Automotive Science and Engineering

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Heat transfer in internal combustion engines is one of the most significant topics. Heat transfer may take place through thermal conduction and thermal convection in spark ignition engines. In this study, valve cover heat transfer and thermal balance of an air-cooled engine are investigated experimentally. The thermal balance analysis is a useful method to determine energy distribution and efficiency of internal combustion engines. In order to carry out experiments, a single cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke gasoline engine is applied. The engine is installed on proper chassis and equipped with measuring instruments. Temperature of different points of valve cover and exhaust gases is measured with the assistance of K-type thermocouples. These experiments are conducted in various engine speeds. Regarding to the first law of thermodynamics, thermal balance is investigated and it is specified that about one-third of total fuel energy will be converted to effective power. It is also evaluated that for increasing brake power, fuel consumption will increase and it is impossible to prevent upward trends of wasted energies. In addition, it is resulted that, there is a reduction heat transfer to brake power ratio by increasing engine speed. Furthermore, it is found that, at higher engine speed, lower percentage of energy in form of heat transfer will be lost.

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The thermal balance analysis is a useful method to determine energy distribution and efficiency of internal combustion (IC) engines. In engines cooling concepts, estimation of heat transfer to brake power ratio, as one of the most significant performance characteristics, is highly demanded. In this paper, investigation of energy balance and derivation of specific heat rejection is carried out experimentally and numerically. Experiments are carried out on an air-cooled, single cylinder, four-stroke gasoline IC engine. The engine is simulated numerically and after validation with experimental data, the code is run to find out total and instantaneous thermal balance of engine. Results indicate that about one-third of fuel energy is converted to brake power and major part of energy is dissipated through exhaust and heat transfer. Experimental and numerical results show that by increasing engine speed, heat transfer to brake power ratio decreases. It is also observed that increasing engine speed leads to increase of exhaust power to brake power ratio. Finally two correlations for estimation of heat transfer and exhaust power to brake power ratios are obtained.

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In the current study, the hydrogen-addition influence on the performance of an SI engine using a gasoline-ethanol blend is investigated numerically. The simulation and validation of the model are carried out in order to evaluate the engine performance using conventional gasoline (G100) and the blend of gasoline and ethanol (G75E25). Furthermore, the hydrogen is added to the gasoline–ethanol blend (G50E25H25) to improve the engine thermal efficiency and reduce the amount of brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) which leads to the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The brake specific carbon dioxide (BSCO₂) is also studied in this paper. Results show that the addition of hydrogen increases the brake power and thermal efficiency, moderates the BSFC, and decreases the maximum temperature of combustion chamber which reduces the production of greenhouse gases as well as BSCO₂. In comparison with pure gasoline, by using G50E25H25, the maximum temperature of in-cylinder gas decreased by 12.55%, 10.82%, and 13.43% at 2000, 4000, and 6000 rpm, respectively. It is also evaluated that the lowest amount of BSCO₂ is related to G50E25H25 in most of the engine speeds. The bio-fuel of G75E25 and pure gasoline are placed in next positions, respectively.