Power Generated by a Compression-Ignition Engine

by Hansel Rivera

Submitted : Spring 2015

The goal of the project was to calculate the horse power of a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke engine running at 3000 RPM, by using the numerical data that represents the cycle of one of the cylinders of the CI engine. In order to determine the horse power I had to first calculate the net work per cycle done by one cylinder which was defined as the area inside the cycle shown in figure 1. I arrived at the value by calculating the trapezoidal sum of the area inside the cycle. I then converted this value for work from (cm³ kPa) to (m³ Pa) which is equivalent to the SI unit for work, the Joule (J). I then converted that value from Joules to (lb-ft) because horse power is expressed in the unit (lb-ft/min). I continued by multiplying the new found value by the number of revolutions and cylinders needed to calculate the complete amount of work done by the engine, which when divided by the number of (lb-ft/min) that make up one horse power equals out to the horse power of the 4-cylinder engine, which is approximately 187.32 hp.

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