Petrol engine

Petrol engine was introduced by the engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz (both
from Germany) in 1885. It is considered as one of biggest achievement in the automotive
field. It uses petrol called as gasoline in USA as a fuel. It is made up of about 150 moving
parts. Within the engine burning of fuel mixed with air causes hot gases to expand against
parts of the engine and force them to move. So petrol engines are called internalcombustion engines.
Petrol engines are compact and light in weight for the power they produce. The rate at
which it produces work is usually measured in horsepower or watts.
Kinds of petrol engines
Reciprocating petrol engines are distinguished in a number of ways. Some of them are as
follows:
(1) Type of compression
(2) Valve arrangement
(3) The way they are cooled,
(4) The way they are supplied with air and fuel.
(5) Number of piston strokes per cycle,
(6) Cylinder arrangement
Classification based on number of stokes per cycle:
a) Two Stroke
b) Four Stroke
Four stroke petrol engine:
The four stroke engine is called so because the working of an internal combustion engine
is divided into four stages called four strokes of the engine.
Two stroke petrol engine
From the name itself we get the idea about the functioning of the engine. The engine
ignites fuel at every upward stroke, so there are two strokes for every ignition of fuel.
They are called upward and downward stroke. As the piston moves in upward direction
from bottom to top in the first stroke the air and fuel mixture gets compressed and ignited
by spark plug as upward stroke comes to end. This results in an explosion of mixture
which forces the piston to move downwards thereby producing power.
Since they have less moving parts they are light in weight .Also the design is simple
compared to four stroke engines. Big size bulky two-stroke cycle engines have
lubrication systems like that of four-stroke cycle engines.
Parts of a petrol engine
Following are some of the important parts of petrol engine:
1) Cylinders
2) Cylinder block

3) Piston and Connecting rods

4) Cylinder head Crankcase
5) Valves
6) Crank shaft Flywheel
7) Exhaust system
8) Camshaft Fuel system
9) Lubrication system
10) Ignition system
Working of a petrol engine
Generally the vehicles using petrol/gasoline engine have four strokes as they are more
efficient than two stroke engine and give complete combustion of fuel to optimum use.
The four-stroke cycle engine has four strokes namely intake, compression, power, and
exhaust strokes.
a) Suction or intake stroke:
Initially when engine is started piston moves downwards towards bottom of the cylinder
which creates low pressure at top. Due to this intake valve opens and the fuel mixture
containing petrol vapors and air are sucked in by the cylinder. Carburetor now decides in
what ratio gasoline/petrol and air should be mixed.
b) The compression stroke:
After this the inlet valve gets closed. The piston now moves towards the top of cylinder
and compresses the fuel mixture to one tenth of its initial volume. The temperature and
pressure inside the cylinder increases due to compression caused.
c) The power stroke:
During this stroke the inlet and exhaust valve remains closed. As the piston reaches near
top position spark plug produces an electric spark. Combustion is started by an ignition
system that fires a high voltage spark through a field replaceable air gap called a
sparkplug. The spark produced causes explosion of fuel. The hot gases expand and force
the piston to move downwards. The piston is linked to the piston rod and the piston rod to
the crank shaft. They all move each other due to the link between them. The crank shaft is
connected to the wheels of a car. As the crank shaft movess, the wheels rotate and move
the car.
d) The exhaust stroke:
In this stroke the exhaust valve remains open at the start. The piston is forced to move
upwards because of the momentum gained. This forces gases to move through the
exhaust valve into the atmosphere. Now the exhaust valve closes and the intake valve
opens. After this the four strokes of the engine are repeated again and again
Carburetor
It is the heart of gasoline engine. They meter the fuel and mix it with the air in precise
proportions. Old carburetors do spark advance by measuring the difference in pressure
between the outside and inside of the carburetor. The amount of throttle advance is also
measured. The engine's remains which may be carbon monoxide or unburned
hydrocarbons shows how well the carburetor is working.
In new engines, a small computer is used to calculate these parameters and control one or
more electric injectors. Most of the new cars use electronic fuel injection as it allows the

engine computer to precisely control the fuel air mixture which increases energy
efficiency and reduces pollution.
Applications:
These engines are widely used in vehicles, portable power plants to supply the power to
run pumps and other machinery on farms. Many small boats, aero planes, trucks and
buses also use it.
Future Scope:
Continuous research is being carried to increase the fuel efficiency, reduce the pollutants
and make it more light and compact. Recently engineers at the University of Birmingham
have made the smallest petrol engine that can replace conventional batteries. The engine
is so tiny that it can be handled on a fingertip.
By Yogesh Ambekar
Published: 8/19/2004