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Diesel Engine Research Paper

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The diesel (internal combustion) engine has been a major source of power for transportation vehicles and industrial uses. The Australian railways have utilised diesel engines for regional and freight purposes since the early 1950 's. Despite the extensive history of the diesel engine, the efficiency of the modern internal combustion process ranges between 35% - 42%.[1] The losses in energy arise from heat losses and mechanical losses as illustrated in Fig 1.

Figure 1. Schematic of conventional vehicle system model. Only a small percentage of energy is converted into useful work to power the wheels and other accessory loads.[2]
Figure 1 indicates that a significant amount of energy is lost from the exhaust and coolant systems. Exhaust temperatures generally range between 400-900°C depending on the application. This presents a significant opportunity to recover the heat losses from the exhaust to reduce the fuel consumption. In addition to the advantage gained from the improved fuel consumption, there are other benefits such as reducing exhaust emissions and increased engine power.

To effectively capture the energy lost from a diesel engine exhaust pressures, the turbocharger was implemented to boost the power of engine and thereby increasing the fuel efficiency. The majority of the heat energy from the exhaust and coolant has yet to be captured and utilised. There has been many challenges to recovering the heat as the low grade heat from the diesel engine cannot be

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