Thiruvananthapuram, Thursday 7 May 2009: A diesel-powered two-wheeler has always been an attractive proposition. But potential customers have been put off by the heavy weight and the pollution, noise and vibration generated by the few such vehicles that made it to the market.

A group of final-year B.Tech. students of the Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology have now developed a method that would enable a petrol-powered vehicle to run on diesel without the drawbacks associated with a diesel engine.

Their concept was to use diesel in a petrol-powered spark ignition engine rather than using a compression ignition engine. The team used a glow plug, of the kind used in cars, to vaporise the diesel. The vaporised fuel is fed to the cylinder through the inlet and burned using the spark plug to generate power without any alteration to the engine.

The students of the Mechanical Engineering division converted a 115 cc motorbike for the project. “The light weight engine used in the petrol-powered version could be retained as such because there is no difference in the compression. The noise and vibration were the same as in any petrol fuelled two-wheeler. The only perceptible difference during operation was the white smoke from the exhaust, much like a two-stroke bike. After one week of running, we dismantled the cylinder and found no abnormal carbon deposit. The pollution levels were also matched the requirements”, said Akash Sagar, one of the team members. He added that it would be possible to refine the engine further.

The students purchased a used bike and spent Rs.4,500 on converting it. The project took six months to complete.

The team comprising Arun Unnikrishnan, S. Jagajith, Sibu Dee Sam and V.M. Vishnu was guided by R.V. Krishnan, Lecturer in the department.