General Layout Of A Diesel Engine Power Plant

Figure shows the general layout of a diesel engine power plant. The engine and its various
auxiliaries systems are depicted with their proper positions. The flow path of air, fuel and gas
are shown by arrows. The plant consists of the following:
1. Engine
2. Air Intake system
3. Exhaust system
4. Fuel system
5. Fuel Injection system
6. Cooling system
7. Lubrication system
8. Starting system

Principal parts of a diesel engine:

Figure shows a cross-section of an air cooled IC engine depicting the principal parts.
Generally, for stand-by plant, water cooled engine is preferred but where there is scarcity of
water or in mobile power plants, air cooled engine is preferred. The principal parts are

cylinder, cylinder head, piston, inlet valve, Inlet port, Exhaust valve, Valve spring, cooling
fins, wrist pin, connecting rod, crankcase, crankpin, crank, crankshaft.

Air Intake System:

The function of air intake system is to convey fresh air through louvres and air filter to the
cylinder via intake manifold. In order to augment the power, supercharger is fitted in between
the filter and engine and the super charger is driven by the engine itself.

Exhaust system:

The purpose of exhaust system is to discharge the engine exhaust to the atmosphere with
minimum noise. Figure shows the exhaust system. The exhaust manifold connects the engine
cylinder exhaust outlet to the exhaust pipe which is provided with a muffler or silencer to
dampen the fluctuating pressure of the exhaust line which in turn reduces most of the noise
which may result if gases are discharged directly to the atmosphere. It is advisable to use
flexible tubing system for exhaust pipe to take up the facts of expansion due to high
temperature and to isolate the exhaust system from the engine vibration.
Appreciable amount of heat from the engine exhaust goes as a waste. In order to utilize this, a
heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) may be used to generate low pressure steam for
process work.

Fuel handing system:

Figure shows the fuel handling system of a diesel engine power plant. The fuel oil may be
delivered at the plant site by many means such as trucks, railway wagons or barges and oil
tankers. With the help of unloading facility, the fuel oil is delivered to the main tanks from
where oil is pumped to small service storage tank known as engine day tank through
strainers. This day tank has the capacity to store oil equivalent to about 8 hours consumption.
In order to reduce the pumping power input, oil is heated either by hot water or steam which
reduces viscosity and so the power input.

Fuel Injection system:

It is supposed to be the heart of diesel engine and its failure means stopping of the engine.
The fuel injection system performs the following functions:
1. It filter the fuel insuring oil free from dirt.
2. It meters the correct quantity of fuel to be injected in each cylinder.
3. It times the injection process in relation to the crankshaft revolution.
4. It regulates the fuel supply.
5. It atomizes finely the fuel oil for better mixing with the hot air leading to efficient
combustion.
6. It distributes, the atomized fuel properly in the combustion chamber.
There are two ways to atomize the fuel. In one case, air injection is used while in other
methods, pressure or mechanical or solid injection is used. Nowadays the air injection is
obsolete and mechanical injection is invariably used. In mechanical or solid injection system,
the fuel oil is forced to flow through spray nozzles at pressure above 100 bar. There are three
types of solid injection system namely:
1. Common rail injection system
2. Individual pump injection system.

3. Distributed system.

1. Common rail injection system: As the name implies, a single pump supplies fuel under
high pressure to a fuel header or common rail as shown in figure from where the fuel goes to
each of the nozzle located in the cylinder. The timing of injection is maintained by
mechanically operated valve and the amount of fuel is controlled by the push rod stroke.

2. Individual pump injection system: As the name implies, the system has
an independent high pressure pump for each cylinder which meters, pumps and controls the
timing of fuel injection as shown in figure. Each cylinder is provided with one injector and
the pump and injector may be integrated as one unit. The fuel is brought to the individual
pump from storage tank through course filter, low pressure pump and fine filter. The high
pressure pump is equipped with a control mechanism and at the proper time, a rocker arm
actuates the plunger and thus injects the fuel into the cylinder. The amount of fuel injected is
regulated by the effective stroke of the plunger. It is the most popular fuel injection system in
practice.

3. Distributed system: Figure shows arrangement of distributed system. In this system a

metering and high pressure pump is used to pump the metered quantity of fuel on the rotating
distributor which distributes the fuel to the individual cylinder at the correct timing. The
number of injection stroke per cycle for the pump is equal to the number of cylinders. The
fuel is fed to the high pressure pump from storage tank through course filter, IP pump and
fine filter. Since the metering and timing of injection is accomplished by one plunger, equal
amount of fuel is supplied to each cylinder at the same point in the cycle.

Fuel Injector:
The liquid fuel in the injection system filters into the combustion chamber through the
injector. Fuel injector employed in CI engine is of automatic type. It is mounted on the
cylinder body at such a location which yields better performance. Quick and complete
combustion is insured by a well designed fuel injector. The fuel injector assembly consists of
the following:
1. Needle or nozzle valve
2. A compression ring
3. A nozzle
4. Injector body

Figure shows a cross-sectional view of a typical bosch fuel injector. The fuel from the fuel
pump is fed down to the nozzle mouth through long drilling passage. The fuel pressure acts
on the differential area of the nozzle valve which lifts against the spring force, and thus
allows the fuel to enter into the combustion chamber via small orifice (holes) in the form of
finally atomized spray. Once the fuel from the delivery pump gets exhausted, the spring
pressure pushes the nozzle valve back on its seat.

Types of nozzles:
The design of nozzle is mainly based on the types of combustion chamber used insuring
proper and efficient combustion of fuel. The type of nozzles used in diesel engines are:
1. Single hole
2. Multi hole
3. Pintle type
4. Pintaux type