Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory

Testing of a 4-Cylinder Petrol Engine

Purpose
To test a petrol engine under specified running conditions, to make performance calculations
and to produce various graphs.
The Test Rig
The test rig is a modern engine test bed of modular design that allows quick change of rig
components. The core consists of a !cylinder !stroke normally aspirated carbureted petrol
engine with electronic ignition and a matching hydraulic dynamometer that allows
appropriate loading of the engine. "n engine service module is used to supply the engine with
fuel and cooling water and to dissipate the heat of the coolant through fan!coil units. The rig
is fully equipped with modern instrumentation for measurement of pressures,
temperatures, flow rates, torque, speed, etc. #urthermore a pie$o!electric pressure transducer
is fitted to one of the four cylinders and a shaft encoder is fitted to the engine shaft. "
microprocessor based data acquisition and processing module is also installed. " display and
control unit serves to monitor the engine running conditions on two separate screens and to send any
necessary control commands to store the current running data or to change one or more of
the engine parameters. Test data may be sent to a printer to produce a hardcopy or, alternatively,
saved as a disk file for online or later processing by a personal computer. " %&"T'(
spreadsheet based software package is available that can be used for performance calculations as
well as for producing any required graphs. " separate engine indicating unit that receives its
signals from the pressure transducer and the shaft encoder is used to display either a )p!*+ or
)p!,+ diagram of the engine cycle on the screen of an oscilloscope. "lternatively this information
may be sent to a personal computer to be analy$ed by the aforementioned software
package.
Engine Specifications
T-.**/ #('- engine0 !cylinders0 !stroke cycle operation0 swept volume 12/3 cm
4
0
cylinder bore 5/./3 mm0 piston stroke 5/.2. mm0 compression ratio /.20 normally aspirated
)not turbocharged+0 carburetor with fi6ed!geometry no$$le0 ma6imum power rating
33 k7 at 28** rpm.
Procedure
9witch the main power on and follow the instructions that appear on the screen of the display
and control unit until the engine is started. "llow few minutes for warming up before starting
to take readings. 'un only the tests specified by your instructor in the lab session. The
following description may e6ceed the requirements in a single lab session.
a) Test with a Single Operating Point
9et the engine throttle widely open and select a running speed between 4*** and 2*** rpm by
manipulating the engine load.
&sing the engine indicating unit display a p!, plot of the engine cycle on the oscilloscope screen and, if
satisfactory, send it to the computer. #ollowing the instructions of the loaded %&"T'( software
package produce the same plot on the :C monitor and make a hardcopy on the printer.
:roduce a hardcopy of all the engine test data as displayed on the screen of the display and control unit
or the :C monitor from within the loaded software.
Requirements
#rom the p!, indicator diagram find the indicated mean ef;fective pressure, then use this
value of )imep+ to calculate the indicated power )ip+, the indicated thermal efficiency
<i,th and the efficiency ratio )i.e <i,th = <%tto+
#rom the test data at the same operating point calculate the brake power )bp+ and the
mechanical efficiency <m.
Calculate also the volumetric efficiency <v.
-raw an energy balance of the engine at this operating point which should include> #uel
energy input rate, brake power, heat removed by the coolant, energy carried with the
e6haust and ?other? losses.
) !ariale speed "OT Test Series
@eeping the throttle widely open change the load on the engine and select speeds between
12** and 22** rpm. #or each speed wait about one minute for the engine to stabili$e then take
the readings.
Requirements
:lot all or some of the following variables against speed A> )bp+, )bmep+, )bsfc+ and <v. -iscuss the
resulting graphs.