Diesel cycle

The Diesel cycle is a combustion process of a reciprocating internal combustion engine. In it, fuel is ignited by heat generated during the compression of air in the combustion chamber, into which fuel is then injected. This is in contrast to igniting the fuel-air mixture with a spark plug as in the Otto cycle (four-stroke/petrol) engine. Diesel engines are used in aircraft, automobiles, power generation, diesel-electric locomotives, and both surface ships and submarines.

The Diesel cycle is assumed to have constant pressure during the initial part of the "combustion" phase ( to in the diagram, below). This is an idealized mathematical model: real physical diesels do have an increase in pressure during this period, but it is less pronounced than in the Otto cycle. In contrast, the idealized Otto cycle of a gasoline engine approximates a constant volume process during that phase.

The Idealized Diesel Cycle

The image on the left shows a p-V diagram for the ideal Diesel cycle; where is pressure and V the volume or the specific volume if the process is placed on a unit mass basis. The ideal Diesel cycle follows the following four distinct processes:

Otto cycle

An Otto cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle that describes the functioning of a typical spark ignition piston engine. It is the thermodynamic cycle most commonly found in automobile engines.

The Otto cycle is a description of what happens to a mass of gas as it is subjected to changes of pressure, temperature, volume, addition of heat, and removal of heat. The mass of gas that is subjected to those changes is called the system. The system, in this case, is defined to be the fluid (gas) within the cylinder. By describing the changes that take place within the system, it will also describe in inverse, the system's effect on the environment. In the case of the Otto cycle, the effect will be to produce enough net work from the system so as to propel an automobile and its occupants in the environment.

The Otto cycle is constructed from:

The isentropic process of compression or expansion implies that there will be no inefficiency (loss of mechanical energy), and there be no transfer of heat into or out of the system during that process. Hence the cylinder, and piston are assumed impermeable to heat during that time. Work is performed on the system during the lower isentropic compression process. Heat flows into the Otto cycle through the left pressurizing process and some of it flows back out through the right depressurizing process. The summation of the work added to the system plus the heat added minus the heat removed yields the net mechanical work generated by the system.

Diesel

Diesel may refer to:

Technology

Music

Other uses

Names

Cycle

Cycle or cyclic may refer to:

Mathematics

Temperature–entropy diagram

A temperature entropy diagram, or T-s diagram, is used in thermodynamics to visualize changes to temperature and specific entropy during a thermodynamic process or cycle. It is a useful and common tool, particularly because it helps to visualize the heat transfer during a process. For reversible (ideal) processes, the area under the T-s curve of a process is the heat transferred to the system during that process.

An isentropic process is depicted as a vertical line on a T-s diagram, whereas an isothermal process is a horizontal line.

See also

References