Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In most steam engine designs there is a short time at the end of the return stroke of the piston when all the valves are shut and it is compressing any remaining steam. Water can be introduced from the boiler or in a cold engine, steam will condense to water on the cool walls of the cylinders and can potentially hydrolock an engine.
A piston ring is a metallic split ring that is attached to the outer diameter of a piston in an internal combustion engine or steam engine. The main functions of piston rings in engines are: Sealing the combustion chamber so that there is minimal loss of gases to the crank case.
In spark-ignition internal combustion engines, knocking (also knock, detonation, spark knock, pinging or pinking) occurs when combustion of some of the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder does not result from propagation of the flame front ignited by the spark plug, but when one or more pockets of air/fuel mixture explode outside the envelope of the normal combustion front.
This kind of electronic control is less common in piston-engined light fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters than in automobiles. This is due to the common configuration of a carbureted engine with a magneto ignition system that does not require electrical power generated by an alternator to run, which is considered a safety advantage. [12]
On an engine with a distributor, the contact breaker can be found beneath the distributor cap. The position of the contact breaker is set so that it opens (and hence generates a spark) at exactly the optimum moment to ignite the fuel/air mixture. This point is generally just before the piston reaches the top of its compression stroke.
Crankcase dilution occurs when the fuel oil from the engine gets into the lube oil of the engine. This can be caused by the walls being wetted due to the fuel condensing in the cylinder. If the engine is cold, or there is an excess amount of cooling around the cylinder, [ 1 ] the fuel oil will condense and have a higher chance to end up in the ...
Engine balance refers to how the inertial forces produced by moving parts in an internal combustion engine or steam engine are neutralised with counterweights and balance shafts, to prevent unpleasant and potentially damaging vibration. The strongest inertial forces occur at crankshaft speed (first-order forces) and balance is mandatory, while ...
Dieseling (in the sense of engine run-on, and disregarding combustible gaseous mixtures via the air intake) can also occur in diesel engines, when the piston or seals fail due to overheating, admitting engine oil into the cylinder. A structurally failing diesel engine will often accelerate when the throttle is released, even after fuel ...