Experimental Investigation of Waste Heat Recovery from Exhaust of Four-Stroke Diesel Engine Using Specifically Manufactured Heat Exchanger

Abstract

This paper is concerned with means for performance improvement and reducing exhaust emissions of four-stroke single-cylinder diesel engines by heating inlet air passed to the cylinder by using specifically designed and manufactured heat exchanger. A diesel generating set having a cylinder, 5 horse power (HP), water cooled, Kirloskar Make diesel engine was selected as base engine and the experiments were conducted at part load conditions. The diesel generating setup was modified to run with incorporation of heat exchanger and blower. The exhaust heat is used by specifically designed heat exchanger to heat inlet air passed to the cylinder. The blower is used to increase the volumetric efficiency of the engine which tends to reduce due to heating of the inlet air passed to the cylinder. The experiments were conducted for three setups viz. i. Basic diesel engine setup, ii. Modified setup with heat exchanger and iii. Modified setup with heat exchanger and blower. The experimental results obtained with incorporation of waste heat recovery system were compared with base line data. The rectangular-type shell and tube heat exchanger is designed based on the potential heat savings available at the diesel engine exhaust and manufactured. The due attention is paid while selecting the material for manufacturing heat exchanger. The shell is made of cold-rolled carbon steel and tubes used were copper tubes. The results indicate improved performance and reduced emission levels for modified engine, i.e. using specifically designed heat exchanger for heating the inlet air passed to the engine. The results obtained indicate that there is potential in the exhaust gases and heat of exhaust gases can be utilized using specifically designed and manufactured rectangular-type shell and tube heat exchanger to heat inlet air passed to the engine cylinder.