How does a car engine work?

Posted Date: 27-Jun-2012	Category: How things work
Author: Soujanya	Member Level: Gold	Points: 25

In this article I am going to share few information related to working principle of a car engine. The combustion cycle on which the engine works, other parts like spark plug, radiator, camshaft etc are explained. Hope this article helps you.

The engine is considered as the heart of the car. The working principle of a car engine is depended on a cycle known as Otto cycle which was invented by Nikolous Otto in 1867. The cycle is also called as four stroke cycle. Generally a car engine works on the four stroke combustion cycle only. Here you can find the working principle of four stroke combustion cycle.

Important parts of an engine :

1. Piston: A metal piece which moves up and down inside the cylinder.
2. Piston rings: The piston rings act as lock between the outer end of the piston and inner edge of the cylinder. They help in not to leak the fuel mixture into the oil sump.
3. Spark plug: The spark plug ignites the air mixture for combustion process.
4. Intake valve & Exhaust valve: These valves will allow the air and fuel to flow into the chamber and flow out of the chamber.
5. Crankshaft: Helps the piston to move up and down in the chamber.
6. Connecting rod: It is the connection between the crankshaft and piston.

Working of four stroke engine:

The four strokes involved in the four stroke cycle are: 1. Intake stroke. 2. Compression stroke. 3. Combustion stroke. 4. Exhaust stroke.

Intake stroke: Here the piston remains on top. When the intake valve is opened piston moves down. Air combined with gasoline (very small amount) is injected. Here the exhaust valve remains closed.

Compression stroke: The piston moves upwards and compresses the air. Hence the air gets pressurized. Here the inlet and exhaust valves remains closed.

Combustion stroke: when the piston moves up in the compression stroke, the spark plug will be ignited. The gasoline present in the air bursts and lets the piston to move downwards. Here the inlet and exhaust valves remains closed.

Exhaust stroke : When the piston moves down the exhaust valve is opened and all the air flows out. Here the inlet valve will be closed.
The cycle continues over and over.

Cam Shaft:

The system of pushing inlet and exhaust valves is called camshaft. As the crankshaft rotates the cams push against to open and close. The cams in the camshaft play the important role. When the cam shaft rotates, the cams open and close the valves. These run through the pistons connected to them. The cams are connected to the rod which will be revolving. The valve lifters are connected to the cam. The valve lifters open and close the valves as the rod revolving. A gear system is connected to camshaft and crankshaft, so that the camshaft will be rotated one half rate of crankshaft. The modern engines use 4 valves per cylinder. So that 2 valves work for intake stroke and 2 work for exhaust.

Other important systems:

Spark plug ignition system:
Distributor plays the main role in producing the spark in the system. The high voltage electrical charge will flow to the distributor through wires and here the power flows to the specific cylinder at a time. There will be four or six or eight cylinders. So the spark will be distributed depending on the number of cylinders.

Radiator:
A radiator helps in cooling the engine. The water travels from the radiator around the cylinders and cools the engine. Most of the cars are turbo charged. Here the air will be filtered and pressured to the cylinders.

Carburetor:
Here the gas and air are mixed which flows into the cylinders.

Lubrication:
This system pumps oil to the parts like cylinders and gears to run smoothly.

Conclusion:

When we start the car a starter motor is switched on and from there the combustion cycle starts and hence the car starts. Here is the main working principle of a car engine. There are many other related parts to the engine too.

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