The Performance Study of Alcohol in an Air Gap Ceramic Insulated Diesel Engine with Brass Piston

Now a day it is becoming a challenge for the researchers to find a suitable alternative for diesel and to conserve fossil fuels, which are going to drain in the near future. These factors are to be considered for the invention of new designs of engines. This plays a major role for the researchers in the engine design. The alternative fuel selected must be a renewable, environmentally friendly liquid fuel, and it should provide less pollutant emissions. As ours is an agricultural country, the production of sugar cane is more and this plays a vital part in the production of alcohols which is a very good substitute for diesel. But with the high self-ignition temperature and low latent heat, it becomes difficult to burn alcohol in the existing diesel engines at the available compression ratios and injection pressures. But these have a peculiar property, burning at the elevated temperatures in the combustion chamber. Hence, in the present work, a ceramic insulated diesel engine is developed with an air gap between piston and skirt. This retains the heat in the combustion chamber, makes the combustion complete and further improves the thermal efficiency of the engine with a reduction in the emissions. The heat retaining capacity of the engine mainly depends on the piston material. Therefore, an attempt is made, in the present work, to study the performance and the emission characteristics of the engine with brass piston. Further, the turbulence in the combustion chamber provides the homogeneous mixture formation and improves the combustion quality. So the performance parameters of the engine are tested with brass piston insert and with twelve grooves. Among the various piston inserts tested, the brass insert with 12 number of grooves is identified as the best in terms of performance and emissions. However, in the present experimental work, the major problems acknowledged are the drop in volumetric efficiency and lubricating oil descent with the higher prevailing temperatures in the chamber. However, these problems can be overcome by turbocharging and with the development of new lubricating oils.