ISTE Delhi Section Convention, 2013

Modification and Testing of 2-Stroke Spark Ignition Engine to Run on

Compressed Air

*Kumar Vasu1, Chitransh Manas2, Banka Utsav3, Takkar Jayati4, Gupta Unish5,
Kumar Naveen6
1
Student, B.Tech (III yr), Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technological University,
Shahbad Daulatpur, Bawana Road, Delhi
2, 3, 4, 5
Student, B.Tech (final year), Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technological University,
Shahbad Daulatpur, Bawana Road, Delhi
6
Professor and Head of Department, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technological University,
Shahbad Daulatpur, Bawana Road, Delhi
*Email ID: vasu.dtu@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The majority of fuels used in every walk of civilization today are fossil based. These fuels are non-
renewable and are limited in availability. Therefore, it is a very urgent issue to develop sustainable
alternative fuels. Compressed air is one such alternative. Compressed air is not directly a fuel, but a
medium of energy storage, much like a battery. Where in a battery the energy is stored in the form of
chemical energy, compressed air stores it in the form of potential energy. Using the potential energy
stored in compressed air for running engines and propelling vehicles will prove to be a clean and
sustainable alternative. Compressed air can directly be used to run existing 2-stroke engines with very
little modification. The idea can also be extended to 4-stroke engines, but require a few more
modifications as CAE essentially has a 2-stroke cycle.

Key Words- Alternative fuel, compressed air engine, light vehicles, renewable energy

1. INTRODUCTION

The global consumption of fossil fuels in the last couple of decades in the wake of rising emerging nations
of east and south Asia coupled with surge in industrial activity of the third world nations have mandated
the search of alternative sources of energy for the survival and growth of mankind. In this context the
mobility sector needs innovations to reduce dependence on traditional fossil fuels not only for supply side
constraints but also to reduce the environmental consequences of exhaustive petroleum fuel consumption
for mobility. Compressed Air Engines (CAEs), which are powered solely by compressed air stored in a
vehicle on-board pressurized tank seem to present a promising alternative in this domain. The present
study evaluates the possibility of developing a CAE from existing engine hardware with subsequent
performance evaluation.
A compressed air kit was retrofitted to a 147cc 2-stroke gasoline engine and the engine was allowed to
run on compressed air. Exhaustive set of engine trials indicated higher torque at lower speeds and
sufficiently good response of the CAE towards load fluctuation confirming good automobile applications.
The overall energy conversion efficiency of the CAE prototype was found to be in the order of 40% which
was higher than the standard equivalent gasoline engine performance. The analyses ultimately showed
that with a little value addition to the existing prototype, it may be suitable for light duty automobile
applications.
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1.1 Previous Work Done

The idea of running a vehicle on compressed air is not new. In fact, it was first proposed in the early 17th
century but the idea was eventually dropped once IC engines came in to existence in the late 19th
century. A brief overview of the work done in the field previously [1]:
1. 1687: Dennis Papin came up with the idea of using compressed air.
2. 1838: Andraud and Tessie from Motay, France, built a compressed air car.
3. 1872: Mekarskiair Engine was used for street transit, consisting of single stage engine.
4. 1898: Hoadley and Knight first introduced an urban transport locomotive with a two stage
engine.
5. 1994-Present: Guy Negre a French engineer, designed a low consumption and low pollution
engine for urban motoring that runs on compressed air technology. Motor Development
International has the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) prototype in production since 1994.

1.2 Why Compressed Air?

In 2009 proved reserves were estimated as follows with that years fuel consumption in mind:

1. Oil: 46 years (depleted in 2055)

2. Natural gas: 63 years (depleted in 2072)
3. Coal: 119 years (depleted in 2128)

It all depends on technology, economy and energy consumption. Nothing is certain, except the fact that
one day we will run out of fossil fuels. Even though technology is developing fast and new reserves are
added regularly, we are using up fossil fuels at ever increasing speed. [2]

Therefore, the need of the hour is to develop technologies, especially in the transportation sector with
minimum dependence on fossil fuels. The development of compressed air engine from existing 2-stroke
engine can serve the purpose. While all the previous technologies based on compressed air where aimed
at producing a whole new pneumatic system to run on compressed air, it may not be feasible to replace
the present day vehicles with such systems. Therefore, the system we propose involves the conversion of
existing SI engines to run on compressed air, with minimum modifications.

2. WORKING PRINCIPLE

The basic principle of the CAE is quite modest. Instead of the gases produced when a traditional fuel is
burnt in the cylinder, the expanding air is used to push the piston down and the remaining functioning of
the engine remains unaffected.
The working of the 2-stroke CAE can be explained in four stages [Fig 1].

1. The Reed switch sensor detects the magnets attached to the flywheel and the signal is transmitted
opening the solenoid valve. As a result compressed air is injected by injector at the cylinder head. The
injected air immediately acquires the passage above the piston.

2. As the magnet moves away from the Reed switch, the signal transmission is discontinued and hence,
the solenoid valve closes, disrupting the flow of air in to the engine. The compressed air in passage in the
cylinder then starts to expand and forces the piston down. The piston moves the crankshaft which powers
the vehicle.

3. At about 35 degree before BDC, both the exhaust and transfer ports are exposed to the chamber
having reduced air pressure. The pressure is relieved and chambers pressure becomes equals to the

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atmospheric pressure.

4. From 35 degree after BDC, the air remaining in chamber at atmospheric pressure is compressed by
the upward movement

Fig. 1: CAE operation

3. RETROFIT KIT DESIGN

The spark ignition engine is found to be quite suitable for initial testing because it inherits several
structural features which offer high degree of customizability and tuning. It is much easier to mount and
dismount the components like spark plug, carburettor and flywheel form the engine. The low weight of the
moving parts of the engine offer less resistance, thus an instant torque is obtained even at low pressure
of air injected.

3.1 Mechanical components

3.1.1 Cylinder Head

The spark plug is dismounted and the internal threads present on the cylinder head are machined until it
is completely removed. Thereafter, the plain cylindrical bore obtained is threaded according to profile of
given adapter or reducer nipple.

Fig. 2: Mechanical modifications to covert 2-stroke engine to CAE

3.1.2 Flywheel

The existing flywheel of the two stroke SI engine is magnetized and a stator coil lies underneath the
magnetized flywheel. The internal coil and magnet interfere with the field of the external magnet which
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leads to malfunctioning of the magnetic sensor. Therefore, the flywheel along with the coil is removed. A
steel disc of equivalent weight is attached to a separate fanwheel using nuts and bolts in the manner as
shown in the figure 2. The steel disc and fanwheel assembly is then mounted on the crankshaft of the
engine. This type of arrangement has an advantage of adding or removing additional weight later without
any modifications.

3.2 Electrical components

As the compressed air requires a very different injection system than gasoline, and the carburettor been
removed, a very specific injection system is designed and mounted comprising the following components.

3.2.1 Reed switch

The reed switch is an electrical switch operated by an applied magnetic field. It consists of a pair of
contacts on ferrous metal reeds in a hermetically sealed glass envelope.
The contacts are normally open, closing when a magnetic field is present. The switch may be actuated by
a coil, making a reed relay, or as in this case by bringing a magnet near to the switch. [Fig. 3]

Fig. 3: Reed switch working

3.2.2 Solenoid valve

A solenoid valve is an electromechanically operated valve. The valve is controlled by an electric current
through a solenoid: in the case of a two-port valve the flow is switched on or off; in the case of a three-
port valve, the outflow is switched between the two outlet ports. Solenoids offer fast and safe switching,
high reliability, long service life, good medium compatibility of the materials used, low control power and
compact design. [Fig. 4]

Fig. 4: Solenoid valve

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3.3 Additional components

A few additional components need to be mounted as well to make the kit [refer figure 5] operational.

1. Storage cylinder and hoses of appropriate pressure

2. Pressure regulator
3. Air filter and lubricator

Fig. 5: Schematics of CAE kit

4. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

There were two aspects of the analyses done. The first was to determine the optimum angle of air
injection. The second was to check the torque achieved and calculating the corresponding power
developed by the engine at various loads in a rope dynamometer load test when the injection angle had
been optimized.

4.1 RPM variation with injection pressure and angle

The engine was successfully tested at majorly two pressures. At a lower ~10 bar with a lower capacity
(max. 10 bar) two-way NC solenoid valve and a higher ~25 bar with a higher capacity (max. 30 bar) three-
way NC solenoid valve. Both valves had a similar delay period of about 20ms. At each of these
pressures, the position of the timing magnets was varied, hence varying the injection time which had
significant effect on the engine speed.

Fig. 6: Angle vs RPM plot

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Few of the observations are plotted and the graph can be observed in Fig. 6 (assuming TDC to be 0, -ve
to be before and +ve to be after the same).Corresponding to the readings and the graph plots, it can be
seen that the optimum point of injection is about 10 after TDC.

5. Load testing methodology

The engine was subjected to a rope brake dynamometer load test. For the test, a drum was mounted on
the crank shaft [Fig. 7] and a rope and pulley system is set up. One end of the rope is connected to a
spring balance and the other, connected to a hanger for loading weights. The difference in the weight
suspended and the scale reading gives the tension in the rope i.e. the actual or true load.

Fig. 7: Rope brake dynamometer load test [5]

5.1 Maximum torque

The following equations are used for torque calculations:

= (1)
= [( + ) ] (2)

Where,
T = torque achieved
w = net weight lifted
R = net radius = radius of drum + radius of rope
g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/s2
The engine seized to operate smoothly after the last load. The corresponding graph is seen in Fig.8 (a).

5.2 Maximum power

Once torque has been obtained, the maximum power can be calculated.
The following equation is employed to find out the values:

2
= (3)
60

Where,
T = torque achieved
N = RPM of the shaft
It is observed in the plot that unlike torque, the power generated achieves a peak value and then declines
again. Here, the value achieved is 693.0W i.e 0.93hp at 16 kg load. [Fig.8 (b)]
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 Fig. 8: (a) Load vs torque plot and (b) Load vs power plot

5.3 Efficiency Calculation

Once the power is calculated, it can be used for efficiency calculation using the following equations

= (4)

Where, the energy can be calculated as,

= () () (5)

Taking the rating of the compressor (10hp) and the time it was run (5 min) as our input and the maximum
engine power (0.93hp) and the time it was run (22min) as our output in the above equation, the efficiency
of the system is found to be 43.9%.

5.4 Results & Findings

The following things can be seen from the above test:

1. The optimum point of injection of air is about 10 after the TDC.
2. The max torque achieved before the engine stopped running smoothly was 24 Nm at a load of 20 kg.
3. The max power achieved was 0.93 hp. (The engine running on gasoline produced a torque of 10.1 Nm
and power of about 5.9hp [4])
4. The efficiency of the system is found to be 43.9%.

6. UTILITY OF RESULTS

Some advantages and drawbacks of the system are quite apparent even from a layman point of view like
the kit enables to look beyond fossil fuels for the daily transportation fuel needs and the vehicles
employing the kit losing some power and range. But some points are not so obvious and this calls for a
clear listing that follows.

6.1 Merits

1. Much like electrical vehicles, the system would ultimately be powered through the electrical grid, which
makes it easier to focus on reducing pollution from one source.
2. Transportation of the fuel would not be required due to drawing power off the electrical grid. This
presents significant cost benefits. Also, pollution created during fuel transportation would be eliminated.
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3. Compressed air technology reduces the cost of vehicle production significantly, as there is no need to
build a cooling system, such robust fuel tanks and ignition systems.
4. Air, on its own, is non-flammable. Hence high degree of safety is maintained.
5. The mechanical design of the engine is simple, robust and already proven for fossil fuels that produce
significantly tougher operating conditions.
6. Low manufacture cost of the kit as well as easy maintenance.
7. Compressed-air tanks can be disposed of or recycled with less pollution than batteries.
8. Compressed-air system components are unconstrained by the degradation problems associated with
current battery systems.
9. The tank may be refilled more often and in less time than batteries can be recharged, with re-fuelling
rates comparable to liquid fuels if a full-fledged system exists.

6.2 Limitations

1. Refuelling the compressed air container using a home or low-end conventional air compressor may
take as long as 4 hours (although the specialized equipment at service stations may fill the tanks in only
minutes).
2. Tanks get very hot when filled rapidly. SCUBA tanks are sometimes immersed in water to cool them
down when they are being filled. That would not be possible with tanks in a vehicle and thus it would
either take a long time to fill the tanks, or they would have to take less than a full charge, since heat
drives up the pressure.
3. The limited storage capacity of the tanks will severely hinder the distance possible to cover with even a
fully charged cylinder.
4. The low rpm generated may not deliver enough power to run the vehicle at even daily life
transportation speeds (about 40 km/hr).

7. CONCLUSION

The compressed air engine basically represents the idea about providing an alternative to the current
energy scenario by modifying existing vehicles rather than altogether manufacturing new, more efficient
ones, and doing so in an affordable and economical way.
The CAE is aimed to open new avenues to explore in the area of fuels as needless to say, conventional
sources of energy are limited and due to that, the price of petroleum products also continues rise by the
day. Also, while considering alternate fuels, some factors are to be considered like availability, economy,
and environment friendliness etc., based on that compressed air technology is the best technology and
demands more attention as it tends to take the engine to zero pollution running on a fuel that is freely
available. Even though the vehicles running on the CAE kit seem to compare poorly to gasoline and
electric vehicles in range and power & their applications severely constrained due to their limited driving
range, it may be an ideal mode of transportation once enough research and analysis are put in the field.

9. REFERENCES

[1] How Stuff Works <http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel- Efficiency/vehicles/air-car1.htm>

[2] Erika Antoniazzo <http://www.eco-info.net/fossil-fuel-depletion.html>
[3] Chen H et al. Air fuelled zero emission road transportation: A comparative study. Applied Energy
88(2011), June 24th 2010, pp:337-342
[4] Vespa Super < http://www.vespa.name/vespa-model/vespa-150-super >1911
[5] Encyclopdia Britannica, Volume 8 Dynamometer,
<http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6d ia_Britannica/Dynamometer>

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