Comparative study between diesel and

gasoline engines for Prototype use in Shell

Eco-Marathon
Anass El Houd, Yasser Hallou
Thermal Engineering and Renewable Energies
Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, Morocco

February 16, 2019

1 Introduction
In theory, diesel engines and gasoline engines are quite similar. They are both internal com-
bustion engines designed to convert the chemical energy available in fuel into mechanical
energy. This mechanical energy moves pistons up and down inside cylinders. The pistons
are connected to a crankshaft, and the up-and-down motion of the pistons, known as linear
motion, creates the rotary motion needed to turn the wheels of a car forward. In essence,
they are internal combustion engines that work using a two or four-stroke cycle. In an in-
ternal combustion engine, the power cycle is made up of four phases: intake, compression,
power and exhaust.

In this report, we are going to specify the differences between the two engines based on a
thermal, thermodynamic and economic view. First of all, we start by explaining how do
they work.

2 How does gasoline engine work?

The theoretical cycle of Otto is the ideal cycle of the gasoline engine. Otto is also known as
a spark ignition engine because ignition is done by a spark caused by a spark plug (in french
bougie d’allumage).
One way to study the performance of this engine is to analyze its theoretical cycle. The the-
oretical cycle is an approximation of the real cycle with many simplifications. In practice,
there are so many variables that affect engine performance that calculating the actual cycle
is virtually impossible. Anyway, the theoretical Otto Cico is a good approximation of the
real cycle.

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The following figure represents the Otto cycle in a 4-stroke engine in both the P-V coordinates

Figure 1: Thermodynamic cycle of Gasoline engine

1 to 2 : Intake stroke – The intake valve opens up, letting in air-fuel mixture and moving
the piston down.
2 to 3 : Compression stroke – The piston moves back up and compresses the mix.
3 to 4 : Combustion stroke – The air-fuel mixture is ignited by the use of a spark plug.
4 to 5 : Exhaust stroke – The piston moves back to the top, pushing out the exhaust created
from the combustion out of the exhaust valve.

The performance of the ideal engine is related to some parameters. By performing a ther-
modynamic theoretical study, we find that the heat of high temperature part is written

Qhot = Cv (T3 − T2 )

And the heat of low temperature part is given by

Qcold = Cv (T4 − T1 )

Calculation of the efficiency of Gasoline engine

The expression of the efficiency of the engine is given by

W Qhot − Qcold
ξ= =
Qhot Qhot

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Which implies

Cv (T3 − T2 ) − Cv (T4 − T1 )
ξ=
Cv (T3 − T2 )

Therefore
T4 − T1
ξ =1−
T3 − T2

3 How does diesel engine work?

The theoretical diesel cycle is the theoretical cycle of a diesel engine, also known as a com-
pression ignition engine. The study of a real cycle taking into account all the many variables
represents a very complex problem. For this reason, it is generally simplified by resorting to
theoretical approximations, based on different simplified assumptions.

Figure 2: Thermodynamic cycle of Gasoline engine

The diesel engine uses a four-stroke combustion cycle just like a gasoline engine. The four
strokes are:
1 to 2 : Intake stroke - The intake valve opens up, letting in air and moving the piston
down.
2 to 3 : Compression stroke - The piston moves back up and compresses the air.

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3 to 4 : Combustion stroke - As the piston reaches the top, fuel is injected at just the right
moment and ignited, forcing the piston back down.
4 to 1 : Exhaust stroke - The piston moves back to the top, pushing out the exhaust created
from the combustion out of the exhaust valve.

Similarly to what we did above, the performance of the ideal engine is related to some
parameters. By performing a thermodynamic theoretical study, we find that the heat of
high temperature part is written

Qhot = Cp (T3 − T2 )

As you can see this time, the transformation from 2 to 3 is pressure constant. The heat of
low temperature part is given by
Qcold = Cv (T4 − T1 )

Calculation of the efficiency of Gasoline engine

The expression of the efficiency of the engine is given by

W Qhot − Qcold
ξ= =
Qhot Qhot
Which implies
Cp (T3 − T2 ) − Cv (T4 − T1 )
ξ=
Cp (T3 − T2 )

Therefore
1 T4 − T1
ξ =1−
γ T3 − T2

Knowing the expression of efficiency for the two engines. We can compare between them
based on the temperature values chosen.

4 Two main differences

Only from the four-stroke combustion cycle of both gasoline and diesel engines, we can per-
ceive two main differences, which are:

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In the intake stroke – For gasoline engines fuel and air are externally mixed. Thus the
combustion chamber receives the mix through the intake valve. While for diesel engines, an
injector is used to atomize the fuel thus less fuel is consumed. Note that the mixture is
more homogeneous in the gasoline engines.

In the combustion stroke – The main difference between diesel and petrol engines is that petrol
engines use spark plugs to ignite the air-fuel mixture, while diesel engines rely solely on
heavily compressed air. Note: In recent years, it is possible to have direct injection even in
gasoline engines.

5 Confrontation
Thermal efficiency

We mentioned that above when we expressed the efficiency of the two engines. But we need
to add that Rudolf Diesel found that the temperature of air could be made to increase high
enough if it was heavily compressed. The temperature would rise so high to the point where
it could cause the ignition of diesel fuel. Therefore, in diesel engines, air in cylinder would
be very heavily compressed, typically to around 14 to 23 times its original volume. In petrol
engines, the compression ratio is generally much lower, because they rely more on the spark
plug to begin the power phase. The compression ratio is petrol engines is typically around
only around 7 to 10, with high performance vehicles having higher compression ratios of up
to 13.

Figure 3: Graph showing the relationship of thermal efficiency and compression ratios

Power and Torque

For engines of same size (CC), gasoline engine will produce more Power than diesel engine.
This is because gasoline engines burns more fuel than diesel engine and also are compact
and have smaller stroke length, and hence they operate at higher RPM than diesel engines.

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Because of higher compression ratio of diesel engine, it has longer stroke length, and hence
lower RPM but higher Torque than a petrol engine at same RPM. Power, Torque and Speed
have following relationship:

T ×V
P =
9.5488
Where P is the power in kW, T is the torque in N.m and V is the speed in RPM

It can be seen that Petrol Engine has more power while Diesel Engine has more Torque.
Moreover, Petrol Engine can operate at higher RPM than Diesel Engine. Concluding all this
power and torque talk, Torque at the wheels can be increased by increasing the gear ratio
and hence, it is not an intrinsic property of an engine, while power is intrinsic to the engine
and cannot be increased. Hence, if one has a powerful engine, he can get more torque at the
wheels by manipulating the gear ratios but he can do nothing to increase the power of his
engine except to modify or replace it.

Engine regime

Angular velocity of diesel engines is lower compared to petrol engine with similar features
(number of cylinders). This is due to greater inertia of diesel engine components, and unlike
petrol engines the combustion is longer and so it slow down the four-stroke cycle. Piston
stroke are also longer in diesel engines and so pistons need more time to complete a round-
trip.

Weight and stability

As the compression ratio in diesel engine is bigger, the components need to resist to high-
pressure level and thus they need to be tougher. Cast iron is used for these components
(piston rings. . . ), as it is more resistant. Thus making diesel engines heavier and more
reliable than petrol ones. However, being heavier, diesel engine face front and rear weight
distribution issues. As a result, petrol engines being lighter, they are more balanced and
have dynamic behaviour. Note also the congestion being a serious issue in diesel engine.

6 Engine tuning
Engine remapping or tuning is basically installing a new engine software and setting it to
achieve maximum output. In the process, an engine’s settings for the amount of air, fuel,
ignition timing and so on are changed into new ones which are designed to make stock engine
deliver more power and performance. Turbocharged engines, both petrol and diesel are the
perfect engines for this way of tuning, and despite the fundamentals being similar there are
several subtitle differences between these two.

Remapping gasoline Engines

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The main trick with tuning petrol engines is the fact that, in order to make the most out
of it, the ECU software must be set to allow more air to the engine, more boost from the
turbo and reset the ignition. More air and boost along with more fuel will provide stronger
combustion and setting the ignition in advance will result in significantly more power and
torque. The most important aspects of gasoline engine remapping are the amount of air and
ignition points since they make all the difference. If the ignition timing isn’t set right, we
could end up with no gain whatsoever or having an extremely nervous engine with lumpy
idle which is hard to control on the street.

Remapping Diesel Engines

Diesel engines have one interesting feature and that is lack of spark plugs, which means that
igniting the fuel and air mixture is done by pressure not by a spark. This characteristic, as
well as the specifics of diesel fuel, makes diesel engine remapping a bit different than remap-
ping petrol ones. The main thing to do in order to get the diesel engine up to maximum
output possible is to add more fuel and boost. Engine remapping will change the settings,
allowing more fuel to enter the engine earlier and turbo to deliver more boost earlier in the
rev range, which will result in more power. However, the power gain, although significant,
is not that important. The real gain is the torque and in most cases, engine remapping will
give up to 30% more torque at the wheels. Since modern diesels already have high torque
ratings form the factory, 30% more will thoroughly transform the engine and turn it into
a real performance car. However, the important thing when remapping a diesel engine is
the quality of exhaust fumes, in fact if it consists of a thick black smoke, this indicates that
the settings are not quite matched and that car produces higher emissions than standard.
Black smoke, especially under the acceleration will damage the DPF filter and even cause
problems with annual inspection.