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How a Basic Combustion Engine Operates

WHAT IS A COMBUSTION ENGINE?

A four-stroke combustion engine is a power generator that operates by converting the chemical potential
energy in a fuel into a rotational kinetic energy. A substance that easily breaks down chemically by
combining with oxygen and releasing energy in a chemical process called oxidation is known as a
combustible substance. When this substance is a liquid it can be utilized as a fuel to generate power for
various applications. For this description we are going to focus on engines powered by the petroleum based
fuel, gasoline and diesel fuel, which can be made from crude oil, biological material and even waste
products.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Section Organization
The following sections will be organized such that the information follows the energy that the engine will
be converting. It will begin at the liquid fuel, the chemical potential energy, it will continue through the
various parts, which will be described as they are used, and it will end with the kinetic energy produced by
the engine.
Fuel Storage
All four-stroke combustion engines are comprised of a few main parts, which is why we can break down
both gas and diesel engines in the same way. The fuel begins in a fuel tank. This is a hollow vessel that
contains the unused fuel. Modern fuel tanks are usually made of aluminum or a polymer that is not capable
of conducting electricity. The tank has two holes in it, one at the top for adding fuel and a filtered one at
the bottom for the fuel to flow to the next stage of the process.
Fuel Transportation
In gasoline engines there are two ways this fuel is then transported to the engine. In both, the goal is to
transport the fuel and to create an air-fuel mixture that optimizes the fuels combustibility. They can either
use a carburetor, which relies on suction and physical properties to deliver fuel, or it can use fuel injection.
Fuel injection uses a fuel injector to deliver fuel directly into the part described in the next section where
it also mixes with the air. In the case of diesel engines, fuel injection is always used because diesel must
take advantage of a process known as forced air induction to be combustible. This term means that the
engine uses either a supercharger or turbocharger which compresses the air used in the mixture to very
high pressures, and introduces it in the same part that the fuel is injected into, described in the next section.
Gasoline engines can also use this process, but can also use the atmospheric pressure of air, known as
naturally aspirated. Still, keep in mind that all forced air applications use a fuel injector. With a fuel
injector the mixture passes directly through a valve, controlled by a computer, at the correct time, and in

the correct quantity, onto the next step. With a carburetor, which is typically used in smaller and older
engines, the mixture passes through a distributor which allows the mixture through the valve at the correct
time.

Naturally Aspirated Air Intake

Turbocharger

Carburetor

Fuel Injector

Power Generation Parts


The air-fuel mixture enters through a
valve that is opened by a mechanical
mechanism at the appropriate time.
The mixture enters into a hollow
cylindrical camber, appropriately
called a cylinder. The cylinder is
closed at the bottom by a circular
piece of metal called a piston (P),
which can move up and down, and
fits very tightly in the cylinder. It is
closed at the top by the cylinder
head. The cylinder head has three
holes in it. Two are for valves, the
intake valve (V), where the air-fuel
mixture enters and an exhaust valve
(V), where burned fuel vapors exit.
The third hole in the head has screw
threads, and a source of ignition to
Engine Parts
ignite the fuel mixture is screwed into
place to create a sealed chamber. The
source of ignition in a gasoline engine is a spark plug (S), which creates an open spark to burn the fuel. A
diesel engine has a glow plug (replaces S in a diesel engine), which gets very hot. This difference is
because diesel fuel relies more on pressure for ignition than heat. They are both powered by an external
battery. Some of the power created by the engine is turned into electrical energy to recharge this battery in
a part called an alternator. The underside of the piston is attached to a rod called a connecting rod (R)
that is attached to another rod called a crankshaft (C). The attachment points on the crankshaft are offset
from the center of the shaft so that the rods can apply a torque on it, thereby rotating it. All of these
components are contained within a block of metal called an engine block, and a metal compartment
attached to the bottom called the crankcase. This is also where the oil lies, which reduces friction in moving
parts. An engine can be made larger and more powerful by both having larger or by having multiple
cylinders and pistons. All pistons are still attached to a single crankshaft.

The Engine Cycle


This section details the four strokes that make up the process known as an engine cycle, which are the
main operating principles of an engine, and give rise to the term four-stroke.
1. The piston begins at its highest point for the first stroke, called the intake stroke. The piston moves
downward and the intake valve opens allowing the air-fuel mixture inside the cylinder. At the very
bottom of the stroke, the intake valve closes.
2. The second is the compression stroke. The piston moves back up to the top and the air-fuel mixture
is put under pressure.
3. The third is the power stroke. This is the step that produces the momentum for the other steps to
take place, and converts the chemical potential energy into its first form of kinetic energy. With the
air-fuel mixture under pressure, the spark or glow plug ignites the fuel and the resulting expansion,
due to the immense heat created, pushes the piston back down.
4. In the fourth and final step, the exhaust stroke, the exhaust valve opens and the piston moves back
up forcing the burned gases out of the cylinder. These gases are then funneled through a tubing
system away from the engine. This final step leaves the piston at the top of the cylinder, ready to
repeat the process.

Engine Cycle

This process is called an engine cycle. In applications with multiple cylinders this process happens
independently and not at the same time. This allows one cylinders power stroke to drive another
cylinder to cut down on energy lost due to friction. This single process is circular and repeats many
times, very quickly. It is usually measured in rotations of the crankshaft per minute or rpms. They can
be anywhere from 500 in a small lawnmower or up to 20,000 rpms in a Formula One racecar.

Starting an Engine
The process described above is self-supporting, but needs a way to manually complete the first few cycles
until the engine is operating under its own power. This is done with a device, called a starter that
manipulates the crankshaft and begins its rotating using outside forces. Small engines have a manual starter
where the user either pulls a rope attached to the starter or pushes downward on a lever. Larger engines
create too much pressure for a human to reliably be able to overcome to move the pistons, and therefore,
feature an electric starter that uses a battery to turn an electric motor attached to the crankshaft.

WHY ARE ENGINES IMPORTANT?


The engine cycle provides downward kinetic energy to the pistons and because of the offset attachment to
the crankshaft the pistons apply a rotational force on it, called torque. Torque is the desired product of all
engines. The crankshaft continues on beyond the side of the engine block exposing just a rotating crank, on
the end of the crank a flywheel is attached. A flywheel is a large, circular spinning mass that keeps rotational
momentum going, so that the engine does not lose speed between power strokes. The flywheel is where
various applications can be attached to preform specific tasks. For example a car or truck attaches a
transmission to turn wheels and propel itself forward. A lawnmower attaches a spinning blade to cut grass,
and a generator spins a piece of metal in a magnetic field to create electricity. Combustion engines can be
used in many different ways, but are fairly simple in their general principles as a machine for converting
chemical potential energy into rotational kinetic energy.

Multiple Authors. Fuel Injection Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia. May 2010. Web. 19 July 2016
Image Sources:
K&N Air Intakes. titantruck.com. Web. 19 July 2016
turbobygarrett.com. Web. 19 July 2016
briggsandstratton.com. Web. 19 July 2016
Fuel injection wikicars.org. Web. 19 July 2016
Reciprocating engine. wikipedia.org. Web. 19 July 2016

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