NUCLEAR&RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES CONFERENCE with INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION

28-29 September 2009 ANKARA – TURKEY

ENERGY ANALYSES OF A NATURAL GAS POWERED 1.7-LITRE

ENGINE

Mahmood Farzaneh-Gordd , Amin Yahyaie, Mohammad Reza Behi , Seyyed Ali Akbar
Mirmohammadi

The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

Abstract

In this paper based on and experimental study and energy analyses a full energy accounting of natural gas powered
spark ignition engine is carried out. The engine is 1.7 liter naturally aspirated and is of a family known as EF7 that
were developed jointly by Iran Khodro Powertrain Company and German FEV Motorentechnik GmbH. The
experimental data are which were obtained by IKCO (Iran Khodro Company) includes the fuel, air and coolant
flow rates, exhaust gas temperature, inlet and outlet coolant temperature, engine power and speed and the engine
torque. The results show that at lower engine speed, coolant water losses more energy than exhaust but at higher
engine speed, it is exhaust gases which losses more energy. Rest term consumes more percentage of fuel energy at
half load comparing to full load. Finally, the engine is more efficient in medium speed to generate power for both
half and full load. This research work has been carried out to analysis the performance of the engine and locating
more efficient engine condition.

Keywords: Energy analysis, internal combustion engine, spark ignition

1. Introduction

Energy conservation and its efficient use are currently an important issue. The current reduction in oil reserves
combined with the increase in its price, as well as the need for cleaner fuels, have led in the past years to an
increasing interest and research in the field of waste heat recovery. Perhaps, the best known engines in world for
generation mobile power are the reciprocating internal combustion engines (ICE).

Discussions of the use of alternative fuels to gasoline and diesel are becoming common place across the world
today. Most of the interest is driven by various new laws pertaining to clean air and/or energy independence.
Forward thinking fleet management using traditional motor fuels are investigating these new fuels to determine
if and when to expand their activities. The major alternative fuels under consideration are propane (LPG),
methanol, ethanol and natural gas. Natural gas is being touted by many organizations and government officials
as the vehicle fuel of the future. Safe natural gas fuel clearly has some substantial benefits relative to gasoline
and diesel. These include: lower fuel costs, 120+ octane, lower maintenance costs, and, most certainly, cleaner
exhaust emissions.

As combustion is strongly affected by the fuel properties, both the engine performance and exhaust emissions
vary as functions of fuel, It is necessary to study the energy analysis of an ICE power by fuel of future (Natural
Gas).

The performance analysis of an ICE was an interested subject in research papers. Farzaneh-Gord et al. [1,2] have
developed a computer program to simulate four stroke spark ignition engine. The simulation has been done
considering intake and exhaust processes as well as compression and combustion processes. It studies the effects
of different parameters on engine efficiency and proposed the optimized conditions for fuel octane. Evans et al.
[3] carried out a comparison of simulation results with experimentally measured performance data in a lean-burn
engine operating with natural gas over a wide range of air-fuel ratios. Recent studies show that almost 1/3 of the
energy of a fossil fuel is destroyed during the combustion process in power generation [4,5]. This has caused a

E-mail: mahmood.farzaneh@yahoo.co.uk

569
 NUCLEAR&RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES CONFERENCE with INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION
28-29 September 2009 ANKARA – TURKEY

renewed interest in availability analyses, since effective management and optimization of thermal systems is
emerging as a major modern technical problem. Farzaneh-Gord et al. [6] have carried out a method for the
second law analysis of the internal combustion engines operation with alternative fuels.

The present work expands considerably upon those papers, providing details about energy accounting of a
Natural Gas powered ICE. Based on experimental performance analysis of a new designed IKCO (Iran Khodro
Company) 1.7 liter natural gas powered ICE, full energy accounting of the engine was carried out on various
engine speeds and loads. The energy accounting includes a) exhaust gases analysis, its temperature and mass
flow rate b) coolant inlet and outlet temperature and its mass flow rate c)the engine brake power and torque.

2. Experimental apparatus

Table 1 1.7 litre Natural gas power EF7 IKCO engine basic parameters
Parameter Name Value Unit
Type: Spark Ignited
Charging Method: Natural Aspirated
Cylinder Number: 4
Bore: 78.6 mm
Stroke: 85 mm
Displacement: 1646 cm3
Compression Ratio: 11.05
Max. Power: 80 kW
Speed @ Max. Power: 6000 rpm
Max. Torque: 136 Nm
Speed @ Max. Torque: 3500 rpm
Idle Speed: 750 rpm
Valve Number of Each Cylinder: 4
Angle of Air Valve Opening: Variable deg
Angle of Air Valve Closing: Variable deg
Angle of Exhaust Valve Opening: 17 deg
Angle of Exhaust Valve Closing: 9 deg

Table 2 Natural gas fuel properties consumed during engine test

Parameter Name Value Unit
Heating Value
HHV (Higher) 50.39 Mj/kg
LHV (Lower) 45.47 Mj/kg
Fuel Composition
CH4 87.0 Vol. Fraction
C2H6 5. 0 Vol. Fraction
C3H8 2.0 Vol. Fraction
N2 6.0 Vol. Fraction
Molecular Weight 18.31 g/Mol
Stoichiometric Air
Requirement 15.58

570
 NUCLEAR&RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES CONFERENCE with INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION
28-29 September 2009 ANKARA – TURKEY

IKCO (Iran Khodro Company) has unveiled the first national (Iranian) natural gas powered engine family in
2005 known as EF7 family. The engines were developed jointly by Iran Khodro Powertrain Company and
German FEV Motorentechnik GmbH. The one which has been studied here is 1.7 liter Natural aspirated spark
ignition engine. The engine is capable of consuming natural gas or gasoline as fuel. However the experimental
values which presented here are based on natural gas as fuel. The details of the engine parameters are given in
table 1.

The engine is capable of consuming natural gas or gasoline as fuel. However the experimental values which
presented here are based on natural gas as fuel. Table 2 shows the fuel properties which consumed during engine
tests.

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus and measuring devices. It should be pointed
out that the tests have been carried out by IKCO. As it can be seen in the figure, the fuel, air and coolant flow
rates are measured by appropriate flow meters. Exhaust gas temperature are measured with 4 thermometers in
each exhaust runner. The exhaust temperature is calculated by averaging these values. Inlet and outlet coolant
temperature are measured by two thermometers. Engine power is measured by measuring engine speed and the
engine torque using a dynamometer.

Figure 1. A schematic diagram of experimental layout

3. The energy analysis

Knowing, exhaust mass flow rate, m ex , exhaust gases temperature Tex and ambient temperature, To , one can
calculate exhaust heat lost as follow:
Qex m ex c p ,mix (Tex To ) (1)
It is well know that coolant heat lost is other main source of energy lost in an engine. By measuring inlet and
outlet coolant temperatures and coolant mass flow rate, once can calculate the coolant heat lost as follow:
Qw m w c p ,w (Twi Two ) (2)
Considering the engine as thermodynamic system, one can write overall heat balance for the engine as follow:
. . . .
m f LHV Q ex Q w Q res W ICE (3)
. .
In equation 3, m f is fuel mass flow rate, m f LHV is actual input fuel energy, W ICE is engine power and Q res is
.
rest of engine energy. Q res includes heat lost from engine surface, consumed power by engine accessories,
.
irreversibility in combustion process and other terms. This value ( Q res ) couldn't be measured and should be
calculated using equation 3. By dividing right side terms by input energy (fuel energy), the percentage of input
energy consumed by each term could be calculated.

571
 NUCLEAR&RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES CONFERENCE with INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION
28-29 September 2009 ANKARA – TURKEY

4. Results and discussion

Figure 2 shows engine power at full and half loads for various engine speeds. It can be realized that maximum
power is about 76 kW at full load and 42 kW at half load.

Figure 3 displays engine torque at full and half loads for various engine speeds. It can be realized that maximum
brake torque occurs at about 3100 rpm. There is a drop in torque at 4000rpm and then a rise to another extreme
point at 5000rpm.

Figure 2. The engine brake power at full & half load for various engine speeds

Figure 3. The engine torque at full & half load for various engine speeds

Figure 4. The exhaust mass flow rate at full & half load for various engine speeds

572
 NUCLEAR&RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES CONFERENCE with INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION
28-29 September 2009 ANKARA – TURKEY

Figure 4 depictive exhaust gas mass flow rate at full and half loads for various engine speeds. It can be realized
that as the engine speed increases, the exhaust mass flow rate increases linearly.

Figure 5 show percentage of consumed energy of each term versus engine speed for half engine load
respectively. It can be realized that at lower engine speed, coolant water losses more energy than exhaust but at
higher engine speed, it is exhaust gases which losses more energy. Rest term consumes more percentage of fuel
energy at half load comparing to full load. Finally, the engine is more efficient in medium speed to generate
power for both half and full load.

100
Percentage Of Fuel Supply Energy[%]

90 Rest Term
80

70
Exhaust
60

50

40 Coolant
30

20
Power
10

0
1003 1504 2001 2501 3001 3504 4001 4502 5000 5501 6000
Engine Speed[rpm]

Figure 5. The percentage of energy consumed by each term at half load for various engine speeds

5. Conclusions

As combustion is strongly affected by the fuel properties, both the engine performance and exhaust emissions
vary as functions of fuel, it is necessary to study the energy analysis of an ICE power by fuel of future (Natural
Gas).

Based on experimental performance analysis of a new designed IKCO (Iran Khodro Company) 1.7 liter natural
gas powered ICE, full energy accounting of the engine was carried out on various engine speeds and loads. The
energy accounting includes a) exhaust gases analysis, its temperature and mass flow rate b) coolant inlet and
outlet temperature and its mass flow rate c)the engine brake power and torque.

The results show that maximum engine power is about 76 kW at full load and 42 kW at half load. At lower
engine speed, coolant water losses more energy than exhaust but at higher engine speed, it is exhaust gases
which losses more energy. Rest term consumes more percentage of fuel energy at half load comparing to full
load. Finally, the engine is more efficient in medium speed to generate power for both half and full load. The
optimum point of the engine speed is about 3500rpm.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by research grant from shahrood university of technology. The authors are also grateful
to official in IKCO for providing the experimental results.

References

[1] Farzaneh-Gord M., Meisam Sadi, Shahram Hashemi, Hamid Nikzad, Simulation of CO2 power cycle and
Theoretical investigation of its application in internal combustion engine Proceeding of the Third
International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Applied Optimization, Sharjah, U.A.E. January 20-
22, 2009.
[2] Mahmood Farzaneh-Gord, Hamid hajializadeh, Combined Simulation of Spark Ignition Internal Combustion
Engines and Heat Conduction within Piston, Journal of Algorithms & Computational Technology, Vol. 3,
No. 3, pp363-378, 2009.

573
 NUCLEAR&RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES CONFERENCE with INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION
28-29 September 2009 ANKARA – TURKEY

[3] R.L. Evans and D.R. Jarmer, Experimental Validation of an Engine Simulation Code with Lean-Burn Natural
Gas Engine Data , SAE TECHNICAL PAPER SERIES 981909,1998.
[4] Stone, Richard, Introduction to Internal Combustion Engines, Department of Engineering Science, University
of Oxford, 1999.
[5] Heywood, John B., Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals, McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1988.
[6] Mahmood Farzaneh-Gord, Hamid hajializadeh, A. Khoshnevis, "The First and Second Law analysis of a
spark ignited engine fuelled with alternative fuels", Archives of Thermodynamics, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp73-92,
2009.

574