Reciprocating engine

Internal combustion piston engine
Components of a typical, four stroke cycle, internal combustion piston engine. Today Internal combustion engines in cars, Trucks motorcycles aircraft construction machinery and many others most commonly use a four-stroke cycle.
E - Exhaust camshaft
I - Intake camshaft
S - Spark plug
V - Valves
P - Piston
R - Connecting rod
C - Crankshaft
W - Water jacket for coolant flow. The camshaft is an apparatus often used in Piston engines to operate Poppet valves It consists of a cylindrical rod running the length of the Cylinder bank A spark plug (also very rarely nowadays in British English: a sparking plug) is an electrical device that fits into the Cylinder A poppet valve is a Valve consisting of a hole usually round or oval and a tapered plug usually a disk shape on the end of a shaft also called a valve stem A piston is a component of Reciprocating engines Pumps and Gas compressors It is located in a cylinder and is made gas-tight by Piston In a reciprocating Piston engine, the connecting rod or conrod connects the Piston to the crank or Crankshaft. The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an Engine which translates reciprocating Linear

A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more pistons to convert pressure into a rotating motion. A heat engine is a physical or theoretical device that converts Thermal energy to mechanical output A piston is a component of Reciprocating engines Pumps and Gas compressors It is located in a cylinder and is made gas-tight by Piston Pressure (symbol 'p' is the force per unit Area applied to an object in a direction perpendicular to the surface This article describes the common features of all types. The main types are the internal combustion engine used extensively in motor vehicles, the steam engine which was the mainstay of the Industrial Revolution and the niche application Stirling engine. The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the Combustion of Fuel and an Oxidizer (typically air occurs in a confined space called a A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid. The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the A Stirling engine is a closed-cycle regenerative Heat engine with a Gaseous working fluid

1 History
2 Common features in all types
3 Other modern non internal combustion types
4 Notes
5 References
6 See also

History

The earliest known example of rotary to reciprocating motion is a waterwheel-powered pump engineered by al-Jazari in the 12th century. A water wheel is a means of extracting power from the flow (or fall of water otherwise known as Hydropower. For information on Wikipedia project-related discussions see WikipediaVillage pump. Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī ( 1136 - 1206) (أَبُو اَلْعِزِ بْنُ إسْماعِيلِ بْنُ الرِّزاز الجزري ^[1] The rotary motion of the waterwheel was converted into a reciprocating action to drive a pair of piston pumps that provided fountains for the kings of the Turkish Artuqid dynasty. A traditional fountain is an arrangement where water issues from a source ( Latin fons) fills a basin of some kind and is drained away The Artuqid dynasty ( Artuklu in Turkish, sometimes also spelled as Artukid, Ortoqid or Ortokid; Turkish Plural:

The reciprocating engine developed in Europe during the 18th century, first as the atmospheric engine then later as the steam engine. The atmospheric engine invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 today referred to as a Newcomen steam engine (or simply Newcomen engine was the first practical A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid. These were followed by the Stirling engine and internal combustion engine in the 19th century. A Stirling engine is a closed-cycle regenerative Heat engine with a Gaseous working fluid The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the Combustion of Fuel and an Oxidizer (typically air occurs in a confined space called a Today the most common form of reciprocating engine is the internal combustion engine running on the combustion of petrol, diesel or natural gas and used to power motor vehicles. Diesel or Diesel fuel (ˈdiːzəl in general is any Fuel used in Diesel engines The most common is a specific fractional distillate of petroleum A motor Vehicle is a Machine which incorporates a motor (sometimes known as an Engine) and which is used for Transportation

One of the most advanced reciprocating engines ever made was the 28-cylinder, 3,500 hp (2610 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-4360 "Wasp Major" radial engine which powered the last generation of large piston-engined planes before the jet engine and turboprop took over from 1944 onward. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout It had a total engine capacity of 71. 5 liters.

The largest reciprocating engine ever built is the Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine built by Japan’s Diesel United, Ltd. The Wärtsilä RT-flex96C Turbocharged Two-stroke Diesel engine is currently considered the largest Reciprocating engine in the world It is used to power the largest modern container ships such as the Emma Maersk. Capacity By normal calculations Emma Mærsk's cargo capacity is significantly greater than the listed capacity — between and. ^[2] It is five stories high (13. 5 m), 27 m long, and weighs over 2300 tonnes in its largest 14 cylinders version producing more than 84. 42MW (114,800 bhp). Each cylinder has a capacity of 1820 liters, making a total capacity of 25,480 liters for the largest versions.

Common features in all types

There may be one or more pistons. Each piston is inside a cylinder, into which a gas is introduced, either already hot and under pressure (steam engine), or heated inside the cylinder either by ignition of a fuel air mixture (internal combustion engine) or by contact with a hot heat exchanger in the cylinder (stirling engine). A cylinder is the central working part of a Reciprocating engine, the space in which a Piston travels A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid. An ignition system is a system for igniting a fuel-air mixture The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the Combustion of Fuel and an Oxidizer (typically air occurs in a confined space called a A Stirling engine is a closed-cycle regenerative Heat engine with a Gaseous working fluid The hot gases expand, pushing the piston to the bottom of the cylinder. The piston is returned to the cylinder top (Top Dead Centre) either by a flywheel or the power from other pistons connected to the same shaft. In a Reciprocating engine, the dead center is the position of a piston in which it is farthest from or nearest to the Crankshaft. A flywheel is a mechanical device with significant Moment of inertia used as a storage device for Rotational energy. In most types the expanded or "exhausted" gases are removed from the cylinder by this stroke. Exhaust gas is Flue gas which occurs as a result of the Combustion of fuels such as Natural gas, Gasoline /petrol Diesel, Fuel A stroke is a single action of certain Engines In a steam, Otto or Diesel Piston Engine, a stroke is the action of The exception is the Stirling engine, which repeatedly heats and cools the same sealed quantity of gas.

In some designs the piston may be powered in both directions in the cylinder in which case it is said to be double acting. A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid.

Steam piston engine
A labeled schematic diagram of a typical single cylinder, simple expansion, double-acting high pressure steam engine. Power takeoff from the engine is by way of a belt.
1 - Piston
2 - Piston rod
3 - Crosshead bearing
4 - Connecting rod
5 - Crank
6 - Eccentric valve motion
7 - Flywheel
8 - Sliding valve
9 - Centrifugal governor.

In all types the linear movement of the piston is converted to a rotating movement via a connecting rod and a crankshaft or by a swashplate. In a reciprocating Piston engine, the connecting rod or conrod connects the Piston to the crank or Crankshaft. The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an Engine which translates reciprocating Linear A swashplate is a device used in Mechanical engineering to translate the motion of a rotating shaft into Reciprocating motion. A flywheel is often used to ensure smooth rotation. A flywheel is a mechanical device with significant Moment of inertia used as a storage device for Rotational energy. The more cylinders a reciprocating engine has, generally, the more vibration-free (smoothly) it can operate. The power of a reciprocating engine is proportional to the volume of the combined pistons' displacement.

A seal needs to be made between the sliding piston and the walls of the cylinder so that the high pressure gas above the piston does not leak past it and reduce the efficiency of the engine. A piston is a component of Reciprocating engines Pumps and Gas compressors It is located in a cylinder and is made gas-tight by Piston A cylinder is the central working part of a Reciprocating engine, the space in which a Piston travels This seal is provided by one or more piston rings. A piston ring is an open-ended ring that fits into a groove on the outer diameter of a Piston in a Reciprocating engine such as an Internal combustion These are rings made of a hard metal which are sprung into a circular grove in the piston head. The rings fit tightly in the groove and press against the cyinder wall to form a seal.

It is common for such engines to be classified by the number and alignment of cylinders and the total volume of displacement of gas by the pistons moving in the cylinders usually measured in cubic centimetres (cm³ or cc) or litres (l) or (L) (US:liter). Engine displacement is defined as the total Volume of air/fuel mixture an Engine can draw in during one complete engine cycle it is normally stated in Cubic A cubic centimetre or cubic centimeter (symbol cm3 —the abbreviation cc, though widely used is deprecated is a commonly used unit of Volume The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of Volume. For example for internal combustion engines, single and two-cylinder designs are common in smaller vehicles such as motorcycles, while automobiles typically have between four and eight, and locomotives, and ships may have a dozen cylinders or more. MotorCycle is the title of a 1993 album by Rock band Daniel Amos, released on BAI Records. A locomotive is a railway Vehicle that provides the motive power for a Train. A ship /ʃɪp/ is a large vessel that floats on water Ships are generally distinguished from Boats based on size Cylinder capacities may range from 10 cm³ or less in model engines up to several thousand cubic centimetres in ships' engines.

The compression ratio is a measure of the performance in an internal-combustion engine or a Stirling Engine. The compression ratio is a single number that can be used to predict the performance of any engine particularly piston engines (but can be used on essentially any Internal-combustion It is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder, when the piston is at the bottom of its stroke, and the volume when the piston is at the top of its stroke.

Cylinders may be aligned in line, in a V configuration, horizontally opposite each other , or radially around the crankshaft. A V engine is a common configuration for an Internal combustion engine. A flat engine is an Internal combustion engine with pistons that are all relatively horizontal The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion Engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central Opposed piston engines put 2 pistons working at opposite ends of the same cylinder and this has been extended into triangular arrangements such as the Napier Deltic. An opposed piston engine is one in which the cylinders are double-ended with a piston at each end and no cylinder head The term Deltic (meaning in the form of the Greek letter Delta) is used to refer to both the opposed-piston high-speed diesel engine designed and produced by Some designs have set the cylinders in motion around the shaft, see the Rotary engine. The rotary engine was an early type of internal combustion Aircraft engine in which the Crankshaft remains stationary and the entire Cylinder

Stirling piston engine
Rhombic Drive Beta Stirling Engine Design showing the second displacer piston (green) within the cylinder which shunts the working gas between the hot and cold ends , but produces no power itself. The rhombic drive is a specific method of transferring mechanical energy or work, used when a single cylinder is used for two separately oscillating pistons
Pink - Hot cylinder wall,
Dark grey - Cold cylinder wall,
Green - Displacer piston,
Dark blue - Power piston,
Light blue - Flywheels

In steam engines and internal combustion engines valves are required to allow the entry and exit of gasses at the correct time in the piston's cycle. These are worked by cams or cranks driven by the shaft of the engine. Early designs used the D slide valve but this has been largely superseded by Piston valve or Poppet valve designs. The D Slide Valve was a form of Rectilinear slide valve for use in rotative Steam engines invented by William Murdoch and patented in 1799. A piston valve is a device used to control the motion of a Fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the Linear motion of a Piston within A poppet valve is a Valve consisting of a hole usually round or oval and a tapered plug usually a disk shape on the end of a shaft also called a valve stem

Internal combustion engines operate through a sequence of strokes which admit and remove gases to and from the cylinder. These operations are repeated cyclically and an engine is said to be 2-stroke, 4-stroke or 6-stroke depending on the number of strokes it takes to complete a cycle. The two-stroke Internal combustion engine differs from the more common Four-stroke engine by completing the same four processes (intake compression combustion exhaust Today Internal combustion engines in cars, Trucks motorcycles aircraft construction machinery and many others most commonly use a four-stroke cycle. The term six stroke engine describes two different approaches in the Internal combustion engine, developed since the 1990s to improve its efficiency and reduce emissions

In some steam engines the cylinders may be of varying size with the smallest bore cylinder working the highest pressure steam. This is then fed through one or more, increasingly larger bore cylinders successively, to extract power from the steam at increasingly lower pressures. These engines are called Compound engines. A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid.

Other modern non internal combustion types

Reciprocating engines that are powered by compressed air, steam or other hot gases are still used in some applications such as to drive many modern torpedoes or as pollution free motive power.

The Spanish designed Aircar uses compressed air stored in a cylinder to drive a reciprocating engine in a pollution free urban vehicle. ^[3]

In torpedoes the gas, like that produced by high test peroxide or Otto fuel II, is pressurised without the need of combustion and therefore oxygen. "HTP" redirects here For the internet transfer protocol see Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Otto fuel II is a Monopropellant used to drive Torpedoes and other weapon systems Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the This allows propulsion under water for considerable periods of time and over significant distances. e. g. see Mark 46 torpedo. Designed to attack high-performance submarines the Mark 46 Torpedo is the backbone of the U

In most applications of steam power today, the piston engine has been replaced by the more efficient steam turbine. A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts Thermal energy from pressurized Steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work

Notes

^ Ahmad Y Hassan. Ahmad Y Hassan أحمد يوسف الحسن(born 1925 is a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and a historian of Arabic and Islamic science and technology The Origin of the Suction Pump - Al-Jazari 1206 A.D.
^ The Wartsila-Sulzer Super Engine at gCaptain , September 10th, 2007. Accessed June 2008
^ The Aircar manufactured by MDI SA . Accessed April 2007

References

Reciprocating engine types
HowStuffWorks: How Car Engines Work
Reciprocating Engines at infoplease
Piston Engines US Centennial of Flight Commission

Dictionary