In developing nations like India motorcycles aren’t mostly used as a style statement, they’re common due to their fuel-efficiency and low cost of ownership. To market these bikes most manufacturers have used the motorcycle’s mileage as its main USP. While the bikes currently plying on Indian roads are inexpensive and offer hundreds of miles per gallon of gasoline, powering them with even cheaper diesel has always been an attractive proposition. But most ideas to power low-power bikes with diesel have failed because of the added weight, noise and vibration seen in diesel engines.
Engineering students at the Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology, Kerala, have developed a new mechanism to run a motorcycle on diesel using the same gasoline engine. Instead of opting for a spark-free compression engine, the students chose glow plug, normally seen in cars, to vaporize diesel and then feed the vapors to the cylinder through the inlet and then burn it using the spark plug to generate power without any major engine alteration. Using these engine dynamics the students successfully converted a used 115cc motorbike spending close to $100 on the minor alterations. The team states that the noise and vibration are still the same as in any other gasoline-fueled motorcycle. The only difference is the emission of white smoke from the exhaust. However, the team believes that the emissions are still under control and no abnormal carbon deposit was found on the cylinders even after testing the bike for a week.
Via: KeralaOnline
