gasoline engine

gasoline engine
Most widely used form of internal-combustion engine, found in most automobiles and many other vehicles.

Gasoline engines vary significantly in size, weight per unit of power generated, and arrangement of components. The principal type is the reciprocating-piston engine. In four-stroke engines, each cycle requires four strokes of the piston
intake, compression, power (expansion), and exhaust
and two revolutions of the crankshaft. In a two-stroke cycle, the compression and power strokes of the four-stroke cycle are carried out without the inlet and exhaust strokes, in one upstroke and one downstroke of the piston and one revolution of the crankshaft. The size, weight, and cost of the engine per horsepower are therefore less, and two-stroke-cycle engines are used in motorcycles and smaller machines (e.g., lawnmowers and power rakes). See also compression ratio, piston and cylinder, rotary engine.

* * *

Introduction
 any of a class of internal-combustion engines (internal-combustion engine) that generate power by burning a volatile liquid fuel (gasoline or a gasoline mixture such as ethanol) with ignition initiated by an electric spark. Gasoline engines can be built to meet the requirements of practically any conceivable power-plant application, the most important being passenger automobiles (automobile), small trucks (truck) and buses, general aviation aircraft, outboard and small inboard marine units, moderate-sized stationary pumping, lighting plants, machine tools, and power tools. Four-stroke gasoline engines power the vast majority of automobiles (automobile), light trucks (truck), medium-to-large motorcycles (motorcycle), and lawn mowers. Two-stroke gasoline engines are less common, but they are used for small outboard marine engines and in many handheld landscaping tools such as chain saws, hedge trimmers, and leaf blowers.

Engine types
      Gasoline engines can be grouped into a number of types depending on several criteria, including their application, method of fuel management, ignition, piston-and-cylinder or rotor arrangement, strokes per cycle, cooling system, and valve type and location. In this section they are described within the context of two basic engine types: piston-and-cylinder engines and rotary engines. In a piston-and-cylinder engine the pressure produced by combustion of gasoline creates a force on the head of a piston that moves the length of the cylinder in a reciprocating, or back-and-forth, motion. This force drives the piston away from the head of the cylinder and performs work. The rotary engine, also called the Wankel engine, does not have conventional cylinders fitted with reciprocating pistons. Instead, the gas pressure acts on the surfaces of a rotor, causing the rotor to turn and thus perform work.

Piston-and-cylinder (piston and cylinder) engines
 Most gasoline engines are of the reciprocating piston-and-cylinder type. The essential components of the piston-and-cylinder (piston and cylinder) engine are shown in the figure—>. Almost all engines of this type follow either the four-stroke cycle or the two-stroke cycle.

Four-stroke cycle
 Of the different techniques for recovering the power from the combustion process, the most important so far has been the four-stroke cycle, a conception first developed in the late 19th century. The four-stroke cycle is illustrated in the figure—>. With the inlet valve open, the piston first descends on the intake stroke. An ignitable mixture of gasoline vapour and air is drawn into the cylinder by the partial vacuum thus created. The mixture is compressed as the piston ascends on the compression stroke with both valves closed. As the end of the stroke is approached, the charge is ignited by an electric spark. The power stroke follows, with both valves still closed and the gas pressure, due to the expansion of the burned gas, pressing on the piston head or crown. During the exhaust stroke the ascending piston forces the spent products of combustion through the open exhaust valve. The cycle then repeats itself. Each cycle thus requires four strokes of the piston—intake, compression, power, and exhaust—and two revolutions of the crankshaft.

      A disadvantage of the four-stroke cycle is that only half as many power strokes are completed as in the two-stroke cycle (see below) and only half as much power can be expected from an engine of a given size at a given operating speed. The four-stroke cycle, however, provides more positive clearing out of exhaust gases (scavenging) and reloading of the cylinders, reducing the loss of fresh charge to the exhaust.

 In the original two-stroke cycle (as developed in 1878), the compression and power stroke of the four-stroke cycle are carried out without the inlet and exhaust strokes, thus requiring only one revolution of the crankshaft to complete the cycle. The fresh fuel mixture is forced into the cylinder through circumferential ports by a rotary blower (see figure—>) in the two-stroke-cycle engine of a so-called uniflow type. The exhaust gases pass through poppet valves in the cylinder head that are opened and closed by a cam-follower mechanism. The valves are timed to begin opening toward the end of the power stroke, after the cylinder pressure has dropped appreciably. The inlet ports in the cylinder wall start to uncover after the exhaust opening has decreased the cylinder pressure to the inlet pressure produced by the blower. The exhaust valves are allowed to remain open for a few degrees of crank rotation after the inlet ports have been covered by the rising piston on the compression stroke, thus allowing the persistency of flow to scavenge the cylinder more thoroughly. The compression and power strokes are similar to those of the four-stroke engine.

      A simplified version of the two-stroke-cycle engine was developed some years later (introduced in 1891) by using crankcase compression to pump the fresh charge into the cylinder. Instead of intake ports extending entirely around the lower cylinder wall, this engine has intake ports only halfway around; a second set of ports starts a little higher in the cylinder wall in the other half of the cylinder bore. These larger ports lead to the exhaust system. The inlet ports connect to a transfer passage leading to the fully enclosed crankcase. A spring-loaded inlet valve admits air into the crankcase on the upward, or compression, stroke of the piston. Air trapped in the crankcase is compressed by the descent of the piston on its power stroke. The piston thus uncovers the exhaust ports near the end of the power stroke, and slightly later it uncovers the inlet, or transfer, port on the opposite side of the cylinder to admit the compressed fresh mixture from the crankcase. The top face of the piston is designed to provide a deflector or baffle that directs the fresh load upward on the inlet side of the cylinder and then downward on the exhaust side, thus pushing the spent gases of the previous cycle out through the exhaust port on that side. This outflow continues after the inlet ports are covered by the rising piston on the compression stroke, until the exhaust ports are covered and compression of the fresh load begins. This loading process, called loop scavenging, is the simplest known method of replacing the exhaust products with a fresh mixture and creating a cycle with only compression and power strokes.

      Such a system is used in many small gasoline engines (e.g., small outboard motors) and for gasoline-powered appliances. A disadvantage is that the return flow of the gases causes a slight loss of fresh charge through the exhaust ports. Because of this loss, carburetor engines operating on the two-stroke cycle lack the fuel economy of four-stroke engines. The loss can be avoided by equipping them with fuel-injection systems (see below) instead of carburetors and injecting the fuel directly into the cylinders after scavenging. Such an arrangement is attractive as a means of attaining high power output from a relatively small engine, and development of the turbocharger (see below supercharger) for this application holds promise of further improvement.

Opposed-piston engines
 The opposed-piston engine also provides uniflow scavenging. This engine (see part A of the figure—>) has two pistons moving in opposite directions in the same cylinder. Two sets of ports extending entirely around the cylinder bore are located so that one set is covered and uncovered by one piston and the other set is controlled by the second piston. A second crankshaft, to which the upper pistons are attached, is located at the top of the engine, and the two shafts are connected by gears.

      The opposed-piston design has two major advantages: reciprocating masses move in opposite directions, providing excellent balance; and the poppet valves necessary in other uniflow-scavenged two-stroke-cycle engines are eliminated.

Rotary (rotary engine) (Wankel (Wankel engine)) engines
 The rotary-piston internal-combustion engine developed in Germany is radically different in structure from conventional reciprocating piston engines. This engine was conceived by Felix Wankel, a specialist in the design of sealing devices, and experimental units were built and tested by a German firm beginning in 1956. Instead of pistons that move up and down in cylinders, the Wankel engine has an equilateral triangular orbiting rotor (see part B of the figure—>). The rotor turns in a closed chamber, and the three apexes of the rotor maintain a continuous sliding contact with the curved inner surface of the casing. The curve-sided rotor forms three crescent-shaped chambers between its sides and the curved wall of the casing. The volumes of the chambers vary with rotor position. Maximum volume is attained in each chamber when the side of the rotor forming it is parallel with the minor diameter of the casing; the volume is reduced to a minimum when the rotor side is parallel with the major diameter. Shallow pockets recessed in the flank of the rotor control the shape of the combustion chambers and establish the compression ratio of the engine.

      In turning about its central axis, the rotor must follow a circular orbit about the geometric centre of the casing. The necessary orbiting rotation is attained by means of a central bore in the rotor in which an internal gear is fitted to mesh with a stationary pinion fixed immovably to the centre of the casing. The rotor is guided by fitting its central bore to an eccentric (eccentric-and-rod mechanism) formed on the output shaft that passes through the centre of the stationary pinion. This eccentric also harnesses the rotor to the shaft so that torque is applied when gas pressure is exerted against the rotor flanks as the fuel and air charges burn. A 3-to-1 gear ratio causes the output shaft to turn three times as fast as the rotor turns about the eccentric. Each quarter turn of the rotor completes an expansion or a compression, permitting intake, compression, expansion, and exhaust to be accomplished during one turn of the rotor. The only moving parts are the rotor and the output shaft.

      The fuel mixture is supplied by a carburetor and enters the combustion chambers through an intake port in one of the end plates of the casing. An exhaust port is formed in one of the flattened sides of the casing wall, and a spark plug is located in a pocket communicating with the chambers through a small throat in the opposite side of the casing wall.

      The rotor and its gears and bearings are lubricated and cooled by oil circulating through the hollow rotor. The apex vanes are lubricated by a small amount of oil added to the fuel in proportions as low as 1 to 200. Water is circulated through cooling jackets in the casing, the entrance to which is located adjacent to the spark plug, where the temperature tends to be highest.

      Maintaining pressure-tight joints by suitable seals at the apexes and on the end faces of the rotor is a major design problem. Radial sliding vanes are fitted in slots at the three apex edges and kept in contact with the casing by expander springs. The end faces of the rotor are sealed by arc-shaped segmental rings fitted in grooves close to the curved edges of the rotor and pressed against the casing by flat springs.

      The major advantages of the Wankel engine are its small space requirements and low weight per horsepower, smooth and vibrationless operation, quiet operation, and low manufacturing costs resulting from mechanical simplicity. The absence of inertial forces from reciprocating parts and the elimination of spring-closed poppet valves permit operation at much higher speed than is practical for reciprocating piston engines, an advantage because shaft speed must be high for optimum performance. The induction of fresh fuel mixture and exhaust are more effective because the ports are opened and closed more rapidly than with poppet valves, and gas flow through them is almost continuous. Heat transfer and the resulting cooling requirement are low because the jacketed surface is small. Lower weight and a lower centre of gravity make it much safer in an automobile in the event of a collision. However, competitive fuel economies and the higher development and manufacturing costs of meeting emission standards have limited the use of the Wankel engine in production vehicles, with only the Mazda Motor Corporation marketing any substantial number.

Engine construction and operation
 The overall structure of a gasoline engine depends almost entirely upon the intended application. Apart from the type of cycle (two- or four-stroke), the provision for mounting is the main structural difference among automotive, marine, stationary, and aviation engines. When a clutch and transmission are used, as in automobiles, the engine is commonly of the so-called unit-power-plant type with a bell-shaped housing surrounding the flywheel and attached to the rear flange of the cylinder block integral with, or attached to, the transmission gear case. The clutch is incorporated in the flywheel of the engine. Three-point suspension is used in such engines; that is to say, projections on each side of the bell housing fit into the vehicle side-frame members, and a central tubular extension at the centre of the front end of the cylinder block attaches to the front cross member of the frame. This construction permits some flexing of the vehicle frame without stressing the basic structure of the engine.

      The following description of general engine construction indicates the essential components of a piston-and-cylinder engine and introduces the nomenclature of the various parts. The four-stroke-cycle automobile engine is used as the basic type.

Cylinder block
      The main structural member of all automotive engines is a cylinder block that usually extends upward from the centre line of the main support for the crankshaft to the junction with the cylinder head. The block serves as the structural framework of the engine and carries the mounting pad by which the engine is supported in the chassis. Large, stationary power-plant engines and marine engines are built up from a foundation, or bedplate, and have upper and lower crankcases that are separate from the cylinder assemblies. The cylinder block of an automobile engine is a casting with appropriate machined surfaces and threaded holes for attaching the cylinder head, main bearings, oil pan, and other units. The crankcase is formed by the portion of the cylinder block below the cylinder bores and the stamped or cast metal oil pan that forms the lower enclosure of the engine and also serves as a lubricating oil reservoir, or sump.

      The cylinders are openings of circular cross section that extend through the upper portion of the block, with interior walls bored and polished to form smooth, accurate bearing surfaces. The cylinders of heavy-duty engines are usually fitted with removable liners made of metal that is more wear-resistant than that used in the block casting.

  There are two arrangements of cylinders in common automotive use—the vertical, or in-line, type (see part C of the figure—>) and the V type (see part D of the figure—>). The in-line engine has a single row of cylinders extending vertically upward from the crankcase and aligned with the crankshaft main bearings. The V type has two rows of cylinders, usually forming an angle of 60° or 90° between the two banks. V-8 engines (eight cylinders) are usually of the 90° type. Some small six-cylinder aviation engines have horizontally opposed cylinders (see above Opposed-piston engines (gasoline engine)).

      A passage bored lengthwise in the block houses the camshaft that operates the valves. The location of camshafts for most automotive applications is overhead—overhead cam (OHC) or dual overhead cam (DOHC). A gear, chain, or belt compartment for the camshaft drive from the crankshaft is formed between the front or rear end of the block and a cover plate. On virtually all modern engines, a toothed belt is used to ensure accurate and responsive control of the valve train. The bell housing is formed at the rear of the cylinder block to enclose the flywheel and provide for attachment of a transmission housing. Water jackets are formed around the cylinders with suitable cored connecting passages for circulation of the coolant.

      The design of the cylinder block is affected by the location of the valves of the four-stroke-cycle engine and by the provision of cylinder ports in the two-stroke type. An overhead-valve engine, which has largely replaced the L-head type, has its valves entirely in the cylinder head. The cylinder block of the L-head engine is extended to one side of the cylinder bores, with the valve seats and passages for inlet and exhaust, together with the valve guides, formed in this extension of the block. The cylinder head then becomes merely a water-jacketed cover, providing threaded locations for the spark plugs and with its underside so profiled that a combustion chamber of desired size and shape is formed above each cylinder bore. The shape of the space forming the combustion chamber when the piston is at its closest approach to the cylinder head and the volume contained therein in relation to the piston displacement volume are extremely important in their effect on performance. The cylinder head of the valve-in-head engine is narrower and deeper and carries the valve seats, valve guides, and valve ports.

Combustion chamber
      The combustion chamber is defined by the size, location, and position of the piston within the cylinder. Bore is the inner diameter of the cylinder. The volume at bottom dead centre (VBDC) is defined as the volume occupied between the cylinder head and the piston face when the piston is farthest from the cylinder head. The volume at top dead centre (VTDC) is the volume occupied when the piston is closest to the cylinder head; the distance between the piston face and cylinder head at VTDC is called the clearance. The distance traveled by the piston between its VTDC and VBDC locations is the stroke. The ratio of VTDC to VBDC normalized to the VTDC value—i.e., (VBDC/VTDC):1—is the compression ratio of a reciprocating engine. Compression ratio is the most important factor affecting the theoretical efficiency of the engine cycle. Because increasing the compression ratio is the best way to improve efficiency, compression ratios on automobile engines have tended to increase. This requires stronger, more-durable materials. In practice, fuel ignition characteristics, often represented by octane number, limit engine compression ratios.

Pistons
      The pistons are cup-shaped cylindrical castings of steel or aluminum alloy. The upper, closed end, called the crown, forms the lower surface of the combustion chamber and receives the force applied by the combustion gases. The outer surface is machined to fit the cylinder bore closely and is grooved to receive piston rings that seal the gap between the piston and the cylinder wall. In the upper piston grooves there are plain compression rings that prevent the combustion gases from blowing past the piston. The lower rings are vented to distribute and limit the amount of lubricant on the cylinder wall. Piston pin supports (bosses) are cast in opposite sides of the piston and hardened steel pins fitted into these bosses pass through the upper end of the connecting rod.

Connecting rod and crankshaft
      A forged-steel connecting rod connects the piston to a throw (offset portion) of the crankshaft and converts the reciprocating motion of the piston to the rotating motion of the crank. The lower, larger end of the rod is bored to take a precision bearing insert lined with babbitt (babbitt metal) or other bearing metal and closely fitted to the crankpin. V-type engines usually have opposite cylinders staggered sufficiently to permit the two connecting rods that operate on each crank throw to be side by side. Some larger engines employ fork-and-blade rods with the rods in the same plane and cylinders exactly opposite each other.

      Each connecting rod in an in-line engine or each pair of rods in a V-type engine is attached to a throw of the crankshaft. Each throw consists of a crankpin with a bearing surface, on which the connecting-rod bearing insert is fitted, and two radial cheeks that connect it to the portions of the crankshaft that turn in the main bearings, supported by the cylinder block. Sufficient throws are provided to serve all the cylinders, and the angles between them equal the angular firing intervals between the cylinders. The throws of a six-cylinder, four-stroke-cycle crankshaft are spaced 120° apart so that the six cylinders fire at equal intervals in two full rotations of the shaft. Those of an eight-cylinder engine are 90° apart. The position of each throw along the shaft depends upon the firing order of the cylinders. Firing sequence is chosen to distribute the power impulses along the length of the engine to minimize vibration. Consideration is also given to the fluid flow pattern in the intake and exhaust manifolds. The standard firing order for a six-cylinder engine is 1-5-3-6-2-4, which illustrates the practice of alternating successive impulses between the front and rear valves of the engine whenever possible. Balance is further improved by adding counterweights to the crankshaft to offset the eccentric masses of metal in the crank throws.

      The crankshaft design also establishes the length of the piston stroke because the radial offset of each throw is equal to half the stroke imparted to the piston. The ratio of the piston stroke to the cylinder bore diameter is an important design consideration. In the early years of engine development, no logical basis for the establishment of this ratio existed, and a range from unity to 11/2 was used by different manufacturers. As engine speeds increased, however, and it became apparent that friction horsepower increased with piston speed rather than with crankshaft rotating speed, there began a trend toward short-stroke engines. Strokes were shortened to as much as 20 percent less than the bores.

      From the requirement for the two-cylinder engine, a general rule for the layout of the throws of four-stroke-cycle multicylinder crankshafts can be expressed. Regardless of the number of cylinders, two pistons must arrive at top dead centre in unison so that a second cylinder is ready to fire exactly 360° after each cylinder fires. Half the cylinders will then fire during each turn of the crankshaft. To follow this rule, there must be an even number of cylinders in order that there may be pairs of cylinders whose pistons move in unison.

      An eight-cylinder engine fires each time its crankshaft makes a quarter turn if the intervals between impulses are equal. The crankshaft for an eight-cylinder, in-line engine is designed with each of its eight throws a quarter turn away from another throw.

      For best lengthwise balance, the cylinders whose pistons are in phase are the first and last cylinders of an in-line engine, the second and next to the last, continuing in that order with crank throws that are in alignment equidistant from the centre of the engine.

Valves (valve), pushrods, and rocker arms
      Valves for controlling intake and exhaust may be located overhead, on one side, on one side and overhead, or on opposite sides of the cylinder. These are all the so-called poppet, or mushroom, valves, consisting of a stem with one end enlarged to form a head that permits flow through a passage surrounding the stem when raised from its seat and that prevents flow when the head is moved down to contact the valve seat formed in the cylinder block. Another group of engines uses sliding valves that are usually of the sleeve type surrounding the cylinder bore.

      The valve-in-head engine has pushrods that extend upward from the cam followers to rocker arms mounted on the cylinder head that contact the valve stems and transmit the motion produced by the cam profile to the valves. Clearance (usually termed tappet clearance) must be maintained between the ends of the valve stems and the lifter mechanism to assure proper closing of the valves when the engine temperature changes. This is done by providing pushrod length adjustment or by the use of hydraulic lifters.

      Noisy and erratic valve operation can be eliminated with entirely mechanical valve-lifter linkage only if the tappet clearance between the rocker arms and the valve stems is closely maintained at the specified value for the engine as measured with a thickness gauge. Hydraulic valve lifters, now commonly used on automobile engines, eliminate the need for periodic adjustment of clearance.

      The hydraulic lifter comprises a cam follower that is moved up and down by contact with the cam profile, and an inner bore into which the valve lifter is closely fitted and retained by a spring clip. The valve lifter, in turn, is a cup closed at the top by a freely moving cylindrical plug that has a socket at the top to fit the lower end of the pushrod. This plug is pushed upward by a light spring that is merely capable of taking up the clearance between the valve stem and the rocker arm. A small hole is drilled in the bottom of the valve-lifter cup to admit lubricating oil that enters the cam follower from the engine lubricating system through a passage in the cylinder block. A small steel ball serves as a check valve to admit the oil into the valve-lifter cup but prevent its escape. When the clearance in the entire linkage between the cam profile and the valve stem is being taken up by the spring in the valve lifter, oil flows into the lifter chamber, past the ball check, and is trapped there to maintain this no-clearance condition as the engine operates. Expansion or contraction of the valve linkage is compensated by oil seepage from the lifter to correct for expansion of parts and oil flow into the chamber if clearance tends to be produced between the pushrod and the lifter. Complete closure of the valve is then assured at all times without tappet noise.

      The intake valve must be open while the piston is descending on the intake stroke of the piston, and the exhaust valve must be open while the piston is rising on the exhaust stroke. It would seem, therefore, that the opening and closing of the two valves would occur at the appropriate top and bottom dead-centre points of the crankshaft. The time required for the valves to open and close, however, and the effects of high speed on the starting and stopping of the flow of the gases require that for optimum performance the opening events occur before the crankshaft dead-centre positions and that the closing events be delayed until after dead centre.

      All four valve events—inlet opening, inlet closing, exhaust opening, and exhaust closing—are accordingly displaced appreciably from the top and bottom dead centres. Opening events are earlier and closing events are later to permit ramps to be incorporated in the cam profiles to allow gradual initial opening and final closing to avoid slamming of the valves. Ramps are provided to start the lift gradually and to slow down the valve before it contacts its seat. Early opening and late closure are also for the purpose of using the inertia or persistence of flow of the gases to assist in filling and emptying the cylinder.

      The camshaft, which opens and closes the valves, is driven from the crankshaft by a chain drive or gears on the front end of the engine. Because one turn of the camshaft completes the valve operation for an entire cycle of the engine and the four-stroke-cycle engine makes two crankshaft revolutions to complete one cycle, the camshaft turns half as fast as the crankshaft. It is located above and to one side of the crankshaft, which places it directly under the valves of the L-head engine or the pushrods that extend down from the rocker arms of the valve-in-head engine. Because of the long pushrods and the rocker arms, the speed of the valve-in-head engine is limited to that at which the cam followers can remain in contact with the cams when the valves are closing. Above that limiting speed the valves are said to float, and their motion tends to become erratic. For this reason, the overhead-camshaft engine is quite popular. Located immediately above the valves, this type of camshaft is driven either by a vertical shaft and bevel gears or by a cog belt.

      The cycle of the internal-combustion engine is such that torque (turning force) is applied only intermittently as each cylinder fires. Between these power impulses, the pistons rising on compression and the opposition to rotation caused by the load carried by the engine apply negative torque. The alternating acceleration caused by the power impulse and deceleration caused by compression result in nonuniform rotation. To counter this tendency to slow down and speed up is the function of the flywheel, attached to one end of the crankshaft. The flywheel consists of a heavy circular cast-iron disk with a hub for attachment to the engine. Its heavy rotating mass has sufficient momentum to oppose all changes in its rotational speed and to force the crankshaft to turn steadily at this speed. The engine thus runs smoothly with no evidence of rotational pulsations. The outer rim of the flywheel usually carries gear teeth so as to mesh with the starter motor. The driving component of a clutch or fluid coupling for the transmission may be incorporated in the flywheel.

Bearings (bearing)
      The crankshaft has bearing surfaces on each crank throw and three or more main bearings. These are heavily loaded because of the reciprocating forces at each cylinder applied to the crankshaft and the weight of the crankshaft and flywheel. All but the smallest engines use split-shell bearings, usually made of bronze with babbitt metal linings. The surface material is sufficiently soft to minimize the possibility of scoring the crankshaft in the event of inadequate lubrication. The smallest engines usually have cast-babbitt bearings. A small amount of bearing clearance is necessary to permit an oil film to separate the surfaces.

Ignition
Ignition systems
      Electric ignition systems (ignition system) may be classified as magneto, battery-and-coil, and solid-state ignition systems. Although these are similar in basic principle, the magneto is self-contained and requires only the spark plugs and connecting wires to complete the system, whereas the battery-and-coil (battery) and solid-state ignition systems involve several separate components.

      A magneto is a fixed-magnet, alternating-current generator designed to produce sufficient voltage to fire the spark plugs. A high-tension magneto is entirely self-contained and requires only spark plugs, wires, and switches to meet ignition requirements.

      The battery-and-coil system consists of a battery, one terminal of which is grounded while the other leads through a switch to the primary winding of the coil, and then to a circuit breaker where it is again grounded. Rotation of the circuit-breaker cam opens and closes the primary circuit. The secondary circuit, consisting of several thousand turns of fine wire, leads to the rotor of the distributor, which acts as a rotary switch, selecting the spark plug to be placed in the circuit. Each plug is connected to one of the outer terminals of the distributor to receive an electrical impulse in proper sequence. When the primary circuit is broken, a high potential (up to 20,000 volts) is developed in the secondary winding and conducted to the appropriate spark plug.

      The high voltage for the spark plug may also be produced by a capacitor discharge ignition system. Such a system consists of a source of 250 to 300 volts direct-current power applied to a storage capacitor, a device for storing an electric charge. A lead from the capacitor goes to one side of the spark coil primary through cam-actuated breaker points or an electronic switching device. At the instant this switching device establishes a contact, the capacitor discharges through the primary of the spark coil, and an instantaneous high voltage is delivered to the distributor and thence to the spark plug. The capacitor discharge system provides a more intense spark, thus improving the start-up of a cold or flooded engine. It continues to fire the plugs when they are fouled by carbon or other deposits or when the spark gap has widened because of erosion of the points. Other notable advantages include increased spark plug life, improved firing over a wider speed range, and better moisture tolerance.

      Solid-state ignition systems, unlike battery-and-coil systems that use a distributor, use an electronic module to collect information from engine sensors, compute engine operating parameters, and control ignition discharge to a separate coil for each spark plug. The electronic control module activates a transistor to break the ground circuit leading to each plug's coil, thereby causing a spark. In addition to eliminating the high-voltage spark plug wires, electronics allow for more precise control of ignition timing, which improves fuel efficiency, reduces emissions, and increases power.

Spark plugs (spark plug)
      The spark plug is an important component of the ignition system and is the one that must operate under the most severe conditions. Because it is exposed to combustion chamber temperatures and pressures and contaminating products of combustion, it requires more service attention and is usually the shortest-lived component of the gasoline engine. It consists of a steel shell threaded to fit a standard 14-mm hole in the cylinder head. Spark plugs may use a gasket or a tapered seat to ensure a gastight fit between cylinder head and plug. A fused ceramic insulating element is molded into the plug body, and the steel centre electrode passes through the insulator up to the connector to which the high-voltage lead from the distributor is attached. The other electrode is welded to the metal body of the plug, which is grounded to the cylinder head. Electrodes are found in a number of configurations and are made of a variety of alloys.

      In application it is essential that the spark gap be as specified for the particular engine. Gauges are available to aid in making this adjustment by bending the ground electrode as required. Manufacturers specify gaps ranging from 0.508 to 1.016 mm between the centre electrode and the ground electrode. If the plug gap is too large, the possibility of misfiring increases. If the gap is too small, the spark will not be sufficiently intense. Gap growth from erosion of the electrodes may be corrected. Modern spark plugs often incorporate a resistor to minimize radio frequency emissions that could interfere with sensitive electronics.

 The gasoline carburetor is a device that introduces fuel into the airstream as it flows into the engine. Gasoline is maintained in the float chamber by the float-actuated valve at a level slightly below the outlet of the jet. Air flows downward through the throat, past the throttle valve, and into the intake manifold. A throat is formed by the reduced diameter, and acceleration of the air through this smaller passage causes a decrease in pressure proportional to the amount of air flowing. This decrease in throat pressure results in fuel flow from the jet into the airstream. Any increase in airflow caused by change in engine speed or throttle position increases the pressure differential acting on the fuel and causes more fuel to flow.

      The volume ratio of fuel to air established by the throat and fuel-jet sizes will be maintained with increased flow, but the weight ratio of fuel to air increases because the air expands to a lower density as the throat pressure decreases. This enriching tendency necessitates the inclusion of a compensating device in a practical carburetor. Carburetor design is further complicated by the need for an enriching device to provide a maximum-power ratio at full throttle, a choke to facilitate starting a cold engine, an idling system to provide the special needs of light-load operation, and an accelerating device to supply additional fuel while the throttle is being opened.

      Most modern automobile engines use an electronic fuel-injection system in the intake manifold of the engine instead of a carburetor. The fuel-injection system is a closed-loop feedback system controlled by an engine management system that consists of sensors, an electric fuel pump, fuel injectors, fuel tubing, and valving. The engine management system controls both the ignition firing and the fuel management. In some designs the engine management system also controls the transmission. Sensors monitor the engine's operation and environmental conditions and transmit the data to the engine management system to determine how much fuel should be pumped to the fuel injectors for delivery to the engine. Typical sensors include the following: mass airflow, exhaust oxygen, engine revolutions per minute, manifold absolute pressure, barometric pressure, coolant temperature, throttle position, knock, vehicle speed, air-conditioning load, power steering load, crankshaft position, and camshaft position.

      The principal advantages of gasoline injection over carburetors are improved fuel economy as a result of more-accurate fuel and air proportioning, greater power because of the elimination of fuel heating, elimination of inlet icing, and more-uniform and direct delivery of fuel load to the cylinders. Since fuel injection does not rely on an intake manifold vacuum to deliver fuel, electronic fuel injection is used with turbocharged engines.

      The efficiency of the charging process in an automotive engine usually rises to a peak of slightly more than 80 percent at about half the rated speed of the engine and then decreases considerably at higher speed. This change in air charge per cycle with engine speed is reflected in proportionate changes in the torque, or turning effort, applied to the crankshaft and causes the power that the engine can deliver at full throttle to reach a maximum as engine speed increases. At speeds above this peaking speed, the air charge introduced per cycle falls off so rapidly that less power is developed than at lower speeds. The inability of the engine to draw in a full charge of fresh air at high speeds limits the power output of the engine.

      Supercharging overcomes this disadvantage by using a pump or blower to raise the pressure of the air supplied to the cylinders and increase the weight of charge. The loss in power suffered by unsupercharged engines at high altitudes (e.g., flying or driving over mountains) can be largely restored. It is also possible to more than double the power of an engine by supercharging; however, increased charge density and temperature, resulting from supercharging, increase the tendency for combustion knock or roughness in the spark-ignition engine and thus necessitate an undesirable decrease in compression ratio or the use of an antiknock fuel.

      The supercharging blower may be geared to the crankshaft, in which case the power consumed in driving it is added to the friction loss of the engine. A turbocharger employs a gas turbine operated by the exhaust gases to drive a centrifugal blower. The turbocharged engine not only gains increased power capacity but also operates at improved fuel economy. Historically, large airplane reciprocating gasoline engines were usually supercharged both by geared blowers and by turbochargers to provide the large pumping capacity needed at high altitude; however, these engines have generally been replaced by turboprop engines. High-performance general aviation aircraft typically use turbocharged engines.

      Since compressing air prior to introducing it into the cylinder increases the charge-air temperature, the mass of air that can be introduced into the engine is less than that which would be possible if the compressed air were at ambient temperature. Consequently, engine charge-air coolers, commonly referred to as either intercoolers or aftercoolers, are used to reduce the temperature of the charge air. Both air-to-coolant and air-to-air type coolers are available.

 The cylinders of internal-combustion engines require cooling because of the inability of the engine to convert all of the energy released by combustion into useful work. Liquid cooling is employed in most gasoline engines, whether the engines are for use in automobiles or elsewhere. The liquid is circulated around the cylinders to pick up heat and then through a radiator to dissipate the heat. Usually a thermostat is located in the circulating system to maintain the designed jacket temperature—approximately 88 °C (190 °F). The cooling system is usually pressurized to raise the boiling point of the coolant so that a higher outlet temperature can be maintained to improve thermal efficiency and increase the heat-transfer capacity of the radiator. A pressure cap on the radiator maintains this pressure by valves that open outwardly at the designed pressure and inwardly to prevent a vacuum as the system cools.

      Some engines, particularly aviation engines and small units for mowers, chain saws, and other tools, are air-cooled. Air cooling is accomplished by forming thin metal fins on the exterior surfaces of the cylinders to increase the rate of heat transfer by exposing more metal surface to the cooling air. Air is forced to flow rapidly through the spaces between the fins by ducting air toward the engine.

lubrication system
 Lubrication is employed to reduce friction by interposing a film between rubbing parts. The lubrication system must continuously replace the film.

      The lubricants commonly employed are refined from crude oil after the fuels have been removed. Their viscosities must be appropriate for each engine, and the oil must be suitable for the severity of the operating conditions. Oils are improved with additives that reduce oxidation, inhibit corrosion, and act as detergents to disperse deposit-forming gums and solid contaminants. Motor oils also include an antifoaming agent. Various systems of numbers are used to designate oil viscosity; the lower the number, the lighter the body of the oil. Viscosity must be chosen to match the flow rate of oil through a part to the designed cooling requirements of the part. If the oil is too thick it will not flow through the part fast enough to properly dissipate heat. Certain oils contain additives that oppose their change in viscosity between winter and summer.

      Oil filters, if regularly serviced, can remove solid contaminants from crankcase oil, but chemical reactions may form liquids that are corrosive and damaging. Depletion of the additives also limits the useful life of lubricating oils.

      The lubrication system is fed by the oil sump that forms the lower enclosure of the engine. Oil is taken from the sump by a pump, usually of the gear type, and is passed through a filter and delivered under pressure to a system of passages or channels drilled through the engine. Virtually all modern engines use full-flow type oil filters. Filtered oil is supplied under pressure to crankshaft and camshaft main bearings. Adjacent crank throws are drilled to enable the oil to flow from the supply at the main bearings to the crankpins. Leaking oil from all of the crankshaft bearings is sprayed on the cylinder walls, cams, and up into the pistons to lubricate the piston pins. Additional passages intersect the cam-follower openings and supply oil to hydraulic valve lifters when used. A spring-loaded pressure-relief valve maintains the pressure at the proper level. Oil is important for both lubrication and cooling.

Exhaust system
      Combustion products exit the engine cylinder through the exhaust valves in the cylinder head. Engines may be configured with either an exhaust manifold or an exhaust header. The exhaust manifold is a common chamber to which all the cylinders directly feed combustion products. The advantages of this method are manufacturing and positioning simplicity. The disadvantage is irregular backpressure at the exhaust ports of the cylinders. Headers are composed of a group of tubes, all of common length, connected on one end to each cylinder exhaust-valve location and on the other end to a common exit throat.

      The exhaust gases in modern automotive engines next pass through an emission-control device. Emission-control sensors and catalytic converters for reducing air pollution are additional exhaust-system components. Typically, exhaust gases enter a catalytic converter to reduce nitric oxide emissions. The next chamber reduces unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide exhaust emissions.

      The reactor system for controlling emissions is often composed of a belt-driven air compressor connected to small nozzles installed in the exhaust manifold facing the outlet from each exhaust valve. A small jet of air is thus directed toward the red-hot outflowing combustion products to provide oxygen to consume the hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. Sensors monitor exhaust-gas parameters (e.g., temperature and oxygen content) and, in electronic fuel-injection systems, provide information to the control unit to assist in reducing pollutant emissions.

      Exhaust gases from an internal-combustion engine are passed through a muffler to suppress audible vibrations. When the exhaust valve opens, the pressure in the engine causes an initial gas outflow at explosive velocity. Successive discharges from the cylinders set up pressure pulsations that produce a sharp barking sound. The muffler damps out or absorbs these pulsations so that the gases leave the outlet as a relatively smooth, quiet stream.

      Mufflers of early design contained sets of baffles that reversed the flow of the gases or otherwise caused them to follow devious paths so that interference between the pressure waves reduced the pulsations. The mufflers most commonly used in modern motor vehicles employ resonating chambers connected to the passages through which the gases flow. Gas vibrations are set up in each of these chambers at the fundamental frequency determined by its dimensions. These vibrations cancel or absorb those present in the exhaust stream of about the same frequency. Several such chambers, each tuned to one of the predominant frequencies present in the exhaust stream, effectively reduce noise.

Fuel
       gasoline was originally considered dangerous and was discarded and destroyed at early refineries, which were manufacturing kerosene for lamps. As the gasoline engine developed, gasoline and the engine were harmonized to attain the best possible matching of characteristics. The most important properties of gasoline are its volatility and antiknock quality. Volatility is a measure of the ease of vaporization of gasoline, which is adjusted in the production process to account for seasonal and altitude variations in the local market. Properly formulated gasoline helps engines to start in cold weather and to avoid vapour lock in hot weather.

      To suit the needs of a modern engine, a gasoline must have the volatility for which the fuel system of the engine was designed and an antiknock quality sufficient to avoid knock under normal operation. Although other specifications must also be met, volatility and knock (knocking) rating are the most important. The size and structural arrangement of the molecules principally determine the knocking tendency of a gasoline as well as its volatility.

       tetraethyl lead, added to gasolines for many years to improve antiknock fueling, has been found to contaminate the exhaust gases with poisonous lead oxides, and so the practice has ended. Lower compression ratios and improved combustion-chamber designs have eliminated the need for extremely high-antiknock gasolines.

      Lubricating oil is added to gasoline used in crankcase-compression two-stroke-cycle engines.

Performance
      The performance of an engine is expressed in terms of power, speed, and fuel economy. The three quantities are evaluated with a dynamometer, a laboratory device that applies a controllable load in the form of resistance to the turning of the crankshaft and also measures the torque exerted at the shaft coupling. The resistance imposed by a dynamometer may be adjusted so that the desired engine speed is established at any throttle position. It is thus possible to run the engine at various speeds throughout its operating range, to continuously maintain these operating conditions, and to measure the precise load and speed at which each run is made. Additional test equipment permits measurement of the exact quantity of fuel consumed, as well as the duration of the runs. From these data the power-speed-economy relationships can be calculated and performance plotted.

      The power produced by an engine is expressed in horsepower. When the power developed is measured by means of a dynamometer or similar braking device, it is called brake horsepower. This is the power actually delivered by the engine and is therefore the capacity of the engine. The power developed in the combustion chambers of the engine is greater than the delivered power because of friction and other mechanical losses. This power loss, called the friction horsepower, can be evaluated by “motoring” the engine (driving it in a forward direction) with a suitable dynamometer when no fuel is being burned. The power developed in the cylinder can then be found by adding the friction horsepower to the brake horsepower. This quantity is the indicated horsepower of the engine, so called from an instrument known as the engine indicator, which is used to measure the pressure on the piston and thus calculate the power developed in the cylinder.

      Mechanical efficiency is defined as brake horsepower in percent of indicated horsepower and is usually between 70 and 90 percent for normal operating speeds.

      A quantity called brake mean effective pressure is obtained by multiplying the mean effective pressure of an engine by its mechanical efficiency. This is a commonly used index expressing the ability of the engine, per unit of cylinder bore, to develop both useful pressure in the cylinders and delivery power. If the power delivered is increased by any change other than an increase in speed or cylinder dimensions, its brake mean effective pressure increases proportionately.

Comparison with other engines
      When the gasoline engine is compared with other types of internal-combustion engines, certain similarities and differences, as well as some advantages and disadvantages, become apparent. The diesel engine and the gas engine (an engine utilizing a gas such as compressed natural gas or propane as the fuel) have a good deal in common with the gasoline engine, since they are all cylinder-and-piston engines that burn air-fuel mixtures in contact with moving components. The important difference that distinguishes the diesel engine is that it has no spark-ignition system. Compared with a gasoline engine of the same horsepower, the diesel engine is heavier and more expensive, but it has a longer life and operates at less cost per horsepower-hour because it burns less fuel.

      The gas engine has much in common with the gasoline engine; in fact, in some instances their differences are very slight at best. Structurally, the difference lies primarily in the substitution of a gas-mixing valve for a carburetor. The cylinder and piston configurations are the same. In general, gases have better antiknock qualities than gasoline, permitting slightly higher compression ratios without knock or other combustion difficulties.

      From the standpoint of application, the gas engine burning natural gas, manufactured gas, or industrial by-product gas is limited primarily to stationary power plant use because it must remain connected to the gas pipeline. If, however, the fuel is liquefied petroleum gas, sometimes called bottled gas, the containers of gas can be carried in a vehicle, leading to much flexibility in applications. The present obstacle is that facilities are not readily available for replenishing the gas supply.

Development of gasoline engines
      While attempts to devise heat engines were made in ancient times, the steam engine of the 18th century was the first successful type. The internal-combustion engine, which followed in the 19th century as an improvement over the steam engine for many applications, cannot be attributed to any single inventor. The piston, thought to date as far back as 150 BC, was used by metalworkers in pumps for blowing air. The piston-and-cylinder (piston and cylinder) system was basic to the steam engine, which brought the component to a high state of efficiency. The steam engine, however, suffered from low thermal efficiency, great weight and bulk, and inconvenience of operation, all of which were primarily traceable to the necessity of burning the fuel in a furnace separate from the engine. It became evident that a self-contained power unit was desirable.

      As early as the 17th century, several experimenters first tried to use hot gaseous products to operate pumps. By 1820 an engine was built in England in which hydrogen-air mixtures were exploded in a chamber. The chamber was then cooled to create a vacuum acting on a piston. The sale of such gas engines began in 1823. They were heavy and crude but contained many essential elements of later, more-successful devices. In 1824 the French engineer Sadi Carnot (Carnot, Sadi) published his now classic pamphlet “Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat,” which outlined fundamental internal-combustion theory. Over the next several decades inventors and engineers built engines that used pressure produced by the combustion of fuels rather than a vacuum and engines in which the fuel was compressed before burning. None of them succeeded in developing an operational system, however. Finally, in 1860 Étienne Lenoir (Lenoir, Étienne) of France marketed an engine that operated on illuminating gas and provided reasonably satisfactory service. The Lenoir engine was essentially a converted double-acting steam engine with slide valves for admitting gas and air and for discharging exhaust products. Although the Lenoir engine developed little power and utilized only about 4 percent of the energy in the fuel, hundreds of these devices were in use in France and Britain within five years. They were used for powering water pumps and printing presses and for completing certain other tasks that required only limited power output.

      A major theoretical advance occurred with the publication in 1862 of a description of the ideal operating cycle of an internal-combustion engine. The author, the French engineer Alphonse Beau de Rochas (Beau de Rochas, Alphonse), laid down the following conditions as necessary for optimum efficiency (mechanical efficiency): maximum cylinder volume with minimum cooling surface, maximum rapidity of expansion, maximum ratio of expansion, and maximum pressure of the ignited charge. He described the required sequence of operations as (1) suction during an entire outstroke of the piston, (2) compression during the following instroke, (3) ignition of the charge at dead centre and expansion during the next outstroke (the power stroke), and (4) expulsion of the burned gases during the next instroke. The engine Beau de Rochas described thus had a four-stroke cycle, in contrast to the two-stroke cycle (intake-ignition and power-exhaust) of the Lenoir engine. Beau de Rochas never built his engine, and no four-stroke engine appeared for more than a decade. Finally, in 1876, the German engineer Nikolaus A. Otto (Otto, Nikolaus August) built an internal-combustion unit based on Beau de Rochas's principle. (Otto's firm, Otto and Langen, had produced and marketed an improved two-stroke engine several years earlier.) The four-stroke Otto engine was an immediate success. In spite of its great weight and poor economy, nearly 50,000 engines with a combined capacity of about 200,000 horsepower were sold in 17 years, followed by the rapid development of a wide variety of engines of the same type. Manufacture of the Otto engine in the United States began in 1878, following the grant to Otto of a U.S. patent in 1877.

      Eight years later Gottlieb Daimler (Daimler, Gottlieb) and Wilhelm Maybach (Maybach, Wilhelm), former associates of Otto, developed the first successful high-speed four-stroke engine and invented a carburetor that made it possible to use gasoline for fuel. They employed their engine to power a bicycle (perhaps the world's first motorcycle) and later a four-wheeled carriage. At about the same time, another German mechanical engineer, Karl Benz (Benz, Karl), built a one-cylinder gasoline engine to power what is often considered the first practical automobile. The engines built by Daimler, Maybach, and Benz were fundamentally the same as today's basic gasoline engine. For information about subsequent enhancements and advances, see automobile.

Orville C. Cromer Charles Lafayette Proctor II

Additional Reading
Information on gasoline engines is provided by Kevin L. Hoag, Vehicular Engine Design (2005); C.H. Wendel, American Gasoline Engines Since 1872 (1983, reissued 1999); Mark Meincke, The Complete Guide to Stationary Gas Engines (1996); John Fleming, Complete Guide to Gasoline Marine Engines, ed. by John P. O'Connor (2000); William A. Schuster, Small Engine Technology, 2nd ed. (1999); Benjamin Sheaffer, Gordon P. Blair, and George G. Lassanske (eds.), Two-Stroke Engines: Technology and Emissions, vol. 69 (1998), in the series Progress in Technology; and Arun S. Solomon et al., Direct Fuel Injection for Gasoline Engines, vol. 80 (1999), in the series Progress in Technology.Charles Lafayette Proctor II

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gasoline engine — Gas o*line en gine, or Gasolene engine Gas o*lene en gine . (Mach.) A kind of internal combustion engine; in British countries called usually {petrol engine}. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • gasoline engine — noun an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline; most automobiles are driven by gasoline engines • Syn: ↑petrol engine • Hypernyms: ↑internal combustion engine, ↑ICE • Hyponyms: ↑put put • …   Useful english dictionary

  • gasoline engine — internal combustion engine which runs on gasoline …   English contemporary dictionary

  • Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company — The Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company was the first company to manufacture and sell gasoline powered farm tractors. Based in Waterloo, Iowa, the company was created by John Froelich and a group of Iowa businessmen in 1893, and was origninally… …   Wikipedia

  • Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company — Rechtsform Sitz Vorlage:Infobox Unternehmen/Wartung/Pflichtparameter fehlt …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Engine braking — is where the retarding forces within an engine are used to slow a vehicle down, as opposed to using an external braking mechanism, for example friction brakes or magnetic brakes. The term is often confused with several other types of braking,… …   Wikipedia

  • gasoline motor — gasoline engine or gasoline motor, U.S. an internal combustion engine using gasoline for fuel …   Useful english dictionary

  • Gasoline — This article is about the fuel and industrial solvent. For other uses, see Gasoline (disambiguation). Petrol redirects here. For other uses, see Petrol (disambiguation). For the bird group, see petrel. A jar containing gasoline …   Wikipedia

  • Engine knocking — Pinging redirects here. For other uses, see Ping (disambiguation). Knocking (also called knock, detonation, spark knock, pinging or pinking) in spark ignition internal combustion engines occurs when combustion of the air/fuel mixture in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Engine — This article is about a machine to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. For other uses of engine, see Engine (disambiguation). For other uses of motor, see Motor (disambiguation). A V6 internal combustion engine from a Mercedes car An… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”