Syllabus academic year 2009/2010
(Created 2009-08-11.)
INTRODUCTION TO COMBUSTION ENGINESMVK093

Higher education credits: 6. Grading scale: TH. Level: G2 (First level). Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish. MVK093 overlap following cours/es: MVK092, MVK092, MVK092, MVK092 och MVK092. Alternative for: M3. Optional for: F4, F4fs, M4en, M4fo, W4ea. Course coordinator: Prof Bengt Johansson, Bengt.Johansson@energy.lth.se, Energivetenskaper. Assessment: Written examination graded with Fail or one of the passing grades 3, 4 or 5 which normally correspond to 40, 60 and 80% of the maximum number of points respectively. In order to qualify for participation in the written examination all of the mandatory laboratory exercises must have been completed with approved reports. Further information: The course might be given in English. Home page: http://www.energy.lth.se.

Aim
The objective of the course is to provide a thorough understanding of the processes that occur in an internal combustion engine and the reason why it is designed as it is.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

Contents
The course mainly deals with combustion engines having internal combustion. First a general description of the most common engine types is given. The spark ignition and compression ignition principles are explained and the difference between two and four stroke engines is discussed. A very brief coverage of two alternatives, the Wankel and Stirling engines. The history of the internal combustion engine is presented. The early history is full of more or less unsuccessful trials to make an energy converter for gaseous or liquid fuels. Thereafter, a number of definitions of mean effective pressure and efficiency are explained. The coupling between the power requirement of a normal vehicle and the power produced by an engine is explained. The fact that all passenger cars have excessive displacement volume should be obvious here and possible ways to improve the situation are discussed. The general conversion of fuel to CO2, H2O and heat is discussed and stoichiometry is explained. Also, exhaust gas analysis is discussed in some detail. Ideal thermodynamic cycles are presented and used to explain the effects of compression ratio on fuel efficiency. A more realistic heat release is also simulated with a simple MATLAB code. The combustion process in the spark ignition engine is presented. Cycle to cycle variations in the combustion process are explained and abnormal combustion, "knock", is discussed. The exhaust emissions generally and from the spark ignition engine are explained, including the principle of cleaning with the three way catalyst. Finally, the diesel engine combustion process is presented both with the classical model and the newer Dec model. The emissions from the diesel engine are also discussed.

The course contains lectures, seminars, exercises and two laboratory exercises. In the first a modern four cylinder SI engine is disassembled and assembled and in the second a similar engine is run and emissions are measured. Normally an industry representative will give an invited lecture.

Literature
Johansson, B, Förbränningsmotorer ("Internal Combustion Engines"), Avd för Förbränningsmotorer, LTH, and material handed out by the division.