[Mgs] Engine maths...and spare time

Barrie Robinson barrob at bell.net
Sun Mar 29 09:21:34 MDT 2020


Hello folks,

I am really surprised that no one has blasted me for sending out a 
message that was all (deliberately) gobbledygook.     I had at least 
expected an enquiry as to who Charles Breindigger was.

Cheers
Barrie


On 3/28/2020 7:30 PM, Richard Lindsay via Mgs wrote:
> Excellent. Thank you.
>
> On Sat, Mar 28, 2020, 6:15 PM Barney Gaylord <barneymg at mgaguru.com 
> <mailto:barneymg at mgaguru.com>> wrote:
>
>     I like the chart.  Pressure peaks at 12d ATDC, and by 90d ATDC it
>     is 90% gone.
>
>     If you multiply sine of the angle by the pressure all alog the
>     curve (after TDC), you get another curve representing progression
>     of torque.  Not a lot of torque yet at 10d, pretty good torque by
>     20d, peaking around 30d ATDC.  Still a fair amount of torque at
>     60d, but by 90d (half stroke) the torque is nearly gone along with
>     the pressure.
>
>     Work being done would be represented by the area under the torque
>     curve (not on the chart).  Since both pressure and torque are
>     nearly exhausted by 90d ATDC, there is very little energy (work)
>     left to be harvested after mid stroke. That's why we like to open
>     the exhaust valve early, to let what remains of the mostly useless
>     fumes out of the cylinder, encouraging best intake of fresh air
>     and fuel mix half a turn later.
>
>     Barney
>
>
>     At 03:32 PM 3/28/2020, Richard Lindsay wrote:
>>     ...from Campbell's book.
>>     ....
>>     Attachment: 20200328_113435.jpg
>
>
>>     On Sat, Mar 28, 2020, 2:07 PM Barney Gaylord
>>     <barneymg at mgaguru.com <mailto:barneymg at mgaguru.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         Rick, ---- Okay, time to spare, so I'll bite.
>>
>>         You do a good job of calculating time from spark
>>         event to half stroke (about 6-ms at road speed),
>>         but I think you were asking a different
>>         question.  I thought you were asking how much
>>         time to complete combustion to get to maximum
>>         pressure.  That is, how much time for the flame
>>         front to propagate all the way across the combustion chamber?
>>
>>         And you also said. "we do know that maximum work
>>         occurs when the piston is half way down the
>>         cylinder", which is not true.  Most of the work
>>         has already been done before the piston gets half
>>         way down, and maximum torque on the crankshaft
>>         happens significantly higher in the stroke before
>>         pressure is lost to expansion.
>>
>>         For best power and efficiency, combustion should
>>         be completed at or slightly after TDC.  But since
>>         there is very little motion of the piston
>>         immediately after TDC, It works just about as
>>         well if max pressure comes just a little later,
>>         like maybe 10 to 20d ATDC.  That little delay can
>>         allow use of higher compression ratio for better power and
>>         efficiency.
>>
>>         I like to use 3600 rpm for road speed, because it
>>         divides evenly into 360 degrees rotation for nice
>>         round numbers.  And 900 rpm idle speed will be
>>         exactly 1/4 of road speed.  If you make spark at
>>         32d BTDC at road speed, it takes 1.5-ms to reach
>>         TDC.  10d ATDC is at 2-ms, and 30d ATDC would be
>>         3-ms (after spark).  So the flame front
>>         propagation to complete combustion is in the 2 to
>>         3-ms range.  I suppose this is the answer to your
>>         question, "how much time" for the flame front to cross the
>>         combustion chamber.
>>
>>         Distance from the spark plug to far side of the
>>         combustion chamber is about 2-1/2 inches, which
>>         it does in about 2-1/2 ms, so flame front speed
>>         is about 1 inch per ms, or 1000 inches per
>>         second, which is fairly close to 60-mph.  And you
>>         night notice that I did not use "MEP" in that entire discussion.
>>
>>         Barney
>>
>
>
>>         At 08:54 AM 3/28/2020, you wrote:
>>         >Hello friends,
>>         >
>>         >When one is a geek, one thinks of geeky things.
>>         >I am a geek and this house-bound morning I woke
>>         >up thinking about ignition timing. Here are the details.
>>         >
>>         >We know that the charge (fuel plus air) in a
>>         >cylinder doesn't burn instantly, despite our
>>         >perception to the contrary. Rather, it takes a
>>         >finite length of time from the occurance of the
>>         >'spark', the flame front to cross the combustion
>>         >chamber, and to raise the MEP (Mean Effective
>>         >Pressure) to a maximum - the point where it does
>>         >the most work. But how much time?
>>         >
>>         >Physics problems always start by listing the
>>         >'known' and the property to 'find'. So in this case,
>>         >
>>         >KNOWN:
>>         >Idle speed: 900rpm
>>         >Idle timing advance: 4° BTDC
>>         >Speed at maximum advance: 3500rpm
>>         >Maximum timing advance: 32° BTDC
>>         >
>>         >FIND:
>>         >Time from spark to MEP
>>         >
>>         >The first thing one might know is that the goal
>>         >at idle is not to produce maximum power. In
>>         >fact, at idle 100% of the available power is
>>         >used to overcome the friction and other forces
>>         >that exist at idle speed. Stated another way:
>>         >Idle speed is the fastest the engine can achieve
>>         >given the available charge. That fact is evident
>>         >(with carbureted engines) when one notices that
>>         >engine speed gradually increases, even for a
>>         >fixed throttle setting, as the engine warms and
>>         >friction forces decrease. But back to the problem.
>>         >
>>         >Because the goal at idle is smooth running and
>>         >progression off of idle (e.g. speeding up), not
>>         >maximum power, the calculated wavefront speed
>>         >may not be correct at idle. But let's see.
>>         >
>>         >At idle speed, 900rpm in this MG TD example, the
>>         >XPAG engine is turning 900rpm or 900rpm / 60mps
>>         >= 15rps (revolutions per second).
>>         >
>>         >Distributor speed is 1/2 engine speed so at idle
>>         >the distributor is turning only 7.5 revolutions
>>         >per second. But timing numbers are specified in
>>         >degrees of crank rotations so we will stick with 15rps.
>>         >
>>         >We don't know how fast the flame front travels
>>         >across the combustion chamber but we do know
>>         >that maximum work occurs when the piston is half
>>         >way down the cylinder. And we also know that
>>         >work isn't an instantaneous parameter so it must
>>         >begin before the half way point and last past
>>         >that point. Lots of unknowns and theory doesn't
>>         >always work in practice. But if we use the
>>         >average piston position at half-way down the
>>         >bore, where most work is most effective, and the
>>         >MEP (Mean Effective Pressure), since Mean is average,
>>         calculations begin.
>>         >
>>         >single revolution is 360° so half-way down the
>>         >power stroke is 90°. Add the idle spark timing
>>         >of 4° BTDC (Before Top Dead Center) and we get
>>         >94° of crank rotation from spark to MEP at
>>         >half-way down. That's 94/360 or about 0.26 of an
>>         >engine revolution. And the engine is turning 15
>>         >revolutions per second or 67ms (milliseconds)
>>         >per revolution. So 67 x 0.26 = 17ms from spark
>>         >to MEP at half-way down the power stroke, at idle.
>>         >
>>         >If we repeat the calculations for operating
>>         >engine speed and at maximum advance, we get
>>         >3500rpm / 60mps = 58rps (revolutions per
>>         >second). Maximum advance is 32° BTDC so 90° +
>>         >32° = 122°, spark to MEP or 122°/360° = 0.34 of a revolution
>>         >
>>         >58rps is 17ms/r so 17ms/r x 0.34r = 5.78ms from
>>         >spark to MEP at half-way down the power stroke.
>>         >This is a more representative number than the
>>         >17ms at idle. One might even divide the idle
>>         >elapsed time minus the optimal time across the
>>         >strike's midpoint. Doing so would mean at idle,
>>         >the pressure at idle becomes most effective
>>         >5.6ms before half-way and for another 5.6ms
>>         >after midpoint. Interesting that the idle
>>         >pressure application time is about the same as
>>         >the maximum pressure application time, or is that circular
>>         logic?
>>         >
>>         >Yes everything above is ripe with assumptions
>>         >and perhaps even apocryphal and resplendent with
>>         >errors, but it is only 7am after all.
>>         >
>>         >Anyone with extra house-bound time on their
>>         >hands, please check my maths and share your
>>         >corrections, including the logic of the whole
>>         >experiment...or perhaps even why geeks think these ways!
>>         >
>>         >Rick 
>>
>
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