Design and Development of Wave Rotor Technology for an Automotive Diesel Engine

As internal combustion engines are getting downsized and require lower mass flow rate, their cycle efficiency drops significantly. Such small engines with swept volume (~435 cc) are used in three wheelers in our country. Around 2,32,000 three wheelers are sold in Tamil Nadu alone, and thus the auto rickshaw is an ever-growing industry for public transport in India. The decrease in cycle efficiency hampers good performance and results in major pollutant formations. The naturally aspirated engines used in all the rickshaws consume more fuel, are bigger in size and give out more emissions. A novel wave rotor technology developed in the past few decades is a germane solution to the fuel efficiency and emissions conundrum. The Greaves single-cylinder 435 cc engine was modelled on SOLIDWORKS software and then simulated on Converge CFD software. The results were compared with experimental testing of the engine. With the simulation result validated for the engine, the engine was simulated with boosted air pressure of 2 bar. This boosted pressure value was obtained from previous experimentation done on Comprex. The simulation result obtained at boosted pressure showed significant increase in efficiency of the engine with peak pressure of 129.25 bar and reduction in CO emissions.