ENHANCING THE EFFICIENCY OF AN IC ENGINE USING THE CONCEPT OF PREHEATING

R.Vishal

Abstract: Today’s IC engines have a maximum efficiency of only around 40%. This is due to a variety of losses which occur in the engine in the form of losses through exhaust, incomplete combustion, frictional losses inside the combustion cylinder, poor mixture of air and fuel inside the cylinder etc. Out of these factors, incomplete combustion contributes to majority of the heat loss. Incomplete combustion may occur mainly due to production of steam in the engine and humidity in the atmosphere because of which the fuel may not burn completely. Incomplete combustion not only reduces engine efficiency, but also releases harmful gases like CO, CO2, NO2and SO2 into the atmosphere which lead to devastating environmental phenomenon like green-house effect and global warming. This paper suggests a possible way to reduce exhaust losses through the process of preheating which as a result increases the efficiency of the IC engine a little further

Keywords: IC Engine, Air Preheater, Heat Exchanger, Energy Management

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2016.0505068