Diesel Cycle Analysis — Lesson 3

This lesson covers the detailed analysis of an ideal standard diesel cycle. It explains the process of determining thermal efficiency, mean effective pressure, and the second law of efficiency. The lesson walks through the cycle, determining property values at each state point, and carrying out the analysis. It also discusses the relevance of studying internal combustion engines in the current context of increasing popularity of electric vehicles. The lesson concludes with a comparison between the actual values obtained and the values that would have been obtained using a cold air standard analysis.

Video Highlights

03:12 - Explanation of how state 4 is evaluated
08:26 - Calculation of mean effective pressure
10:03 - Introduction to the air standard dual cycle
15:16 - Discussion on the advancements in IC engine technology
17:36 - Importance of fair comparison between IC engines and electric vehicles

Key Takeaways

- The standard diesel cycle operates with a compression ratio of 18.75 and a cut-off ratio of 2.4283.
- The thermal efficiency of the cycle is calculated to be 55.47%, which is close to the value obtained using a cold air standard analysis.
- The mean effective pressure is calculated to be 1071.59 kilopascal, which is higher than that of the Otto cycle due to the higher specific power.
- The second law efficiency for the cycle is calculated to be 72.16%, which is remarkably close to the cold air standard value.
- The study of internal combustion engines is still relevant today, with potential for improving efficiency and reducing emissions.