THEORETICAL

ENGINE CYCLES
Heat engines
transform thermal energy, or heat, Qin into mechanical energy, or
work, Wout. They cannot do this task perfectly, so some of the input heat energy
is not converted into work, but is dissipated as waste heat Qout into the
environment

Qin = Wout + Qout

Carnot efficiency
` The second law of thermodynamics puts a fundamental limit on
the thermal efficiency of all heat engines. Even an ideal, frictionless engine
can't convert anywhere near 100% of its input heat into work

This limiting value is called the Carnot cycle efficiency because it

is the efficiency of an unattainable, ideal, reversible engine cycle called the
Carnot cycle. No device converting heat into mechanical energy, regardless
of its construction, can exceed this efficiency.
The limiting factors are the temperature at which the heat enters the engine,Th
, and the temperature of the environment into which the engine exhausts its
waste heat, Tc , measured in an absolute scale, such as the Kelvin or Rankine
scale.
Engine cycle efficiency
The Carnot cycle is reversible and thus represents the upper limit on efficiency of
an engine cycle. Practical engine cycles are irreversible and thus have inherently
lower efficiency than the Carnot efficiency when operated between the same
temperatures Th and Tc. One of the factors determining efficiency is how heat is
added to the working fluid in the cycle, and how it is removed. The Carnot cycle
achieves maximum efficiency because all the heat is added to the working fluid at
the maximum temperature Th, and removed at the minimum temperature Tc
In contrast, in an internal combustion engine, the temperature of the fuel-air
mixture in the cylinder is nowhere near its peak temperature as the fuel starts to
burn, and only reaches the peak temperature as all the fuel is consumed, so the
average temperature at which heat is added is lower, reducing efficiency.
 Otto cycle: (automobiles)
The Otto cycle is the name for the cycle used in spark-ignition
internal combustion engines such as gasoline and hydrogen fueled automobile
engines. Its theoretical efficiency depends on the compression ratio r of the
engine and the specific heat ratio γ of the gas in the combustion chamber.

The Otto cycle is a description of what happens to a mass of gas as it is

subjected to changes of pressure, temperature, volume, addition of heat, and removal
of heat. The mass of gas that is subjected to those changes is called the system. The
system, in this case, is defined to be the fluid (gas) within the cylinder. By describing
the changes that take place within the system, it will also describe in inverse, the
system's effect on the environment. In the case of the Otto cycle, the effect will be to
produce enough net work from the system so as to propel an automobile and its
occupants in the environment.
Process 0–1 a mass of air is drawn into
piston/cylinder arrangement at constant
pressure.
Process 1–2 is an adiabatic (isentropic)
compression of the charge as the piston
moves from bottom dead centre (BDC)
to top dead centre (TDC).
Process 2–3 is a constant-volume heat transfer to
the working gas from an external source
while the piston is at top dead centre.
This process is intended to represent the
ignition of the fuel-air mixture and the s
ubsequent rapid burning.
Process 3–4 is an adiabatic (isentropic) expansion (
power stroke).
Process 4–1 completes the cycle by a constant-
volume process in which heat is rejected
from the air while the piston is at
bottom dead centre.
Process 1–0 the mass of air is released to the
atmosphere in a constant pressure
process.
Diesel cycle
In the Diesel cycle used in diesel truck and train engines, the fuel is
ignited by compression in the cylinder. The efficiency of the Diesel cycle is
dependent on r and γ like the Otto cycle, and also by the cutoff ratio, rc, which is
the ratio of the cylinder volume at the beginning and end of the combustion
process

The Diesel cycle is a combustion process of a reciprocating internal combustion

engine. In it, fuel is ignited by heat generated during the compression of air in
the combustion chamber, into which fuel is then injected. This is in contrast to
igniting the fuel-air mixture with a spark plug as in the Otto cycle (four-
stroke/petrol) engine. Diesel engines are used in aircraft, automobiles, power
generation, diesel-electric locomotives, and both surface ships and submarines
The Diesel cycle is assumed to have constant pressure during the initial part of the
combustion phase( V2 to V3 in the diagram below.) This is an idealized
mathematical model: real physical diesels do have an increase in pressure during this
period, but it is less pronounced than in the Otto cycle. In contrast, the idealized
Otto cycle of a gasoline engine approximates a constant volume process during that
phase.

Process 1 to 2 is isentropic
compression of the f
luid (blue)
Process 2 to 3 is reversible
constant pressure
heating (red)
Process 3 to 4 is isentropic
expansion (yellow)
Process 4 to 1 is reversible
constant volume
cooling (green
Work in- is done by the piston compressing the air (system)
Heat in- is done by the combustion of the fuel
Work out -is done by the working fluid expanding and pushing piston
(this produces usable work)
Heat out - is done by venting the air
Net work produced = Qin = Qout
 Mixed/dual cycle
The dual combustion cycle (also known as the mixed cycle, Trinkler cycle, Seiliger cycle or
Sabathe cycle) is a thermal cycle that is a combination of the Otto cycle and the Diesel cycle,
first introduced by Russian-German engineer Gustav Trinkler. Heat is added partly at
constant volume and partly at constant pressure, the advantage of which is that more time is
available for the fuel to completely combust. Because of lagging characteristics of fuel this
cycle is invariably used for Diesel and hot spot ignition engines. It consists of two adiabatic
and two constant volume and one constant pressure processes. Efficiency lies between Otto
and Diesel cycle.

Pressure-Volume diagram of Sabathe cycle

Temperature-Entropy diagram of Sabathe cycle
The dual cycle consists of following operations:

Process 1-2: Isentropic compression

Process 2-3: Addition of heat at constant volume.
Process 3-4: Addition of heat at constant pressure.
Process 4-5: Isentropic expansion.
Process 5-1: Rejection of heat at constant volume. @