Internal Combustion Engine

The internal combustion (IC) engine is a heat engine that converts

chemical energy in a fuel into mechanical energy, usually made
available on a rotating output shaft.
History of IC engines:
1700s - Steam engines (external combustion engines)
1860 - Lenoir engine (h = 5%)
1867 - Otto-Langen engine (h = 11%, 90 RPM max.)
1876 - Otto four stroke spark ignition engine (h = 14%, 160 RPM max.)
1880s - Two stroke engine
1892 - Diesel four stroke compression ignition engine
1957 - Wenkel rotary engine

Atmospheric Engine

Process 1-2: Fuel air mixture introduced into cylinder at

atmospheric pressure
Process 2-3: Constant pressure combustion (cylinder open
to atmosphere)
Process 3-4: Constant volume cooling (produces vacuum)
Process 4-5: Isentropic compression (atmosphere pushes piston)
Process 5-1: Exhaust process

VALVE
Patm
Po

2
1

P
4
V

Historical IC Engines

FLYWHEEL

Two-stroke Lenoir Engine

Process 1-2:
Process 2-3:

Process 3-4:
Process 4-5:
Process 5-1:

Fuel air mixture introduced into cylinder at

atmospheric pressure
At half-stroke inlet valve closed and combustion
initiated constant volume due to heavy piston
producing high pressure products
Products expand producing work
At the end of the first stroke exhaust valve opens and
blowdown occurs
Exhaust stroke

4
Po

5
V

Two-stroke Otto-Langen Engine

Process 1-2:
Process 2-3:

Process 3-4:

Process 4-5:
Process 5-1:

Fuel air mixture introduced into cylinder at

atmospheric pressure
Early in the stroke inlet valve closed and combustion
initiated constant volume due to heavy piston
producing high pressure products
Products expand accelerating a free piston
momentum generates a vacuum in the tube
Atmospheric pressure pushes piston back, piston
rack engaged through clutch to output shaft
Valve opens gas exhausted

Disengaged
output shaft

Engaged
output shaft
5

Four stroke Spark Ignition (SI) Engine

Stroke 1:

Fuel-air mixture introduced into cylinder through intake

valve
Fuel-air mixture compressed
Combustion (roughly constant volume) occurs and
product gases expand doing work
Product gases pushed out of the cylinder through the
exhaust valve

Stroke 2:
Stroke 3:
Stroke 4:

FUEL

Ignition

R
Fuel/Air
Mixture

Intake
Stroke

Compression
Stroke

Combustion
Products

Power
Stroke

Exhaust
Stroke
6

Engine Operating Cycle

Spark plug for SI engine
Fuel injector for CI engine
Valves

Top
Center
(TC)

crank angles
crank speed
s
1 rev
CA

rev 360 CA

time

Stroke

Bottom
Center
(BC)

TC
0o

Cylinder
wall

Piston

Crank shaft

q
270o

Clearance
volume

90o

180o
BC

Pressure-Volume Graph 4-stroke SI engine

One power stroke for every two crank shaft revolutions

Pressure

Spark
Exhaust valve
opens

Exhaust
valve
closes

Intake valve
closes

1 atm
Intake
valve
opens
TC

BC
Cylinder volume

Motored Four-Stroke Engine

Pressure (bar)
100

10

BC

TC

Exhaust

Intake

IVO - intake valve opens, IVC intake valve closes

EVO exhaust valve opens, EVC exhaust valve opens
Xb burned gas mole fraction
9

Four-Stroke SI Engine
Pressure (bar)
100

Valve overlap
Exhaust gas
residual

10

Exhaust

Intake

IVO - intake valve opens, IVC intake valve closes

EVO exhaust valve opens, EVC exhaust valve opens
Xb burned gas mole fraction
10

Four stroke Compression Ignition (CI) Engine

Stroke 1:
Stroke 2:
Stroke 3:

Air is introduced into cylinder through intake valve

Air is compressed
Combustion (roughly constant pressure) occurs and
product gases expand doing work
Product gases pushed out of the cylinder through the
exhaust valve

Stroke 4:
A

Fuel Injector

I
R

Air

Intake
Stroke

Compression
Stroke

Combustion
Products

Power
Stroke

Exhaust
Stroke

11

Four-Stroke CI Engine

Cylinder
volume

Fuel mass
flow rate

SOI start of injection

EOI end of injection
SOC start of combustion
EOC end of combustion

Cylinder
pressure

Fuel mass
burn rate

12

Engine Anatomy
Air cleaner

Carburetor

Camshaft
Rocker arm
Intake valve

Cam sprocket

Exhaust valve
Piston
Connecting rod

Timing belt

Timing belt
tensor

Crank sprocket

Crankshaft

Oil pickup

Oil pump

13

Poppet Valve Actuation with Overhead Camshaft

Camshaft
Spring

Spark
plug

Guide
Stem
Air manifold
Valve head
Valve seat

Piston
14

Cylinder Head Design

Honda VTEC (variable intake valve timing)

15

Modern Two-Stroke Spark Ignition Engine

Stroke 1:

Fuel-air mixture is introduced into the cylinder and

is then compressed, combustion initiated at the end of
the stroke

Stroke 2:

Combustion products expand doing work and then

exhausted

* Power delivered to the crankshaft on every revolution

16

Two Stroke Spark Ignition Engine

Exhaust
Port*
Transfer
Port*

Fuel-air-oil
mixture
Reed
valve

Expansion

Exhaust

Intake (Scavenging)

Crank
shaft

*No valves and

thus no camshaft

Fuel-air-oil
mixture
Compression

Ignition

17

Two-Stroke CI Engine

Cylinder Press (P)

EPO exhaust port open

EPC exhaust port closed
IPO intake port open
IPC intake port closed

scavenging
110 CA

Exhaust area (Ae)

Ae

Intake area (Ai)

Intake Press (Pi)

Ai

Pe

Pi

Exhaust Press (Pe)

18

Scavenging in Two-Stroke Engine

Cross

Loop

Uniflow

19

Advantages of the two stroke engine:

Power to weight ratio is higher than the four stroke engine since there
is one power stroke per crank shaft revolution.
No valves or camshaft, just ports
Most often used for low cost, small engine applications such as lawn
mowers, marine outboard engines, motorcycles.

Disadvantages of the two-stroke engine:

Incomplete scavenging or to much scavenging
Burns oil mixed in with the fuel

20

Single Cylinder Engine

Single-cylinder engine gives one power stroke per crank revolution
(360 CA) for 2 stroke, or every two revolutions for 4 stroke.
The torque pulses on the crank shaft are widely spaced, and engine
vibration and smoothness are significant problems.

4-stroke

2-stroke

0 CA
(TC)

180 CA

360 CA
(TC)

540 CA

720 CA
(TC)

180 CA

Used in small engine applications where engine size is more important

21

Multi-cylinder Engines
Multi-cylinder engines spread out the displacement volume amongst
multiple smaller cylinders. Increased frequency of power strokes
produces smoother torque characteristics.
Most common cylinder arrangements are in-line 4 and V-6:

Engine balance (inertia forces associated with accelerating and

decelerating piston) better for in-line versus V configuration.
22

V-6 Engine
Inlet
runner

Air intake
manifold

23

Fuel-Air Mixing
In spark ignition engines the air and fuel are usually mixed prior to entry
into the cylinder.
Initially a purely mechanical device known as a carburetor was used to
mix the fuel and the air
Most modern cars use electronic fuel-injection systems:
- 1980s single injector used to spray fuel continuously into the air manifold
- 1990s one injector per cylinder used to spray fuel intermittently into the
intake port

24

Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) Engine

Fuel is injected directly into the cylinder during the intake stroke or the
compression stroke
High pressure injector required, 5-10 MPa
Need bowl in piston design to direct the fuel spray towards the spark plug

25

Direct-Injection Stratified-Charge Engines

Create easily ignitable fuel-air mixture at the spark plug and a leaner
fuel-air mixture in the rest of the cylinder.

Lean burn results in lower emissions and higher energy efficiency

Example:
Mitsubishi GDI engine achieves complete combustion with an air-fuel
ratio of 40:1 compared to 15:1 for conventional engines

This results in a 20% improvement in overall fuel efficiency and CO2

production, and reduces NOx emissions by 95% with special catalyst

26

Stratified Charge Engine

During intake stroke air enters the cylinder

Near the end of the compression stroke fuel is injected and directed
by the piston head bowl towards the spark plug

The mixture at the spark plug is rich in fuel thus easy to ignite but
the amount of fuel injected results in an overall lean fuel-air mixture
Lowers heat transfer to the walls but increases thermal cyclic load on
the spark plug, and standard catalytic converter doesnt work
27