Automotive Vehicles

ME C 441
IC- D Jaya Krishna

Assignment 2
T Karan 2009A4PS341H

Q1. Can fuel injection systems be employed in SI engines? Provide valid reason for your answer? Yes, fuel injection systems can be(are currently being) used in SI engines. Initially the SI engines had carburetors for supply of fuel to the combustion chamber. During the suction stroke vacuum is created in the combustion chamber, this negative pressure causes air to rush in through the carburetor and this causes the fuel to be sucked in when the air flows through the venturi. To make the engines more efficient nowadays fuel injection systems are being used. In case of SI engine the fuel injectors inject the fuel air mixture unlike the fuel injectors in CI engine which only inject the fuel. Present day engines have electronic controlled fuel injectors. The fuel injector is controlled by an electronic control unit (ECU). The ECU is connected to various sensors which give it feedback so as to decide the amount fuel to be injected so as to ensure maximum efficiency at all times and help increase power output as and when required. The fuel injectors also ensure maximum atomization of the fuel-air mixture thereby increasing the efficiency. Q2. Why Petrol Engine is not used for heavy machines/trains/applications? Petrol engines are basically SI engines. In SI engines the once the fuel-air mixture is compressed, a spark is given by the spark plug which ignites the high pressure mixture and combustion occurs instantaneously; whereas in a CI engine the air is compressed and then the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber over a period of time. Because of this reason the energy given by a petrol engine is over a short period of time and that given by the diesel engine is over a longer period of time. In case of heavy machines the machine will have substantial amounts of work to be done so it is preferred to have an engine which provides energy over a longer period of time therefore petrol engines are not used for these applications. Also the loads are high the work requirement will be more, thereby increasing the amount of fuel to be burnt and since diesel is the cheaper fuel among the two, it makes it an economically viable option.

Q3. Compare the Diesel engine and petrol engine cars? Which one will be more beneficial and how? Petrol engines are lighter than diesel engines therefore are better for smaller vehicles such as bikes and autos. Diesel engines give much higher torque than a petrol engine so it is preferred in cars where the load to be pulled is higher (heavier vehicles) e.g. Sports Utility Vehicles (Mahindra Scorpio), trucks etc. Petrol engines are low torque and high speed, so petrol engines are preferred in cars which require high speeds e.g. race cars. Diesel engines are more efficient compared to petrol engines due to higher compression ration so for cars that are used more often the diesel engines are preferred. Diesel engines dont need an ignition system since they are CI engines and whereas petrol engine has complex parts for the ignition system. Due to higher compression ratios the diesel engine is noisier and requires more maintenance compared to the petrol engines. Diesel is a cheaper fuel. From the above points we can conclude that a diesel engine is better for vehicles that are used for longer distances due to the fact that they are more efficient but we must keep in mind that the maintenance cost of the diesel engine is much higher thereby making it a more expensive option in the long run. So the type of car must be decided depending on the expected usage and conditions. Q4. Why can't we use diesel engines in motorbikes? Diesel engines are basically CI engines so they work on high compression ratios so the size of the engine is much bigger compared to that of a petrol engine(stroke length is more for a diesel engine). And since a motorbike is a small vehicle it is better to use a petrol engine. As said before diesel engine are bigger so it has larger moving parts thereby increasing the vibrations of the engine- for a vehicle to be capable of sustaining higher vibrations more robust and bigger frames(chassis) are required which will in turn make the bike much more bulkier and heavy. Due to these reasons the diesel engines are not used on bikes.

Q5.

Explain and differentiate Direction injection and Indirect injection ? An indirect injection (diesel engine) delivers fuel into a chamber off the combustion chamber, called a prechamber, where combustion begins and then spreads into the main combustion chamber. The prechamber is carefully designed to ensure adequate mixing of the atomized fuel with the compression-heated air. The purpose of the divided combustion chamber is to speed up the combustion process, in order to increase the power output by increasing engine speed. The addition of a prechamber, however, increases heat loss to the cooling system and thereby lowers engine efficiency. The engine requires glow plugs for starting. In an indirect injection system the air moves fast, mixing the fuel and air. This simplifies injector design and allows the use of smaller engines and less tightly toleranced designs which are simpler to manufacture and more reliable. Direct injection, by contrast, uses slow-moving air and fast-moving fuel; both the design and manufacture of the injectors is more difficult. The optimisation of the in-cylinder air flow is much more difficult than designing a prechamber. There is much more integration between the design of the injector and the engine. It is for this reason that car diesel engines were almost all indirect injection until the ready availability of powerful CFD simulation systems made the adoption of direct injection practical.

Direct fuel injection costs more than indirect injection systems: the injectors are exposed to more heat and pressure, so more costly materials and higherprecision electronic management systems are required. However, the entire intake is dry, making this a very clean system. The fuel is then sent through tubing to the injectors which inject it into the combustion chamber. The fuel is sprayed with the help of a nozzle which is opened and closed with a needle valve, operated with a solenoid. When the solenoid is not activated, the spring forces the needle valve into the nozzle passage and prevents the injection of fuel into the cylinder. The solenoid lifts the needle valve from the valve seat, and fuel under pressure is sent in the engine cylinder. Advantages of indirect combustion1. The injection pressure required is low, so the injector is cheaper to produce. 2. The injection direction is of less importance.

3. Indirect injection is much simpler to design and manufacture; less injector development is required and the injection pressures are low. 4. The lower stresses that indirect injection imposes on internal components mean that it is possible to produce petrol and indirect injection diesel versions of the same basic engine. At best such types differ only in the cylinder head and the need to fit a distributor and spark plugs in the petrol version whilst fitting an injection pump and injectors to the diesel. Examples include the BMC A-Series and B-Series engines and the Land Rover 2.25/2.5-litre 4-cylinder types. Such designs allow petrol and diesel versions of the same vehicle to be built with minimal design changes between them. 5. Higher engine speeds can be reached, since burning continues in the prechamber 6. Indirect injection is superior for running on thicker vegetable oil fuel, due to lower pressure injection, a longer burn time and increased swirl ensuring more complete combustion. Disadvantages of indirect combustion1. Specific fuel consumption is high because of heat loss due to large exposed areas and pressure loss due to air motion through the throats. 2. Glowplugs are needed for a cold engine start. 3. Because the heat and pressure of combustion is applied to one specific point on the piston as it exits the precombustion chamber or swirl chamber, such engines are less suited to high specific power outputs (such as turbocharging or tuning) than direct injection diesels. The increased temperature and pressure on one part of the piston crown causes uneven expansion which can lead to cracking, distortion or other damage.

Indirect ignition- prechamber-