Internal combustion engine
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By way of contrast, an external combustion engine such as a steam engine, does work when the combustion process heats a separate working fluid, such as water or steam, which then in turn does work.
Jet engines, most rockets and many gas turbines are classed as internal combustion engines, but the term "internal combustion engine" is often loosely used to refer specifically to a piston internal combustion engine and rotary combustion engine in which combustion is intermittent and the products act on reciprocating machinery, the most common subtype of this kind of engine.
In the broadest sense of the term, the internal combustion engine can be said to have been invented in China, with the invention of fireworks during the Song dynasty (some sources put the invention a thousand years earlier still). English inventor Sir Samuel Morland used gunpowder to drive water pumps in the 17th century. For more conventional, reciprocating internal combustion engines the fundamental theory for two-stroke engines was established by Sadi Carnot, France, 1824, whilst the American Samuel Morey received a patent on April 1, 1826.
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Applications
Internal combustion engines are most commonly used for mobile propulsion systems. In mobile scenarios internal combustion is advantageous, since it can provide high power to weight ratios together with excellent fuel energy-density. These engines have appeared in almost all cars, motorbikes, many boats, and in a wide variety of aircraft and locomotives. Where very high power is required, such as jet aircraft, helicopters and large ships, they appear mostly in the form of gas turbines. They are also used for electric generators and by industry.
For low power mobile and many non-mobile applications an electric motor is a competitive alternative. In the future, electric motors may also become competitive for most mobile applications. However, the high cost and weight and poor energy density of batteries and lack of affordable onboard electric generators such as fuel cells has largely restricted their use to specialist applications.
Parts
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The parts of an engine vary depending on the engine's type. For a four-stroke engine, key parts of the engine include the crankshaft, one or more camshafts (red and blue) and valves. For a two-stroke engine, there may simply be an exhaust outlet and fuel inlet instead of a valve system. In both types of engines, there are one or more cylinders (grey and green) and for each cylinder there is a spark plug (darker-grey), a piston (yellow) and a crank (purple). A single sweep of the cylinder by the piston in an upward or downward motion is known as a stroke and the downward stroke that occurs directly after the air-fuel mix in the cylinder is ignited is known as a power stroke.
A Wankel engine has a triangular rotor that orbits in an epitroichoidal (figure 8 shape) chamber around an eccentric shaft. The four phases of operation (intake, compression, power, exhaust) take place in separate locations, instead of one single location as in a reciprocating engine.
Operation
All internal combustion engines depend on the exothermic chemical process of combustion: the reaction of a fuel, typically with air, although other oxidisers such as nitrous oxide may be employed. See also stoichiometry.
The most common fuels in use today are made up of hydrocarbons and are derived from petroleum. These include the fuels known as diesel, gasoline and liquified petroleum gas. Most internal combustion engines designed for gasoline can run on natural gas or liquified petroleum gases without modifications except for the fuel delivery components. Liquid and gaseous biofuels of adequate formulation can also be used.
Some have theorized that in the future hydrogen might replace such fuels. The advantage of hydrogen is that its combustion produces only water. This is unlike the combustion of hydrocarbons which also produces carbon dioxide, a major cause of global warming, and, as a result of incomplete combustion, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides (NOx).
All internal combustion engines must have a means of ignition to promote combustion. Most engines use either an electrical or a compression heating ignition system. Electrical ignition systems generally rely on a lead-acid battery and an induction coil to provide a high voltage electrical spark to ignite the air-fuel mix in the engine's cylinders. This battery can be recharged during operation using an alternator driven by the engine. Compression heating ignition systems (Diesel engines and HCCI engines) rely on the heat created in the air by compression in the engine's cylinders to ignite the fuel.
Once successfully ignited and burnt, the combustion products (hot gases) have more available energy than the original compressed fuel/air mixture (which had higher chemical energy). The available energy is manifested as high temperature and pressure which can be translated into work by the engine. In a reciprocating engine, the high pressure product gases inside the cylinders drive the engine's pistons.
Once the available energy has been removed the remaining hot gases are vented (often by opening a valve or exposing the exhaust outlet) and this allows the piston to return to its previous position (Top Dead Center - TDC). The piston can then proceed to the next phase of its cycle (which varies between engines). Any heat not translated into work is a waste product and is removed from the engine either by an air or liquid cooling system.
The term "engine" is sometimes confused with the term "motor," though the latter term is more appropriate for electric motors. However, there are some peculiar exceptions. For example, you have an "outboard motor" on a boat, even though it is technically a gasoline-powered engine
Classification
There is a wide range of internal combustion engines corresponding to their many varied applications. Likewise there is a wide range of ways to classify internal-combustion engines, some of which are listed below.
Principles of operation
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Reciprocating:
Rotary:
Continuous combustion:
Engine cycle
Engines based on the two-stroke cycle use two strokes (one up, one down) for every power stroke, relying on the action of the bottom of the piston within the crankcase to help move the fuel-air mixture, and are used where small size and weight are important, such as snowmobiles, lawnmowers, mopeds, outboard motors and some motorcycles. Gasoline two-stroke engines are generally louder, less efficient, more polluting, and smaller than their four-stroke counterparts, although large two-stroke diesel engines are not subject to these complaints and are used in many applications, for instance some locomotives built by EMD.
Engines based on the four-stroke cycle or Otto cycle have one power stroke for every four strokes (up-down-up-down) and are used in cars, larger boats and many light aircraft. They are generally quieter, more efficient and larger than their two-stroke counterparts. There are a number of variations of these cycles, most notably the Atkinson and Miller cycles. Most truck and automotive Diesel engines use a four-stroke cycle, but with a compression heating ignition system it is possible to talk separately about a diesel cycle. The Wankel engine operates with the same separation of phases as the four-stroke engine (but with no piston strokes, would more properly be called a four-phase engine), since the phases occur in separate locations in the engine; however like a two-stroke piston engine, it provides one power 'stroke' per revolution per rotor, giving it similar space and weight efficiency.
Fuel type
Diesel engines are generally heavier, noisier and more powerful at lower speeds than gasoline engines. They are also more fuel-efficient in some circumstances and are used in heavy road-vehicles, some automobiles, ships and some locomotives and light aircraft. Gasoline engines are used in most other road-vehicles including most cars, motorcycles and mopeds. Note that in Europe, sophisticated diesel-engined cars are far more prevalent, representing around 40% of the market. Both gasoline and diesel engines produce significant emissions. There are also engines that run on hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and biodiesel.
Cylinders
Internal combustion engines can contain any number of cylinders with numbers between one and twelve being common, though as many as 28 have been used. More cylinders result in greater torque but obviously larger engines and greater fuel consumption.
- Most car engines have four to eight cylinders, with some high performance cars having ten, twelve, or even sixteen, and some very small cars and trucks having two or three. In previous years some quite large cars, such as the DKW and Saab 92, had two cylinder, two stroke engines.
- Radial aircraft engines, now obsolete, had from five to 28 cylinders. A row contains an odd number of cylinders, so an even number indicates a two- or four-row engine.
- Motor cycles commonly have from one to four cylinders, with a few high performance models having six.
- Snowmobiles usually have two cylinders. Some larger (not necessarily high-performance, but also touring machines) have four.
- Small appliances such as chainsaws and domestic lawn mowers most commonly have one cylinder, although two-cylinder chainsaws exist.
Ignition system
Internal combustion engines can be classified by their ignition system. Today most engines use an electrical or compression heating system for ignition. However outside flame and hot-tube systems have been used historically.
Engine configuration
Internal combustion engines can be classified by their configuration which affects their physical size and smoothness (with smoother engines producing less vibration). Common configurations include the straight or inline configuration, the more compact V configuration and the wider but smoother flat or boxer configuration. Aircraft engines can also adopt a radial configuration which allows more effective cooling. More unusual configurations, such as "H", "U", "X", or "W" have also been used.
Multiple-crankshaft configurations do not necessarily need a cylinder head at all, but can instead have a piston at each end of the cylinder, called an opposed piston design. This design was used in the Junkers Jumo 205 diesel aircraft engine, using two crankshafts, one at either end of a single bank of cylinders, and most remarkably in the Napier Deltic diesel engines, which used three crankshafts to serve three banks of double-ended cylinders arranged in an equilateral triangle with the crankshafts at the corners. It was also used in single-bank locomotive engines, and continues to be used for marine engines, both for propulsion and for auxiliary generators. The Gnome Rotary engine, used in several early aircraft, had a stationary crankshaft and a bank of radially arranged cylinders rotating around it. Technically this is a "rotary piston engine", to distinguish it from Wankel "rotary combustion engines".
Engine capacity
An engine's capacity is the displacement or swept volume by the pistons of the engine. It is generally measured in litres or cubic inches for larger engines and cubic centimetres (abbreviated to cc's) for smaller engines. Engines with greater capacities are usually more powerful and provide greater torque at lower rpms but also consume more fuel.
Apart from designing an engine with more cylinders, there are two ways to increase an engine's capacity. The first is to lengthen the stroke and the second is to increase the piston's diameter. In either case, it may be necessary to make further adjustments to the fuel intake of the engine to ensure optimal performance.
An engine's quoted capacity can be more a matter of marketing than of engineering. The Morris Minor 1000, the Morris 1100, and the Austin-Healey Sprite Mark II all had engines of the same stroke and bore according to their specifications, and were from the same maker. However the engine capacities were quoted as 1000cc, 1100cc and 1098cc respectively in the sales literature and on the vehicle badges.
External links
- Animated Engines (http://www.keveney.com/Engines.html) - explains a variety of types
- How Internal Combustion Works (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine3.htm) - with animationaf:Binnebrandmotor
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