Two-stroke diesel engine
A two stroke diesel engine is a diesel engine that works in two strokes. A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine which operates using the Diesel cycle. Invented in 1892 by German engineer Rudolf Diesel, it was based on the hot bulb engine design and patented on February 23, 1893. During the period of 1900 to 1930, four-stroke diesel engines enjoyed a relative dominance in practical diesel applications. Charles F. Kettering and colleagues, working at the various incarnations of Electro-Motive and at the General Motors Research Corporation during the 1930s, advanced the art and science of two-stroke diesel technology to yield engines with much higher power-to-weight ratios than the two-stroke diesels of old.[1] This work was instrumental in bringing about the dieselisation of railroads in the 1940s and 1950s.[1]
All diesel engines use compression ignition, a process by which fuel is injected after the air is compressed in the combustion chamber causing the fuel to self ignite. By contrast, gasoline engines utilize the Otto cycle, in which fuel and air are mixed before entering the combustion chamber and then ignited by a spark plug.
Two strokes
Two-stroke internal combustion engines are more simple mechanically than four-stroke engines, but more complex in thermodynamic and aerodynamic processes, according to SAE definitions. In a two-stroke engine, the four "cycles" of internal combustion engine theory (intake, compression, ignition, exhaust) occur in one revolution, 360 mechanical degrees, while in a four-stroke engine it occurs in two complete revolutions, 720 mechanical degrees. In a two-stroke engine, more than one function occurs at any given time during the engine's operation.
- Intake begins when the piston is near the bottom dead center. Air is admitted to the cylinder through ports in the cylinder wall (there are no intake valves). All two-stroke Diesel engines require artificial aspiration to operate, and will either use a mechanically driven blower or a hybrid turbo-supercharger to charge the cylinder with air. In the early phase of intake, the air charge is also used to force out any remaining combustion gases from the preceding power stroke, a process referred to as scavenging.
- As the piston rises, the intake charge of air is compressed. Near top dead center, fuel is injected, resulting in combustion due to the extremely high pressure and heat created by compression, which drives the piston downward. As the piston moves downward in the cylinder it will reach a point where the exhaust port is opened to expel the high-pressure combustion gasses. However, most current two-stroke diesel engines use top-mounted poppet valves and uniflow scavenging. Continued downward movement of the piston will expose the air intake ports in the cylinder wall, and the cycle will start again.
In most EMD and GM two-stroke engines, very few parameters are variable and all the remaining ones are fixed by the mechanical design of the engines. The scavenging ports are open from 45 degrees before BDC, to 45 degrees after BDC (this parameter is necessarily symmetrical about BDC). The remaining, adjustable, parameters have to do with exhaust valve timing, and these are established in order to maximize combustion gas exhaust, and to maximize charge air intake, and these two parameters are not necessarily symmetrical about TDC (or, for that matter, BDC). A single camshaft operates the poppet-type exhaust valves and the Unit injector, using three lobes: two for exhaust valves (either two valves on the smallest engines or four valves on the largest; and the third for the Unit injector).
Specific to EMD two-stroke engines (567, 645, and 710):
- The power stroke begins at TDC ([0 degrees]; injection of fuel leads TDC by 4 degrees [356 degrees], such that injection of fuel will be completed by TDC, or very shortly thereafter; the fuel ignites instantaneously), after which stroke the exhaust valves are opened thereby greatly reducing combustion gas pressure and temperature, and preparing the cylinder for scavenging, for a power stroke duration of 103 degrees
- Scavenging begins 32 degrees later, at BDC–45 degrees [135 degrees], and ends at BDC+45 degrees [225 degrees], for a scavenging duration of 90 degrees; the 32 degree delay in opening the scavenging ports (thereby terminating the power stroke), and the 16 degree delay after the scavenging ports are closed (thereby initiating the compression stroke), maximizes scavenging effectiveness, thereby maximizing engine power output, while minimizing engine fuel consumption
- Towards the end of scavenging, all products of combustion have been forced out of the cylinder, and only "charge air" remains (scavenging may be accomplished by Roots blowers, for charge air induction at slightly above ambient, or EMD's proprietary turbo-compressor which acts as a blower during start-up, and as a turbocharger under normal operational conditions and for charge air induction at significantly above ambient,[2] and which turbocharging provides a 50 percent maximum rated power increase over Roots-blown engines of the same displacement)
- The compression stroke begins 16 degrees later, at BDC+61 degrees [241 degrees], for a compression stroke duration of 119 degrees
- In EFI-equipped engines, the electronically-controlled Unit injector is still actuated mechanically; the amount of fuel fed into the plunger-type injector pump is under the control of the Engine Control Unit (Locomotive Control Unit, in locomotives), rather than the traditional Woodward PGE governor, or equivalent engine governor, as with conventional Unit injectors
Specific to GM two-stroke (6-71) and related on-road/off-road/marine two-stroke engines:
- The same basic considerations are employed (the GM/EMD 567 and the GM/Detroit Diesel 6-71 engines were designed and developed at the same time, and by the same team of engineers and engineering managers)
- Whereas some EMD and Detroit Diesel engines employed turbocharging, only such EMD engines employed a hybrid turbo-compressor system; such Detroit Diesel engines employed a conventional turbocharger, in some cases with intercooling, followed by the usual Roots blower, as a hybrid turbo-compressor would be too costly for these cost sensitive applications
Notable manufacturers
- Burmeister & Wain, double-acting diesels for marine propulsion from 1930 onwards, also made by shipbuilders under licence.
- Detroit Diesel, uniflow[3] engines for on- and off-road trucks, on-road buses and stationary applications
- Electro-Motive Diesel, uniflow diesel engines for marine, railway and stationary applications
- Fairbanks-Morse, opposed-piston diesel engines for marine and stationary applications.
- Gray Marine, uniflow diesel engines for marine applications
- MAN Diesel & Turbo, crosshead diesel engines for marine propulsion
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, crosshead diesel engines for marine propulsion
- Rootes Group, the Commer TS3 engine for trucks
- Wärtsilä, crosshead diesel engines for marine propulsion
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sloan 1964, pp. 341–353.
- ↑ Horsepower for naturally aspirated engines (including Roots-blown two-stroke engines) is usually derated 2.5 percent per 1,000 feet (300 m) above mean sea level, a tremendous penalty at the 10,000 feet (3,000 m) or greater elevations which several Western U.S. and Canada railroads operate, and this can amount to a 25 percent power loss. Turbocharging effectively eliminates this derating.
- ↑ MTU Inc, Detroit Diesel 2-cycle engines.
Bibliography
Works cited
- Sloan, Alfred P. (1964), McDonald, John, ed., My Years with General Motors, Garden City, NY, USA: Doubleday, LCCN 64011306, OCLC 802024. Republished in 1990 with a new introduction by Peter Drucker (ISBN 978-0385042352).
Further reading
- Walshaw, T.D. (1953), Diesel engine design (2nd ed.), London, England: George Newnes Ltd, LCCN 54029678.