Learn about The Internal Combustion Engine

The Internal Combustion Engine.

The four-stroke (or four-cycle) engine relies on the combustion of a mixture of fuel and air to provide rotary motion to the crankshaft. In a motor car, this rotary motion is transferred from the crankshaft via the flywheel and gearbox to the shafts that drives the wheels. The oval-shaped lobes along the camshaft govern the extract timing of each valve's movement. A belt joins the pulley wheels of the camshaft and the crankshaft, and maintains the timing between them. Each piston goes through four cycles to turn the crankshaft.

In the first stage, the inlet valve opens. As the piston moves downwards, a mixture of fuel and air is drawn into the cylinder. As the piston nears the top of the cylinder, the compressed mixture is ignited by the spark plug. The combustion forces the piston back down. The exhaust valve opens, and as the piston rises again waste gases are forced out of the cylinder. The piston returns to the inlet stage, and the process begins again. In a four-cylinder engine, each of the pistons goes through this process at differing times to provide continuous motion.


Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services