Thermodynamic Analysis of Turbo-Charged Power Generating System

Turbochargers have been known in compression with ignition engines for power generation. Recent trends in power generation through gas cycles have recorded successes via turbochargers application in spark ignition engines as well. When power cycles are turbocharged, there is a general expectation of a higher power and performance output from the cycle as compared to when they are naturally aspirated. This research was conducted to estimate the thermodynamic properties of a spark ignition engine power generating system when it is both naturally aspirated and when the same system is turbocharged to 2.5 times the amount of air in natural aspiration. Octane fuel was employed for petrol approximation during this study. The system process was broken down into stages of charging between natural aspiration and turbocharged; thus MATLAB program was applied to model the system for the case of natural aspiration and turbocharging with no increase in fuel supply. The results were used for both analyses and comparison which showed that the system generates slightly more power with turbocharging at 0% increase in fuel consumption. The natural aspiration achieved values are 2.8232 kJ/mol and 55.26% for output and efficiency respectively, while the turbocharged engine produced optimal values of 2.8833 kJ/mol and 56.51% for output and efficiency. The air fuel ratio by mole for the turbocharged engine was 145.18:1, which shows a greater fuel economy of 59% as compared to the 59.5:1 A/F (air/fuel) ratio of the naturally aspirated engine.