AN APPROACH (PERFORMANCE SCORE) FOR EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF EXHAUST MANIFOLD OF MULTI-CYLINDER SI ENGINE TO DETERMINE OPTIMUM GEOMETRY FOR RECREATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

Exhaust manifold is one of the most critical components of an IC Engine. The requirements to be met in an exhaust system are: to be capable of speedy manufacture at low cost; designed for quick assembly on engine and chassis; minimum interference with other components; low under bonnet temperature; durability; ruggedness; speeds. Preference for any of this parameter varies as per designers needs. Usually fuel economy, emissions and power requirement are three different thoughts considered for design of exhaust manifold. This work presents a new approach to exhaust manifold design which helps in selection of best possible geometry for exhaust manifold depending upon applications. The performance score method used in this work enables the engineer to select the best possible design experimentally based upon the preferences. The performance score method gives the relative performance of exhaust manifold with respect to each other for various performance parameters and helps in evaluation of designs which are dependent upon multiple parameters rather than only few. The overall performance score of eight models are analyzed for two applications viz. recreational purpose and commercial purpose. The best possible geometries selected for exhaust manifold are based on highest overall performance score.