The drawbacks associated with bio-fuels can be minimized by making modifications to combustion chamber. Modification of combustion chamber is achieved by providing an air gap in between the crown and the body of the piston with the top crown made of low thermal conductivity material. Experimentation is carried on a diesel engine with brass as piston crown material and karanja as test fuel, which is found to be a better alternative fuel based on the tests carried out prior to modification. Investigations are carried out on the performance of the engine with modified combustion chamber consisting of air gap insulated piston with 2 mm air gap with brass crown when fuelled with karanja oil. Comparative studies are made between the two configurations of engine with and without modification at an injection timing of 29obTDC. Performance, heat balance and emission plots are made with respect to brake power. Fuel consumption increased with modification. The mechanical and volumetric efficiencies are similar in both the cases. Indicated and brake thermal efficiencies got reduced with modification. But, it is good to see that HC and CO emissions are showing positive trend. Thus, the present investigation hints the possibility of improvements while making piston modification and providing air gap insulation.
