Proceedings of the IC Engines Laboratory, B.

Tech (Mechanical Engineering)

IITJ 2014
August 16, 2014, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

Experiment number: 1
VALVE TIMING DIAGRAM AND DIESEL LOAD TEST
Prateek Prakash Tagde
IIT Jodhpur
Jodhpur, Rajasthan
the suction valve opens, the push rod tightens up and as the
valve closes, the rod starts rotating again.
ABSTRACT
Valve Timing Diagram of the Diesel Engine and Junkers
Diesel Load Test and Load vs Smoke density measurement
using Bosch Smoke Meter.

INTRODUCTION
Heat engines are of two types: ECE (External Combustion
engine) like steam engines and ICE (Internal Combustion
Engine). The classification of ICE is done on the basis of fuel
used, thermodynamic cycle, number of strokes (2 stroke or 4
stroke), number of cylinders, cylinder position and use of the
engine. 4 stroke engine has valves (inlet and exhaust) while 2
stroke engine has ports (Suction, Transfer and Exhaust). In 4
stroke engine, the following strokes occur: Suction stroke,
Compression stroke, Ignition stroke (power stroke) and Exhaust
stroke. One cycle of 4 stroke engine occurs after 720 degree
crank angle or 2 revolution of crank shaft. Due to inertia of
valve, push rod, crank shaft, crank, etc. the opening and closing
of valve is not at IDC (Inner Dead Center) or ODC (Outer Dead
Center) for a horizontal engine.
The smoke density measurement is done to see the impact
of load on the amount of smoke produced. As we vary the
amount of load on the engine, the amount of smoke produced
varies. A dynamometer is used to measure the brake horse
power of the engine.

EXPERIMENTAL AND METHODOLOGY

The valve timing diagram of a horizontal 4 stroke Cooper
Diesel Engine is plotted by experimentally finding the positions
of opening and closing of suction, exhaust and fuel injection
valve.
Suction valve is used to suck air into the combustion cylinder.
When the suction valve opens, air is sucked into the chamber.
The suction valve opens through a push rod mechanism. When

Exhaust valve operates with the help of a cam mechanism. As

the CAM rotates, it pushes the valve to open. When the CAM
loses contact with the valve rod, a spring retracts the valve to its
original position to close the valve. The CAM rotates using the
energy from crank shaft.
Fuel Injection valve is used to inject fuel into the cylinder. As
the piston reciprocates, it opens or closes the fuel valve. Fuel
valve opens just before inner dead center and closes before the
power stroke occurs.
The valve timing diagram is plotted by rotating the flywheel of
the engine mechanically. The flywheel is used to equal the
power output of the engine during each stroke. The inertia of
the flywheel supplies even power. First the IDC and ODC of
the engine is marked on the flywheel. To mark the IDC and
ODC, a spirit level is used. As the flywheel rotates, the points
are marked where the piston becomes horizontal. Also we can
see the valves opening and closing as the flywheel rotates.
Marking of points is done on the flywheel where the valves
open or close. Then using a metre tape, the distance of each
point from either IDC or ODC is measured. The circumference
of the flywheel is known. So the angle of the opening and
closing of the valves is calculated and hence the valve timing
diagram can be made.
To find the smoke intensity vs load plot, we run a diesel engine
on different loads. As we increase the amount of load, the fuel
consumption increases. So by keeping the amount of fuel
consumed constant for each load (5ml), the time taken for
burning the fuel is noted. Parallel to this, a smoke pump of
300cc capacity is used to take the sample of smoke. A filter
paper is attached at the opening of the smoke pump. This filter
paper traps the carbon and dust particles. Using an optical
photometer, the smoke density is found out for each load. The
filter paper is held in the light of the bulb of photometer and the
reading is noted. For completely black paper, the photometer

Copyright 2014 by IITJ

gives a reading of 10 units while for a completely white paper

the photometer gives a reading of zero.
RESULTS
The observation table of the valve timing diagram is
attached with the lab report. The graph of smoke intensity vs
load is attached with the lab report.
DISCUSSION
In a 4 stroke engine, one cycle of the engine occurs within
two revolutions of the crank shaft. During this cycle, the valves
operate to pump air and fuel and to expel the exhaust gas. The
suction valve opens at 30 degrees before IDC for diesel engine
and 10 degrees before IDC for petrol engine and closes at about
45 degrees after ODC. The Exhaust valve opens at about 45
degrees before ODC and closes at about 10 degrees after IDC.
The fuel valve opens at about 15 degrees before IDC and closes
at about 50 degrees after IDC.
To calculate the percentage load, the formula for Brake
horsepower is used.
BHP = (w*n)/k
Where w = maximum load the engine can take to produce
same power output
n = rpm of the shaft
k = dynamometer constant
The dynamometer used is absorption type dynamometer.
k = 1000
Instructor: Dr Anand Krishnan Plappally
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank MBM Engineering College, Jai Narain Vyas
University, for providing us lab space, equipments and other
documentation to help us through the lab. We are grateful to
Prof. and his lab team for their services.

Copyright 2014 by IITJ