Torque Curves

PRODUCT INFORMATION
P R O D U C T I N F O R M AT I O N – T O R Q U E C U RV E S

CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
How a Torque Curve is Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
What the Torque Curve Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Changing the Torque Curve Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8

Transient Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Additional Information and Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

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TORQUE CURVES
Torque curves are used by performance • How Torque Curves are Created
engineers to graphically express a diesel
engine’s ability to maintain torque output at a • What the Torque Curve Means
reduced speed. In simple terms, a torque curve
(also called “lug curve”) is a performance map
• Changing the Torque Curve Shape
created for a given diesel engine. • Operating Factors
This manual will present the following • Transient Performance
information to help the user/operator understand
how torque curves are created, and their • Summary
relationship to engine application.

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HOW A TORQUE CURVE IS CREATED
Diesel engines have two performance limit
controls — high idle and rack settings. These
settings are made on the engine governor. The
high idle setting establishes the top operating
speed of the engine, while the rack setting limits
the amount of fuel that can be injected per stroke.
To build the performance map — or torque curve
— these two limits must be considered separately.
High Idle Setting
High idle is the maximum speed the engine will
run with the governor wide open. In other
words, through the governor, this setting
establishes a speed at which the engine operates
when the speed control is wide open. As load, or
torque requirement, is added to the engine, the
governor opens the rack to maintain the engine
speed which is set by the high idle stop and the
governor position. Under isochronous governor
control, the torque speed relationship looks like
a straight vertical line.
When mechanical governors are used, the engine
slows down slightly as load is added. This speed
change activates the governor. It is a relatively
small change and can be varied by governor
design to suit the need.
HIGH IDLE
TORQUE SETTING
ENGINE RPM
The various high idle settings result in a whole
group or “family” of torque speed lines with
slants determined by governor characteristics. If
the high idle stop is set at a given position, and
load is added to the engine, the engine speed
drops slightly according to the characteristic
slant (or droop) of the line for that setting.
Rack Settings
For each constant rack position (such as might
be used by the rack stop) a certain torque speed
is obtained. The shape of this curve is
determined by several engine characteristics
including: injection pump efficiency, combustion
efficiency, breathing (or volumetric) efficiency,
friction. The shape of the curve is characteristic
of the given engine and can be changed.
For every rack setting there is a torque speed
curve. As with high idle settings, this means that
each engine actually has a whole family of
torque speed curves. This group of curves is
subject to various engine efficiencies and
operating conditions just like a single curve.
The operating map is created by superimposing
the two families of lines. The result is a grid of
the entire operating torque speed range of the
engines.
There are limits which dictate where an engine
can operate successfully. These include: speed,
smoke, temperature, etc.
TORQUE CURVE MAP
TORQUE
ENGINE RPM
Turbocharged Engines
If the engine is turbocharged, limit lines (a
fence) may be drawn around that part of the
torque speed graph which is usable by engineers.
This is the part of the performance data which
can be appropriately used for selling. There are
engine high and low speed limits, turbo speed,
exhaust temperature and smoke which are all
factors.
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WHAT THE TORQUE CURVE MEANS AND

HOW IT IS USED
Any chosen high idle setting and rack setting
will result in a single torque curve. The curve
will be made up of two parts — the overrun
portion, where the engine speed and rack
positions are controlled by the governor, and the
lug part of the curve, where the rack is against
the stop and additional load causes the engine to
slow down.
LUG CURVE LIMITS
Several factors come into play to add additional
torque as the engine lugs down. Any
combination of these can contribute to torque
rise:
• Fuel Injection Equipment – may be more
efficient at lower speeds and the engine may
get more fuel per injection pump stroke even
though the rack stays constant.

• Combustion Efficiency – may increase at

TORQUE
ENGINE RPM
The point at which the overrun and the lug meet
on the torque curve is called the balance point.
This point is used as the engine’s rating, as this
is the point of maximum horsepower (where the
engine is doing the most work.)
High idle, the maximum speed the engine will
run with the governor wide open, is limited by
the high idle setting. At the balance point, the
rack hits the rack stop and cannot be opened
further. When more load is added, more fuel
cannot be injected unless a torque spring is used.
lower speeds as the injected fuel may burn
more thoroughly.
• Air Supply per Piston Stroke – may be
greater at lower speeds, due to an increase in
volumetric efficiency. This air increase can
assist in burning fuel more efficiently and
result in an increase in torque.
• Friction Decrease – also contributes to
torque rise
The difference in speed (rpm) between the
balance point and high idle is the overrun, or
speed regulation. With vehicular governors this
may be 7-10 percent of rated speed, and may be
as low as 3 percent for generator sets where
close regulation is required.
Overrun is zero on isochronous governors.

In the lug portion of the curve, two factors are

PEAK TORQUE important:
POINT

TORQUE
• Torque rise
RISE • The speed at which the peak torque
BALANCE
TORQUE POINT occurs
OVERRUN
Torque rise is generally expressed in percent
LOW HIGH increase over rated torque at the balance point.
IDLE IDLE
This torque rise is related to the diesel’s ability
ENGINE RPM to “hang on” under overload and is, therefore,
an important feature.

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CHANGING THE TORQUE CURVE SHAPE
The ideal development target is to have the
torque peak between 60 percent and 70 percent
of rated speed. A typical diesel engine of today
might have 1000 lb-ft of torque at 1800 rpm and
lug to 1200 rpm. This is a 20 percent torque rise
at 67 percent of rated speed. High idle for this
engine might then be 2150 rpm, or 17 percent
overrun.
Another way to change the torque curve shape is
by using a mechanical device such as a flexible
rack stop or torque spring. The engine can be
given more fuel during lug operation by
allowing the rack to open an additional
controlled amount. Such devices simply allow
the torque curve to be modified by a more open
rack position as the engine lugs down. This
results in a high torque curve.
To avoid mechanical failures or complaints
about excess smoke, upper operating limits (ie:
turbo speed, smoke, and exhaust temperatures)
are not exceeded.
A torque curve with no torque rise is unable to
carry additional torque beyond what is rated.
Operating Factors Affecting Torque
Rise/Engine Performance
Torque rise cannot be measured with instruments
as in a laboratory. Rather, the operator has to
feel the change. This means he or she must feel
acceleration or changes in speed; the load being
moved or the engine stalling.
Because many of the overload torques are
required only for a short period of time, the
operator may feel the amount of speed drop
when the engine hits the overload. In some
cases, even the sound of the engine may indicate
either extra power or sluggishness.
Factors which will affect torque rise and
subsequent engine performance include:
• Load
• Combustion efficiency
• Governor action
• Turbocharger
Load
Load has a very definite effect on the action and
feel of the engine. Acceleration, for example,
will vary considerably depending upon how
much load it is carrying. An engine with no load
will accelerate to full speed within seconds, as it
must speed up only its own mass.
Acceleration is inversely proportional to mass. If
a heavier flywheel or load is added to the
engine, it will accelerate more slowly. There is
enough power in the typical shovel engine to
spin the shovel like a top once it is up to speed.
But because the shovel swing is less than 180°,
the engine barely gets the swing started when
the shovel must be braked and the engine must
start the reverse swing. The same problem holds
true when the engine has to start up a rock
crusher or other large, high mass equipment.
In vehicles, a transmission is used to get high
torque multiplication for acceleration. This
approach is also useful in other applications.
A torque converter provides torque
multiplication at low output shaft speeds. The
shaft output torque of the torque converter takes
the place of the flywheel output of the engine,
so far as the load speed characteristics are
concerned. Engine speed varies through a
small range and the engine does not stall
with a converter.
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CHANGING THE TORQUE CURVE SHAPE

The torque multiplication advantage of the
converter is exchanged for some power loss due
to converter inefficiency.
• Combustion Efficiency
The speed with which an engine responds to
load demands is directly proportional to the
size of fire that can be built in the
combustion chamber and how quickly it can
be built. Cold engines just started would not
respond as rapidly as hot engines because
the cold combustion chamber walls tend to
inhibit good combustion — and because the
oil drag would be too high.
• Governor Action
When the engine is given more load, it slows
down momentarily. That slowing action
causes the governor to open the rack to get
more fuel for the engine. The time this takes
is lost time and can be a significant part of
response time.
• Turbocharger
The turbocharger is also responsible for
some lag time in engine response. However,
two factors must be considered. First there is
generally excess air in the cylinder, more
combustion begins at once — even before
the turbo speeds up. Full power will be
reached only after the turbocharger speed has
moved substantially toward its rated speed.
Second, the turbocharged engine generally
has less inertia or mass within its own
rotating parts than does a similarly rated,
naturally aspirated engine.
If these factors are considered, turbocharger
lag is not a problem on an engine which has
been properly matched by the turbo.

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TRANSIENT PERFORMANCE
Transient performance is of interest in engine
application because, in rapidly changing
conditions, the engine does not exactly follow
the steady-state torque curve.
In theory, if the engine governor is wide open
and the engine is running at high idle as load is
added, it will slow down slightly with increased
torque until it reaches the balance point. Then
the engine will follow the lug part of the curve,
slowing down more as additional load is added
until the torque peak is reached. Here, of course,
any further load will stall the engine.
If the load is applied rapidly, something different
can occur. The engine output torque may
actually be less than the torque curve indicates.
At the same time, the high rotating energy of the
engine flywheel drive system is transferred to
the load in such as way that the load feels an
entirely different torque (at least momentarily).
This illustrates the advantage of the engine and
drive inertia in picking up loads when the engine
is operating at high idle. In this instance,
flywheel mass is good, but the operator must
also remember that, when the engine lugs down,
it must also speed back up before it can pick up
another load cycle. The engine must also carry
that same flywheel mass back up with it. If
response is critical, the excessive flywheel mass
may be a source of trouble.
This brings us to the fact that the torque curve is
a two-way street. In some applications, the
engine must pick up both load and speed. The
engine may start at the low idle point and work
up the back side of the torque curve.
Transient data taken in this manner shows that
there is also a possibility of variation from the
torque speed curve if that load change or load
application is rapid enough.
This is characterized in such uses as drill rigs.
The direct drive drawworks engine must pick up
the load, a string of pipe, at a very low speed in
order to avoid shock damage to the drawworks.
It must then accelerate that pipe to perform the
operation in a reasonable time.
Low speed torque is very important in such an
application. High horsepower alone — at rated
engine speed — may mean nothing. The
drawworks engine is “loafing” when it reaches
rated speed.
Here it becomes important to know which way
the engine will pass through the torque curve.
• Will it lug down from high idle and then
recover with no load?
• Will it start from low idle and pick up both
load and speed?
• Will it operate in some intermediate manner?
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND
CHARACTERISTICS
In general, when an engine lugs down from high
idle, it is good to stay above the peak torque
point. This is not, however, absolutely necessary.
Some operators lug their engines down until it
is almost possible to count the firing strokes
without stalling the engine. In other applications,
the same model engine stalled as if it had no
power at all. The load demand of the application
is probably the reason. By controlling the load,
the operator was able to actually work on the
back side of the lug curve where steady
operation would not be stable.
The torque speed characteristic of the load
demand can be plotted in the same manner used
to plot the torque speed curve of the engine. One
application may require nearly constant torque
for steady operation. Other applications may
require increased torque as speed goes up. Still
other applications may require a combination of
characteristics.
TORQUE REQUIREMENT TYPES
TORQUE
REQUIREMENT
SPEED – RPM
If, for example, an engine is attached to a
variable load, the possible torque speed demands
for the different load conditions would form a
family of torque curves. Over this, one can
superimpose the engine torque curve. Now the
engine will operate at the condition determined
by the intersection of the engine torque curve
and the load curve.
If loads A, B, or C are used, the engine will
operate on the overrun portion of the curve. If
the load is adjusted to condition D, the engine
will lug down to a lower speed.
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LOAD MAP
G F E
D
C
TORQUE
B
A
ENGINE RPM
If the load is adjusted to condition E, the engine
will lug down still further. Now, by adjusting the
load, the engine can be made to operate between
these two points on the lug curve. This condition
is stable as long as the load curve intersects the
engine curve and the load torque requirement is
less at the next lower speed than what the engine
will put out. This holds true all the way to load
F and shows how an engine can operate on the
back side of the lug curve if the load is under the
operator’s control.
By describing unstable operation we have
inferred that where the two torque curves
crossed, the operation would be stable. This
condition is also one that can also be felt by the
operator. Further, the greater the angle of the
intersection between the load demand curve and
the engine torque curve, the more stable the
operation will be. By controlling the load, the
operator can move the torque requirement and
manually operate the engine in the speed range
in which he desires to work.
LOAD CONDITIONS
UNSTABLE
STABLE
TORQUE
VERY STABLE
ENGINE RPM
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SUMMARY
Torque curves are useful tools by which the The torque characteristics can be used in the
engine can evaluate diesel engine performance. application of engines if the applications are
They are influenced by design variables known. Poor torque characteristics may be the
which can be manipulated to obtain specific cause of poor diesel engine performance and
characteristics in the engine. They can be unsatisfactory results in their application.
changed by governor setting and by special
torque spring devices in order to obtain special
characteristics.

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LEKX6306 Printed in the U.S.A.
© 1996 Caterpillar Inc. All rights reserved.