Four-stroke engine - Wikipedia Page 1 of 11

Four-stroke engine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A four-stroke engine (also known as four cycle) is an internal

combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four
separate strokes while turning a crankshaft. A stroke refers to
the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either
direction. The four separate strokes are termed:

1. Intake: also known as induction or suction This stroke of

the piston begins at top dead center (T.D.C.) and ends at
bottom dead center (B.D.C.). In this stroke the intake
valve must be in the open position while the piston pulls
an air-fuel mixture into the cylinder by producing vacuum
pressure into the cylinder through its downward motion.
2. Compression: This stroke begins at B.D.C, or just at the
end of the suction stroke, and ends at T.D.C. In this stroke
the piston compresses the air-fuel mixture in preparation
for ignition during the power stroke (below). Both the
intake and exhaust valves are closed during this stage.
3. Combustion: also known as power or ignition This is the Four-stroke cycle used in
start of the second revolution of the four stroke cycle. At gasoline/petrol engines. 1 = Intake, 2 =
this point the crankshaft has completed a full 360 degree Compression, 3 = Power, 4 = Exhaust.
revolution. While the piston is at T.D.C. (the end of the The right blue side is the intake port
compression stroke) the compressed air-fuel mixture is
and the left brown side is the exhaust
ignited by a spark plug (in a gasoline engine) or by heat
port. The cylinder wall is a thin sleeve
generated by high compression (diesel engines),
forcefully returning the piston to B.D.C. This stroke surrounding the piston head which
produces mechanical work from the engine to turn the creates a space for the combustion of
crankshaft. fuel and the genesis of mechanical
4. Exhaust: also known as outlet. During the exhaust stroke, energy.
the piston once again returns from B.D.C. to T.D.C. while
the exhaust valve is open. This action expels the spent air-
fuel mixture through the exhaust valve.

Contents
◾ 1 History
◾ 1.1 Otto cycle
◾ 1.2 Atkinson cycle
◾ 1.3 Diesel cycle
◾ 2 Thermodynamic Analysis
◾ 3 Fuel Considerations
◾ 4 Design and engineering principles
◾ 4.1 Power output limitations

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◾ 4.1.1 Intake/exhaust port flow

◾ 4.2 Waste Heat Recovery of an IC engine 12[6]
◾ 4.2.1 Supercharging
◾ 4.2.2 Turbocharging
◾ 4.3 Rod and piston-to-stroke ratio
◾ 4.4 Valve train
◾ 4.4.1 Valve clearance
◾ 4.5 Energy balance
◾ 5 See also
◾ 6 References
◾ 7 General sources
◾ 8 External links

History
Otto cycle

Nikolaus August Otto as a young man was a traveling salesman

for a grocery concern. In his travels he encountered the internal
combustion engine built in Paris by Belgian expatriate Jean
Joseph Etienne Lenoir. In 1860, Lenoir successfully created a
double-acting engine that ran on illuminating gas at 4%
efficiency. The 18 litre Lenoir Engine produced only
2 horsepower. The Lenoir engine ran on illuminating gas made
from coal, which had been developed in Paris by Philip Lebon.[1]
An Otto Engine from 1920's US In testing a replica of the Lenoir engine in 1861 Otto became
Manufacture aware of the effects of compression on the fuel charge. In 1862,
Otto attempted to produce an engine to improve on the poor
efficiency and reliability of the Lenoir engine. He tried to create an engine that would compress the fuel
mixture prior to ignition, but failed as that engine would run no more than a few minutes prior to its
destruction. Many other engineers were trying to solve the problem, with no success.[1]

In 1864, Otto and Eugen Langen founded the first internal combustion engine production company, NA
Otto and Cie (NA Otto and Company). Otto and Cie succeeded in creating a successful atmospheric
engine that same year.[1] The factory ran out of space and was moved to the town of Deutz, Germany in
1869 where the company was renamed to Deutz Gasmotorenfabrik AG (The Deutz Gas Engine
Manufacturing Company).[1] In 1872, Gottlieb Daimler was technical director and Wilhelm Maybach
was the head of engine design. Daimler was a gunsmith who had worked on the Lenoir engine. By 1876,
Otto and Langen succeeded in creating the first internal combustion engine that compressed the fuel
mixture prior to combustion for far higher efficiency than any engine created to this time.

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Daimler and Maybach left their employ at Otto and Cie and developed the first high-speed Otto engine
in 1883. In 1885, they produced the first automobile to be equipped with an Otto engine. The Daimler
Reitwagen used a hot-tube ignition system and the fuel known as Ligroin to become the world's first
vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. It used a four-stroke engine based on Otto's design.
The following year Karl Benz produced a four-stroke engined automobile that is regarded as the first
car.[2]

In 1884, Otto's company, then known as Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz (GFD), developed electric ignition
and the carburetor. In 1890, Daimler and Maybach formed a company known as Daimler Motoren
Gesellschaft. Today, that company is Daimler-Benz.

Atkinson cycle

The Atkinson cycle engine is a type of single stroke internal

combustion engine invented by James Atkinson in 1882. The
Atkinson cycle is designed to provide efficiency at the expense
of power density, and is used in some modern hybrid electric
applications.

The original Atkinson cycle piston engine allowed the intake,

compression, power, and exhaust strokes of the four-stroke This 2004 Toyota Prius hybrid has an
cycle to occur in a single turn of the crankshaft and was Atkinson cycle engine as the petrol-
designed to avoid infringing certain patents covering Otto cycle electric hybrid engine
engines.[3]

Due to the unique crankshaft design of the Atkinson, its expansion ratio
can differ from its compression ratio and, with a power stroke longer
than its compression stroke, the engine can achieve greater thermal
efficiency than a traditional piston engine. While Atkinson's original
design is no more than a historical curiosity, many modern engines use
unconventional valve timing to produce the effect of a shorter
compression stroke/longer power stroke, thus realizing the fuel economy
improvements the Atkinson cycle can provide.[4] The Atkinson Gas Cycle

Diesel cycle

The diesel engine is a technical refinement of the 1876 Otto

Cycle engine. Where Otto had realized in 1861 that the
efficiency of the engine could be increased by first compressing
the fuel mixture prior to its ignition, Rudolph Diesel wanted to
develop a more efficient type of engine that could run on much
heavier fuel. The Lenoir, Otto Atmospheric, and Otto
Compression engines (both 1861 and 1876) were designed to run
on Illuminating Gas (coal gas). With the same motivation as
Otto, Diesel wanted to create an engine that would give small
industrial companies their own power source to enable them to
Audi Diesel R15 at Le Mans
compete against larger companies, and like Otto to get away

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from the requirement to be tied to a municipal fuel supply. Like Otto, it took more than a decade to
produce the high compression engine that could self-ignite fuel sprayed into the cylinder. Diesel used an
air spray combined with fuel in his first engine.

During initial development, one of the engines burst nearly killing him. He persisted and finally created
an engine in 1893. The high compression engine, which ignites its fuel by the heat of compression is
now called the Diesel engine whether a four-stroke or two-stroke design.

The four-stroke diesel engine has been used in the majority of heavy duty applications for many
decades. It uses a heavy fuel containing more energy and requiring less refinement to produce. The most
efficient Otto Cycle engines run near 30% efficiency.

Thermodynamic Analysis
The thermodynamic analysis of the actual four-
stroke or two-stroke cycles is not a simple task.
However, the analysis can be simplified
significantly if air standard assumptions[5] are
utilized. The resulting cycle, which closely
resembles the actual operating conditions, is the
Otto cycle.

During the normal operation of the engine as the

fuel mixture is being compressed an electric arc is
created to ignite the fuel. At low rpm this occurs
close to TDC (Top Dead Centre). As engine rpm
rises the spark point is moved earlier in the cycle so
that the fuel charge can be ignited while it is still
being compressed. We can see this advantage
reflected in the various Otto engines designs. The
atmospheric (non-compression) engine operated at
12% efficiency. The compressed charge engine had The idealized four-stroke Otto cycle p-V diagram:
an operating efficiency of 30%. the intake (A) stroke is performed by an isobaric
expansion, followed by the compression (B)

Fuel Considerations stroke, performed by an adiabatic compression.

Through the combustion of fuel an isochoric
process is produced, followed by an adiabatic
The problem with compressed charge engines is that
expansion, characterizing the power (C) stroke.
the temperature rise of the compressed charge can
The cycle is closed by an isochoric process and an
cause pre-ignition. If this occurs at the wrong time
isobaric compression, characterizing the exhaust
and is too energetic, it can damage the engine.
(D) stroke.
Different fractions of petroleum have widely
varying flash points (the temperatures at which the
fuel may self-ignite). This must be taken into account in engine and fuel design.

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The tendency for the compressed fuel mixture to ignite early is limited by the chemical composition of
the fuel. There are several grades of fuel to accommodate differing performance levels of engines. The
fuel is altered to change its self ignition temperature. There are several ways to do this. As engines are
designed with higher compression ratios the result is that pre-ignition is much more likely to occur since
the fuel mixture is compressed to a higher temperature prior to deliberate ignition. The higher
temperature more effectively evaporates fuels such as gasoline, which increases the efficiency of the
compression engine. Higher Compression ratios also mean that the distance that the piston can push to
produce power is greater (which is called the Expansion ratio).

The octane rating of a given fuel is a measure of the fuel's resistance to self-ignition. A fuel with a
higher numerical octane rating allows for a higher compression ratio, which extracts more energy from
the fuel and more effectively converts that energy into useful work while at the same time preventing
engine damage from pre-ignition. High Octane fuel is also more expensive.

Diesel engines by their nature do not have concerns with pre-ignition. They have a concern with whether
or not combustion can be started. The description of how likely Diesel fuel is to ignite is called the
Cetane rating. Because Diesel fuels are of low volatility, they can be very hard to start when cold.
Various techniques are used to start a cold Diesel engine, the most common being the use of a glow
plug.

Design and engineering principles

Power output limitations

The maximum amount of power generated by an engine is

determined by the maximum amount of air ingested. The
amount of power generated by a piston engine is related to
its size (cylinder volume), whether it is a two-stroke engine
or four-stroke design, volumetric efficiency, losses, air-to-
fuel ratio, the calorific value of the fuel, oxygen content of
the air and speed (RPM). The speed is ultimately limited by
material strength and lubrication. Valves, pistons and
connecting rods suffer severe acceleration forces. At high
engine speed, physical breakage and piston ring flutter can
occur, resulting in power loss or even engine destruction.
Piston ring flutter occurs when the rings oscillate vertically
within the piston grooves they reside in. Ring flutter
compromises the seal between the ring and the cylinder
wall, which causes a loss of cylinder pressure and power. If The four-stroke cycle
an engine spins too quickly, valve springs cannot act 1=TDC
quickly enough to close the valves. This is commonly 2=BDC
referred to as 'valve float', and it can result in piston to valve A: Intake
contact, severely damaging the engine. At high speeds the B: Compression
lubrication of piston cylinder wall interface tends to break C: Power
down. This limits the piston speed for industrial engines to D: Exhaust
about 10 m/s.

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Intake/exhaust port flow

The output power of an engine is dependent on the ability of intake (air–fuel mixture) and exhaust
matter to move quickly through valve ports, typically located in the cylinder head. To increase an
engine's output power, irregularities in the intake and exhaust paths, such as casting flaws, can be
removed, and, with the aid of an air flow bench, the radii of valve port turns and valve seat configuration
can be modified to reduce resistance. This process is called porting, and it can be done by hand or with a
CNC machine.

Waste Heat Recovery of an IC engine 12[6]

An IC engine on an average is capable of converting just 30-40% of the supplied energy into mechanical
work. A large part of the waste energy is in the form of heat that is released to the environment through
coolant, fins etc. If we could somehow recover the waste heat we can improve the engine’s performance.
It has been found that even if 6% of the entirely wasted heat is recovered it can increase the engine
efficiency greatly.

Many methods have been devised in order to extract waste heat out of an engine exhaust and use it
further to extract some useful work, decreasing the exhaust pollutants at the same time. Use of Rankine
Cycle , Turbocharging and Thermo electric Generation can be very useful as a waste heat recovery
system.

Though waste heat recovery systems are being used frequently among all the devices but still some
issues like their low efficiency at lower heat supply rates and high pumping losses remain a cause of
concern for the researchers.

Supercharging

One way to increase engine power is to force more air into the cylinder so that more power can be
produced from each power stroke. This can be done using some type of air compression device known
as a supercharger, which can be powered by the engine crankshaft.

Supercharging increases the power output limits of an internal combustion engine relative to its
displacement. Most commonly, the supercharger is always running, but there have been designs that
allow it to be cut out or run at varying speeds (relative to engine speed). Mechanically driven
supercharging has the disadvantage that some of the output power is used to drive the supercharger,
while power is wasted in the high pressure exhaust, as the air has been compressed twice and then gains
more potential volume in the combustion but it is only expanded in one stage.

Turbocharging

A turbocharger is a supercharger that is driven by the engine's exhaust gases, by means of a turbine. It
consists of a two piece, high-speed turbine assembly with one side that compresses the intake air, and
the other side that is powered by the exhaust gas outflow.

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When idling, and at low-to-moderate speeds, the turbine produces little power from the small exhaust
volume, the turbocharger has little effect and the engine operates nearly in a naturally aspirated manner.
When much more power output is required, the engine speed and throttle opening are increased until the
exhaust gases are sufficient to 'spool up' the turbocharger's turbine to start compressing much more air
than normal into the intake manifold.

Turbocharging allows for more efficient engine operation because it is driven by exhaust pressure that
would otherwise be (mostly) wasted, but there is a design limitation known as turbo lag. The increased
engine power is not immediately available due to the need to sharply increase engine RPM, to build up
pressure and to spin up the turbo, before the turbo starts to do any useful air compression. The increased
intake volume causes increased exhaust and spins the turbo faster, and so forth until steady high power
operation is reached. Another difficulty is that the higher exhaust pressure causes the exhaust gas to
transfer more of its heat to the mechanical parts of the engine.

Rod and piston-to-stroke ratio

The rod-to-stroke ratio is the ratio of the length of the connecting rod to the length of the piston stroke.
A longer rod reduces sidewise pressure of the piston on the cylinder wall and the stress forces,
increasing engine life. It also increases the cost and engine height and weight.

A "square engine" is an engine with a bore diameter equal to its stroke length. An engine where the bore
diameter is larger than its stroke length is an oversquare engine, conversely, an engine with a bore
diameter that is smaller than its stroke length is an undersquare engine.

Valve train

The valves are typically operated by a camshaft rotating at half the speed of the crankshaft. It has a
series of cams along its length, each designed to open a valve during the appropriate part of an intake or
exhaust stroke. A tappet between valve and cam is a contact surface on which the cam slides to open the
valve. Many engines use one or more camshafts “above” a row (or each row) of cylinders, as in the
illustration, in which each cam directly actuates a valve through a flat tappet. In other engine designs the
camshaft is in the crankcase, in which case each cam usually contacts a push rod, which contacts a
rocker arm that opens a valve, or in case of a flathead engine a push rod is not necessary. The overhead
cam design typically allows higher engine speeds because it provides the most direct path between cam
and valve.

Valve clearance

Valve clearance refers to the small gap between a valve lifter and a valve stem that ensures that the
valve completely closes. On engines with mechanical valve adjustment, excessive clearance causes
noise from the valve train. A too small valve clearance can result in the valves not closing properly, this
results in a loss of performance and possibly overheating of exhaust valves. Typically, the clearance
must be readjusted each 20,000 miles (32,000 km) with a feeler gauge.

Most modern production engines use hydraulic lifters to automatically compensate for valve train
component wear. Dirty engine oil may cause lifter failure.

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Energy balance

Otto engines are about 30% efficient; in other words, 30% of the energy generated by combustion is
converted into useful rotational energy at the output shaft of the engine, while the remainder being
losses due to waste heat, friction and engine accessories.[7] There are a number of ways to recover some
of the energy lost to waste heat. The use of a Turbocharger in Diesel engines is very effective by
boosting incoming air pressure and in effect provides the same increase in performance as having more
displacement. The Mack Truck company, decades ago, developed a turbine system that converted waste
heat into kinetic energy that it fed back into the engine's transmission. In 2005, BMW announced the
development of the turbosteamer, a two-stage heat-recovery system similar to the Mack system that
recovers 80% of the energy in the exhaust gas and raises the efficiency of an Otto engine by 15%.[8] By
contrast, a six-stroke engine may reduce fuel consumption by as much as 40%.

Modern engines are often intentionally built to be slightly less efficient than they could otherwise be.
This is necessary for emission controls such as exhaust gas recirculation and catalytic converters that
reduce smog and other atmospheric pollutants. Reductions in efficiency may be counteracted with an
engine control unit using lean burn techniques.[9]

In the United States, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy mandates that vehicles must achieve an
average of 34.9 mpg-US (6.7 L/100 km; 41.9 mpg-imp) compared to the current standard of 25 mpg-US
(9.4 L/100 km; 30.0 mpg-imp).[10] As automakers look to meet these standards by 2016, new ways of
engineering the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) have to be considered. Some potential
solutions to increase fuel efficiency to meet new mandates include firing after the piston is farthest from
the crankshaft, known as top dead centre, and applying the Miller cycle. Together, this redesign could
significantly reduce fuel consumption and NOx emissions.

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Starting position, intake stroke, and compression stroke.

Ignition of fuel, power stroke, and exhaust stroke.

See also

◾ Atkinson cycle ◾ Radial engine

◾ Miller cycle ◾ Rotary engine
◾ Desmodromic valve ◾ Six-stroke engine
◾ History of the internal combustion engine ◾ Stirling engine
◾ Napier Deltic ◾ Two-stroke engine
◾ Poppet valve ◾ Four-stroke internal combustion engine

References
1. [1] (http://www.nicolaus-august-otto.de/node/15), NA Otto Museum.
2. Ralph Stein (1967). The Automobile Book. Paul Hamlyn Ltd

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Four-stroke engine - Wikipedia Page 10 of 11

3. US 367496 (https://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US367496), J. Atkinson, "Gas

Engine", issued 1887-08-02
4. "Auto Tech: Atkinson Cycle engines and Hybrids". Autos.ca. 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
5. Best Place for Engineering and Technology (http://www.betp.net/2011/04/air-standard-assumptions/), Air
Standard Assumptions.
6. Sprouse III, Charles; Depcik, Christopher (2013-03-01). "Review of organic Rankine cycles for internal
combustion engine exhaust waste heat recovery". Applied Thermal Engineering. 51 (1–2): 711–722.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2012.10.017.
7. Ferreira, Omar Campos (March 1998). "Efficiencies of Internal Combustion Engines". Economia & Energia
(in Portuguese). Brasil. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
8. Neff, John (2005-12-09). "BMW Turbo Steamer Gets Hot and Goes". Autoblog. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
9. Faiz, Asif; Weaver, Christopher S.; Walsh, Michael P. (1996). Air pollution from motor vehicles: Standards
and Technologies for Controlling Emissions. World Bank Publications. ISBN 9780821334447.
10. "Fuel Economy". US: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Retrieved 2016-04-11.

General sources
◾ Hardenberg, Horst O. (1999). The Middle Ages of the Internal combustion Engine. Society of
Automotive Engineers (SAE). ISBN 978-0-7680-0391-8.
◾ scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/OttoCycle.html
◾ Cengel, Yunus A; Michael A Boles; Yaling He (2009). Thermodynamics An Engineering
Approach. N.p. The McGraw Hill Companies. ISBN 978-7-121-08478-2.
◾ Benson, Tom (11 July 2008). "4 Stroke Internal Combustion Engine". p. National Aeronautics and
Space Administration. Retrieved 5 May 2011.

External links
◾ U.S. Patent 194,047 (https://www.google.com/patents/US194047)
◾ Four stroke engine animation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaTj15g6L9c)
◾ Detailed Engine Animations (http://www.animatedpiston.com)
◾ How Car Engines Work (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm)
◾ Animated Engines, four stroke (http://www.animatedengines.com/otto.shtml), another explanation
of the four-stroke engine.
◾ CDX eTextbook (http://www.cdxetextbook.com/video/video.html), some videos of car
components in action.
◾ Video from inside a four-stroke engine cylinder (http://www.liveleak.com/view?
i=73e_1192001762)
◾ New 4 stroke (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New4stroke.gif)

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Categories: Internal combustion piston engines 1864 introductions

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