International Conference on Engineering Science & Technology and Management

(ICETM-2017)

Design and Fabrication of Aqua Silencer C.P. Yathi

1, Sanjay Saji

2, Nirmal Nixon

3, Johns Geo

4

1,2,3,4, Final Year Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering.

Christ University Faculty Of Engineering ,Bangalore,India

yathi.lal@gmail.com, sanjaysaji2595@gmail.com

nirmalnixon@gmail.com, johnsgeo.95@gmail.com

Abstract- The main pollutions from IC Engines and other

alternate engines are carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of

nitrogen (NOx), unburned hydrocarbons and particulate

matter. The automobiles are the greatest polluter as the

emissions from more than a billion vehicles add up to

create a worldwide problem. The air pollution causes a

significant health hazard not only to people but animals

also. Through different green technologies and

developments these emissions can be controlled to a

greater extent. Aqua Silencer is an attempt in this

direction to reduce the exhaust emissions from the vehicles

with the help of activated charcoal and engine oil. This

system also reduces the exhaust temperature and noise

produced at the tail pipe of the exhaust. The system is very

simple and cost efficient and can be used as an alternative

for conventional silencer and catalytic converter.

Keywords: Aqua Silencer, activated charcoal, engine oil,

exhaust temperature.

I. INTRODUCTION

IC engines play a major role in transport and many other

industries. Considering the growth of transportation industries

and the human needs, the use of these combustion engines is

inevitable. Even though combustion engines play a vital role

in our day to day lives, we cannot ignore the harmful effects

that are caused by the exhaust gases of these engines. A lot

research and study is going on to reduce the emission

produced from these engines.

This project is an attempt to reduce the harmful exhaust gases

before it is emitted to the atmosphere. The Aqua Silencer is

fitted at the exhaust pipe of the engine. The emissions are

controlled with the help of activated charcoal which is highly

porous and has very good absorbing capability. Most of the

carbon contents will be absorbed by the charcoal and the rest

will be absorbed by the engine oil. An engine oil with a low

density is used as the liquid medium here. Perforated tube is

used for the bubbling to take place and it also serves as a

medium to break up large volume gases to smaller volume. In

this type of silencer the backpressure developed is inevitable

but can be only reduced by the inherent design of the silencer.

II. LITERATURE SURVEY

On referring other journals and studies on Aqua Silencer these

are some of the points that are inferred from them. Keval I

Patel et al, in their study uses activated charcoal to control the

emissions. They also use a non-return valve or an U-bend to

prevent the backflow of the water and gases back into the

engine. Patel Praful M et al in their paper explains about the

use of perforated tube in silencers. Due to the discontinuity in

area an impedance mismatch will be developed for the sound

wave travelling through the pipe. Thus sound can be reduced

in the silencer with the help of perforated tube. According to

Vijay I Mundhe et al backpressure is an extra static pressure

exerted on the engine due to the restriction of the flow of

exhaust gases. To limit the backpressure the geometric

changes in the muffler should be minimum. P Balashanmugam

et al in their paper explains that the increase in backpressure of

an Aqua Silencer is inevitable unless it is compensated in the

design itself. The backpressure can be reduced by two ways.

A) The elimination of the separate existing silencer because

the oil tank in the aqua silencer will itself act as a silencer.

B) By introducing a bell mouth assembly which helps the

exhaust gases to expand many times by volume gradually

before entering the aqua silencer.

III. PRESENT WORK

The basic design of Aqua silencer consists of a perforated

which is covered by a thick layer of activated charcoal. The

whole setup is placed inside a box containing water. The

exhaust gases entering the Aqua Silencer pass through the

perforated tube where the large volume of gases splits up into

small volume gases. The exhaust gases then come in contact

with activated charcoal where most of the exhaust gases get

adsorbed by the charcoal. Some of the gases get dissolved in

the water. The purified exhaust gases then escape to the

atmosphere through the outlet. The main disadvantage of this

method of Aqua Silencer is that the charcoal loses its activity

when it comes in contact with the water. Hence the life of the

silencer is reduced and the silencer fails to perform. In this

project the life of the silencer is increased by providing

separate compartments for the charcoal and engine oil. The

water is replaced by a low density, high flash point engine oil.

The engine oil does not come in contact with the charcoal and

thus the activity of charcoal is maintained. This naturally

increases the life of the Aqua Silencer.

International Conference on Engineering Science & Technology and Management

(ICETM-2017) IV. DESIGN PARAMETERS

A. Perforated tube

A stainless steel rod of 1.5 inches diameter is used for the

fabrication of perforated tube. The length of the tube is 12

inches.

Fig: Backpressure graph

From the graph that is obtained from one of the journal that is

selected for study, it can be observed that when the hole

diameter is approximately 5mm the backpressure increases for

both the mass flow rate. When the hole diameter is

approximately 13 mm, it can be seen that the backpressure

developed for both the mass flow rate is low. Therefore for the

design of perforated tube the hole diameter of 13 mm is

selected.

B. Charcoal Box

The charcoal sheet was made of stainless steel sheet of

dimensions 15*10*10 cm. The inner surface of the box is

covered with steel wire mesh to prevent the charcoal pellets

from entering into the engine oil box.

C. Engine Oil Box

The engine oil box was made of stainless steel sheet of

dimensions 40*12*12 cm. The capacity of the engine oil box

is approximately 5.76 liters. The box contains an inlet and

outlet of diameter 1.3cm for introducing and removing the

engine oil. A U- bend is provided to prevent the engine oil

from entering the charcoal box.

Fig: Top View of Aqua Silencer

Fig: Side View of Aqua Silencer

V. WORKING

The exhaust gases coming out from the engine enters the

charcoal box containing activated charcoal. Most of the

carbon monoxide and some of the oxides of nitrogen get

adsorbed by the charcoal. The exhaust gases then pass

through the perforated tube and enter the engine oil box.

Here bubbling takes place and the unburned hydrocarbons

and rest of the carbon monoxide will be absorbed by the

engine oil. The engine oil used here is SAE 5W-30

because of its low density and its flash point of 330deg

Celsius. As the engine oil heats up, its viscosity reduces

and thus the exhaust gas travel will be more through the

engine oil.

VI. TESTING AND RESULTS

The pollution test was done for one and a half hour at three

different rpms in a SI engine with and without using the Aqua

Silencer.

Table1. Test result after thirty minutes.

RPM 1250

Pollution gases Without Aqua

Silencer

With Aqua

Silencer

CO% 0.032 0.020

HC (PPM) 0029 0025

CO2% 14.80 11.07

O2% 0.37 05.46

NOx 0004 0002

Table2. Test result after one hour.

RPM 1800

Pollution gases Without Aqua

Silencer

With Aqua

Silencer

CO% 0.024 0.013

HC (PPM) 0050 0021

CO2% 15.42 15.15

O2% 00.11 00.10

NOx 0004 0002

International Conference on Engineering Science & Technology and Management

(ICETM-2017)

Table3. Test result after one hour thirty minutes.

RPM 2500

Pollution gases Without Aqua

Silencer

With Aqua

Silencer

CO% 0.028 0.007

HC (PPM) 0051 0025

CO2% 15.55 15.31

O2% 00.23 00.09

NOx 0002 0001

VII. CONCLUSION

The Aqua Silencer was able to display considerable reduction

in the exhaust gas emission. Apart from being pollution free it

was also able to give out smokeless emission with reduced

noise. The system used here is very economical and

technically feasible when considering the long term use. The

whole system can be easily assembled to the engine exhaust

and is capable of replacing the conventional catalytic

converter. The backpressure produced can be furthermore

decreased by using the bell-mouth assembly where the exhaust

gases expand before entering the Aqua Silencer.

VIII. REFERENCES

[1] Keval I. Patel, Swastik R. Gajjar, “Design And Development Of Aqua

Silencer For Two Stroke Petrol Engine ” IJIRST–International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology, Vol. 1, Issue 1, June 2014 , ISSN(online): 2349-6010.

[2] Patel Praful M, Swastik R. Gajjar, “A Literature Review on Design and Development of Industrial Generator Silencer” IJSRD- International Journal for Scientific Research and Development, Vol. 3, Issue 01, 2015, ISSN(online): 2321-0613l.

[3] Vijay M Mundhe, Ekanth R Deore, “Design and Analysis of Perforated Muffler in Automobile Exhaust System” IJMRD- Internationa Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, Vol. 2, Issue 7, July 2015, ISSN(online): 2349-4182.

[4] P. Balashanmugam, G. Balasubramanian, “developments of Emission and Noise Control Device (Aqua Silencer)” IJMTER- International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering and Research, Vol. 2, Issue 01, January 2015, ISSN(online): 2349-9745.

[5] Alen .M.A, Akshay. M, PremSankar.R, Mohammed Shafeeque. M, “Fabrication and Testing Of Aqua Silencer” IRJET- International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, Volume: 02, Issue 05, Aug-2015, ISSN(online): 2395-0056.

[6] Abhijeet Pratap, Ujjal Kalita, Sushil Kumar, “Effect Of Perforated Tube On Transmission Loss Of Muffler- A Review”, IJERGS- International Journal of Engineering Research and General Science, Volume 3, Issue 3,May-June, 2015 ISSN(online) 2091-2730.