Comparative Performance of Crude Pongamia Oil in A Low Heat Rejection Diesel Engine

Aim: Experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of a low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine with ceramic coated cylinder head [ceramic coating of thickness 500 microns was done on inside portion of cylinder head] with different operating conditions [normal temperature and pre-heated temperature] of crude Pongamia oil with varied injection pressure and injection timing.Study Design: Performance parameters of brake thermal efficiency, exhaust gas temperature and volumetric efficiency were determined at various values of brake mean effective pressure (BMEP).Methodology: Exhaust emissions of smoke and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) were noted at the various values of BMEP.Combustion characteristics at peak load operation of the engine were measured with TDC (top dead centre) encoder, pressure transducer, console and special pressure-crank angle software package.Brief Results: Conventional engine (CE) showed deteriorated performance, while LHR engine showed improved performance with biodiesel operation at manufacturer's recommended injection timing of 27 o bTDC and pressure of 190 bar.The performance of both version of the engine was improved with advanced injection timing and at higher injection pressure when compared with CE with pure diesel operation.The optimum injection timing was 32 o bTDC for CE, while it was 29 o bTDC for LHR engine with CPO operation.Peak brake thermal efficiency increased by 7%, smoke levels timing, when compared with pure diesel operation on CE at manufacturer's recommended injection timing.