An overview of the diesel engine in aircraft

Posted by RED aircraft GmbH on November 25th, 2020

There are several factors on which the engine choices for aircraft depend on which are: weight, power-weight ratio, power density, specific fuel consumption and out of these the most fundamental ones are engine power and fuel consumption. The power-weight rate is quite an important aspect, but further studies show that fuel consumption does have a much more impact on the overall design of the aircraft compared to the weight of the engine. That is the reason why those engines which have lower fuel consumption and also satisfy the power requirements at the same are usually chosen more often.  

In the present situation, there is a lot of pressure due to environmental requirements and the urgent need to deal with the changing climate. This is the reason it is much more beneficial to develop engines of aircraft piston and also the adoption of the achievements of automotive engineering. For example, the common rail high-pressure injection systems which are usually controlled by computer systems along with pressured variable turbochargers.

Characteristics

The diesel engines also respond very positively towards the preference of the customers- like simple access to the diesel engine without paying any additional costs and quick and efficient supply of the fuel of aircraft engine. The primary disadvantage of this system is the weight and also the quite low temperatures during startup. There is also the aspect of the high operating temperature range. In spite of this, it is important to note that the fuel consumption is much lower in the diesel engines compared to the spark ignition ones. This helps in the reduction of the quantity of fuel required to fly a specific distance. This results in lower operating costs and also the possibility of carrying heavier cargo with these engines and thus is preferred by aircraft engine manufacturing companies.  

The greatest challenges which are faced today are size, power and better use of the displacement. These are the challenges faced by the present designers of engines for designing the aviation diesel engines to gain a prominent position in the present aviation market. Compared to the spark-ignition engines, the diesel engines are quite new. However, still, they have successfully been able to overcome many of the other competing engines by reducing fuel consumption and emissions of toxic. Interesting in the upcoming years, the investor is banking more and more in these type of low emission engines to completely crowd out the spark engines.  

Advantages of using diesel engines

Diesel engine usage has a lot of economic advantages. This aspect centres on the characteristic of the fuel, which is utilized to a great extent. The diesel engine not only uses oil which is far cheaper than the traditional gasoline counterpart but also it consumes a lot less fuel due to much better utilization of the thermal units inside the fuel.

As for the weight of the fuel injection equipment required for a Diesel aircraft engine, this compares very favourably with the weight of the ignition and carburetion equipment for a gasoline aircraft engine and in fact, it might even be lighter. The total overall cost of the fuel injection equipment for any diesel engine is much lower than the items required for the gasoline engines. The weight of the aviation diesel engines in current production is also quite similar to the gasoline counterparts, especially when it comes to the high power outputs. This will result in cheaper flights but with heavier transportation and thus is preferred by aircraft engine manufacturing companies.