The optimal path of piston motion for Otto cycle with linear phenomenological heat transfer law

An Otto cycle engine with internal and external irreversibilities of friction and heat leakage, in which the heat transfer between the working fluid and the environment obeys linear phenomenological heat transfer law [q ∝ Δ(T ⁻¹)], is studied in this paper. The optimal piston motion trajectory for maximizing the work output per cycle is derived for the fixed total cycle time and fuel consumed per cycle. Optimal control theory is applied to determine the optimal piston trajectories for the cases of with and without piston acceleration constraint on each stroke and the optimal distribution of the total cycle time among the strokes. The optimal piston motion with acceleration constraint for each stroke consists of three segments, including initial maximum acceleration and final maximum deceleration boundary segments, respectively. Numerical examples for optimal configuration are provided, and the obtained results are compared with those obtained with Newton’s heat transfer law [q ∝ Δ(T)]. The results also show that optimizing the piston motion can improve power and efficiency of the engine by more than 9%. This is primarily due to the decrease in heat leakage loss on the initial portion of the power stroke. Supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of China (Grant No. 20041006) and the Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of China (Grant No. 200136)