Engine Lab

In the lab students study the operation and efficiencies of engines and turbine power generators.

Diesel Engine

This is an experiment to study the performance of a Diesel engine using an electric dynamometer. The students can measure the current and voltage output by the dynamometer from which they can figure out the power generated by the engine as a function of RPM.

Pontiac Engine

This is a Pontiac V8 engine given to us by General Motors. It is connected to a water dynamometer. The data collection is semi-automated. A computer data acquisition system collects temperature information from thermocouples in various parts of the engine, and collects information about the speed and torque of the dynamometer. Flow measurements are made manually using Venturi plates. Students are able to study engine efficiency as a function of engine speed and the load placed on the engine.

Gas Turbine

This is a dual gas turbine. One turbine drives a compressor and the other is a power generating turbine. In this experiment students measure the efficiency of the whole cycle under non-adiabatic conditions and compare that efficiency with the ideal efficiency that can be predicted using thermodynamics.

Single Piston 4 Stroke Engine

This engine runs on alcohol and has a transparent cylinder. The motion of the piston can be frozen by using a stroboscope and the propagation of flame within the cylinder can be studied.