Kinds Of Car Engines
With the more technologies coming into existence, different kinds of car engines are being used in today’s road worthy cars and racing cars. Most of them employ the use of what is called the four stroke cycle to burn up gas oil to produce energy. This approach is normally called Otto Cycle by automotive engineers in honor of Nikolaus Otto who invented the engine.
They are called four strokes because they complete four Strokes to make one cycle. The four strokes are:
a. Intake Stroke:
b. Compression Stroke:
c. Combustion Stroke:
d. Exhaust Stroke:
The intake stroke allows the air and gas to enter the combustion chamber while the exhaust stroke allows exhausting gases out of the cylinder.
So basically all cars have a way of taking in the fuel to burn plus air, compress the air and gust, burn the gas and air and then expel the gases as they move on the road.
Car engines can come in different forms and designs. The five basic kinds of car engines available are:
a) V Type Engine
b) Inline Engine.
c) Boxer Engine.
d) Rotary Wankel engine.
e) Diesel Engine.
Let’s look at each one of them more closely.
1. V Type Engine:
They are called V engines because they have two rows of cylinders arranged in ninety degrees to each other. It has been in use for a very long time and it has been proven to be efficient. They are popular because of its short length therefore making it possible to make smaller cars without reducing the space for passengers.
2. Inline Engine:
They are also called Straight line engines because the cylinders in them are arranged in a straight line, one after another. Many kinds of car engines are of this type because they are easier to build. This significantly reduces the cost of production and maintenance. These engines have limitations of strength and durability.
3. Boxer Engine:
These kinds of car engines are designed with many pistons, all moving in horizontal level. The layout that is used many times is that which has two pistons laid side to side with a single crankshaft between them. The cars which run with this type of engine are more stable on the roads because these engines have a lower center of gravity than other types of engines.
4. Rotary Engine:
They are also called Wankel Engines. The way this kind of car engine operates is that the crankshaft does not move while the cylinder rotate circumvolve on it. What people love most about this engine is that it has better power to weight ratio than most other types of engines.
5. Diesel Engine:
Diesel engines have a lot of similarities with other kinds of car engines which are mostly petrol engines. The only difference is that they do not need a spark plug to burn up the fuel in the chamber.
One advantage diesel engines have is that they produce more energy than petrol engines. This is why they are chosen for heavy cars than petrol engines.
