4 Stroke Diesel Engine Valve Timing Diagram
4-stroke diesel engine is a type of engine that has 4 processes in one cycle. In the previous
article we discussed how it works both 4 stroke and 2 stroke diesel engines.
On a four stroke diesel engine, we will find a valve mechanism where this mechanism will
regulate the opening of the suction valve and exhaust valve.
The question is, when is this valve open? what is the angle of opening of the two valves?
This is what we will explain in detail
Four Stroke Diesel Valve Timing Diagram
We know that a 4-step diesel engine has 4 processes, namely;
(i) Intake stroke
(ii) compression stroke
(iii) combustion stroke
(iv) exhaust stroke
Intake stroke is a step where the air is inserted into the combustion chamber, in this case the
suction valve must be open.
Compression strokes and combustion strokes do not require valve opening, because both
processes compress air and combust material, so both valves must be tightly closed.
While in the exhaust stroke, the exhaust valve must be open to move the remaining residual
gases out.
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From this brief statement, we understand that the valve on a diesel engine is only open in two
processes, namely the intake and exhaust processes.
1. Diagram of opening the suction valve
The suction valve is a valve that uses to entrance fresh air into the combustion chamber. This
valve opens when the piston moves from TDC to BDC at the intake stroke.
Then when the piston is still at TDC, the suction valve must begin to open.
And from the picture above, shows that the suction valve starts to open about 10-15 degrees
before the piston reaches TDC. And the suction valve will close tightly around 25 degrees
after the piston reaches BDC.
That’s mean, before the piston reaches TDC the suction valve has begun to open. And when
the piston moves down to reach the BDC the valve is also still open, then when the
compression stroke starts the valve is still open about 25 degrees.
2. Diagram of opening the exhaust valve
2
The exhaust valve is a valve that uses as exit gate for the remaining residual gas to the
muffler. The processes is take out the residual gasses from the combustion chamber, that’s
make the valve must open when the piston moves up (from BDC to TDC) in the exhaust
stroke.
From the picture above, after combustion step the piston moves from TDC to BDC. At the
end of the combustion step (before reaching BDC) the exhaust valve has begun to open.
That is true, the exhaust valve will open about 25 degrees before the piston reaches BDC.
And just like the suction valve, the exhaust valve will remain open even though the piston has
reached TDC.
The exhaust valve will be tightly closed at the beginning of the suction step when the piston
moves from TDC to BDC around 15 degrees.
3. Valve overlap
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Valve overlap is a condition where both valves (suction valves and exhaust valves) are both
open.
This condition occurs at the end of the exhaust stroke until the beginning of the intake stroke.
As explained above, the exhaust valve opens when the piston moves to TDC in the end of
combustion stroke. But the exhaust valve is still open when the piston moves down in the
beginning of intake stroke.
On the other hand, the suction valve also starts to open even before the piston reaches TDC in
the end of exhaust stroke. This will cause both valves to open together with a duration of
about 25 degrees.
What is the purpose of the valve overlap?
The purpose of the overlap is to flush the exhaust gasses using fresh air. When both valves
are open together it will allow fresh air to enter and then push the exhaust gas so that in the
next cycle, the fresh air content becomes more maximal.
Why is the valve open prematurely?
From the explanation above we can conclude that the valves on diesel engines open and
closed always exceed the piston movement.
The reason, is because it anticipates the vacuum in the cylinder chamber when the engine run
in high RPM. For example is in the intake stroke, when the engine RPM is high, the up and
down motion of the piston will also be high.
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And this gives little time for the air suction process, so that if the valve is not opened earlier
there will be a vacuum which will inhibit the engine RPM.
It also same during the exhaust process, the exhaust valve opens early to avoid the effects of
compression when removing. Because when the engine RPM is high, there is also little time
to discharge air.
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