Old spec L15 Question 2 - petrol engine power bandTutorialOld spec ENGR2172:125 min

ENGR217 Lecture 15 review of reciprocating engines, Question 2 (slides 9-17)

Consider a petrol engine with a volumetric airflow of 1.1N1.1N litres/second for N≤50N \le 50 and 55 litres/second for N>50N > 50 (NN is the engine speed in rev/s), a swept volume of 1.6 litres and a compression ratio of 10. The fuel takes 0.01 seconds to completely combust, and during this time the heat addition is Qin=200tQ_{in} = 200t kJ, where tt is the time in seconds since ignition. The gases are discharged through the exhaust valve halfway through the cycle, at which point any unburnt air/fuel mixture is no longer able to supply heat to the engine. As in the lecture, take one cycle per revolution (cycle time 1/N1/N) and γ=1.4\gamma = 1.4.

Formulas you may need
  • Otto efficiency: ηth=1−1rγ−1\eta_{th} = 1 - \dfrac{1}{r^{\gamma-1}} (on the formula sheet)
  • Volumetric efficiency: ηv=V˙VsN\eta_v = \dfrac{\dot V}{V_sN} (learn this, Lecture 10-11)
  • Power output: P=ηthηvηmQinNP = \eta_{th}\eta_v\eta_mQ_{in}N with QinQ_{in} the heat for a full swept-volume charge (learn this)
  1. (a)
    Determine the net power output as the engine speed varies from 0 to 200 rev/s (assume the thermal efficiency does not vary with speed).
  2. (b)
    Determine how the volumetric efficiency varies with engine speed from 0 to 200 rev/s.
  3. (c)
    Determine the output power of the engine, assuming the mechanical efficiency is 0.75, as a function of engine speed, and determine the power band for the engine (where output power is more than half the peak power).
  4. (d)
    Is it reasonable to assume an ideal Otto cycle in this case?