“Fundamentals and Operation of Internal Combustion Engines”
PROJECT REPORT
Submitted by
Sashank Ryali
Under the guidance of
Mr. Srujan
Mechanical Superintendent
In partial fulfillment of the academic requirements for the conferment of the degree
of
Bachelor of Technology in
Mechanical Engineering
from
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that SASHANK RYALI student of Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur has done a project on “Fundamentals and Operation of Internal
Combustion Engines”. This was carried for a period of 30 days during the period of
11st June, 2025 to 10st July, 2025 under my supervision at CAIRN OIL AND GAS -
VEDANTA LTD, RAVVA PLANT. Certified further, that to the best of my knowledge
the work reported here in does not form part of any project or dissertation on the basis
of which a degree award was conferred on an earlier occasion on this or another
candidate.
Superintendent of Mechanical Department
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I extend my sincerest gratitude and profound respect to my esteemed guide,
Mr. Srujan Sir Mechanical Superintendent at Cairn oil and gas - Vedanta. His
exceptional guidance, right from the initial project selection through to its successful
completion, along with their invaluable suggestions throughout the entire project work,
was truly instrumental. His unwavering encouragement and steadfast support were
pivotal to the success of this thesis during my tenure at the company.
I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Mr. K.B. Mayil Vaghanan Sir,
Installation Manager of the process plant & Mr. P.S.S.V. Prasad Babu Sir, Field
Manager Maintenance for facilitating access to essential resources and providing
valuable insights into the operational aspects of the facility.
My heartfelt appreciation also goes to Mr. B S N Raju sir, Mr. Santosh sir, for
generously providing all necessary facilities and resources whenever required, enabling
the fullest extent of my work.
Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to the Management, all the Technical and Non-
Technical Staff and the to the entire team at Cairn oil and gas - Vedanta for their
warm welcome and willingness to share their knowledge. Their support and
collaboration made this project a truly rewarding experience.
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Engine
• Device transforms one form of energy to another form
• Heat engine- Engine which converts thermal energy in to
mechanical energy. Ex: steam engine
• Classified as
• External Combustion engines (EC Engines)
• Internal combustion engines(IC Engines)
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• In an External combustion engine, working fluid gets energy
by burning fossil fuels or any other fuel outside the
mechanical engine system, thus the working fluid does not
come in contact with combustion products.
– Steam engine, where the working fluid is steam.
– Stirling engine, where the working fluid is air.
• In an Internal combustion engine, combustion takes place
within working fluid of the engine, thus fluid gets
contaminated with combustion products.
– Petrol & Diesel engines are examples of internal
combustion engine, where the working fluid is a
mixture of air and fuel
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I C Engine
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Engine Components
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Cylinder
• The hollow cylindrical structure closed at one end with cylinder head
in which the pistons reciprocate back and forth
• Made of hard and high thermal conductivity materials
• Combustion of fuel takes place inside the cylinder
Cylinder head
• Covers one end of the cylinder and consists of valves/ports & spark
plug/injector
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Piston
• It is a cylindrical component which is fitted perfectly inside the
cylinder providing a gas tight space with piston rings and lubricants.
• The main function of piston is to transmit the force exerted by the
burning of fuel to the connecting rod.
Piston Rings
• The outer periphery is provided with several grooves in to which the
piston rings are fitted
• The upper ring is known as compression ring and the lower one is
called oil rings
Water jackets
• Through which cooling water is circulated to prevent overheating of
the engine
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Connecting rod
• Element which interconnects piston and the crank.
• Transforms the reciprocating motion of the piston in to rotary motion
of the crankshaft
• Two ends: 1. Small end-connected to the piston by Gudgeon pin
2. Big end-connected to the crankshaft by Crank pin
Crank and crank shaft
• Crank is the rotating member which receives power from the
connecting rod and transmits to the crank shaft
• Crank shaft is the principal rotating part of the engine which controls
the sequence of reciprocating motions of the piston
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Flywheel
• Heavy wheel mounted on the crank shaft
• It absorbs the energy during power stroke
and release it during non power stroke
• Reduce the torque and speed fluctuations
• Absorbs vibration from the crankshaft
• Supports for clutch mechanism
Valves
• Provided in the cylinder head for the
admission of fresh air/air fuel mixture in to
the engine cylinder and for rejection of
burnt gases
• Operated by cams and camshaft
Inlet manifold
• The metal tube which connects the intake
system to the inlet valve of the engine
Exhaust/ outlet manifold
• Connects exhaust system to the exhaust
valve of the engine
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Spark plug
• Spark plug is located near the top of the cylinder of SI engine
• It initiates the combustion of the fuel
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Fuel injector
• Purpose of fuel injector is to supply the metered quantity of fuel at
high pressure in to the cylinder of CI engine/ MPFI engine
• Fuel pump : Electrically or mechanically driven pump to supply fuel
from the fuel tank (reservoir) to the engine.
1. Fuel tank
2. Fuel pump
3. Fuel filter
4. Fuel line, delivery
5. Fuel rail
6. Injector
7. Pressure
regulator
8. Fuel line, return
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Nomenclature
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Top Dead Center (TDC): Position of the piston when it stops at the
furthest point away from the crankshaft.
Top because this position is at the top of the engines (not
always), and dead because the piston stops as this point. In
some engines TDC is not at the top of the engines(e.g:
horizontally opposed engines, radial engines,etc,.)
When the piston is at TDC, the volume in the cylinder is a
minimum called the clearance volume
Bottom Dead Center (BDC): Position of the piston when it stops at
the point closest to the crankshaft.
• Some sources call this Crank End Dead Center (CEDC) because it is
not always at the bottom of the engine.
Stroke (L) : Distance traveled by the piston from one extreme
position to the other : TDC to BDC or BDC to TDC.
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Bore (d) :It is defined as cylinder diameter or piston face diameter;
piston face diameter is same as cylinder diameter( minus small
clearance).
Swept volume/Displacement volume (Vs) : Volume displaced by the
piston as it travels through one stroke.
• Swept volume is defined as stroke times bore.
Clearance volume (Vc): It is the minimum volume of the cylinder
available for the charge (air or air fuel mixture) when the piston reaches
at its outermost point (top dead center or inner dead center) during
compression stroke of the cycle.
• Minimum volume of combustion chamber with piston at TDC.
Compression ratio (r) : The ratio of total volume to clearance volume of
the cylinder is the compression ratio of the engine.
• Compression ratio for SI engines varies form 8 to 12 and for
CI engines it varies from 12 to 24
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Classification of IC engine
• Based on working cycle
• Otto cycle( eg. SI engine)
• Diesel cycle( eg. CI engine)
• Dual cycle
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• Based on application
• Mobile
• Stationary
• Based on no. of cylinders
• Single cylinder
• Multi cylinder
• Based on fuel used
• Solid fuel( eg. coal)
• Liquid fuel( eg. diesel)
• Gaseous fuel (Natural gas)
• Based on cooling system
• Air cooling
• Liduid cooling
• Based on number of strokes per cycle
• Two stroke
• Four stroke
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Classification based on ignition
Spark Ignition engines
(ex. Gasoline/Petrol
INTERNAL Engine)
COMBUSTION
ENGINES Compression Ignition
engines
(ex. Diesel Engine)
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Based on Configuration
• Vertical Engines
• Horizontal Engines
• Inline Engines: The cylinders are arranged in a
line, in a single bank.
• V Engines: The cylinders are arranged
in two banks, set at an angle to one
another.
• Opposed cylinder Engines: The cylinders
are arranged in two banks on opposite
sides of the engine
• Radial Engines: The cylinders are
arranged radially and equally spaced
around common crank shaft
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Based on Number of Strokes
• Four stroke engine : It has four piston strokes over two revolutions
for each cycle.
• Two stroke engine : It has two piston strokes over one revolution for
each cycle.
• 4 Stroke engine
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1. Suction/Intake stroke
Intake of air-fuel mixture in cylinder through intake manifold when piston moves
from TDC to BDC.
– The piston travel from TDC
to BDC with the intake
valve open and exhaust
valve closed.
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2. Compression stroke
When the piston reaches BDC, the intake valve closes and the
piston travels back to TDC with all valves closed.
– This compresses air-fuel mixture,
raising both the pressure and
temperature in the cylinder.
– Near the end of the compression
stroke the spark is given, and the
combustion is initiated.
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3. Expansion stroke/Power stroke
With all valves closed the high pressure created by the combustion process pushes
the piston away from the TDC.
– This is the stroke which
produces work output of the
engine cycle.
– As the piston travels from TDC
to BDC, cylinder volume is
increased, causing pressure and
temperature to drop.
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4. Exhaust stroke
– With the exhaust valve
remaining open, the piston
travels from BDC to TDC in the
exhaust stroke.
– This pushes most of the
remaining exhaust gases out of
the cylinder into the exhaust
system at about atmospheric
pressure, leaving only that
trapped in the clearance volume
when the piston reaches TDC.
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P-v Diagrams of S I & CI Engines
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T-s Diagrams of S I & CI Engines
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Comparison
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Stroke 1
•The air fuel mixture in the cylinder
compressed
•Air fuel mixture enters the crank case
through inlet port
•Towards the end of the stroke, the fuel air
mixture is ignited using the spark from the
spark plug
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Stroke 2
•Piston moves downward due to
the expansion of the gases
•Near the end of stroke, piston
uncovers exhaust port and burnt
gases escape through the port.
•Transfer port is uncovered and
compressed air fuel mixture from
the crankcase flows in to the
cylinder
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Two stroke engine
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Advantages
• Two-stroke engines do not have valves, which simplifies their
construction and lowers their weight.
• Two-stroke engines fire once every revolution, while four-stroke
engines fire once every two revolutions. This gives two-stroke
engines a significant power boost.
• Theoretically Two-stroke engines develops twice the power into the
same space because there are twice as many power strokes per
revolution.
• More uniform torque on crank shaft hence it requires a lighter flywheel
than that for a four-stroke engine
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Disadvantages
• The engines do not last as long due to poor lubrication.
• You have to mix engine oil with gasoline.
• The engines do not use fuel efficiently.
• These engines produce a lot of pollution.
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Description Four Stroke Two stroke
No of strokes/ cycle 4 2
Power stroke 1 for every two revolutions 1 for every revolutions
Turning moment Less uniform More uniform
Power/weight less more
Cooling/lubrication lesser greater
Mixing of fresh fuel and Less (exhaust stroke) More
exhaust gases
Inlet and exhaust Valves required No valves, only ports
Initial cost more less
Volumetric/thermal More lower
efficiency
