Assignment No.

1
Working of Diesel Engine

Diesel Engine:
The diesel engine (also known as a compression-ignition or CI engine)
and named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in
which ignition of the fuel which is injected into the combustion
chamber is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the
cylinder due to mechanical compression (adiabatic compression)

Working Principle:
The diesel engine is a compression-ignition engine in which the fuel
and air are mixed inside the engine. The air required for combustion
is highly compressed inside the combustion chamber. This
generates high temperatures which are sufficient for the diesel fuel
to spontaneously ignite when it is injected into the cylinder. The
diesel engine thus uses heat to release the chemical energy
contained within the diesel fuel and convert it into mechanical
force.

Adiabatic Compression:
Compression in which no heat is added to or subtracted from the air
and the internal energy of the air is increased by an amount
equivalent to the external work done on the air. The increase in
temperature of the air during adiabatic compression tends to
increase the pressure on account of the decrease in volume alone;
therefore, the pressure during adiabatic compression rises faster
than the volume diminishes.

Working of Diesel Engine:

Diesel engines work by compressing only the air. This increases the
air temperature inside the cylinder to such a high degree that
atomised diesel fuel that is injected into the combustion chamber
ignites spontaneousl . This contrasts with spark-ignition engines such
as a petrol engine (gasoline engine) or gas engine (using a gaseous
fuel as opposed to petrol), which use a spark plug to ignite an air-fuel
mixture.

 There is a Glow Plug which help to start the engine during

hard/cold weather and during when engine bear the low-
compression.
 Diesel engines may operate either as twostroke or four-stroke
engines. The types used in motor vehicles are generally four-
stroke designs.

Overview of whole Engine:

A diesel engine contains one or more cylinders. Driven by the
combustion of the air/fuel mixture, the piston in each cylinder
performs up-and-down movements. This method of operation is why
it was named the “reciprocating-piston engine”. The connecting rod,
or conrod, converts the linear reciprocating action of the piston into
rotational movement on the part of the crankshaft. A flywheel
connected to the end of the crankshaft helps to maintain continuous
crankshaft rotation and reduce unevenness of rotation caused by the
periodic nature of fuel combustion in the individual cylinders. The
speed of rotation of the crankshaft is also referred to as engine
speed.

Parts and Its work:

(i) Fuel Supply System. It consists of storage tank, strainers, fuel
transfer pump. The fuel oil is supplied at the plant site by rail
or road. This oil is stored in the storage tank. From the storage
tank, oil is pumped to smaller allday tank at daily or short
intervals. From this tank, fuel oil is passed through strainers
to remove suspended impurities. The clean oil is injected into
the engine by fuel injection pump.

(ii) Air Intake System. This system supplies necessary air to the
engine for fuel combustion. It consists of pipes for the supply
of fresh air to the engine manifold. Filters are provided to
remove dust particles from air which may act as abrasive in
the engine cylinder.

(iii) Exhaust System. This system leads the engine exhaust gas
outside the building and discharges it into atmosphere. A
silencer is usually incorporated in the system to reduce the
noise level.

(iv) Cooling System. The heat released by the burning of fuel in the
engine cylinder is partially converted into work.The remainder part of
the heat passes through the cylinder walls,piston, rings etc. and may
cause damage to the system.In order to keep the temperature of the
engine parts within the safe operating limits, cooling is provided.The
cooling system consists of a water source, pump and cooling
towers.The pump circulates water through cylinder and head
jacket.The water takes away heat form the engine and itself becomes
hot.The hot water is cooled by cooling towers and is recirculated for
cooling.
(v) Lubricating System. This system minimizes the wear of rubbing
surfaces of the engine.It comprises of lubricating oil tank, pump, filter
and oil cooler.The lubricating oil is drawn from the lubricating oil tank
by the pump and is passed through filters to remove impurities.The
clean lubricating oil is delivered to the points which require
lubrication. The oil coolers incorporated in the system keep the
temperature of the oil low.
(vi) Engine Starting System. This is an arrangement to rotate the
engine initially, while starting, until firing starts and the unit runs with
its own power.Small sets are started manually by handles but for
larger units, compressed air is used for starting.In the latter case, air
at high pressure is admitted to a few of the cylinders, making them to
act as reciprocating air motors to turn over the engine shaft.The fuel
is admitted to the remaining cylinders which makes the engine to start
under its own power.