Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative fuel, characterized by a phase transition from liquid to gas that produces a natural cooling effect (self-refrigeration). This effect is typically unutilized. At high ambient temperatures, engine performance decreases due to reduced volumetric efficiency, while at low temperatures, the air–LPG mixture formation may deteriorate. This study proposes an intercooler system that utilizes the self-refrigeration effect of LPG to reduce intake air temperature and improve engine power under high-temperature conditions. Assessment of Intake Air Temperature Control (IATC) method is introduced to evaluate intercooler performance in terms of cooling effectiveness and power variation, categorizing LPG engine performance into four clusters. Furthermore, an Intake Air Temperature Control System (IATCS) model based on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is developed to predict system performance. The results indicate that engine power characteristics can be effectively analyzed using the IATC framework. In Cluster I, engine power increases from 4.1 HP to 4.3 HP after cooling. However, this gain (0.2 HP) remains limited due to the absence of ignition timing and compression ratio optimization. Considering the high octane rating of LPG, further improvements in engine performance are achievable through appropriate tuning. Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of integrating an LPG-based intercooling system and highlights its impact on engine performance. The proposed IATCS model accurately predicts intake air temperature reduction and the corresponding increase in engine power.
Munahar et al. (Wed,) studied this question.