The reduction of cost has become a major goal in the industrial world and over time this has resulted in the replacement of metallic components with plastic components which are not only equally reliable but also light in weight as compared to their metallic counter parts. The impact on the automotive industry is no different, plastic components are already being used in exterior and interior components such as bumpers, headlights and taillights, dashboards, doors, windows, mirror housing, trunk lids, hoods, grilles and wheel covers. This not only reduces the cost of production, but also optimizes weight to make vehicles more energy efficient. With regard to engines, though plastics have been used in making engine components such manifolds, engine covers, cylinder head covers and engine air flow components, not much progress has been made towards developing plastic engines. Proposed herein is a design of a plastic engine which can be an alternative to the conventional internal combustion engine used in the automotive industry. The engine is made of thermoplastic material having high melting point and mechanical strength, making the overall engine light weight, resistant to corrosion, energy efficient, robust, resilient and durable. The engine works on a Modified Atkinson cycle which is more efficient than both a Diesel Cycle and an Otto Cycle. An Atkinson cycle is an ideal cycle for Otto engines, with modification the cycle gives an increased work output. The engine comprises of three main functional entities: a compression chamber, a combustion chamber and an expansion chamber. The compression and expansion chambers are made of thermoplastic, whereas the combustion chamber is metallic. Also provided herein are a plurality of different possible embodiments and evaluations required for the design of this particular engine.
IC engine, Atkinson cycle, engineering plastic, alternative design, versatile application.
Arunav Banerjee; Sanjay Choudhary, Design of Plastic a Plastic Engine working on Modified Atkinson Cycle, HCTL Open International Journal of Technology Innovations and Research (IJTIR), Volume 16, July 2015, e-ISSN: 2321-1814, ISBN: 978-1-943730-43-8.