied. As the work done can also be expressed as:
where is the heat rejected in the WS and in losses (for a more detailed discussion see Thermodynamic Cycles ). The thermal efficiency from (2) becomes:
or furthermore,
Otto Cycle
The Otto cycle (also sometimes called the Constant Volume cycle) is diagramed on a pressure - volume () plot in Figure 1, and on a temperature - entropy () plot in Figure 2.MISSING IMAGE!
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Joule Cycle
The Joule cycle (also sometimes called the Brayton cycle, or the Constant Pressure cycle) is a thermodynamic cycle that describes the workings of the gas turbine engine. The Joule cycle is depicted on a plot in Figure 3, and on a plot in Figure 4.MISSING IMAGE!
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Diesel Cycle
The Diesel cycle is diagramed on a plot in Figure 5, and on a plot in Figure 6.MISSING IMAGE!
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Example:
[imperial]
Example - Properties of a Diesel cycle
Problem
An engine operates under a Diesel cycle with a top pressure of (). The compression ratio is , and the air at the start of compression is at and . If are added during combustion and expansion in accordance to the law , the clearance volume is , the specific heat at constant pressure during combustion is , and also if we are to ignore the fuel mass, find:
A) the pressure, volume, and temperature at each change point in the cycle;
B) the work output of the cycle (in );
C) the thermal efficiency of the cycle.
The corresponding Diesel cycle is diagramed on a plot in Figure E1.
Workings
A) We are going to consider below each stage of the cycle separately.
Stage 1
We know from the hypothesis that the air at the start of compression is at and . Therefore, the initial pressure is:
while the initial temperature in kelvins () is:
We also know from the hypothesis that the compression ratio is . As the compression ratio is defined as:
we obtain the initial volume:
which becomes, by taking into account that and that is the clearance volume ():
Therefore , , and .
Stage 2
We have from the hypothesis that the top pressure is . Hence:
Also from the hypothesis we have that the clearance volume is . Thus:
By taking into account that:
we can write as:
By replacing the numerical values (see 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7), we obtain:
from which:
Therefore , , and .
Stage 3
As step of the Diesel cycle is isobaric (see Figure E1), we have that:
from which we obtain, by taking into account (6), that:
For step of the cycle we can also write that:
where is the heat supplied (), the specific heat at constant pressure (), and is the temperature difference expressed in , while is the quantity of gas which is present at a pressure of and at a temperature of . In order to calculate , we can write that:
from which:
Taking into account that:
and also replacing the other numerical values (see 1, 2, and 5), we get that:
from which we obtain:
By using the value of from (19) in equation (14), and also considering that , , and that , we get that:
which leads to:
or, by converting the temperature difference into kelvins, to:
As (see 11), we obtain as:
Still for step of the cycle we can write that:
from which becomes:
or, by replacing numerical values (see 7, 11, and 23):
Equation (26) leads to:
Therefore , , and .
Stage 4
As step of the Diesel cycle is isochoric (see Figure E1), we have that:
from which we obtain, by taking into account (5), that:
As for step of the cycle we have that:
we can write:
from which becomes:
or, by replacing numerical values (see 13, 27, and 29):
From equation (33) we obtain:
We know that Therefore, we can divide equation (30) by and still obtain a constant:
Equation (35) can also be written as:
from which we obtain, for step of the cycle, that:
Hence, we can write that:
from which becomes:
or, by replacing numerical values (see 23, 27, and 29):
From equation (40) we obtain:
Therefore , , and .
B) The work output of the cycle is given by:
where (as ). In order to calculate , we can write that:
which leads to:
By applying the function to equation (44), we get:
from which we obtain:
or, by replacing numerical values (see 1, 5, 6, and 7):
Equation (47) leads to:
By replacing all the numerical values in equation (42) (see 1, 5, 6, 7, 13, 27, 29, and 34), and also taking into account that , (see 48), and that , we get the work done in as:
from which we obtain:
C) We know that the thermal efficiency is defined as:
where is the work output, and the heat supplied.
As, in our case, (see 50) and , and also taking into account that , we get the thermal efficiency of the Diesel cycle as:
from which we obtain:
or, expressed as percentage:
Solution