Two-stroke

engines What is the difference between a 4-stroke engine and a 2-stroke engine? Subsequent to my last post, this is what a friend asked me, so Ive decided to write about engines for a few posts. Lets first look briefly at how a 4-stroke engine works (see diagram below for reference):

Source: http://www.phschool.com/obi/newimages/four_stroke_engine_cycle.gif Stroke 1: The piston (which slides up and down in a lubricated cylinder) is drawn down by the connecting rod, which is driven by the crankshaft: a rather complicated shaft which is connected to a number of pistons (via connecting rods), and to a heavy wheel located at one end of the entire shaft, called a flywheel (which helps to smooth the revolutions of the engine, and to keep the piston moving by means of inertia when there is no power-stroke).

Source: http://www.motorera.com/dictionary/pics/c/crankshaft.gif This is called the induction or intake stroke. A valve (called the intake valve) opens and the piston sucks either a mixture of fuel and air (in a petrol engine), or pure air (in a diesel engine) into the cylinder. This is called the charge. Stroke 2: The intake valve closes, and the piston is pushed up by the connecting rod-crankshaft-flywheel combination. In so doing the piston compresses the charge. Stroke 3: This is the power stroke. In a petrol engine, the fuel-air mixture is ignited by means of a spark (which is produced by the spark-plug), whilst in a diesel engine, a metered amount of diesel-fuel is sprayed into the top of the cylinder where it ignites because the compressed air in there is very hot. (In case you were wondering, in a petrol engine, the fuel-air mixture does not spontaneously ignite because the amount of compression is not as high as in a diesel engine). Stroke 4: Now, the piston moves back up, and another valve, the exhaust valve opens up, allowing the combusted mixture to be expelled into the atmosphere. The next stroke would be a fresh induction stroke, and the whole cycle then repeats itself. Essentially then, in a 4-stroke engine, the power stroke (the point in the cycle where the engine actually produces power) is the 3rd of a 4 stroke cycle. This means that for every 2 revolutions of the crankshaft (the shaft to which the piston is connected), you have 1 power stroke. For the other 3 strokes (intake, compression and exhaust), the engine is not producing power. Looked at another way, the piston produces power every 2nd time it moves downwards. In a 2-stroke engine on the other hand, the engine produces power each time the piston moves downwards, as you can see from the diagram below. It does this by combining the functions of the different strokes. Diagram 1: The piston moves up, compressing the fuel-air mixture (or pure air) in the cylinder. Simultaneously, the bottom of the piston uncovers a port (the inlet port), and sucks a fuel-air (or pure air) charge into the bottom of the engine (where the crankshaft is located). It can do this because as the piston moves up, it creates a low pressure zone in the enclosed space behind it, and so the charge rushes in. When the piston gets to the top of its stroke, either the spark plug fires (in a petrol engine), or diesel-fuel is sprayed into the engine and ignites because of the extreme heat produced by the compression of air in the cylinder (this is the same as for a 4-stroke engine). Diagram 2: The spark plug fires (or diesel-fuel is injected into the cylinder), the piston is driven down, and the bottom of the piston compresses the charge below it. As the piston moves further down, it uncovers the exhaust port, and the burnt gasses begin to flow out of the cylinder. Near the bottom of its stroke, the piston then uncovers the inlet port, and the compressed charge flows into the top of the cylinder helping to drive the burnt gasses out of the cylinder. Diagram 3 & 4: The piston moves back up sealing off the inlet and exhaust ports, and compressing the fresh charge in the process. When the piston gets to the top of its

stoke, the cycle begins again as the charge is ignited and drives the piston down for the next power stroke.

Source: http://www.green-planet-solar-energy.com/2-stroke-exhaust.html

 The 2-stroke engine thus produces power on every downward stroke. Which means more power per revolution than a 4-stoke cycle. However, there are some serious disadvantages with this cycle. Since in a 2-stroke engine, the 4-stroke cycles are combined, there is some wastage involved. First of all, the exhaust port opens before the full power stroke is over, so some of the force of the exhaust gasses is wasted as it leaks out of the open exhaust port. Furthermore, because the new charge and the burnt gasses are both in the cylinder at the same time (diagram 3 & 4), not all of the exhaust gasses are expelled. Also, because the exhaust port is open when the fresh charge enters the cylinder (diagram 3 & 4), some of this new charge is likely to escape through the open exhaust port. The end result is that 2-stroke engines are more polluting than 4-stroke engines, and produce more toxic emissions. In addition, typically 2-stroke engines are lubricated differently from 4-stroke engines: whereas in the latter, lubricating oil is applied directly to all moving parts, in 2-strokes, it is generally mixed in with the fuel. This produces many more noxious products, as the lubricating-oil is subjected to intense heat, and partially decomposed as a result. On the other hand, 2-stroke engines are mechanically simpler, since they have no valves with all the associated complexity involved in making valves open and close (although there are some 2-stoke designs incorporating vales available too). The net result is that a 2-stroke engine produces about 1.5 times more power than a 4-stroke engine of the came cylinder capacity. Another interesting thing about 2-stroke engines is that they are reversible: they can turn in either direction with no essential change to the cycle (unless they are fitted with valves or lubricating-oil pumps). FOUR-STROKE PRO's Clean burning Quiet Efficient (burns less fuel) Don't need to worry about four cycle oil FOUR-STROKE CON's Heavier Slower out of the hole (getting up on a plane) Much more expensive Need to change oil More moving parts TWO-STROKE PRO's Lighter Quicker out of the hole Less expensive Don't have to change oil Fewer moving parts TWO-STROKE CON's Runs dirtier (more smoke and fuel in exhaust) Louder Less efficient (burns more fuel) Have to fill two cycle oil tank (this is easier than the old days of mixing with gas though - they are all oil injected now)