Introduction

➢ A heat engine is a device which transforms the chemical energy of a fuel into
thermal energy and uses this thermal energy to produce mechanical work.

➢ Heat engines are classified as:

• External combustion engines (EC Engines)

• Internal combustion engines (IC Engines)

 External Combustion Engine

➢ In an External combustion engine the combustion takes place outside the engine.

• In steam engine, the working fluid (high pressure steam) is generated outside
the cylinder by the combustion of fuel.

• The steam is then passed to a reciprocating engine or turbine for converting it

into useful work.
 Internal Combustion Engine

➢ In an Internal combustion engine the combustion takes place inside the

cylinder.

• Heat energy is released when the fuel-air mixture is burnt in the

combustion chamber.

• The gas produced in this reaction rapidly expands forcing the piston down
the cylinder on the power stroke.

• I.C engines directly convert chemical energy of the fuel into useful
mechanical work.
 Components of IC Engine

The basic components of I.C engines are:

• cylinder
• piston
• piston rings
• inlet and exhaust valve
• connecting rod
• flywheel
• crankshaft
• gudgeon pin
• camshaft
• cams
 Cylinder

➢ Cylinder is made up of cast iron or an

aluminium alloy.

➢ Inside the cylinder, piston is fitted which

makes the reciprocating motion.

➢ This reciprocating motion is converted to

rotary motion through a mechanism
consisting of a connecting rod and crank
shaft (slider – crank mechanism).

5
 Piston

➢ It is cylindrical in shape fitted tightly

inside the cylinder.

➢ It moves up and down inside the cylinder

bore and transmits the force exerted by
the combustion of fuel to the crankshaft.

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 Piston Rings

➢ Piston rings provide a sliding seal between

the external cylindrical surface of the piston
and the inner surface of the cylinder.

➢ The rings serve two purposes:

➢ They prevent the fuel/air mixture and

exhaust in the combustion chamber from
leaking into the sump during
compression and combustion.
➢ They keep oil in the sump from leaking
into the combustion area, where it would
be burnt and lost.
 Inlet and Exhaust Valves

➢ The intake and exhaust valves

open at the proper time to let in
air and fuel and to let out the
products of burnt fuel (exhaust).

➢ During compression and

combustion both the valves are
closed.

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 Spark Plug

➢ Spark plugs are used to generate the

spark which ignites the compressed
fuel and air mixture in the spark
ignition engine.

➢ To generate the spark a high voltage of

around 20, 000 Volts is applied.
 Connecting Rod

➢ The connecting rod connects the piston to

the crankshaft.

➢ It can rotate at both ends so that its

inclination angle can change as the piston
moves up and down and the crankshaft
rotates.
 Flywheel

➢ It is mounted on the crankshaft which

stores excess energy during the power
stroke.

➢ The stored energy is returned back

during the other strokes and hence
reduces the fluctuation in speed.
 Crank Shaft

➢ The crankshaft converts up and

down motion of the piston into
circular motion.
 Gudgeon Pin

➢ It is the pin which links the

connecting rod with the piston.
 Camshaft

➢ It is used to operate the inlet and

exhaust valves through cams, cam
followers, push rods and rocker
arms.
 Cams

➢ It is used to operate the valves.

➢ It is designed in a way to open the

valves in correct time and to keep
open for necessary duration.
 Sump

➢ The sump surrounds the crankshaft.

➢ It contains some amount of oil,

which collects in the bottom of the
engine.

➢ The lubricating oil is often stored

in the sump.
 IC Engine

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Unit I
 Gudgeon Pin

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Unit I
 Terminologies of Internal Combustion Engine

Bore
 The inside diameter of the cylinder is known as bore.

Stroke
 The maximum distance travelled by the piston inside the cylinder in one
direction is known as stroke and is equal to twice the radius of the crank.

Top Dead Centre (TDC)

 It is the extreme position of piston at the top of the cylinder.

Bottom Dead Centre (BDC)

 It is the extreme position of piston at the bottom of the cylinder
 Terminologies of Internal Combustion Engine

Clearance Volume
• The volume contained in the cylinder above the top of the piston when it is at
TDC and is denoted Vc.
Piston Displacement or Swept Volume (Vs)
• The volume swept by the piston when travelling from one dead centre to the
other is called piston displacement. It is expressed as cubic centimetre (cc).
Vs = A x L = (Π/4) d2 L
Compression Ratio (r)
• The ratio of the total volume of the cylinder above the piston when it is at
BDC to the volume when the piston is at TDC is called compression ratio and
is denoted as r.
r = (Vc+Vs)/Vc
2 - Stroke SI Engine

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Unit I
 2 - Stroke SI Engine

➢ In the 2 stroke cycle the working cycle completes in two strokes of the piston
movement or one revolution of the crank shaft.
➢ There are three ports in two stroke engine namely:
• Inlet port
• Transfer port
• Exhaust port
➢ The ports are opened and closed by the movement of piston, here cams are not used
for operating to open and close the ports.
➢ In a two-stroke engine, the end of the combustion stroke and the beginning of the
compression stroke happen simultaneously, with the intake and exhaust
(or scavenging) functions occurring at the same time.
➢ Compression stroke: The inlet port opens, the air-fuel mixture enters the
chamber and the piston moves upwards compressing this mixture. A spark
plug ignites the compressed fuel and begins the power stroke.

➢ Power stroke: The heated gas exerts high pressure on the piston, the piston
moves downward (expansion), waste heat is exhausted.

Basic Mechanical Engineering - 23

Unit I
 2 - Stroke SI Engine

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Unit I
 2 - Stroke SI Engine

➢ Exhaust port is located slightly above the inlet port and the transfer port is located in
between the exhaust port and inlet port.

➢ When the piston is at TDC and about to move downwards, only the inlet port is kept
opened and other two ports are closed.

➢ The air and fuel (petrol) mixture is drawn into the crankcase due to vacuum
produced by the upward movement of the piston.

➢ It is to be noted that top surface of the piston controls the opening and closing of the
exhaust port and transfer port whereas the bottom surface of the piston controls the
opening and closing of the inlet port.
 2 - Stroke SI Engine

➢ During the movement of piston from BDC to TDC the mixture inside the cylinder
gets compressed.

➢ As the piston reaches TDC the spark is produced by the spark plug.

➢ As the pressure and temperature of the burnt gases increase the gases push the piston
towards downward direction.

➢ When the exhaust port open during the movement of piston from TDC to BDC the
burnt gases leave the cylinder through exhaust port.
 2 - Stroke SI Engine

➢ When the piston moves down, the inlet port also closes due to which the air fuel
mixture trapped in the crankcase will get compressed.

➢ As the piston moves still towards BDC the transfer port is opened due to which the
mixture from the crank case enters the cylinder.

➢ The piston crown is specially made in a shape such that the fresh mixture hits the
piston crown and gets deflected up and is prevented from going out directly to the
atmosphere through the exhaust port.

➢ The deflected fresh mixture pushes the burnt gases out. This action of sweeping out
the exhaust gases with the help of fresh charge is known as “Scavenging”.
 2 - Stroke SI Engine

➢ During the downward movement of piston the power, exhaust and suction process
takes place.

➢ When the piston moves from BDC to TDC first transfer port closes, then exhaust
port closes finally the inlet port will open.

➢ After closing the exhaust port the air-fuel mixture gets compressed and the cycle is
repeated.

➢ The inlet port is opened and closed by the bottom portion of the piston.
4 - Stroke SI Engine

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Unit I
 4 - Stroke SI Engine

➢ The movement of the piston up or down the cylinder makes up one stroke.

➢ It is the distance between TDC and BDC and is equal to twice the radius of the
crank.

➢ In the four stroke engine cycle there are four strokes namely,
➢ Suction or Intake stroke,
➢ Compression stroke
➢ Power stroke
➢ Exhaust stroke
➢ One cycle completes when piston moves for four strokes or two revolutions of the
crankshaft.
 Suction Stroke

➢ In the suction stoke, piston moves from top

dead centre to bottom dead centre.

➢ The inlet valve opens at this time and the

exhaust valve is closed. The air fuel mixture
is sucked into the cylinder during the intake
stroke.
 Compression Stroke

➢ The piston starts moving from bottom to top

compressing the air-fuel mixture.

➢ Both inlet and exhaust valves are closed during

this stroke.

➢ At the end of the compression stroke the fuel-air

mixture is ignited with the spark plug leads to
increase in pressure and temperature which is
around 2000 º C .
 Power Stroke

➢ The piston is pushed to BDC with high

force due to high pressure released by burnt
gases.

➢ During expansion the pressure and

temperature decreases.

➢ This is known as power or expansion stoke.

➢ Both inlet and outlet value are in closed

position during the power stroke.
 Exhaust Stroke

➢ The piston which is in BDC starts moving to

TDC .

➢ During this stroke the exhaust valve opens and

the inlet valve remains closed.

➢ The burnt gases are pushed out to the

atmosphere by the piston.

➢ The exhaust valve closes when the piston

reaches TDC.
➢ Thus one cycle completes. During a cycle the
crank shaft turns by two revolutions.
 Four Stroke Diesel Engine

➢ The Working principle of four stroke diesel engine is similar to petrol engine the
difference is during suction only air is sucked instead of air fuel mixture.

➢ Here spark plug is replaced by fuel injector.

➢ The air is compressed and fuel is injected by fuel injector.

➢ The ignition of fuel takes place due to the higher pressure and temperature of air
which leads to auto ignition of the fuel.
Comparison Between Four Stroke and Two Stroke
Comparison Between SI and CI engine