Studies Regarding the Influence

of Exhaust Backpressure
on the Performances of a Compression
Ignited Engine
Nicolae Burnete, Dan Moldovanu, Doru-Laurean Baldean
and Levente Kocsis
Abstract This paper presents some of the researches made on a compression
ignited engine, in order to establish the influence of the exhaust backpressure (that
can be caused by the existence or clogging of the catalytic converter, or by the SCR
catalyst or the particle lter or by the noise reduction tubing itself) on the performances of a CI engine. The research was made on a ultramodern test bed inside the
TestEcoCel Laboratory (Test, Research and Certication of Internal Combustion
Engines) that work on biodiesel, of the Automotive and Transport Department,
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Graphs, values and results were
obtained through experimental measurements on the test bed and evaluated using
specic software.
Keywords Engine power

Engine torque
Exhaust backpressure

Introduction
There are studies (Bolt et al. 1973; Cong et al. 2011; Schubiger et al. 2001) that
show an important influence of the exhaust backpressure on existing systems
(EGR), emissions, performance and most of all, air consumption. Therefor to know
the most signicant influences on an existing compression ignited engine, a series
of measurements must be made.
The role of active and passive ways of depollution has risen due to more severe
normative and the need to respect them. Fortunately, some of the most important
active and passive ways of depollution are placed on the exhaust system of the
internal combustion engine, and this influences in a negative way the exhaust gas
flow, with direct effect on the fresh fluid admission.
With the grow of the exhaust backpressure (due to the resistance of burned
exhaust gases on the exhaust pipes) the residual burned gas also grows in quantity
N. Burnete (&)
D. Moldovanu
D.-L. Baldean
L. Kocsis
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
e-mail: nicolae.burnete@auto.uteluj.ro
Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
C. Andreescu and A. Clenci (eds.), Proceedings of the European Automotive
Congress EAEC-ESFA 2015, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-27276-4_13

141

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N. Burnete et al.

(the pumping diagram is modied), and this has a negative effect on the intake of
fresh fluid inside the cylinders (due to the reduction of the available volume inside
the cylinder and also due to the mixing with the high temperature burned gases that
lower the density of the resulting mixed fluid).
It is known (Bataga et al. 1995; Cristea 2009, Grnwald 1980, ugar and Banica
2014) that the ll coefcient (ll efciency) is dened as a ratio between the
number of kilo-moles of fresh load inside the cylinder at the end of the intake
process, Np and No (Ns), the number of kilo-moles that may theoretically ll the
cylinder at a certain pressure po and temperature To (or ps and Ts):
gu

Np
;
No

and, the residual gas coefcient r is the ratio between the number of kilo-moles
Nr of residual gases and Np, the number kilo-moles of fresh load.
On the other side, the perfection of the exhaust system is characterized by the
evacuation coefcient ev of the burned exhaust gases from the cylinder (Grnwald
1980).
gev

1
;
1 cr

which shows that ev varies inversely with the residual gas coefcient r.
At the same time, if the following equation is taken into consideration
(Grnwald 1980):
cr

pr T o
1
;
po Tr gu e  1

where pr and Tr are the pressure and the temperature of the in-cylinder gases then the
piston is at TDC (the end of exhaust process), and is the compression ratio, it can be
seen that r and gu are inversely proportional, the residual gas coefcient being
inversely proportional with the compression ratio (that influences directly pr and Tr).
The dependence of the effective power of the engine Pe with the air consumption
Ca (Grnwald 1980):
Pe k

Qi gi gm
Ca ;
Lmin ka

explains the efforts of lling the cylinders with a well determined quantity of fluid,
and the greater the quantity, the better, and also underlines the importance of
relations 1 through 3 (in relation number 4, Qi is the inferior caloric power of the
fuel, i indicated efciency of the engine, m mechanical efciency of the engine, Ca
the air consumption, Lmin the minimum air quantity for the complete burn of one
kilogram of fuel, ka air excess coefcient, k constant that depends on the used
measure units).

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143

In the case of the compression ignited engine, the oxidation catalytic converter,
SCR Catalyst, particle lter and the noise reduction tubing, are elements that prevent the free flow of exhaust gases (because they are big dynamic resistances) and
their clogging has a direct effect on the proper working of the engine, also for
example the regeneration of the particle lter is not always made at optimum
parameters. More than that, the clogging of the particle lter is due to different
reasons: the thermal regime of the engine too low, injection system faults, supercharging system faults, quality of the fuel, lubrication oil that does not respect the
specications of the engine producer, use of the engine at low loads (working in
urban areas), DPF sensor faults, intercooler faults, and so on.

Objectives
The study is based on the determination of the performances of a CI engine, when
there is a flap placed on the exhaust system and it can be automatically controlled to
produce a backpressure in the exhaust, to simulate the chemical and noise depollution devices that produce the same effect. Also, the influence of the backpressure
on the main indices of the compression ignited engine can be determined.

Methodology
To reach the goals of the research, the TestEcoCel Laboratory (Test, Research and
Certication of Internal Combustion Engines of the Automotive and Transport
Department, Technical University of Cluj-NapocaTV Certicated Laboratory
and national RAR certied), was used.
The Laboratory has high performance equipment that ensure high precision, that
is why the measurements were made on the test bed shown in Fig. 1 (test bed
equipped with a compression ignited engine connected to an active dynamometer,

Fig. 1 The test bed used for

the measurements

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N. Burnete et al.

opacimeter mounted on the exhaust and the flap that induces the backpressure in the
exhaust system.
The main characteristics of the engine are presented in Table 1. To create the
specic conditions of the backpressure, a flap was used, presented in Fig. 2.
As modications brought to the main exhaust system, the only original element
is the catalytic converter, then the flap was mounted to create the backpressure (and
replaces the original noise reduction system) and an exhaust tubing that has three
meters in length with a diameter of 50 mm.
The opening/closing of the flap was controlled by the automation system of the
Laboratory, PUMA Open (V14.1), the backpressure values vary between 0 and 570
millibars. The pressure in the exhaust system was measured by using a Kistler
sensor.
In order to ensure the repetitive nature of the measurements, the ambient temperature was controlled inside the test chamber and maintained constant throughout
the measurements: temperature (3 %), atmospheric pressure (3 %), and the relative humidity was measured (Fig. 3).
A test cycle was made, with 10 measurement steps for 10 different speeds of the
engine (speeds vary from 1400 rot/min to 3400 rot/min) and the effective power,
engine torque, fuel consumption, exhaust gas opacity, cooling liquid temperature
when entering and exiting the engine, intake pressure, exhaust pressure, intake air

Table 1 Technical
characteristics of the IC
engine

Nomenclature

Value

Bore
Stroke
Compression ratio
Displacement
Valves per cylinder
Power
Torque
Fueling system

79.5
mm
95.5
mm
19

1900
cm3
2

63
kW
240
Nm
VE injection pump

Fig. 2 The mounted flap on the exhaust system

Unit

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145

Fig. 3 Control interface of the conditioning system

Throttle position [%]

Speed [rot/min]

temperature (before and after intercooler), exhaust gas temperature, oil temperature
inside the inferior carter of the engine.
The conceived test cycle (Fig. 4) was run automatically and presumes following
10 steps of speed from 1400 rot/min to 3400 rot/min at full load ( = 100 %), with a
period of 50 s for stabilization and 10 consecutive measurements per step measurement, and recording of the average of the 10 measurements for every step
(underlining the minimum, maximum and average values, so that there are no
deviations greater than 0.5 %in case of greater spreads, the values are not
recorded).

Time [sec]

Fig. 4 The automatic test cycle implemented in puma open

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N. Burnete et al.

Results and Discussions

Based on the implemented test cycle, the established values were measured and
stored (like seen in Fig. 5), and then they were processed and analyzed. The
automation software Puma Open and the test control systems allowed the obtaining
of the measurements, organized in tables and graphs.
The obtained results (from experimental research) underline the fact that the
Engine Power (Pe) (Figs. 6 and 7), the Engine Torque (Me) (Fig. 8) and the exhaust
gas opacity (Fig. 9) are strongly influenced by the exhaust backpressure (Fig. 10).

Fig. 5 Control room panels (puma open)

Fig. 6 Engine power variation (vs. engine speed) for different flap position

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147

Fig. 7 Maximum engine power variation for different flap position

Fig. 8 Engine torque variation (vs. engine speed) for different flap position

For lower speeds (1400 rot/min), the Engine Power does not present major
variations, by creating the exhaust backpressure, at a speed of 3050 rot/min (Rated
Engine Power Speed) a decrease of 8.99 kW was found, only by closing the exhaust
back pressure flap from 0 to 65 % (more is not recommended to ensure the integrity
of the measuring devices). The biggest decrease of power was found at 3400
rot/min, when, by closing the flap at 65 %, the power decreased by 31.63 %.
By closing the flap at 65 %, the Engine Torque is decreased with 4.69 % (at a
speed of 1900 rot/min), and at maximum speed, 3400 rot/min, it decreases with
31 %.

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N. Burnete et al.

Fig. 9 Gas opacity variation (vs. speed) for different flap positions

Fig. 10 Backpressure variation (vs. engine speed) at different flap positions

Exhaust gas opacity is lower by raising the speed (between 51.6 and 62.7 %),
more precisely, if the exhaust system is open (0 % flaps opening), the gas opacity
drops from 10.91 (at 1400 rot/min) to 5.28 (at 3400 rot/min), and when the flap is
closed 65 %, the gas opacity drops from 14.15 (at 1400 rot/min) to 5.27 (at 3400
rot/min). At lower speeds (under 2000 rot/min) an opacity raise is clearly observed
as the backpressure is raised (because of the flap closing), at over 3000 rot/min the
opacity varies within close limits.
The Engine Torque and Engine Power have a normal variation, in accordance
with relation 3 and 4. By raising the exhaust backpressure, the fresh air mass that

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149

enters the engine cylinders is smaller, because the residual gases reduce the
effective volume of the cylindervolume that should be available for fresh air.
The exhaust backpressure raises the necessary pumping work (exhaust gases), so
it reduces the ll efciency.
Reducing the fresh air quantity and by raising the temperature of the fresh air
(because of the existence of burned gases in the cylinder) leads to the chain reaction
inhibition and reduce a little ignition delay (by raising r, the temperature at the end
of the intake process also raises); due to this fact, the opacity of the exhaust gases
have the tendency to grow.

Conclusions
After the evaluation of the experimental research a clear conclusion can be formulated: the exhaust backpressure clearly influence the Engine Torque and Power
of the compression ignited engine, backpressure that exists because of the clogging
of the depollution devices on the exhaust (oxidation catalytic converter, SCR catalyst, particle lter, and noise reduction system).
To improve the performance indices of the compression ignited engine, it is
mandatory to study also the influence of the backpressure on all pollutants, especially because TestEcoCell Laboratory allows the measuring of 24 compounds of
the exhaust gases, depending on the fuel (pure diesel or mixtures of diesel and
biodiesel).

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