International Journal of Research In Science & Engineering e-ISSN: 2394-8299

Volume: 3 Issue: 2 March-April 2017 p-ISSN: 2394-8280

TESTING OF MULTI CYLINDER PETROL ENGINE A REVIEW

Harshad Rakhunde1, Sameer Akhand2, Vaibhav Ramteke3, S. T. Wankhede4

1
Student of Mechanical engg. Department, S.R.P.C.E Nagpur,
harshadnrakhunde96@gmail.com
2
Student of Mechanical Engg. Department, S.R.P.C.E. Nagpur
3
Student of Mechanical Engg. Department, S.R.P.C.E. Nagpur,
4
Assistant Prof., Department of Mechanical engg., S.R.P.C.E Nagpur,
suhas.wankhede17@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
An IC engine is used to produce mechanical power by combustion of fuel. Power is
referred to as the rate at which work is done. Power is expressed as the product of
force and linear velocity or product of torque and angular velocity. In order to
measure power one needs to measure torque or force and speed. The force or torque
is measured by Dynamometer and speed by Tachometer. The power developed by an
engine and measured at the output shaft is called the brake power.While calculating
brake power for single cylinder engine it is easy but in case of multi cylinder engine
its quite difficult because of the inertia forces developed.In such cases the Morse test
can be used to measure the indicated power and mechanical efficiency of multi
cylinder engines.

Keywords: Indicated Power, Brake Power, Mechanical Efficiency, Dynamometer,

Constant Speed.

1. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of Morse test is to obtain the approximate indicated power of a Multi
cylinder engine. It consist of running the engine against the dynamometer at a
particular speed, cutting out the firing of each cylinder in turn and noting the fall in
BP each time while maintaining the speed constant. When one cylinder is cut off,
power developed is reduced and speed of engine falls.
Accordingly the load on dynamometer is adjusted so as to restore the speed of the
engine. This is done to maintain FP constant, which is considered to be independent
of the load and proportional to the engine speed. The observed difference in BP
between all cylinder firing and one cylinder cut off is the IP of the cut off cylinder.
Summation of IP of the entire cylinder would then give the IP of the engine under
test.
The Morse Test is performed to find the power developed in each cylinder in a multi
cylinder internal combustion engine. It basically gives the relationship between
indicated power and brake power. It is assumed that friction and pumping losses do
not change and remains same when the cylinder is in firing condition as well as in
inoperative condition. Using these test frictional losses in the IC engine can be easily
calculated. It is a simple approach to find the mechanical efficiency of the engine.
First power developed by all the cylinders is determined experimentally. Then using
the power supply cut off to the spark plug of cylinder, powers developed by
individual cylinders are determined. Then for the remaining cylinders, power
developed by engine is determined experimentally and obtained value is subtracted
from the first value and this gives power developed in the cylinder whose spark plug

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 International Journal of Research In Science & Engineering e-ISSN: 2394-8299
Volume: 3 Issue: 2 March-April 2017 p-ISSN: 2394-8280

was cut off. In the similar fashion, this test is performed on all the cylinders of the
engine individually.
The main intention of carrying out the Morse test in an IC engine is to provide an easy
method of calculating the frictional losses. It provides a kind of top-down approach in
calculating frictional losses easily and helps calculate mechanical efficiency.The total
break power of the engine is first calculated using a dynamometer.The process is
repeated with one cylinder off at each step. This the difference between total break
power and break power of the remaining cylinders gives the indicated power of the
first cylinder; and so on.In this way, indicated power of all cylinders are calculated
and summed to obtain the indicated power of the engine Friction power = indicated
power - total brake power. Once friction power is obtained, the mechanical efficiency
of the engine can be calculated.

2. RELATED WORK
2.1 ENGINE INDICATORS

Engine indicators are instruments which record the pressure and volume of the gases
within the engine cylinder on a diagram, and make possible the study of the entire
cycle with alterations or modifications to the air/fuel ratio, ignition timing, and
speed and load characteristics being recorded.
The indicator diagrams:
(Pressure-volume [PV diagram]) & (pressure - crank-angle)

The driving force on the engine piston is a variable one and the mean value is used to
determine the indicated power. The area of such a diagram represents to some scale
the work done during one cycle of the engine pistons. The area may be found by the
mid-ordinate method or by planometer. Some of the indicators are used to produce the
pressure-volume diagrams and others are used to produce the pressure-crank-angle
diagrams. Sparking plugs which have the dual role of igniting the charge and
transmitting pressure pulses are used in certain research work.

2.2 HEENAN AND FROUDE HYDRAULIC DYNAMOMETER

The brake power (Pb) of an engine is the useful power available at the crankshaft of
the engine. It is measured by running the engine against some form of absorption

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 International Journal of Research In Science & Engineering e-ISSN: 2394-8299
Volume: 3 Issue: 2 March-April 2017 p-ISSN: 2394-8280

brake, hence its name. For high-speed motor vehicle engines, the type of brake widely
used is the Heenan and Froude hydraulic dynamometer. It consists essentially of a
rotor running in a casing through which water flows steadily via the inlet and outlet
pipes. The rotor is coupled to the engine output shaft, and the casing is freely mounted
on bearings fitted to the true union brackets.

At the periphery of the rotor there is a series of semi-elliptical pockets, so that, when the
rotor is driven by the engine, the water is flung Hydraulic dynamometer out of its pockets
by centrifugal action ad transferred to the pockets in the casing. This results in a tendency
to turn the casing with the rotor. The casing is prevented from rotating by the resistance
of a spring and a static (or dead) load applied to the torque arm which projects from the
casing. A hand wheel is provided on top of the balance frame to adjust the torque arm to a
horizontal position; this is facilitated by a small pointer, as shown. The amount of load
and, hence, the torque absorbed by the dynamometer can be varied by controlling the
flow of water. This is usually done by operating another hand wheel which slides thin
metal plates between the rotor and the casing pockets, thus, blanking-off a number of
effective pockets.
As the length of the torque arm, together with the static load and spring balance reading,
is known, the torque on the casing can be determined. This is balanced by the torque
transmitted by the engine.

2.3 MOTORING METHOD

If an electrical swinging-field dynamometer is available the engine on test can be motored

directly after the power curve readings have been recorded. The dynamometer motors the
engine through the same rev/min range with ignition or fuel oil cut off (throttle wide
open). Brake load readings are taken and frictional power (pumping + frictional losses) is
obtained as follows:

Pi = Pb + Pf

ηm = Pb/Pi

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 International Journal of Research In Science & Engineering e-ISSN: 2394-8299
Volume: 3 Issue: 2 March-April 2017 p-ISSN: 2394-8280

The temperature of he engine’s pistons and cylinder walls, together with other working
parts and also the engine oil, falls below that of normal working temperature during the
motoring tests, and with the lack of exhaust gases, etc, the frictional and pumping losses
are somewhat modified. It, however, the test is done quickly and smartly with good
teamwork the results can be better than those produced by the Morse method. In the latter
there is a torsional balance upset and the charge within their induction manifold has its
flow modified together with the change in exhaust gas flow at the ports and manifold.
It is possible with such a dynamometer to evaluate the frictional and pumping losses of
various engine parts by taking readings as parts have been dismantled.

3. PROPOSED WORK
MORSE TEST

3.1WORKING PRINCIPLE
The Morse test is a test conducted to determine the power developed in each cylinder
in a Multicylinder IC engine. First the power developed by all the cylinders together
is determined experimentally. Then the power of the individual cylinders are
determined by cutting off the power supply to the spark plug of the cylinder under
test then the power developed by the engine with the remaining cylinders is
determined experimentally and this value is subtracted from the first value, and this
gives you the power developed in the cylinder, whose spark plug was cutoff.
Similarly this test is carried out on all the cylinders of the engine individually
A medium capacity 4-stroke vertical water-cooled diesel engine is selected. The
engine is coupled with a hydraulic dynamometer. This consists of two half castings
and a rotor assembly of rotor shaft and coupling running on ball bearings. The casing
is balanced by a spring-mass damper system. The principle of operation of the unit is
similar to the fluid coupling. The reaction at the casing is measured by a mechanism
consisting of lever arm and spring balance.

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 International Journal of Research In Science & Engineering e-ISSN: 2394-8299
Volume: 3 Issue: 2 March-April 2017 p-ISSN: 2394-8280

3.2THEORY
Morse test is conducted on Multicylinder engines to determine the frictional power,
indicated power and mechanical efficiency of the engine. The power available at the
shaft (Brake Power) is always less than the indicated power of the engine. These two
parameters are related as follows.
IP = BP + FP (1)
Where, IP = Indicated power
BP = Brake power
FP = Frictional Power
In this experiment the engine is run at a constant speed .To keep the FP of theengine
constant. To calculate the IP of a particular cylinder, say nth cylinder, the fuel
supplyis cut-off to that cylinder and speed is kept constant. Then IP of that nth
cylinderis given by
(IP) n = (BP) - (BP) n off (2)
Where BP = Brake Power of the engine with all cylinders working
WxN
(BP) n off= Brake Power of the engine with fuel supply cut-off to nth cylinder.
The hydraulic dynamometer works at an operating pressure of 1 Kg / cm2. The
maximumload on the engine is calculated as follows.
Wmax x N

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 International Journal of Research In Science & Engineering e-ISSN: 2394-8299
Volume: 3 Issue: 2 March-April 2017 p-ISSN: 2394-8280

An engine connected to an absorption-type dynamometer with load weighing gear and

tachometer will enable the indicated power (Pi) and mechanical efficiency (ηm) to be
calculated within reasonable limits of accuracy, providing care is taken to maintain
the exact rev/min and particular attention is paid to the torque arm setting and the
reading of the load figures.
The test consists of measuring the total brake power (Pb) with all engine cylinders
working normally under full throttle, and the cutting out each cylinder in turn. With
spark ignition engines it is a simple matter to short each cylinder in turn, and various
gadgets are produced for this purpose. With oil engines, using in-line fuel injection
pumps, the raising of the fuel pump cam follower with a screwdriver or similar tool
will cut off the fuel supply to that cylinder without having fuel oil leaking around the
test area. This is the case if pipe unions are loosened to prevent injection. When a
cylinder has been cut out, the remaining working cylinders have to overcome the
frictional and pumping loses of the cut-out cylinder.

3.3 PROCEDURE
1. The fuel level and lubricating oil level are checked.
2. The engine is started and the load is adjusted to some level at a constant engine
speed.
3. The engine is allowed to run for some time at this condition. Then first cylinder is
Cut-off by operating the lever.
4. The engine speed is adjusted to constant by decreasing the load on the engine. The
Load at which speed becomes constant is noted. In no case the accelerator istouched
while adjusting the speed.
5. The first cylinder is put on to working condition by operating the lever and the
engine allowedrunning for some time at this states.
6. The second cylinder is cut-off and the load at which speed is maintained at constant
is noted.
7. The above procedure is repeated for the third and fourth cylinders.

3.4 PRECAUTIONS
1. Only one cylinder should be cut-off at a time

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 International Journal of Research In Science & Engineering e-ISSN: 2394-8299
Volume: 3 Issue: 2 March-April 2017 p-ISSN: 2394-8280

2. The engine should not be operated with a cut-off cylinder for a long time.
3. The engine should be started and stopped at no load condition.
4. The load applied on the engine should not exceed the maximum load that can be
applied.
5. The engine should be started and stopped at No Load condition.
6. Cooling water supply and must be ensured throughout the experiment.
7. The readings should be noted without parallax error.

3.5 FUNCTIONS OF MORSE TEST

1. Calculate the total indicated power of the engine.
2. Calculate the individual indicated power of each cylinder
3. Use to calculate brake power
4. Frictional power or power loss due to friction can be calculated
5. Also calculate mechanical efficacy of the engine
5. CONCLUSION

After performing the Morse test we can conclude that it is the most useful engine test
to calculate the performance of the engine mainly the Multicylinder engines and in
future the use is going to increase and it is very easy to calculate the performance of
the engine. We can calculate the individual power developed by the engine cylinders
separately and total indicated power is also calculated .we can also calculate the brake
horse power of the engine It is also very easy to calculate the frictional losses of each
cylinder.

5. REFERENCES
1. Ganesan, V (2012). "Internal Combustion Engine". McGraw Hill Education (India)
Pvt. Ltd.
2. Rajput, R K. Thermal Engineering. Laxmi Publications. p. 1125. ISBN
9788131808047.
3. "I C Engine Testing" (PDF). Retrieved 20111022.
4. A Text Book of Automobile Engineering – R.K. Rajput – Google Books.
Books.google.co.in. 20070101.ISBN 9788170089919. Retrieved 20111022.
5. The Internalcombustionngine in ... – Charles Fayette Taylor – Google Books.
Books.google.co.in. 19850101.ISBN 9780262700276. Retrieved 20111022.
6. "Methodology for Thermal Efficiency and Energy Input Calculations and Analysis of
Biomass Cogeneration Unit characteristic’s" (PDF). U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Office of Air and Radiation. Retrieved 20111022.
7. Ricardo, H.R, 1958. ―The high speed internal combustion engine‖, blackie&sons
Ltd., London.
8. Rogowski, A.R, 1961. ―Method of measuring the instantaneous friction of piston
and friction of piston ring in afiring engine‖, SAE, paper no. 379F.
9. Taylor, C.F., 1966. ―The internal combustion engine in theory and practice‖, The
M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass.
10. Willard, W.P., 2011 ―Engineering fundamentals of the internal combustion engine‖,
PHI, New Delhi.

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