FUEL AND IGNITION

SYSTEM

Prepared by:
Samir Ranjan Behera,
Lecturer, Mechanical Engg.,
U.C.P.Engg. School, Berhampur
Significance of air in IC engines:
The primary goal of an engine is to change heat energy into mechanical energy.
The heat energy is obtained from combustion of fuel. The process of combustion
within an engine involves of mixing fuel with air since fuel requires oxygen for
burning. When fuel and air mixture is ignited, it releases heat energy, carbon
dioxide and other substances. To obtain the maximum amount of efficiency while
burning any fuel, we need to add a lot of air.

Stoichiometric mixture:
An ideal mixture in which both the fuel and the oxygen in the air are completely
consumed while burning is called the stoichiometric mixture.

Carburetion:
It’s a process of mixing air and fuel for the purpose of burning as air-fuel mixture
inside the SI engines. The device used for preparing this mixture is called
carburetor.

Working principle of Carburetor:

A carburetor works based on the Bernoulli’s Theorem. The theorem states that
“the total energy of an incompressible liquid flowing from one point to another
remains constant throughout the displacement.”

Above figure shows the construction of a carburetor. During suction stroke of

engine air-fuel mixture is sucked into the engine cylinder. During this processes,
the air flows down the vertical pipe after passing through the air filter. The
contracted part shown in the figure is called the Venturi. The venturi significantly
speeds up the air flow because of contraction in cross-sectional area. This
increase in the speed of the air causes a fall in pressure, which creates a sucking
effect and draws fuel from the float chamber. In the process a jet of fuel reaches
the venturi. Then the fuel gets mixed with the air. This is how air-fuel mixture is
prepared. Then the mixture goes to the engine. The quantity of air-fuel mixture
enters into the engine cylinder is controlled by throttle valve which is operated by
the accelerator. The orientation of choke valve shown in the figure is the default
position. When engine fails to start because of cold temperature, the path of air is
partially closed using this choke valve. As a result, a rich mixture is prepared and
sucked into the engine. This rich mixture helps start the engine.

Air-fuel ratio:
• It is the ratio of amount of air to that of fuel in an air-fuel mixture.
• The ideal (theoretical) air-fuel ratio, for a complete combustion, is
called stoichiometric air-fuel ratio.
• For a gasoline (petrol) engine, the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio is around
14.7:1. This means that, in order to burn completely 1 kg of fuel, we need
14.7 kg of air.
• The combustion is possible even if the AFR is different than stoichiometric.
• For the combustion process to take place in a gasoline engine, the
minimum AFR is around 6:1 and the maximum can go up to 20:1.
• When the air-fuel ratio is higher than the stoichiometric ratio, the air-fuel
mixture is called lean.
• When the air-fuel ratio is lower than the stoichiometric ratio, the air-fuel
mixture is called rich.
• For example, for a gasoline engine, an AFR of 16.5:1 is lean and 13.7:1 is
rich.
Ignition system:
It’s a system that is employed in SI engines for producing electric spark to ignite
the air-fuel mixture. There are various types. Following two types are described in
detail.

1. Battery ignition system.

2. Magneto ignition system.

Battery ignition system:

Above figure shows the circuit diagram. The battery ignition system consists of a
battery, ignition switch, ballast, ignition coil, contact breaker, condenser
(capacitor), distributor, spark plugs.

When the ignition switch is on, the current from battery starts flowing through
the ballast, primary coil, contact breaker. The current in the primary winding
induces a magnetic field around it. The more the current, the stronger the
magnetic field. The contact breaker frequently closes and opens the primary
circuit with the help of rotating cam. When the contact breaker is opens the
circuit, the current in the primary winding collapses. This rapid collapse of current
induces a voltage of about 300V in the primary winding. This induce voltage
charges the capacitor to a voltage much greater than that of battery. As the
capacitor is charged, the current flow to the capacitor stops. Now the current
flows from capacitor to the battery because of high potential of the capacitor.
This is how the direction of current and magnetic field gets reversed. This rapid
change in direction of magnetic field induces a very high voltage of about 15000V
to 30000V in the secondary winding of the ignition coil. Because of this high
potential of secondary winding, current flows from secondary winding to the
distributor through high tension cable. The distributor has a rotor that rotates
inside it. This rotor transmits current to the spark plugs as it rotates and makes
contacts with the distributor contact points. This current produces spark in the
spark plug.

Magneto ignition system:

It consists of an ignition switch, contact breaker, a magneto, condenser

(capacitor), permanent magnet, distributor, spark plug.
The permanent magnet is rotated by cranking. If the contact points are closed,
current flows through primary circuit and magnetic field formed around it. When
the contact points are opened, the current stops flowing through the contact
points and the capacitor gets charged. This causes sudden collapse of magnetic
field around the primary circuit. This sudden collapse of magnetic field induces a
high voltage in the secondary circuit. Because of this high potential in the
secondary circuit, spark jumps across the terminals of spark plug. As a result
combustion occurs in the engine.

Multi point fuel injection (MPFI) system:

This system eliminates the carburetor. Its construction is shown in the above
figure. It consists of a fuel tank, fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel rail, pressure control
valve (PCV), fuel injectors for intake manifold. In addition to that it consists of
throttle position sensor, manifold absolute pressure sensor, oxygen sensor,
crankshaft position sensor. All the sensors, injectors and fuel pump are connected
to an engine control module (ECM). The ECM receives/sends data from/to the
above devices.

When accelerator is pressed, the throttle position sensor senses and send the
signal to ECM. Manifold absolute pressure sensor senses the quantity of air goes
to the intake manifold and sends the signal to ECM. Oxygen sensor senses the
quantity of oxygen in the engine exhaust and send the signal to the ECM.
Crankshaft position sensor senses the position of crankshaft and sends the signal
to the ECM. Using the signals from the four sensors, ECM calculates how much
the accelerator is pressed, quality of air-fuel mixture to be injected, which injector
should be operated. As per the calculation by ECM, it sends signal to the fuel
pump and different injectors in order to inject fuel into the intake manifold. Then
the fuel gets mixed with air in the manifold and enters the engine as air-fuel
mixture. This system is used in SI engines.

Supply of fuel:
The fuel which is stored in the fuel tank is taken to fuel injection system through
fuel filter. This fuel is supplied by either gravity or fuel feed pump.

Fuel feed pump:

It delivers fuel from the fuel tank to the injection pump continuously and at a
reasonable pressure.
It consists of a diaphragm, diaphragm spring, inlet valve, outlet valve, lift pump
rocker arm, camshaft, etc. The rocker arm is operated by camshaft. The rocker
arm pulls down and pushes up the diaphragm depending upon the position and
speed of the camshaft. When the diaphragm is pulled down, the fuel enters into
the pressure chamber through inlet valve. When the diaphragm is pushed up, the
fuel is pressurized and moves from the pressure chamber to the outlet manifold
through outlet valve. The quantity of fuel it pumps depends upon the speed of
the camshaft.

Injector:
It is a device that atomises the fuel while injecting it into the combustion
chamber. A typical fuel injector is shown in Figure. It has two basic parts, the
nozzle and the nozzle holder or body. The high-pressure fuel enters and travels
down a passage in the body and then into a passage in the nozzle, ending finally in
a chamber surrounding the needle valve. The needle valve is held closed on a
mitred seat by an intermediate spindle and a spring in the injector body. The
spring pressure, and hence the injector opening pressure, can be set by a
compression nut which acts on the spring. The needle valve will open when the
fuel pressure acting on the needle tapered face of the needle exerts sufficient
force to overcome the spring force. The fuel then flows into a lower chamber and
is forced out through a series of tiny holes. The small holes are sized and arranged
to atomise, or break into tiny drops, all of the fuel oil, which will then readily
burn. Once the injector pump or timing valve cuts off the high pressure fuel
supply the needle valve will shut quickly under the spring compression force.

Injector figure

Fuel filter:
Filter consists of a single bowl, in which a perforated tube is fitted centrally. The
perforated centre tube is surrounded annularly by a filter element. A gasket is
placed on top of the bowl, to check for any leakage of fuel. When fuel feed pump
sucks the fuel, it passes through the filter element. It will drop the impurities and
enter into the central perforated tube, where it is drawn out by the feed pump.
The dirt and other impurities left by the fuel at filter element are collected at the
bottom of the bowl. These are removed frequently, through drain plug fitted at
the bottom of the bowl.

Fuel injection system for multi cylinder diesel engine (CRDI):

Above figure shows various components used in this system. The low pressure
fuel pump delivers fuel from the fuel tank to the pressure control valve (PCV)
through the fuel filter. The high pressure fuel pump delivers the fuel from the PCV
to the fuel rail through pressure sensor. The pressure sensor continuously sends
signal of pressure of the system to the engine management unit (EMU). A
pressure regulating valve (PRV) is used to regulate the pressure inside the fuel
rail. Injectors are connected to the fuel rail. Throttle position sensor sends signal
of position of throttle to the EMU. Manifold absolute pressure sensor sends signal
of quantity of air in the intake manifold to the EMU. The oxygen sensor sends
signal of quantity of oxygen in the engine exhaust to the EMU. Crankshaft position
sensor sends the signal of crankshaft position to the EMU. The fuel temperature
sensor sends the signal of fuel temperature in the tank to the EMU. After
gathering all the data from different sensors, the EMU sends signal to the PCV for
maintaining required pressure in the system. The EMU sends the signal to the
different injectors for injecting fuel into the combustion chamber depending upon
the valve timing. The above injection system is called common rail direct
injection(CRDI).