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    Piston Engine-Based Power Plants
    Piston Engine-Based Power Plants
    Piston Engine-Based Power Plants
    Ebook182 pages1 hour

    Piston Engine-Based Power Plants

    By Paul Breeze

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    About this ebook

    Piston Engine-Based Power Plants presents Breeze's most up-to-date discussion and clear and concise analysis of this resource, aimed at those working and researching in the area. Various engine types including Diesel and Stirling are discussed, with consideration of economic factors and important planning considerations, such as the size and speed of the plant. Breeze also evaluates the emissions which piston engines can create and considers ways of planning for and controlling those.

    • Explores various types of engines used to power automotive power plants such as internal combustion, spark-ignition and dual-fuel
    • Discusses the engine cycles, size and speed
    • Evaluates emissions and considers the various economic factors involved
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAcademic Press
    Release dateDec 5, 2017
    ISBN9780128129050
    Piston Engine-Based Power Plants
    Author

    Paul Breeze

    Paul Breeze is a journalist and freelance science and technology writer and consultant in the United Kingdom. He has specialised in power generation technology for the past 30 years. In addition to writing Power Generation Technologies, Second Edition, he has contributed to journals and newspapers such as The Financial Times and The Economist and has written a range of technical management reports covering all the aspects of power generation, transmission and distribution.

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      Book preview

      Piston Engine-Based Power Plants - Paul Breeze

      India

      Chapter 1

      An Introduction to Piston Engine Power Plants

      Abstract

      Piston engines are the largest group of thermodynamic heat engines in use across the globe. Sizes vary from a few watts to 80 MW and the engines can burn a wide range of fuels, from coal through liquid fuels to natural gas. Most engines used for power generation are derived from engines developed for transportation applications. The earliest piston engines were steam-driven engines which evolved during the 18th century but modern internal combustion engines are based on developments at the end of the 19th century. The two main types are the spark ignition engine and the compression ignition engine. The average annual capacity of piston engines for power generation installed each year is between 50 MW and 60 MW.

      Keywords

      Piston engine; reciprocating engine; spark ignition engine; compression ignition engine; diesel; Otto; Stirling engine

      Piston engines or reciprocating engines (the two terms are often used interchangeably to describe these engines) are by a wide margin the largest group of thermodynamic heat engines in use around the world. Their applications range from model aeroplanes to lawn mowers: they include all the automotive power plants found in motor cycles, cars, trucks and many other sorts of heavy machinery; they power locomotives, ships and many small aircraft and they provide stationary electrical power and combined heat and power to numerous sites across the globe.

      The number in use is enormous; the United States alone produces more than 35 million each year. Engines vary in size from less than 1 kW (model engines can be a few watts) to 80,000 kW. They can be driven using a wide range of fuels including natural gas, biogas, liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel, bio-diesel, heavy fuel oil and even coal. They are manufactured all over the globe and there is a large global base of expertise in their maintenance and repair. While modern engines are often extremely advanced and digitally controlled, older engines can often be kept in service by small, local workshops.

      In line with the wide range of engines available, the power generation applications of piston engines are enormously varied. Small units can be used for standby power or for combined heat and power in homes and offices. Larger standby units are often used in situations where a continuous supply of power is critical such as in hospitals or to support highly sensitive computer installations like an air traffic control system or one of the many computer server farms around the world. Commercial and industrial facilities use medium-sized piston engine-based combined heat and power units for base-load, distributed power generation. Large engines, meanwhile, can be used for base-load, grid-connected power generation while smaller units form one of the main sources of base-load power to isolated communities with no access to an electricity grid.

      The piston engines used for power generation are almost exclusively derived from similar engines designed for motive applications. Smaller units are normally based on car or truck engines while the larger engines are based on locomotive or marine engines. Performance of these engines vary. The small engines are usually cheap because they are mass produced but they have relatively low efficiencies and short lives. Larger engines tend to be more expensive but they will operate for much longer. Large, megawatt-scale engines are among the most efficient prime movers available,¹ with simple cycle efficiencies approaching 50%.

      The piston engine takes its name for the characteristic feature of the engine design, a piston. This piston moves backwards and forwards (or up and down) within a cylinder, that is sealed at one end, in response to the expansion and contraction of a gas within the sealed chamber as the gas is heated and cooled. The heating and cooling of the gas sealed in the piston cylinder can be carried out by applying alternate heating and cooling externally, in which case the engine is called an external combustion engine. However in most engines of this type the heating takes place via the combustion of a fuel in air inside the cylinder itself. This type of engine is called an internal combustion engine.

      There are two principle types of internal combustion reciprocating engines, the spark ignition engine and the compression or diesel engine. The latter was traditionally the most popular for power generation applications because of its higher efficiency. However it also produces high levels of atmospheric pollution, particularly nitrogen oxides. As a consequence spark ignition engines burning natural gas have become increasingly popular units for power generation, at least within industrialised nations. A third type of piston engine, called the Stirling engine, is also being developed for some specialised power generation applications. This engine is novel because it is an external combustion engine.

      The enduring popularity of the piston engine derives from it portability and flexibility. With a small reservoir of fuel the engine is self-contained and can produce energy or work for extended periods. This is particularly important for transportation applications such as road vehicles but also makes them useful for the wide range of power generation applications noted above.

      The main drawback of these engines is that they generally require the combustion of a fossil fuel to provide the energy needed to drive them. In consequence they represent a major source of atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions across the globe and contribute significantly to the quantity of this gas that is released into the atmosphere each year. In addition both types of internal combustion engine, but particularly diesel engines, are sources of a range of other pollutants. Where these engines are used for stationary applications such as power generation it is feasible to apply advanced techniques to clean the exhaust gases and reduce their atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide. However this is not cost effective for smaller, mobile-scale applications such as for cars. In consequence there is a major industrial effort taking place to find a cleaner replacement for transportation applications. Candidates include fuel cell-powered vehicles and battery-powered

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