A. Karthikeyan

Experimental investigation on spark ignition engine using blends of bio-ethanol produced from citrus peel wastes

The performance and pollutant emissions of a four stroke spark ignition engine operating on gasoline and bio-ethanol blends were investigated experimentally. The citrus peel wastes were grinded and subjected to simple distillation to remove d-limonene and then the remains were kept in an autoclave at a temperature of 120°C for 15 min. Finally, by doing simple distillation, bio-ethanol was extracted. From the experiments, the specific fuel consumption (SFC) was slightly increased and the brake thermal efficiency was slightly decreased. Exhaust gas emissions were measured and analysed for hydrocarbons (HC), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) at an engine speed of 2500 rpm. The concentration of CO and HC emissions in the exhaust pipe was found to be decreased when bio-ethanol blends were used. The concentration of CO2 was found to be slightly increased and NOx was reduced when ethanol blends were used.

Effect of injection timing on the combustion characteristics of rice bran and algae biodiesel blends in a compression-ignition engine

Fuel injection timing is a very important factor among various injection parameters which influences the combustion characteristics of a compression-ignition (CI) engine. This work used a single cylinder CI engine to test the two biodiesel samples rice bran oil methyl esters (ROME) and alga extracted oil methyl esters (AME) for their combustion characteristics influenced by injection timings. The tests were conducted at constant speed (1500 rpm) single cylinder CI engine with three different injection timings (20° before top dead centre [BTDC], 23° BTDC and 26° BTDC). The results show increased cylinder pressure and heat release rate when advancing the injection timing at earlier combustion stages. When retarding the injection timing the cylinder pressure and the heat release rate lowers. Compare to AME, the combustion characteristics for ROME shown improved results. The variations in exhaust gas temperature are also depicted.Fuel injection timing is a very important factor among various injection parameters which influences the combustion characteristics of a compression-ignition (CI) engine. This work used a single cylinder CI engine to test the two biodiesel samples rice bran oil methyl esters (ROME) and alga extracted oil methyl esters (AME) for their combustion characteristics influenced by injection timings. The tests were conducted at constant speed (1500 rpm) single cylinder CI engine with three different injection timings (20° before top dead centre [BTDC], 23° BTDC and 26° BTDC). The results show increased cylinder pressure and heat release rate when advancing the injection timing at earlier combustion stages. When retarding the injection timing the cylinder pressure and the heat release rate lowers. Compare to AME, the combustion characteristics for ROME shown improved results. The variations in exhaust gas temperature are also depicted.

Analysis on the Performance, Combustion and Emission Characteristicsof a CI Engine Fuelled with Algae Biodiesel

Bio diesel from various species of Algae has been in the discussion for a long time, this work is on collecting a macro algae and extracting the oil from it. Converting the oil in to bio Diesel is done by Transesterification method and the testing was made on a Diesel Engine. The Performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of Esters of Gracilaria verrucossa algal are mentioned here. Using Methanol as alcohol and NaOH as catalyst the transesterification process was done.Engine test was conducted at injection timings 20° BTDC, 23° BTDC and 26° BTDC with blends B10 and B20.The result shows there is increase in Brake thermal efficiency, Peak pressure and NOx.The carbon emissions were less when compared with those of the Conventional Diesel.

Performance improvement of D-sorbitol PCM-based energy storage system with different fins

ABSTRACT This paper is aimed at enhancing the heat exchange rate in the thermal energy storage system with dissimilar fins and encapsulation materials. Experimentation is done with d-sorbitol as phase change material with different encapsulating materials, copper, stainless steel (SS) and brass, in pin fin, annular fin and rectangular fin. The results are analysed for their thermal performance characteristics during both the charging and discharging processes. During charging, copper encapsulation showed a higher heat energy transfer rate around 2340 kJ. During discharging, a loss of 22% in heat extraction is seen in copper encapsulations, 6% and 19% in brass and SS encapsulations, respectively. These results show that the usage of annular fins is a valuable practice to increase the heat stored and recovered, in a latent heat storage system. The most cost-effective encapsulation is SS balls with annular fins as compared with copper and brass encapsulations.

Analysis of ethanol blends on spark ignition engines

ABSTRACT The objective of this investigation was to find the effect of ethanol–gasoline blends as fuel on the performance and exhaust emission of a spark ignition (SI) engine. A four-stroke three-cylinder SI engine was used for this study. Performance tests were conducted for the three blends E5 (5% ethanol), E10 (10% ethanol) and E15 (15% of ethanol) as well as E0(100% gasoline) to evaluate their brake thermal efficiency, specific fuel consumption and mechanical efficiency, while exhaust emissions were also analysed for carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) with varying torque conditions and constant speed of the engine. The results showed that blends of gasoline and ethanol increased the brake power, brake thermal efficiency and the fuel consumption. The CO and HC emissions concentration in the engine exhaust decreased while the NOx concentration increased.

Heat transfer enhancement of the latent heat storage system using different encapsulating materials with and without fins

This study is aimed at analysing the heat transfer characteristics of different encapsulating materials and the fins on the overall heat transfer in the latent heat storage system (LHSS). Experimentation is done with different phase change materials (PCMs) (d-mannitol, d-sorbitol and paraffin wax) using different encapsulating materials, i.e. copper, aluminium and brass, with and without fins. During the charging process, there is an average 15% heat loss of copper encapsulations without using fins as compared with using fins. The heat losses in aluminium and brass encapsulations are 10% and 15%, respectively. In the discharging process, 23% of heat extraction loss is seen in copper encapsulations, 5% and 18% in aluminium and brass encapsulations, respectively. The results showed that the usage of fins is an effective technique to increase the heat stored and recovered in a LHSS. The most cost-effective encapsulation is aluminium balls with fins as it has the lowest cost/kJ as compared with other two.

Effect of injection pressure on the performance and emission characteristics of CI engine using canola emulsion fuel

ABSTRACT Biodiesel is a promising renewable alternative fuel for diesel. The need of biodiesel fuels for the diesel engines is to restrict the dependency on the fossil fuels in context to the world energy oil crisis. The objective of this article is to investigate the performance and emission characteristics of a CI engine with diesel and blends of canola biodiesel Emulsion at 200, 220 and 240 bar. The fuel injection system in a diesel engine is to achieve a high degree of atomisation for better penetration of fuel in order to utilise the full air charge and to promote the evaporation in a very short time and to achieve higher combustion efficiency. Emulsified fuels showed an improvement in brake thermal efficiency of 28.8% at 240 bar accompanied by the drastic reduction in NOx at 200 bar.

Emission Control in Two Wheelers Using Magnesium Nanoparticle as a Catalyst

Automobile emission is considered as the major source of pollution. Two wheelers are the main contributors in that due to its large number. For controlling the pollution the available methods of are pre-pollution control and post pollution control. This work is based on the post pollution control method in two-wheeler automobiles using magnesium as a catalyst. To achieve this objective, an innovative design of catalytic converter for two-wheeler automobiles is proposed using magnesium nanoparticle as a catalyst. This proposed method aims in the prevention of environmental pollution contributed from two-wheeler automobiles. It involves the use of magnesium which is cheaper than the counter parts rhodium nanoparticles, platinum, and palladium.

Reduction in the exhaust emissions of four-stroke multi-cylinder SI Engine on application of multiple pairs of magnets

ABSTRACT Static magnetic field produced by permanent magnets applied to the fuel lines of internal combustion engines reduces viscosity of fuel, leading to better atomisation and improved carburetion, which enhances the combustion of the fuel and performance of the engine. Increased combustion reduces HC (hydrocarbon) and CO (carbon monoxide) % emitted from exhaust. Experiments in present work emphasise the effect of use of multiple pairs of permanent magnets of 3000 gauss intensity each, installed to the fuel line of four-stroke SI engine. It is evident from experiments that with increasing number of pairs of magnet lead to decrease in emissions. Results validate the impact of magnetic field strength on emissions from exhaust. Experimental results show that with application of magnetic flux to the fuel at constant load of 2 kg, there is 17.46% reduction in CO emissions, 18.048% reduction in HC and 1.118% increase in CO2 from the exhaust on the use of 5 pairs of magnets.

Investigation on a diesel engine’s performance with integration of magnetic flux on the fuel line

ABSTRACT Application of magnetic flux (MF) on the fuel line of diesel engines is a promising technique to enhance the performance of the engine. In this work, MF was applied by placing neodymium magnet pairs (MP) on the fuel line of a diesel engine test setup. Tests were carried out for different loads in the range of 0–8 kg. In the first stage, performance of the test setup was evaluated without MF for fixed load condition; in the second stage, performance evaluation was done by increasing number of MP on the fuel line – that is, the number of magnetic pairs was increased from 1 to 4. The experimental results confirmed that fuel consumption rate decreases with an increase in magnetic pair from 1 to 3; after employing the fourth magnetic pair, an increase in fuel consumption rate was observed. This clearly gives an idea for the presence of critical magnetic field for fuel savings.