AIR STANDARD CYCLES

The air standard cycle is a cycle followed by a heat engine which uses air as the working medium.
Since the air standard analysis is the simplest and most idealistic, such cycles are also called ideal
cycles and the engine running on such cycles are called ideal engines.
ASSUMPTIONS
1.
The working medium is a perfect gas with constant specific heats and molecular weight
corresponding to values at room temperature.
2.
3.
4.
5.

No chemical reactions occur during the cycle. The heat addition and heat rejection processes
are merely heat transfer processes.
The processes are reversible.
Losses by heat transfer from the apparatus to the atmosphere are assumed to be zero in this
analysis.
The working medium at the end of the process (cycle) is unchanged and is at the same
condition as at the beginning of the process (cycle).

BASIC CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ANALYSIS OF POWER CYCLES

The cycles encountered in actual devices are difficult to analyze because of the presence of friction,
and the absence of sufficient time for establishment of equilibrium conditions during the cycle.
In order to make an analytical study of a cycle feasible, we have to make some idealizations by
neglecting internal Irreversibility and complexities.
Such cycles resemble the actual cycles closely but are made up of internal reversible processes.
These cycles are called ideal cycles.
AIR STANDARD CYCLES
In gas power cycles, the working fluid will be in gaseous phase throughout the cycle.Petrol engines
(gasoline engines), diesel engines and gas turbines are familiar examples of devices that operate on
gas cycles. All these devices are called Internal combustion engines as the fuel is burnt within the
boundaries of the system. Because of the combustion of the fuel, the composition of the working fluid
changes from a mixture of air and fuel to products of combustion during the course of the cycle.

CARNOT CYCLE. : an ideal reversible closed thermodynamic cycle in which the working substance
goes through the four successive operations of isothermal expansion to a desired point, adiabatic
expansion to a desired point, isothermal compression, and adiabatic compression back to its initial
state. when acting as a heat engine consists of the following steps

AN OTTO CYCLE is an idealized thermodynamic cycle that describes the functioning of a typical
spark ignition piston engine. It is the thermodynamic cycle most commonly found in automobile
engines. Pressure-Volume diagram. Temperature-Entropy diagram.

Process 01 a mass of air is drawn into piston/cylinder arrangement at constant

pressure.
Process 12 is an adiabatic (isentropic) compression of the air as the piston moves
from bottom dead centre (BDC) to top dead centre (TDC).
Process 23 is a constant-volume heat transfer to the working gas from an external
source while the piston is at top dead centre. This process is intended to represent the
ignition of the fuel-air mixture and the subsequent rapid burning
Process 34 is an adiabatic (isentropic) expansion (power stroke).
Process 41 completes the cycle by a constant-volume process in which heat is
rejected from the air while the piston is at bottom dead centre.
Process 10 the mass of air is released to the atmosphere in a constant pressure
process.

DIESEL CYCLE
The Diesel cycle is a combustion process of a reciprocating internal combustion engine. In it, fuel is
ignited by heat generated during the compression of air in the combustion chamber, into which fuel is
then injected.

Process 1 to 2 is isentropic compression of the fluid (blue)

Process 2 to 3 is reversible constant pressure heating (red)

Process 3 to 4 is isentropic expansion (yellow)
Process 4 to 1 is reversible constant volume cooling

STIRLING CYCLE
Stirling engine components are less than that of internal combustion engine therefore its simplicity
makes this engine friendly usage and maintenance. The increasing of fossil energy demand impacts
on natural resources and leads us facing fuel price crisis. Therefore, alternative and sustainable
energy which is environmental safe is required.
Stirling Cycle Stirling engine is based on Stirling cycle thermodynamically. The internal circulation of
the working gas under expansion and extraction in hot and cold spaces, respectively, moves two
pistons called displacer and power piston. The schematic diagrams of P-v and T-s diagrams are as
shown.
a. Isothermal expansion. The expansion space is heated externally, and the gas undergoes
near-isothermal expansion.
b. Constant-volume (known as isovolumetric or isochoric) heat removal. The gas is passed
through the regenerator, thus cooling the gas, and transferring heat to the regenerator for use
in the next cycle.
c. Isothermal compression. The compression space is intercooled, so the gas undergoes nearisothermal compression.
d. Constant-volume heat addition. The compressed air flows back through the regenerator and
picks up heat on the way to the heated expansion space.

DUAL COMBUSTION CYCLE

The dual combustion cycle (also known as the limited pressure or mixed cycle, Trinkler
cycle, Seiliger cycle or Sabathe cycle) is a thermal cycle that is a combination of the Otto cycle and
the Diesel cycle, first introduced by Russian-German engineer Gustav Trinkler. Heat is added partly
at constant volume and partly at constant pressure, the advantage of which is that more time is
available for the fuel to completely combust. Because of lagging characteristics of fuel this cycle is
invariably used for diesel and hot spot ignition engines. The P-V diagram is given below:
The dual cycle consists of following operations:
1. 1-2 Adiabatic compression
2. 2-3 Addition of heat at constant volume.
3. 3-4 Addition of heat at constant pressure.
4. 4-5 Adiabatic expansion.
5. 5-1 Rejection of heat at constant volume.

ERICSSON CYCLE
he Ericsson cycle comprises of two isothermal and two constant pressure (isobaric) processes. The
following is a list of the four processes that occur between the four stages of the ideal Ericsson cycle:

Process 1 -> 2: Isothermal compression. The compression space is assumed to

be intercooled, so the gas undergoes isothermal compression. The compressed air flows into a
storage tank at constant pressure. In the ideal cycle, there is no heat transfer across the tank
walls.
Process 2 -> 3: Isobaric heat addition. From the tank, the compressed air flows through the
regenerator and picks up heat at a high constant-pressure on the way to the heated powercylinder.
Process 3 -> 4: Isothermal expansion. The power-cylinder expansion-space is heated
externally, and the gas undergoes isothermal expansion.
Process 4 -> 1: Isobaric heat removal. Before the air is released as exhaust, it is passed
back through the regenerator, thus cooling the gas at a low constant pressure, and heating the
regenerator for the next cycle.