ABSTRACT
Several early pioneers in the development of the spark-ignition internal combustion engine were mentioned briefly in Chapter 10. The modern compression-ignition, or CI, internal combustion engine, however, is the result of the initial efforts by one man, Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913). Diesel’s goal was to design and develop a unique reciprocating piston-cylinder combustion engine that would burn considerably less fuel per unit power output than available alternative prime movers of his day. He is credited also with being the first inventor of his time to rely on the use of first principles of thermodynamics rather than experimentation alone to achieve the goal of developing a new heat engine. Much of Diesel’s early work was published in his Rational Heat Power (1892). Early design work and performance predictions were based on analytical models developed prior to fabricating and testing an engine. His original concept was that of a constant-temperature internal combustion (IC) process that would allow his engine to approach the ideal heat input of a Carnot cycle heat engine. Diesel later modified the thermodynamic model for heat input to his engine to that of his now famous constantpressure heat addition thermodynamic cycle.
