Energy Balance in IC Engines

What is an LHR Engine?

 Reducing heat rejected to coolant and surroundings by
providing thermal insulator coatings in cylinder liners,
Piston head, Cylinder head using,

 Zirconia
 Aluminium Titanate

 Aluminium silicate

 Silicon nitride

 Air gaps
Why LHR?
 In diesel engines percentage of fuel energy rejected to
coolant fluid (Approx 19-22%) can be reduced.
 Better thermal efficiency.
 Engine components durability can be improved.
 Better combustion.
 Lower pollution (Hydrocarbon)
 In CI ignition delay reduced due to high temperature.
Methods of reducing Heat
Rejection
 By providing ceramic coatings on piston, cylinder wall,
cylinder head, valves etc
 Providing air gap in liner, piston
 Making components itself with low heat conducting
materials such as supernickel, cast iron, mild steel
Coating on piston head
Materials used for Insulation
 Partially stabilised zirconia (PSZ)
 It is made by adding insufficient amount of stabilizer to
pure zirconia.
 Mullite
 It is a compounds of SiO2 and Al2O3 with composition
3Al2O3.2SiO2.
 It has low density, High thermal stability,
good chemical stability and low thermal conductivity
Case study with ceramic coatings
Engine specifications
Engine type Ford 6.0,T/CI, DI
Stroke number 4
Cylinder number 6
Bore (mm) 104.77
Stroke (mm) 114.9
Compression ratio 16.5: 1
Maximum engine power (kW) 136 (at 2400 rpm)
Maximum engine speed (rpm) 2780
Displacement volume (l) 5.947
Injection timing (8 CA) 20 BTDC static
Case study
A six cylinder, direct- injected, turbocharged, inter-cooled LHR diesel engine

 By an application of 0.5 mm thickness insulation coating at

the crown face of the piston, cylinder head and valves, the
heat loss to the coolant is found approximately 23, 34, 46%
for high, medium and low loads, respectively. In the case of
standard engine (without coating), the heat loss to the
coolant is higher than that of the coated engine and there
values are 27, 36, 49%, respectively.
 Using insulation to reduce the heat loss to the cooling
system of the engine causes the cylinder walls to become
hotter and increases exhaust gas energy.
•The heat loss to the exhaust system for low, medium and
high loads is 27, 27, 37%, respectively. On the other hand
for standard engine the values are 24, 23, 29%,
respectively.
•Thermal efficiency is not improved to the same extent
that heat rejection is reduced by combustion chamber
insulation.
•High temperatures on the combustion chamber wall
surface due to insulation cause a drop in volumetric
efficiency although increased boost pressure from the
turbocharger can be used to overcome this problem.
Effects on Energy balance
At medium load
At High load
Comparison with conventional
engine
BMEP Vs Brake Thermal Efficiency
 LHR engine with insulation coating on piston, cylinder
head and valves gives marginal rise in thermal
efficiency when compared with conventional engine.
The insulation prevents heat loss resulting in
increased charge temperature leading to better
combustion and reduced ignition delay.
 Increased charge temperature leads to increase in
exhaust gas temperature.
BMEP Vs Exhaust gas temperature
Specific fuel consumption Vs Engine speed
BMEP Vs Volumetric Efficiency
 For low engine speeds, bsfc of LHR engine is les then
that of conventional engine. This is due to increase in
thermal efficiency.
 At higher speeds, bsfc of LHR engine decreases
because of decrease in volumetric efficiency.
 Volumetric efficiency decreases because of increased
in cylinder temperature which decreases density of
inducted air.
Heat release rate Vs Crank angle
 The higher heat release rate in LHR engine is due to
insulation which leads to retainment of heat in
combustion chamber.
 Heat retainment helps to reduce physical delay and
reduces premixed combustion.
Hydrocarbon Emission Vs Load
 In LHR engines due to high temperature in cylinder,
more complete combustion is obtained.
 Hence unburned Hydrocarbons or HC emission is
reduced
 For turbocharged engines HC emission further reduces
because of availability of more fresh air.
BMEP Vs NoX emssion
 Higher Nox emission in LHR engine is partly due to
 High combustion temperature
 Shorter combustion duration
Increasing combustion duration increases fraction of fuel
that burns later in the cycle and thus decreases Nox
emission.
Thermal analysis of piston (CI)
Temp distribution over piston(SI)
Adverse effects
 Reduction in volumetric efficiency due to the
increased compression chamber surface temperature
which can be improved by using a turbocharger.
 Increased Nox Emissions due to higher combustion
temperature.
Mass production
 Two layers of coatings:
 A layer made of NiCrAlY with 150 microns thickness
 Another layer of ZrO2-8%Y2O3 with 300 microns
thickness.
 Method - Plasma thermal spray method.
In Action
 Volkswagen Lupo FSI – Coatings done by Sulzer Metco
 Swain Tech. – Leader in the coating industry develops
coatings that allow customers to achieve power and
durability gains.
 Eco motors international – Opposed piston opposed
cylinder engine.
Thank you..