Valid for: 2012/13
Decided by: Education Board 3
Date of Decision: 2012-04-25
Main field: Technology.
Elective Compulsory for: M3
Elective for: M4-en, M4-fo, W4-es
Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish
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
be able to give an overview of the functions of main components of a modern combustion engine as well as how they have evolved over time
Competences and skills
For a passing grade the student must
be able to use mean effective pressures and other characteristic engine parameters to analyse combustion engines, select an engine type and design the engine (in terms of displacement volume, number of cylinders, cylinder bore and engine speed) for a given simple application
Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must
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 brief coverage of two alternatives, the Wankel and Stirling engines is presented. The history of the internal combustion engine is presented. The early history is full of more or less successful 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. 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. 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. Finally the various fuels, both contemporary as well as future fuels, are presented.
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 diesel engine is run and emissions are measured. Normally an industry representative will give an invited lecture.
Grading scale: TH
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.
The number of participants is limited to: No
The course overlaps following course/s: MVK092
Course coordinator: Dr Martin Tunér, Martin.Tuner@energy.lth.se
Course homepage: http://www.energy.lth.se