Atkinson Cycle

Otto Cycle
Four stroke Spark Ignition (SI) Engine
Stroke 1:
Stroke 2:
Stroke 3:
Stroke 4:

Fuel-air mixture introduced into cylinder through intake

valve
Fuel-air mixture compressed
Combustion (roughly constant volume) occurs and
product gases expand doing work
Product gases pushed out of the cylinder through the
exhaust valve

Atkinson Cycle
The Atkinson-cycle engine is a type of internal combustion
engine invented by James Atkinson in 1882.
Due to the unique crankshaft design of the Atkinson, the
expansion ratio may differ from the compression ratio. By
adjusting the linkage to allow a power stroke that is longer
than the compression stroke, the engine can achieve greater
efficiency than with the Otto cycle engine.
The exhaust expansion stroke was 1.78 times longer than
the intake stroke.
Note how the exhaust stroke is made longer when the
swinging link is in the top position, and the lower lip of the
cylinder has to be cut away to accommodate the connecting
rod.

Atkinson Cycle
While Atkinson's original design is no more than an
historical
curiosity,
many
modern
engines
use
unconventional valve timing to produce the effect of a
shorter compression stroke/longer power stroke, thus
realizing the fuel economy improvements the Atkinson cycle
can provide.
Recently Atkinson cycle has been used to describe a
modified Otto cycle engine in which the intake valve is held
open longer than normal to allow a reverse flow of intake air
into the intake manifold. The effective compression ratio is
reduced (for a time the air is escaping the cylinder freely
rather than being compressed) but the expansion ratio is
unchanged. This means the compression ratio is smaller
than the expansion ratio. Heat gained from burning fuel
increases the pressure, thereby forcing the piston to move,
expanding the air volume beyond the volume when
compression began.

Atkinson Cycle
The goal of the modern Atkinson cycle is to
allow the pressure in the combustion
chamber at the end of the power stroke to be
equal to atmospheric pressure; when this
occurs, all the available energy has been
obtained from the combustion process. For
any given portion of air, the greater
expansion ratio allows more energy to be
converted from heat to useful mechanical
energy meaning the engine is more efficient.
The disadvantage of the four-stroke Atkinson
cycle engine versus the more common Otto
cycle engine is reduced power density.
Because
a
smaller
portion
of
the
compression
stroke
is
devoted
to
compressing the intake air, an Atkinson cycle
engine does not take in as much air as would
a similarly designed and sized Otto cycle
engine.

Atkinson Cycle

There are 42ps horse power differences between this two engine with
same engine displacement.

Atkinson Cycle
Reduces pumping losses in the engine.
Reduces the amount of fuel-air to be compressed,
resulting in greater fuel efficiency
Allows the expansion stroke to be longer than the
compression stroke, improving thermal efficiency

Original Cam Profile

According to research paper SAE

910451, 15 degree is optimum design
for intake valve closing in Atkinson
Cycle.
By rotating original cam profile 15
degree at solid work software, we get
approximately 1mm additional curve.

1 mm additional
curve

Modification Procedure

1) Marking the valve opening area

to welding

Welding

2) Welding the marking area

3) Grind the welding area using the hand grinder

to get 1mm thickness addition.

Results
a) Specific Fuel Consumption (sfc) Versus Load at 3000 rpm

Brake Thermal Efficiency (b) versus load at 3000 rpm

Nilai BTE sepatutnya lebih rendah. Tak mungkin BTE enjin petrol boleh
tinggi hingga 40%. Kesilapan ini berlaku akibat kesalahan mengukur kadar
penggunaan bahan api.
Apa yang penting yang ingin ditunjukkan dalam graf ini adalah perbezaan
BTE antara sebelum dan selepas menggunakan teknologi Atkinson Cycle.

Project Conclusion
The objective of this project was
successfully achieve
The improvement given by Atkinson Cycle
in range of 20% to 33% for specific fuel
consumption and 5% to 13% for brake
thermal efficiency compare to the Original
engine.
Note: Significant reduction on fuel consumption is due to reduction of fuel
actually combust. Some amount of fuel are drawn back to intake manifold
due to longer intake valve opening.

Offset Crankshaft and other

Friction Reductions
When the reduction of friction loss is deemed worthwhile, relatively simple
design changes make it possible. We used the rubbing of the piston against
the cylinder walls as an example of friction loss above. This particular
source of loss is most severe during the combustion stroke when the hot
gasses push down on the piston. The connecting rod that links the piston
to the crankshaft makes an angle with the axis of the piston so that as the
piston pushes down it is itself pushed to one side, hard against the cylinder
wall. By simply moving the crankshaft a bit to one side, the connecting rod
can be made more upright during the combustion stroke so that the force of
the piston against the cylinder wall is smaller and hence friction is reduced.
Both the Prius and Insight engines use offset crankshafts. The Prius
engine is also limited by the computer to a lower than normal maximum spin
rate of 4500 r.p.m. This reduces the peak stress on engine components,
making it possible to make them smaller and lighter, resulting in less friction
loss.

Offset Crankshaft and other

Friction Reductions

Elimination of Enrichment
Since high power demand is met in
the Prius by adding the electric motor
and battery power to the engine
output, there is no need to used an
enriched fuel/air mixture to eke out
every last bit of engine torque. The
elimination of enrichment does reduce
the maximum available torque, but
efficiency is maintained right up to
that maximum instead of falling off
above 80% as in conventional engines.