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 the biggest achievement in the automobiles field. It
uses petrol called as gasoline in the 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 internal combustion 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 moves, 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.

Submitted By:
Class 10th B
Govt. Sr. Sec. School
Phase 3B1
Mohali