ME 4012 Lecture Notes - Cylinder Head, Gasket, Electric Spark
Document Summary
Internal combustion (ic) engines generate heat from fuel combustion and transform some energy into mechanical work. Internal combustion engines, such as gasoline engines, are reciprocating heat engines in which fuel and the appropriate amount of air are burned in a cylinder during combustion. In an internal combustion engine, the working fluid is composed of the gaseous byproducts of combustion, which move the piston and generate mechanical work at the engine crankshaft. A four-stroke petrol engine"s cycle of operation is completed in two crankshaft revolutions or four-piston strokes. A piston"s stroke is defined as the distance traversed by the piston from one dead centre to another. It is also two times the radius of the crank. As a result, just one of the four-piston strokes required to complete a cycle produces work in a four-stroke engine. This engine uses the otto or constant volume cycle.
