The Compression Ignition Engine
Introduction
The name compression Ignition (CI) describes the process of combustion.
The basic difference between from the petrol/ Spark Ignition (SI) engine is
that in the CI engine no spark is needed to ignite the mixture. Air alone is
drawn into the cylinder during the induction stroke, and it is compressed
so that the temperature is raised to the point where ignition of the diesel
fuel occurs as it is injected.
Operation
Figure 1: operation of CI engine
Induction
The piston moves down the cylinder, creating a larger volume and lower
pressure as shown in figure 2(a). Air flows into the depression through the
open inlet valve until the piston reaches the bottom of its stroke and the
valve closes. The cylinder is now full of air.
Compression
With both the inlet and exhaust valves closed, the piston moves up the
cylinder, compressing the air into a smaller volume. Just after T.D.C a finely
atomised spray of fuel is injected into the hot air. The droplets vaporise,
combine the oxygen in air and ignite.
Power
The burning gases cause a very rapid temperature increase which raises
the pressure too. This high pressure acts on the piston crown and forces
the piston down the cylinder on its power stroke, producing a turning force
or torque on the crankshaft.
Exhaust
As the piston reaches bottom dead centre of its cylinder, the exhaust valve
opens and the piston and the piston returns up the cylinder, pushing the
exhaust gases out through the exhaust port. When the piston approaches
the top of its stroke, the inlet valve begins to open and the exhaust valve
begins to close.
The cycle repeats with the inlet open and the piston descending in the
cylinder on its induction stroke.
Two Stoke CI Cycle
In the two-stroke engine the complete cycle of operations takes place in
two strokes of the piston (that is, one crankshaft revolution), in a similar
way to that of a petrol engine. However where petrol engines rely on
crankcase compression to transfer the air/fuel mixture to purge the
cylinder, CI engines usually rely on some form of charger or blower.
There are two major types of CI two stroke engines. Namely:
1. Uniflow which uses the inlet port and exhaust valves
2. Valveless which has no valves but uses the inlet and exhaust ports
only.
The Uniflow CI two-stroke engine
This engine employs the normal poppet-type exhaust valve at the top of
the cylinder, opened by rockers operated by the camshaft. The engine is
illustrated in figure 3
Figure 2: Two stroke Uniflow engine
Instead of inlet valves, there are inlet ports cut into the cylinder walls at
the lower end of the cylinder. The ports are connected to a roots blower
(supercharger) which may have three or two roots depending on the
manufacturer. The function of this blower is to drive air into the engine at
a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure to enhance complete
combustion of fuel.
Mode of Operation
At B.D.C the piston sides are exposing the ports from the air chest and air
is being blown into the cylinder to both charge the cylinder and expel the
exhaust gases through the open exhaust valves. As the piston moves
upwards it closes the air ports at about the same time as the exhaust valves
are closed. The air is then compressed by the piston and fuel is injected
just before T.D.C.
Figure 3: Two stroke timing diagram
The fuel spray is broken up by, and mixed with, the air to start combustion.
The expansion of the air forces the piston down the bore to provide the
power stroke, and the exhaust valves are opened before the piston opens
the air ports to restart the cycle.
Assignment: Read and make notes about the two stroke Valveless engine
