Chapter 3:

Engine Cycles

Dr Ali Jawarneh
Department of Mechanical Engineering

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AIR-STANDARD ASSUMPTIONS
Air-standard assumptions:
1. The working fluid is air, which
continuously circulates in a closed loop
and always behaves as an ideal gas.
2. All the processes that make up the
cycle are internally reversible.
3. The combustion process is replaced
by a heat-addition process from an
external source.
4. The exhaust process is replaced by
a heat-rejection process that
restores the working fluid to its
The combustion process is replaced by
initial state.
a heat-addition process in ideal cycles.

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 AIR-STANDARD CYCLES
In air-standard cycles, air is considered an ideal gas such that the
following ideal gas relationships can be used:

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 m = mixture of all gases

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OTTO CYCLE: THE IDEAL CYCLE FOR
SI engine
SPARK-IGNITION ENGINES
It is named after Nikolaus A. Otto, who built a successful four-stroke engine in 1876 in Germany

Actual and ideal cycles in spark-ignition engines and their P-v diagrams. 7
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OTTO CYCLE

Process 5-6 is the exhaust stroke that occurs at a constant pressure of one atmosphere due to
the open exhaust valve. This is a good approximation to the real exhaust stroke, which occurs
at a pressure slightly higher than the surrounding pressure due to the small pressure drop
across the exhaust valve and in the exhaust system.

It is not uncommon to find the Otto cycle shown with processes 6-1 and 5-6 left off the figure.
The reasoning to justify this is that these two processes cancel each other thermodynamically
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and are not needed in analyzing the cycle. Dr Ali Jawarneh
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 DIESEL CYCLE: THE IDEAL CYCLE CI engine

FOR COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINES

In diesel engines, only air is compressed during the
compression stroke, eliminating the possibility of
autoignition (engine knock). Therefore, diesel engines
can be designed to operate at much higher compression
ratios than SI engines, typically between 12 and 24.

• 1-2 isentropic
compression
• 2-3 constant-
pressure heat
addition
• 3-4 isentropic
expansion
• 4-1 constant-
volume heat
rejection.

In diesel engines, the spark plug is replaced  of actual CI

by a fuel injector, and only air is compressed engines range
during the compression process. from about 35 to
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DIESEL CYCLE

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If reptesentative numbers are introduced into Eq. (3-73), it is found that the
value of the term in brackets is greater than one. When this equation is
compared with Eq. (3-31), it can be seen that for a given compression ratio the
thermal efficiency of the Otto cycle would be greater than the thermal efficiency
of the Diesel cycle. Constant-volume combustion at TDC is more efficient than
constant-pressure combustion. However, it must be remembered that CI
engines operate with much higher compression ratios than SI engines (12 to
24 versus 8 to 11) and thus have higher thermal efficiencies.
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 Comparison of Spark Ignition (SI) and Compression Ignition (CI) Engines
1) Type of cycle used: In the case of SI engines, the Otto cycle is used. In this cycle, addition of heat or fuel
combustion occurs at a constant volume. The basis of working of CI engines is the Diesel cycle. In this cycle the
addition of heat or fuel combustion occurs at a constant pressure.
2) Introduction of fuel in the engine: In the case of SI engines, during the piston's suction stroke, a mixture of air and
fuel is injected from cylinder head portion of the cylinder. The air-fuel mixture is injected via the carburetor that
controls the quantity and the quality of the injected mixture. In the case of CI engines, fuel is injected into the
combustion chamber towards the end of the compression stroke. The fuel starts burning instantly due to the high
pressure. To inject diesel in SI engines, a fuel pump and injector are required. In CI engines, the quantity of fuel to
be injected is controlled but the quantity of air to be injected is not controlled.
3) Ignition of fuel: By nature petrol (gasoline) is a highly volatile liquid, but its self-ignition temperature is high.
Hence for the combustion of this fuel a spark is necessary to initiate its burning process. To generate this spark in
SI engines, the spark plug is placed in the cylinder head of the engine. The voltage is provided to the spark plug
either from the battery or from the magneto. With diesel, the self-ignition temperature is comparatively lower.
When diesel fuel is compressed to high pressures, its temperature also increases beyond the self-ignition
temperature of the fuel. Hence in the case of CI engines, the ignition of fuel occurs due to compression of the air-
fuel mixture and there is no need for spark plugs.
4) Compression ratio for the fuel: In the case of SI engines, the compression ratio of the fuel is in the range of 7 to 10
depending on the size of the engine and the power to be produced. In CI engines, the compression ratio for air is
12 to 24. The high compression ratio of air creates high temperatures, which ensures the diesel fuel can self-
ignite.
5) Weight of the engines: In CI engines the compression ratio is higher, which produces high pressures inside the
engine. Hence CI engines are heavier than SI engines.
6) Speed achieved by the engine: Petrol or SI engines are lightweight, and the fuel is homogeneously burned, hence
achieving very high speeds. CI engines are heavier and the fuel is burned heterogeneously, hence producing
lower speeds. RPM max, Si = 4500, RPM max, CI = 1800
7) Thermal efficiency of the engine: In the case of CI engines the value of compression ratio is higher; hence these
engines have the potential to achieve higher thermal efficiency. In the case of SI engines the lower compression
ratio reduces their potential to achieve higher thermal efficiency.
- Engines using the Diesel cycle are usually more efficient, although the Diesel cycle itself is less efficient at equal
compression ratios. Since diesel engines use much higher compression ratios.

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 Turbocharger
A turbocharger's purpose is to compress the air/oxygen entering a car's
engine, increasing the amount of oxygen that enters and thereby increasing
the power output

The turbocharger is composed of two main parts: the compressor, which

compresses the air in the intake; and the turbine, which draws the exhaust
gases and uses them to power the compressor (the turbocharger is
powered by the car's own exhaust gases).

The advantage of compressing the air is that it lets the engine squeeze
more air into a cylinder, and more air means that more fuel can be added.
Therefore, you get more power from each explosion in each cylinder. A
turbocharged engine produces more power overall than the same engine
without the charging. This can significantly improve the power-to-weight ratio
for the engine

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Approximating the Dual cycle: A more realistic QUESTIONS
combustion process in
ideal cycle model for modern, Diesel engines operate at
internal combustion
engines as a constant- high-speed compression ignition higher air-fuel ratios than
volume or a constant engine. gasoline engines. Why?
pressure heat-addition
Despite higher power to
process is overly
simplistic and not quite weight ratios, two-stroke
realistic. Probably a engines are not used in
better (but slightly more automobiles. Why?
complex) approach would
be to model the The stationary diesel
combustion process in engines are among the
both gasoline and most efficient power
diesel engines as a producing devices (about
combination of two heat- 50%). Why?
transfer processes, one
at constant volume and What is a turbocharger?
Cut-off Ratio ( β) = V4/V3
the other at constant Why are they mostly used
Pressure Ratio (α) =P3/P2
pressure. The ideal cycle in diesel engines compared
based on this concept is to gasoline engines.
called the dual cycle.
P-v diagram of an ideal dual cycle. In Duel Cycle heat is added
partly at constant volume and
The relative amounts of heat transferred during each process partly at constant pressure, the
can be adjusted to approximate the actual cycle more closely. advantage of which is that more
Note that both the Otto and the Diesel cycles can be obtained time is available for the fuel to
as special cases of the dual cycle. completely combust.
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The modern high-speed CI engine
accomplishes this in part by a simple
operating change from early diesel engines.
Instead of injecting the fuel late in the
compression stroke near TDC, as was done in
early engines, modern CI engines start to
inject the fuel much earlier in the cycle,
somewhere around 20° bTDC. The first fuel
then ignites late in the compression stroke,
and some of the combustion occurs almost at
constant volume at TDC, much like the Otto
cycle. A typical indicator diagram for a modern
CI engine is shown in Fig. 3-9. Peak pressure
still remains high into the expansion stroke
due to the finite time required to inject the fuel. Fig. 3-10).
The last of the fuel is still being injected at
TDC, and combustion of this fuel keeps the
pressure high into the expansion stroke. The
resulting cycle shown in Fig. 3-9 is a cross
between an SI engine cycle and the early CI
cycles. The air-standard cycle used to analyze
this modern CI engine cycle is called a Dual
cycle, or sometimes a Limited Pressure cycle
(Fig. 3-10). It is a dual cycle because the heat
input process of combustion can best be
approximated by a dual process of constant
volume followed by constant pressure. It can
also be considered a modified Otto cycle with
a limited upper pressure.
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The advantage of DUAL CYCLE is that more time
is available for the fuel to completely combust
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Thermodynamic Analysis of Air-Standard Dual Cycle

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The analysis of an air-standard Dual cycle is the same as that of the Diesel
cycle except for the heat input process (combustion) 2-x-3.

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EXAMPLE PROBLEM 3-4
A small truck has a four-cylinder, four-liter CI engine that operates on
the air-standard Dual cycle using light diesel fuel at an air-fuel ratio of
18. The compression ratio of the engine is 16:1 and the cylinder bore
diameter is 10.0 cm. At the start of the compression stroke, conditions in
the cylinders are 60°C and 100 KPa with a 2% exhaust residual. It can
be assumed that half of the heat input from combustion is added at
constant volume and half at constant pressure. Calculate:
1. temperature and pressure at each state of the cycle

Given: the heating value of light

diesel=42500 kJ/kg.

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COMPARISON OF OTTO, DIESEL,
AND DUAL CYCLES
Figure 3-11 compares Otto, Diesel, and Dual
cycles with the same inlet conditions and the
same compression ratios. The thermal efficiency
of each cycle can be written as:

(3-90)

The area under the process lines

on T-s coordinates is equal to the
heat transfer, so in Fig. 3-11(b)
the thermal efficiencies can be
compared. For each cycle, qout
is the same (process 4-1). q in of
each cycle is different, and using
Fig. 3-11(b) and Eq. (3-90) it is
found for these conditions:

(3-91)

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However, this is not the best way to compare
these three cycles, because they do not
operate on the same compression ratio.
Compression ignition engines that operate
on the Dual cycle or Diesel cycle have much
higher compression ratios than do spark
ignition engines operating on the Otto cycle.
A more realistic way to compare these three
cycles would be to have the same peak
pressure-an actual design limitation in
engines. This is done in Fig. 3 12. When this
figure is compared with Eq. (3-90), it is
found:

(3-92)
Comparing the ideas of Eqs. (3-91) and (3-92)
would suggest that the most efficient
engine would have combustion as close as
possible to constant volume but
would be compression ignition and operate at
the higher compression ratios which
that requires. This is an area where more
research and development is needed.

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 Two-Stroke SI Engine cycle

Process 3-4-5-intake, and exhaust

scavenging.
Exhaust port open and intake port open:
Intake air entering at an absolute pressure on the order of 140-180 kPa
fills and scavenges the cylinder. Scavenging is a process in which the air
pushes out most of the remaining exhaust residual from the previous
cycle through the open exhaust port into the exhaust system, which is at
about one atmosphere pressure. The piston uncovers the intake port at
point 3, reaches BDC at point 4, reverses direction, and again closes the
intake port at point 5. In some engines fuel is mixed with the incoming
air. In other engines the fuel is injected later, after the exhaust port is
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 Two-Stroke CI Engine cycle
Many compression ignition
engines-especially large
ones-operate on two-stroke
cycles. These cycles can
be approximated by the air-
standard cycle shown in
Fig. 3-17. This cycle is the
same as the two-stroke SI
cycle except for the fuel
input and combustion
process. Instead of adding
fuel to the intake air or
early in the compression
process, fuel is added with
injectors late in the
compression process, the
same as with four-stroke
cycle CI engines. Heat
input or combustion can be
approximated by a two-step
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 Actual Air Fuel Engine Cycle
•Although air standard cycles provide an effective method of
estimating the efficiency of an engine and for comparison purposes
between engines

•There are a number of differences that exist between an actual

engine cycle and an air standard cycle.

•These differences are clear when comparing the PV diagram from a

real engine with that from an ideal cycle.

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Actual SI 4-Stroke Cycle
•1: BDC, start of the compression
stroke.
•2: Intake valve closed.
•Delay in closing the valve is to
increase the volumetric efficiency.
•Actual compression doesn’t start
until the valve is closed.
•This reduces T and P predicted
before combustion.
•3: Start of combustion. •5-6: Actual expansion process.
•4: TDC. •6: Exhaust valve is opened.
•3-5: Combustion process •6-7: Main exhaust blowdown.
•Combustion requires a finite time •The exhaust valve is opened
to occur and so it is started before before BDC since the blow down
the TDC. process requires a finite time to
•Combustion continues at the start take place.
of the power stroke.
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•7-10: Main exhaust process.
•8: Intake valve opens.
•9: TDC
•10: Exhaust valve closes.
•8-10: Valve overlap period.
•This overlap period reduces
the efficiency of the cycle but
is imposed by the practical
application requirements.
•10-2: Induction process
•1: BDC •For a wide-open throttle,
•2: Intake valve closes pumping losses are minimal.
•7-1: Exhaust and intake •While for partially-closed
processes that form a loop throttle, more pressure losses
representing “pumping”work. result in more drastic results.
•This reduces the efficiency of •For a turbocharged or a
the cycle by a magnitude supercharged engine, this loop
depending on the throttle is flipped upwards due to the
settings. high intake pressure.

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 Actual SI 2-Stroke Cycle
•1: BDC, piston starts moving
upwards
•1-2: gas exchange on
scavenging
•2: Transfer port is closed.
•2-3: Gases still escaping
through exhaust port.
•3: Exhaust port is closed
•3-4: Actual effective
compression process.
•4: Start of the combustion
process.
•5: TDC
•4-6: Actual combustion process.
•6-7: Expansion process.
•7: Exhaust port is opened.
•7-8: Exhaust blowdown.

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•8: Transfer port is opened.
•8-2: Gas exchange process, both
ports are opened.
•2: Transfer port is closed.
•Loss of fresh charge results
during this process.
•The previous loop represents the
cylinder itself.
•A pumping loop in the crankcase
can be drawn as well. •3: Inlet port is opened.
•1: BDC (this is the smallest •5: Inlet port is closed.
volume in the crankcase). •3-5: Induction process.
•2: Transfer port is closed. •4: TDC (largest volume in
•1-2: Gas transfer to the cylinder. crankcase)
•5-6: Charge is compressed in
the crankcase.
•6: Transfer port is opened.
•6-2: Transfer process.

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Actual SI 2-Stroke Cycle

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