Effect Of Compression Ratio On The Performance Of Diesel Engine At Different Loads

Abhishek Reddy G et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 10, (Part - 2) October 2015, pp.62-68
www.ijera.com 62 | P a g e
Effect Of Compression Ratio On The Performance Of Diesel
Engine At Different Loads.
Abhishek Reddy G*, Nirmal Pratap Singh*, Kolluri R V Sai Krishna*, Anurag
Priyedarshi*, SN Singh**
*(B.Tech, Department of Mechanical Engineering, ISM Dhanbad-04)
** (Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, ISM Dhanbad-04)
ABSTRACT
Variable compression ratio (VCR) technology has long been recognized as a method for improving the
automobile engine performance, efficiency, fuel economy with reduced emission. The main feature of the VCR
engine is to operate at different compression ratio, by changing the combustion chamber volume, depending on
the vehicle performance needs .The need to improve the performance characteristics of the IC Engine has
necessitated the present research. Increasing the compression ratio to improve on the performance is an option.
The compression ratio is a factor that influences the performance characteristics of internal combustion engines.
This work is an experimental investigation of the influence of the compression ratio on the brake power, brake
thermal efficiency, brake mean effective pressure and specific fuel consumption of the Kirloskar variable
compression ratio duel fuel engine. Compression Ratios of 14, 15, 16 and 18 and engine loads of 3kg to 12 kg,
in increments of 3kg, were utilized for Diesel.
Keywords: Variable Compression Ratio (VCR), Diesel, Gasoline, Kirloskar Engine, Loads.
I. INTRODUCTION
Improving Internal Combustion (IC) engine
efficiency is a prime concern today. A lot of
engineering research has gone into the improvement
of the thermal efficiency of the (IC) engines, so as to
get more work from the same amount of fuel burnt.
Most of the energy produced by these engines is
wasted as heat. In addition to friction losses and
losses to the exhaust, there are other operating
performance parameters that affect the thermal
efficiency. These include the fuel lower calorific
value, QLV, compression ratio, and ratio of specific
heats, γ.
The concept of variable compression ratio
(VCR) promises improved engine performance,
efficiency and reduced emissions. The higher
cylinder pressures and temperatures during the early
part of combustion and small residual gas fraction
owing to higher compression ratio give faster laminar
flame speed. Therefore, the ignition delay period is
shorter. As a result, at low loads, the greater the
compression ratio, the shorter is the combustion time.
Time loss is subsequently reduced. Therefore, it
seems reasonable that fuel consumption rate is lower
with high compression ratios at part load.
In the present research study, the effect of
different compression ratios on engine performance
and emission behaviour of diesel engine was studied
and optimum compression ratio was determined. The
compression ratios set for study were ranging from
14 to 18 for diesel engine. The present study focuses
on investigating the better compression ratio for the
variable compression ratio diesel engine at variable
loads.
1.1 Compression Ratio (rc)
Compression ratio is the ratio of the total volume of
the combustion chamber when the piston is at the
bottom dead centre to the total volume of the
combustion chamber when piston is at the top dead
centre.
rc = Total volume at BDC/ Total volume at TDC
1.2 Why VCR?
Theoretically, increasing the compression ratio of an
engine can improve the thermal efficiency of the
engine by producing more power output. The ideal
theoretical air standard cycle has a thermal efficiency
which increases with compression ratio ( rc )
1.3 Moving Head VCR Engine
In The moving head concept (Saab Automobile
AB) combines a cylinder head with cylinder liners
into a mono head construction, which pivots with
respect to the remainder of the engine. The lower half
of the block includes the crankcase and engine
mounts, and carries the crankshaft, gear box, oil
cooler, and auxiliaries. The upper half includes the
cylinders, their Liners, camshafts, and an integrally
cast cylinder head (Fig. 1).This part is referred to as
the mono head. Saab has enabled a tilting motion to
RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS

adjust the effective height of the piston crown at
TDC. The linkage serves to tilt the mono head
relative to the crankcase in order to vary the TDC
position of the piston. By means of actuator and
linkage mechanism the compression ratio can be
varied from 14 to 18. A screw type supercharger
provides a 2:1 boost pressure when open throttle
conditions occur. This system-wide fuel flexibility,
with reduced CO2 emissions is proportional to fuel
consumption. Saab recognized that the fuel efficiency
of the VCR engine would be low without high-
pressure supercharging.
FIG. 1
1.4 Brake Mean Effective Pressure (BMEP),
Efficiency and Specific Fuel consumption (SFC)
The engine torque, T is given by
Where W is the brake load in Newton and R is
the torque arm in metres.
The actual power available at the crank shaft is
the brake power, Bp, given by
Where, N is the engine speed in revolution per
minute.
The brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) is the
mean effective pressure which would have developed
power equivalent to the brake power if the engine
were frictionless, and for a four stroke engine is
given by
Where, n is the number of cylinders and VS is the
swept volume.
The brake thermal efficiency, ηBT is the ratio of
the brake power to the power supplied by the fuel, Qin
and is given by
And
Qin = mf QLV
Where, mf is the mass flow rate of the fuel and QLV is
the lower calorific value of the fuel.
The specific fuel consumption (SFC) is the total
fuel consumed per kilowatt power developed and it is
given by
II. Experimental Setup
2.1 Engine Setup:
Single cylinder four stroke, water cooled,
Kirloskar engine modified to VCR Diesel. The
compression ratio can be changed without stopping
the engine and without altering the combustion
chamber geometry by specially designed tilting
cylinder block arrangement.
The setup consists of single cylinder, four stroke,
VCR (Variable Compression Ratio) Research engine
connected to eddy current dynamometer. It is
provided with necessary instruments for combustion
pressure, crank-angle, airflow, fuel flow,
temperatures and load measurements. These signals
are interfaced to computer through high speed data
acquisition device. The setup has stand-alone panel
box consisting of air box, twin fuel tank, manometer,
fuel measuring unit, transmitters for air and fuel flow
measurements, process indicator and piezo powering
unit. Rotameters are provided for cooling water and
calorimeter water flow measurement. In petrol mode
engine works with programmable Open ECU,
Throttle position sensor (TPS), fuel pump, ignition
coil, fuel spray nozzle, trigger sensor etc. The setup
enables study of VCR engine performance for both
Diesel and Petrol mode and study of ECU
programming. The Engine performance study
includes brake power, indicated power, frictional
power, BMEP, IMEP, brake thermal efficiency,
indicated thermal efficiency, Mechanical efficiency,
volumetric efficiency, specific fuel consumption, Air
fuel ratio, heat balance and combustion analysis

2.1.1. Diesel Mode:
2.2 Software:
Engine Soft is Labview based software package
developed by Apex Innovations Pvt. Ltd. for engine
performance monitoring system. Engine Soft can
serve most of the engine testing application needs
including monitoring, reporting, data entry, data
logging. The software evaluates power, efficiencies,
fuel consumption and heat release. Various graphs
are obtained at different operating condition. While
on line testing of the engine in RUN mode necessary
signals are scanned, stored and presented in graph.
Stored data file is accessed to view the data graphical
and tabular formats
III. Observations
3.1. Diesel Engine:
3.1.1 Engine Detail:
IC Engine set up under test is Research Diesel having
power 3.50 kW @ 1500 rpm which is 1 Cylinder,
Four stroke , Constant Speed, Water Cooled, Diesel
Engine Cylinder Bore 87.50 (mm), Stroke Length
110 (mm), Connecting Rod length 234(mm),
Compression Ratio 14, Swept volume 661.45 (cc)
3.1.2. Combustion Parameters:
Specific Gas Constant (kJ/kg-K): 1.00, Air Density
(kg/m^3): 1.17, Adiabatic Index: 1.41, Polytrophic
Index : 1.28, Number Of Cycles : 10, Cylinder
Pressure Reference: 4, Smoothing 2, TDC Reference
: 0
3.1.3. Performance Parameters:
Orifice Diameter (mm): 20.00, Orifice Coefficient.
Of Discharge: 0.60, Dynamometer Arm Length
(mm): 185, Fuel Pipe dia. (mm): 12.40, Ambient
Temp. (Deg C): 27, Pulses Per revolution: 360, Fuel
Type: Diesel, Fuel Density (Kg/m^3): 830, Calorific
Value Of Fuel (kJ/kg) : 42000
3.1.4. Graphs:
For Compression Ratio = 14:

IV. Results
In order to determine optimum compression ratio
for variable compression diesel engine fuelled with
diesel fuel, tests were carried out at entire load range

and compression ratios of 14, 15, 16 and 18 while
maintaining speed at 1500 rev/min.
4.1. The comparison of brake specific fuel
consumption with varying load:
The comparison is presented in following Graph
at 1500 rev/min. The least fuel consumption is
obtained at compression ratio of 18. The lower
compression ratios than 18 has resulted in high fuel
consumptions. At the lower sides of the compression
ratios, fuel consumption is high due to incomplete
combustion of fuel. The maximum fuel consumption
is measured at CR 14.It is observed that, as the
compression ratio of the engine is increased, BSFC
decreases (improves). Out of the four compression
ratios selected for the study, CR-18 gives lowest
BSFC. This is because at higher compression ratio,
brake power increases. The Graph shows that when
we increase the load at any particular compression
ratio then the specific fuel consumption decreases
from 0.51 kg/kwh at 3.31 kg load and we get lowest
SFC 0.29, 0.29, 0.27, 0.24 for compression ratios 14,
15, 16 and 18 respectively at load (12 kg). And as the
compression ratio is increased we get the decrement
in the SFC and it is observed that lowest value of
SFC occurs at compression ratio 18 and at 12 kg
load.
4.2. Comparison of Brake Thermal Efficiency
with load:
The following graph shows the variations of
brake thermal efficiency with respect to load at
different compression ratios for diesel fuel engine
operation. The thermal efficiency increases with
increase in load. The maximum brake thermal
efficiency is obtained at a compression ratio of 18,
due to the superior combustion and better intermixing
of the fuel. The least brake thermal efficiency is
obtained at a compression ratio of 14.As the graph
Load vs the Brake Thermal Efficiency (%) at
different compression ratio shows that as we increase
the load at any particular compression ratio then
brake thermal efficiency increases and statistical data
shows that it increases from 16.75 % at 3.31 kg load
to 29.63, 29.95, 31.29 and 34.99 % for compression
ratio 14, 15, 16 and 18 respectively at 12 kg load.
It is also observed that as compression ratio is
increased at any load then brake thermal efficiency of
the engine increases.
4.3. Comparison of brake power with load:
As the graph Load vs Brake Power at different
compression ratio shows that as we increase the load
at any particular compression ratio then brake power
increases and statistical data shows that brake power
increases from 0.97KW at 3.31 kg load to 3.44, 3.48,
3.45, 3.46 KW for compression ratio 14, 15, 16 and
18 respectively at 12 kg load.
It is also observed that optimal value of brake
power occurs at compression ratio15.

4.4. Comparison of brake mean effective pressure
with load:
The below graph Load vs Brake Mean Effective
Pressure (bar) at different compression ratio shows
that as we increase the load at any particular
compression ratio then Brake Mean Effective
Pressure increases and statistical data shows that it
increases from 1.14 bar at 3.31 kg load to 4.14, 4.18,
4.14, 4.14 for compression ratio 14, 15, 16 and 18
respectively at 12 kg load.
It is also observed that as compression ratio is
increased at any load then Brake Mean Effective
Pressure first increases then optimal value occurs at
compression ratio 15.
V. Conclusion:
The general conclusions drawn from the results
of this work for Diesel Engine are as follows:
1) As the compression ratio of the engine is
increased, BSFC decreases (improves). At the lower
sides of the compression ratios, the fuel consumption
is high due to incomplete combustion of the fuel. The
maximum fuel consumption is measured at CR 14.
2) The maximum brake thermal efficiency is obtained
at a compression ratio of 18, due to the superior
combustion and better intermixing of the fuel. The
least brake thermal efficiency is obtained at a
compression ratio of 14.
VI. Nomenclature
CR = Compression Ratio
VCR= Variable Compression Ratio
BP = Brake Power
IP = Indicated Power
BMEP = Brake Mean Effective Pressure
IMEP = Indicated Mean Effective Pressure
FMEP = Friction Mean Effective Pressure
SFC = Specific Fuel Consumption
REFERENCES
[1.] Mahesh P. Joshi, Aparna V. Kulkarni,
January- September (2012), International
Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Research and Development (IJMERD), ISSN
2248 – 9347(Print) ISSN 2228 –
9355(Online), Volume 2, Number 1
[2.] Aina T., Folayan C. O. and Pam G. Y, 2012,
3 (4):1915-1922, Advances in Applied
Science Research, Pelagia Research
Library, ISSN: 0976-8610 CODEN (USA):
AASRFC
[3.] Pesic R. B., Milojevic S. T. and Veeinovic
S. P., Benefits and Challenges of Variable
Compression Ratio at Diesel Engines,
Journal of Thermal Science, Volume 4,
2010, Pages 1063-1073.
[4.] Suyin Gan, Hoon Kiat Ng and Kar Mun
Pang, Homogeneous Charge Compression
Ignition (HCCI) combustion:
Implementation and Effects on Pollutants in
Direct Injection Diesel Engines, Journal of
Applied Energy, Volume 88, 2011, Pages
559–567.
[5.] Amjad Shaik, N Shenbaga Vinayaga
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[6.] J. Heywood. Internal Combustion Engine
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Effect Of Compression Ratio On The Performance Of Diesel Engine At Different Loads

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Effect Of Compression Ratio On The Performance Of Diesel Engine At Different Loads