Student Number : 9707408V - MSc(Eng) research report - School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / This research is an investigation into the performance and combustion characteristics of a two-cylinder, four-stroke compression ignition engine fuelled on diesel and then on dimethyl ether (DME). Baseline tests were performed using diesel. The tests were then repeated for dimethyl ether fuelling. All DME tests were performed at an injection opening pressure of 210 bar, as recommended for diesel fuelling. The tests were all carried out at constant torque with incremental increases in speed and an improved method of measuring the DME flow rate was devised. It was found that the engine’s performance characteristics were very similar, regardless of whether the engine was fuelled on diesel or DME. Brake power, indicated power and cylinder pressure, during the highest loading condition of 55 Nm, were virtually identical for diesel and DME fuelling, with the most significant finding being that the engine was more efficient when fuelled on DME than when fuelled with diesel. Another interesting finding was that the energy release of diesel decreases with increasing load, whilst the energy release of DME increases with increasing load. At the highest loading condition of 55 Nm, the energy release of DME was approximately 210 joules higher than that of diesel. This investigation concluded that DME may definitely be a suitable substitute fuel for diesel.

This thesis aims at automotive starters, their construction, characteristics and problems with starting at low temperatures. There are kinds of starters, function principle, construction, advantages and disadvantages in the first part of thesis. Issues with combustion engine starting and basic technical requirements are also mentioned here; characteristics and importance of starters and combustion engines are also described. Last chapters of this part are dedicated to finite element method and its implication. There are analytical calculations of starter in the second part of thesis. Results are compared with experimental obtained (measured) values and results from RMxprt. Finite element method results are compared, too. Magnetic induction improvement in stator is also suggested.