Comparative Experimental Study of Base Line and Thermal Barrier Coated Four Stroke Four Cylinder Diesel Fueled Engine with Low Heat Rejection

The depletion of conventional fuel source at a fast rate and increasing of environment pollution motivated extensive research in energy efficient engine design. In the present work, experimental investigations were carried out on a four-stroke four-cylinder diesel-fuelled Base Line Engine (BLE) by conducting a normal load test and measuring the required Brake Thermal Efficiency (BThE) and Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC) in a 100 HP dyno facility. A six-gas Analyser was used for the measurement of Unburnt Hydrocarbons (UBHC), Carbon monoxide (CO), Carbon dioxide (CO2), free Oxygen (O-2), Nitrogen oxides (NOx), Sulphur oxides (SO)) and a smoke meter was used to measure smoke opacity. Low Heat Rejection (LHR) engine was realized by coating the crown of the aluminium alloy piston with the most popular Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) material, namely 8%Yttria Partially Stabilized Zirconia (8YPSZ), after coating qualification on research pistons, specifically fabricated to retain the piston material specification, and the geometry of the crown contour. A normal load test was conducted on LHR engine to evaluate the performance as well as to determine the concentration of pollutants. A similar to 30% improvement in BThE and similar to 35% improvement in SFC was exhibited by the LHR engine at all loads studied (7 to 64%). While UBHC level showed an increase, the CO, CO2 and O-2 contents as revealed in the emission test showed a mixed response (high and low) for an LHR engine. Compared with BLE, NOx and smoke level in LHR engine emission showed an increasing trend with the load. On comparing BLE and LHR engine test results, value addition to the BLE in terms of reduced fuel consumption and pollutants was observed.