Page 8 - Piston Engine-Based Power Plants

CHAPTER 1 1

An Introduction to Piston Engine Power Plants

Piston engines or reciprocating engines (the two terms are often used
interchangeably to describe these engines) are by a wide margin the larg-
est group of thermodynamic heat engines in use around the world. Their
applications range from model aeroplanes to lawn mowers: they include
all the automotive power plants found in motor cycles, cars, trucks and
many other sorts of heavy machinery; they power locomotives, ships
and many small aircraft and they provide stationary electrical power
and combined heat and power to numerous sites across the globe.

The number in use is enormous; the United States alone produces
more than 35 million each year. Engines vary in size from less than
1 kW (model engines can be a few watts) to 80,000 kW. They can be
driven using a wide range of fuels including natural gas, biogas, lique-
fied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel, bio-diesel, heavy fuel oil and even
coal. They are manufactured all over the globe and there is a large
global base of expertise in their maintenance and repair. While modern
engines are often extremely advanced and digitally controlled, older
engines can often be kept in service by small, local workshops.

In line with the wide range of engines available, the power genera-
tion applications of piston engines are enormously varied. Small units
can be used for standby power or for combined heat and power in
homes and offices. Larger standby units are often used in situations
where a continuous supply of power is critical such as in hospitals or
to support highly sensitive computer installations like an air traffic
control system or one of the many computer server farms around the
world. Commercial and industrial facilities use medium-sized piston
engine-based combined heat and power units for base-load, distributed
power generation. Large engines, meanwhile, can be used for base-
load, grid-connected power generation while smaller units form one of
the main sources of base-load power to isolated communities with no
access to an electricity grid.

Piston Engine-Based Power Plants. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812904-3.00001-X
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.