Moradabad Institute of Technology,

Moradabad

2016-17

Seminar Report On

TRANSONIC ENGINE

Submitted By:

DIVYANK KUMAR

1408240060, M.E. 3RD year , E

Seminar Guide: Seminar Incharge:

Mr. Akash Roy Mr. Arvind kumar

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the seminar report on Transonic Engine by Divyank Kumar, B.Tech.
3rd year ME submitted to seminar guide Mr. Akash Roy and seminar incharge Mr. Arvind
kumar is a record of work carried out under my supervision and guidance and is entirely on
the best of my satisfaction.

The matter collected by him in the preparation and development of this seminar report is a
sole work of his intensive hard work and research.

Seminar Incharge: Seminar Guide

Mr. Arvind kumar Mr. Akash roy

(Dept. of Mech. Engg.)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First the foremost, I would like to thank my respected seminar incharge& M.

Next I am highly indebted to my guide Mr. Akash Roy for his guidance & suggestions
throughout the design and development of my seminar work.

I am heartly thankful to all the faculty of Mech. Department and friends who supported
me without which this would have been impossible.

Divyank Kumar

3rd year (M.E.)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION

Transonic Engine Principle

SUPERCRITICAL FUEL AND INJECTION SYSTEM

Ignition Timing The Key

The Transonic Combustion Technology

FUEL INJECTION IN DIESEL ENGINES

Mechanical and Electronic Injection

Indirect Injection

Direct Injection

SUPERCRITICAL FLUID TECHNOLOGY

Applications

Benefits Of Tsci Systems

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Advanced diesel and gasoline engines, and alternative fuels, are really at the middle of
everything. For the next 30 years, these are more classical powertrains will dominate in
industry.
The traditional four stroke Otto cycle engine piston engine only has a thermal efficiency of
25-30 percent; there is clearly still plenty of room for improvement. While most of the green
automobile attention in recent years has been focused on electrification, liquid fuels still have
about 100 times the energy density of todays best lithium-ion batteries, a difference that
probably wont change significantly any time in the near future.
With that in mind, there is still plenty of effort being expended on improving the humble
internal combustion engine. These efforts range from completely different structures like Eco
Motors opposed piston opposed cylinder (OPOC) to new combustion processes such as
homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI).
One of the most interesting combustion related developments comes from a transonic
combustion. In 2007, a company was claiming it could get an ICE vehicle to 100 mpg.
The transonic system isnt really a radical departure from what we have today on engines.
The system has fuel injectors, a common rail, a fuel pump, and a control system.

The heart of transonic technology is a new fuel delivery system. To get the liquid fuel into a
supercritical state before injecting into the combustion chamber. Traditionally, matter has
been thought of as having three states liquid, solid, gas and any given material can exist in
one of those at any point in time depending on the temperature and pressure. Fuels like
gasoline and diesel generally only burn after they are vaporized. . The injector may operate
on a wide range of liquid fuels including gasoline, diesel and various bio fuels. The injector
fire at room pressure and up to the practical compression limit of IC engines.

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1.1 Transonic Engine Principle:
Transonic engine is based on the principle of the fuel injection. In transonic engine ignition
system is removed and redesigned the fuel injection.
Transonic Combustion is a venture capital and private equity funded start-up with facilities in
Los Angeles and Detroit. Founded in 2006, its focus is to develop and commercialize
fundamentally new fuel injection technologies that enable conventional internal combustion
automotive engines to run at ultra-high efficiency. By operating high compression engines
that incorporate precise ignition timing with carefully minimized waste heat generation,
Transonic Combustion may have a transformational technologyone that can achieve
double efficiency compared to current gasoline powered vehicles in urban driving.
Transonics patented product is its TSCi fuel injection system that utilizes supercritical fuel,
enabling significant improvements in fuel consumption Employing supercritical fuel in
automotive powertrains is being pioneered independently by Transonic according to Brian
Ahlborn, the companys CEO. Supercritical fuels have unusual physical properties that
facilitate short ignition delay, fast combustion, and low thermal energy loss. Many existing
gasoline engines can only achieve around 20:1. The implication is clear Transonics
proposition may facilitate a significantly more efficient combustion process than is currently
employed. While the intellectual property is understandably proprietary, Transonic
Combustions unique feature is that it injects fuel in a different manner. Fuel is raised to a
supercritical state and injected during the combustion process with more precise timing,
meaning Transonics process uses substantially less fuel than conventional systems. The
supercritical fuel is directly injected as a "non-liquid fluid" rather than droplets into the
combustion chamber very near the top of the piston stroke. This ensures that the heat of
combustion is efficiently released only during the power stroke, thus allowing for more
degrees of freedom in engine management. A wide variety of fuels can be accommodated
by Transonics systems, with internal testing having been successful with gasoline, biodiesel
and advanced bio fuels.

Spark ignition gasoline engine efficiency is limited by a number of factors; these include the
pumping losses that result from throttling for load control, spark ignition and the slow burn
rates that result in poor combustion phasing and a compression ratio limited by detonation
of fuel. A new combustion process has been developed based on the patented concept of
injection-ignition known as Transonic Combustion or TSCi; this combustion process is

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based on the direct injection of fuel into the cylinder as a supercritical fluid. Supercritical
fuel achieves rapid mixing with the contents of the cylinder and after a short delay period
spontaneous ignition occurs at multiple locations. Multiple ignition sites and rapid
combustion combine to result in high rates of heat release and high cycle efficiency. The
injection-ignition process is independent from the overall air/fuel ratio contained in the
cylinder and thus allows the engine to operate un-throttled. The short combustion delay
angles allow for the injection timing to be such that the ignition and combustion events take
place after TDC. This late injection timing results in a fundamental advantage in that all work
resulting from heat release produces positive work on the piston. Other advantages are the
elimination of droplet burning and increased combustion stability that results from multiple
ignition sources. Engine test results are presented over a range of speed, load and operating
conditions to show fuel consumption, emission and combustion characteristics from initial
injector and combustion system designs. SC fluids have unique properties. For a start, their
density is midway between those of a liquid and gas, about half to 60% that of the liquid. On
the other hand, they also feature the molecular diffusion rates of a gas and so can dissolve
substances that are usually tough to place in solution. . The injector may operate on a wide
range of liquid fuels including gasoline, diesel and various bio fuels. The injector fire at room
pressure and up to the practical compression limit of IC engines. If we doubled the fuel
efficiency numbers in dynamometers tests of gas engine installed with the SC fuel injection
systems.

FIG: 1.1 TSCi FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM

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 CHAPTER 2

2. SUPERCRITICAL FUEL AND INJECTION SYSTEM:

A comparison of standard direct injection of liquid fuel and transonics novel supercritical
injection process (as viewed through an optical engine fitted with a quartz window) shows
that the new TSCi fuel delivery system does not create fuel droplets.
Throughout the history of internal combustion engine, engineers have boosted cylinder
compression to extract more mechanical energy from a given fuel-air charge. The extra
pressure enhances the mixing and vaporization of the injected droplets before burning.
Transonic combustion is focusing on raising not only the fuel mixtures pressure but also its
temperature. In fact, is to generate a little known, intermediate state of matter also called
supercritical fluid (SC), which could markedly increase the fuel efficiency of next generation
power plants while reducing their exhaust emissions. Transonics proprietary TSCi fuel-
injection systems do not produce fuel droplets as conventional fuel delivery units do. The
supercritical condition of the fuel injected into a cylinder by a TSCi system means that the
fuel mixes rapidly with the intake air which enables better control of the location and timing
of the combustion process.
The novel SC injection system, called as almost drop in units include a GDI type,
common rail system that incorporates a metal oxide catalyst that breaks fuel molecules down
into simpler hydrocarbons chains, and a precision, high speed (piezoelectric) injector whose
resistance heated pin places the fuel in a supercritical state as it enters the cylinder.
If we doubled the fuel efficiency numbers in dynamometers tests of gas engine installed with
the SC fuel injection systems. A modified gasoline engine installed in a 3200 lb (1451 kg)
test vehicle, for example, is getting 98 mpg (41.6 km/L) when running at a steady 50 mph (80
km/h) in the lab.
To minimize friction losses, the transonic engineers have steadily reduced the compression of
their test engines to between 20:1 and 16:1, with the possibility of 13:1 for gasoline engines.
Fuel conditioning is an emerging technology based on the discovery that high powered
magnets placed in a particular pattern on fuel feed lines cause the fuel to burn at a higher
temperature and more efficiently. Fuel is heated beyond thermodynamic critical point.

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Heating is in the presence of a catalyst. Fuel injection is using a specially designed fuel
injector.

FIG 2: SUPERCRITICAL FUEL INJECTION

The new technology in addition is achieving significant reductions in engine out emissions.
Some test engines reportedly generate only 55-58 g/km of CO2, a figure that is less than half
the fleet average value established by the European Union for 2012. Two automakers are
currently evaluating transonic test engines, with a third negotiating similar trials.

2.1 Ignition Timing The Key

SC fluids have unique properties. For a start, their density is midway between those of a
liquid and gas, about half to 60% that of the liquid. On the other hand, they also feature the
molecular diffusion rates of a gas and so can dissolve substances that are usually tough to
place in solution.Additionally, a SC fluid has a very low surface tension. This enables quicker
mixing, and it exhibits catalytic activity that is two to three orders of magnitude faster than
the purely liquid form of the substance.

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If you eliminates the time it takes to vaporize fuel and the heat lost with contact with the
cylinder walls, we could improve the base efficiency of an engine far beyond what would
normally be possible to achieve with.
The TSCi system uses supercritical fuel to place most of the combustion in the hot eddy of
gas that forms at the centre of a standard diesel cylinder chamber. It is been figured that by
changing the ignition delay so that that fuel ignited in that area, the flame can be kept away
from contact with the walls, which take heat out the engine.
It was designed to limit combustion to with in the first 20 to 30 degrees past top dead center,
to make full use of mechanical energy created by burning while reducing the heat lost to the
exhaust.

FIG: 2.1 SUPERCRITICAL FUEL INJECTION IN OPTICAL SPRAY VESSEL

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2.2 The Transonic Combustion Technology

The transonic technology provides a heated catalysed fuel injector for dispensing fuel
predominately or substantially, exclusively during the power stroke of an IC engine. This
injector lightly oxidizes the fuel in a supercritical vapour phase via externally applied heat
from an electrical heater or other means. The injector may operate on a wide range of liquid
fuels including gasoline, diesel and various bio fuels. The injector fire at room pressure and
up to the practical compression limit of IC engines. Since the injector may operate
independent of spark ignition or compression ignition, its operation is referred to herein as
injection-ignition.

There are two major aspects to transonic technology, the fuel preparation and the direct
injection system. The fuel delivery system is an evolution of current direction injection
systems that use a common high pressures (200-300 bar) rail to deliver fuel directly to each
combustion chamber through individually controlled injectors.

According to the transonic, the fuel is catalysed in the gas phase or supercritical phase only,
using oxygen reduction catalysts. The injector greatly reduces both front end and back end
heat losses within the engine. Ignition occurs in a fast burn zone at high fuel density such
that a leading surface of the fuel is completely burned within several microseconds. In
operation, the fuel injector precisely meters instantly igniting fuel at a predetermined crank
angle for optimal power stroke production. More particularly, the fuel is metered in to the
fuel injector, such that the fuel injector heats, vaporizes compresses and mildly oxidizes the
fuel, and then dispenses the fuel as a relatively low pressure gas column into a combustion
chamber of the engine.

The transonic combustion, engine include a combustion chamber, wherein the fuel injector
is mounted substantially in the center of the cylinder head of the combustion chamber.
During operation, a fuel column of hot gas is injected into the combustion chamber, such
that a leading surface of the fuel column auto detonates and the fuel column is radially
dispensed into a swirl pattern mixing with the intake air charge. The combustion chamber
provides a lean burn environment, wherein 0.15 to 5% of the fuel is pre oxidised in the fuel
injector by employing high temperature and pressure. Pre oxidation within the fuel injector
may include the use of surface catalysts disposed on injector chamber walls and oxygen

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sources including standard oxygenating agents such as methyl tetra butyl ether (MTBE),
ethanol, other octane and cetane boosters, and other fuel oxygenator agents, pre oxidation
may further comprise a small amount of additional oxygen taken from air or from
recirculated exhaust gas. The supercritical condition of the fuel injected into a cylinder by a
TSCi system means that the fuel mixes rapidly with the intake air which enables better
control of the location and timing of the combustion process. The novel SC injection
systems, which almost drop-in units, include a GDI-type, common-rail system that
incorporates a metal-oxide catalyst that breaks fuel molecules down into simpler
hydrocarbon chains, and a precision, high-speed (piezoelectric) injector whose resistance-
heated pin places the fuel in a supercritical state as it enters the cylinder. Company
engineers have doubled the fuel efficiency numbers in dynamometer tests of gas engines
fitted with the companys prototype SC fuel-injection systems. A substance goes
supercritical when it is heated beyond a certain thermodynamic critical point so that it
refuses to liquefy no matter how much pressure is applied. SC fluids have unique properties.
For a start, their density is midway between those of a liquid and gas, about half to 60% that
of the liquid. On the other hand, they also feature the molecular diffusion rates of a gas and
so can dissolve substances that are usually tough to place in solution.

FIG: 2.2 THE COMBUSTION TECHNOLOGY BY COMMON RAIL SYSTEM

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 CHAPTER 3

3. FUEL INJECTION IN DIESEL ENGINES

3.1 Mechanical and Electronic Injection

Older engines make use of a mechanical fuel pump and valve assembly which is driven by
the engine crankshaft, usually via the timing belt or chain. These engines use simple injectors
which are basically very precise spring-loaded valves which will open and close at a specific
fuel pressure. The pump assembly consists of a pump which pressurizes the fuel, and a disc-
shaped valve which rotates at half crankshaft speed. The valve has a single aperture to the
pressurized fuel on one side, and one aperture for each injector on the other. As the engine
turns the valve discs will line up and deliver a burst of pressurized fuel to the injector at the
cylinder about to enter its power stroke. The injector valve is forced open by the fuel pressure
and the diesel is injected until the valve rotates out of alignment and the fuel pressure to that
injector is cut off. Engine speed is controlled by a third disc, which rotates only a few degrees
and is controlled by the throttle lever. This disc alters the width of the aperture through which
the fuel passes, and therefore how long the injectors are held open before the fuel supply is
cut, controlling the amount of fuel injected.

This contrasts with the more modern method of having a separate fuel pump (or set of
pumps) which supplies fuel constantly at high pressure to each injector. Each injector then
has a solenoid which is operated by an electronic control unit, which enables more accurate
control of injector opening times depending on other control conditions such as engine speed
and loading, resulting in better engine performance and fuel economy. This design is also
mechanically simpler than the combined pump and valve design, making it generally more
reliable, and less noisy, than its mechanical counterpart.
Both mechanical and electronic injection systems can be used in either direct or indirect
injection configurations.

3.2 Indirect Injection

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An indirect injection diesel engine delivers fuel into a chamber off the combustion chamber,
called a pre chamber, where combustion begins and then spreads into the main combustion
chamber.

3.3 Direct Injection

Modern diesel engines make use of one of the following direct injection methods:

3.3.1 Distributor pump direct injection

The first incarnations of direct injection diesels used a rotary pump much like indirect
injection diesels, however the injectors were mounted directly in the top of the combustion
chamber rather than in a separate pre-combustion chamber. Examples are vehicles such as the
Ford Transit and the Austin Rover Maestro and Montego with their Perkins Prima engine.
The problem with these vehicles was the harsh noise that they made and particulate (smoke)
emissions. This is the reason that in the main this type of engine was limited to commercial
vehicles (the notable exceptions being the Maestro, Montego and Fiat Croma passenger cars).
Fuel consumption was about 15% to 20% lower than indirect injection diesels which for
some buyers was enough to compensate for the extra noise.

3.3.2 Common rail direct injection

In older diesel engines, a distributor-type injection pump, regulated by the engine, supplies
bursts of fuel to injectors which are simply nozzles through which the diesel is sprayed into
the engine's combustion chamber.
In common rail systems, the distributor injection pump is eliminated. Instead an extremely
high pressure pump stores a reservoir of fuel at high pressure - up to 1,800 bar (180MPa) - in
a "common rail", basically a tube which in turn branches off to computer-controlled injector
valves, each of which contains a precision-machined nozzle and a plunger driven by a
solenoid. Most European automakers have common rail diesels in their model lineups, even
for commercial vehicles. Some Japanese manufacturers, such as Toyota, Nissan and recently
Honda, have also developed common rail diesel engines.

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 CHAPTER 4

4. SUPERCRITICAL FLUID TECHNOLOGY

Many new research studies and technologies are making strides to improve methods of
treating hazardous waste. Researchers are examining many diverse topics for treating
chemical contamination of water and soils. Some of the most recent treatment processes
include reverse osmosis, ozone/peroxide/UV treatment, zero-valent metal reduction, and
supercritical fluid oxidation. The focus of this paper is to explain supercritical fluid oxidation.
Also highlighted is promising research of supercritical fluids and innovative technology for
the efficient destruction of a wide range of industrial hazardous wastes.

Fluids may exist as liquids, gases and supercritical fluids. Supercritical fluids exist at high
temperatures and pressures and exhibit properties between those of a gas and liquid phase.
Supercritical fluid oxidation is a rapid process that completely oxidizes organic
contaminates. This process requires creating a supercritical fluid, as the name implies, to act
as a solvent to organics and initiates inorganic precipitation. The following discussion will
cover the background and process description and design considerations of supercritical
fluid oxidation.

A supercritical fluid is a material at an elevated temperature and pressure that has properties
between those of a gas and liquid and is a substance with a temperature above its critical
temperature and critical pressure. Specifically, the supercritical fluid has densities
approaching those of a liquid phase and diffusivities and viscosities approaching those of a
gas phase. The temperature and pressure required to initiate supercritical properties will differ
from material to material as viewed in Table 1. Viewing the temperature-pressure phase
diagram of water or CO2, the ranges at a given temperature and pressure will exhibit liquid,
solid, gas, or supercritical properties. From the phase diagram, the critical point of the
material is shown as the highest temperature and pressure, which the vapour and liquid are in
equilibrium. Within the supercritical region, phase changes from liquid to vapour occurs
gradually. The supercritical region differs from the other regions in the phase diagram
because phase changes occur instantaneously at pressures and temperatures lower than the
critical point (e.g., at the triple point). The duration that the injector is open (called the pulse
width) is proportional to the amount of fuel delivered.

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A table which shows the supercritical properties of various fluids below:
Temperature Pressure Density
Solvent
(C) (atm) (g/cm3)

Carbon Dioxide 31.1 73.0 0.460

Water 374.15 218.4 0323
Ammonia 132.4 111.5 0.235
Benzene 288.5 47.7 0.304
Toluene 320.6 41.6 0.292
Cyclohexane 281.0 40.4 0.270

Supercritical Properties for Various Solvents

Once supercritical properties are obtained, organics within the waste stream can either be
removed or destroyed. Removal occurs when an organic waste stream meets a supercritical
fluid. Organics are known to have high solubility in supercritical fluid thus partitioning from
the contaminate inflow. Once the supercritical fluid dissolves the organics, removal of the
waste from the supercritical fluid is accomplished by either reducing the pressure or
temperature. Reducing the temperature or pressure will then decrease the solubility of the
organics in supercritical fluid thus creating a concentrated extract Pressure reduction
typically occurs by passing the flow through a pressure reduction valve. Temperature
reduction can occur by passing the flow by a heat exchanger that is effective in the recycling
process to reheat the fluid to the supercritical state.

4.1 Applications
In the past, practical applications of supercritical fluids were limited to the food processing
and extraction industry. Supercritical fluids put to use for extraction and separations began in
the 1970s and 1980s. Each year tens of millions of kilograms of the worlds coffee and tea
is decaffeinated using supercritical carbon dioxide.i In Germany for example, most
decaffeinated coffee is produced using this method.
Environmental applications of supercritical fluids are seen in both pollution prevention and
remediation of wastes. Supercritical fluids provide an environmentally friendly alternative
for solvents used in industrial applications. One of the properties of supercritical fluids is

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their excellent ability to dissolve other substances. For example, CO2 is currently being used
to replace harmful hazardous solvents and acts as a reaction medium for materials
processing. CO2 can be removed from the environment, used as an environmentally friendly
solvent, and returned as CO2.

4.2 Benefits Of Tsci Systems

Improved fuel efficiency

About 50 % increase in efficiency.
Perfect combustion of fuel.
Pollution is reduced to a greater extent because of perfect combustion.
Knocking is eliminated.
Engine life is increased .

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 CHAPTER 5
5. CONCLUSION

If it works as promised, the transonic combustion engine technology would improve fuel
economy by far more than other options, some of which can improve efficiency on the
order of 20 percent.
The system can run an engine that uses both gas and diesel as well as biofuels, and it is
supposed to create an engine that is 50 percent more efficient than standard engines.
By eliminating the ignition system and introducing a completely redesigned fuel injection
system, TSCi (Injector-Ignition) realize a 50% increase in efficiency. With the influence
of supercritical fluid enhances a complete combustion and there by increases engine
efficiency and reduces the emissions.
Perfect combustion of fuel occur.
Less pollution.

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 CHAPTER 6

REFERENCES

"Transonic Combustion - A Novel Injection-Ignition System for Improved Gasoline

Engine Efficiency," SAE Technical Paper .

http://www.tscombustion.com/

Injector-ignition for an internal combustion engine.

Wikipedia.

Green Auto blog.

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