Lecture-32

Prepared under
QIP-CD Cell Project

Internal Combustion Engines

Ujjwal K Saha, Ph.D.

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

1

Introduction

Need of High specific power output

accompanied by good reliability and
longer engine life.
Use of high pressure turbo charging results
induces high thermal loads.
Turbocharger doesnt have good adiabatic
efficiency.
High peak pressure problem occurs at full
load
Can be minimized by reducing CR
But also CR should be sufficiently high for
good starting and part load operation.
2

VCR engine
High compression ratio is used for good stability and low
load operation
Low compression ratio used at full load to boost the
turbocharger intake pressure
Load increases engine exhaust increases boost
available more
At full load turbocharger boost capacity is high so
reduction in CR is necessary for more efficiency and to
reduce thermal stresses.
Used mainly with turbocharged diesel engines
-- VCR concept is beneficial at low load
-- better multifuel capacity
-- also spark engine can produce knock due to
sudden change from high CR to low CR.

Theoretical Analysis
For part load and high load CR is low in VCR
than FCR
Expansion is slower at low compression
ratios.
Gas temperature is lower than the for
constant compression ratio engines for full
compression stroke and up to 500 after tdc .
After this the temperature drop is slower due
to slower expansion
Exhaust valves in VCR run hotter.
Boost pressure and mean cycle temperature
increases with load.
Both bsfc and isfc increases with load.
Pre-turbine gas temperature is higher but
limited by metallurgical considerations.

Methods of obtaining VCR

Variable compression ratio can be

obtained by altering:
The clearance volume.
Both the clearance volume and the
swept volume.

Various VCR Concepts

A very new and efficient method is
slidable piston head and cylinder.
Variation of combustion chamber volume.
Variation of piston deck height.
Modification of connecting rod geometry.
Moving the crankpin within the crankshaft.
Moving the crankshaft axis.
Traverse type mechanism.

Moving Head (SVC)

By combining head and liners into a semimonobloc
construction which pivots with respect to the
remainder of the engine, SAAB have enabled a
tilting motion to adjust the effective height of the
piston crown at TDC.

high compression ratio 14:1

low compression ratio 8:1

Variation of Combustion Chamber Volume

Typically the volume of
combustion chamber is
increased to reduce the
CR by moving a
secondary piston :
Ford type VCR Head:
Ford patent for
compression adjustment
using a secondary
piston or valve.
8

 Volvo/Alvar type VCR Head:

Alvar engine concept in
which each secondary
piston moves continuously
at half crankshaft speed
and could, potentially,
share drive with a
camshaft. Phase variation
between the secondary
pistons and the crankshaft
assembly enables the
required variation in CR.

Variable Height Piston

Variation in compression height of the piston offers
potentially the most attractive route to a production
VCR engine since it requires relatively minor changes
to the base engine architecture.

Ford VCR Piston

10

Daimler Benz VCR Piston

11

A popular approach has been

to replace the conventional con
rod with a 2 piece design in
which an upper member
connects with the piston while a
lower member connects with
the crankshaft. By constraining
the freedom of the point at
which the two members join, the
effective height of the con rod
can be controlled and, hence,
the compression volume. All the
compound con rod designs
result in modified piston motion
when compared to a
conventional engine, since the
piston is connected to a rod
whose other end is no longer
moving in a circular orbit.

Connecting Rod Geometry

Nissan VCR Engine

12

Peugeot VCR Engine

13

 Mayflower e3
VCR Engine

14

Movement of Crankshaft or Crankpin

Several systems have
been proposed which
either carry the crankshaft
main bearings in an
eccentric assembly or
move the crankpins
eccentrically to effect a
Stroke change at TDC.

Gomesys VCR engine in which moveable crankpins

form an eccentric sleeve around the conventional
crankpins and are driven by a large gear.

15

 Rapan VCR engine in

which the crankshaft
main bearings are
carried in an eccentric
housing which can be
rotated by an actuator,
via a mechanism, to
vary the crankshaft
position with respect
to the cylinder head.

16

Traverse diesel engine T-01

17

Control strategy
Basic Relationship: Points 1,
2, 4, 5 lie on the plane of low
compression. Point 3 lies on the
plane of high compression.
The engine is started at low
CR and zero boost (point 1).
When the driver accelerates,
load and boost increase to
point 2. When the driver
throttles back into a light load
cruise (point 3), load and boost
reduce and CR increases.
When the throttle is reopened from this condition, CR
reduces as boost and load
increase, reaching point 4 and,
ultimately, point 5 (WOT).

18

 Tip-in/Tip-out strategy:

Suppression of unwanted throttle input

19

Accomplishments
VCR shows the high
efficiency at lower
engine power levels.
Favorable burn rate
and coefficient of
variance, which allow
the application of
lean burn technology.
Favorable
and
consistent
emission
level.

20

Accomplishments
AVDS-1100

VCR engine is very

compact and has a
higher power to
weight ratio.
VCR principle causes
low thermal and
structural loads.
bsfc of the VCR
engine is as good as
that of conventional
engine.
VCR engine has a
very less low
frequency noise.

Gross b.p., (kW)

AVCR-1100

186.5

1100

10

26

Displacement,
(sq. cm)

18300

18300

Compression
ratio

22 : 1

10:1, 22:1

1385
3.5

1385

317

686

Bmep. ( bar)

Weight (kg)
Weight,
kg/Gross b. p.
b.p./sq. m
Maximum
torque, N-m at
rpm
Min, sfc,
kg/gross kW/hr

13.5

1490/2000 3860/2000

0.232

0.232
21

Accomplishments
Due to use of high compression ratio at
low loads the VCR engine has a good
starting and idling performance.
Due to higher compression ratio at
starting and part load operation the VCR
engine has good multifuel capability.

22

References
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http://widget.ecn.purdue.edu/~yanchen/ME200/ME200-8.ppt 24