RECIPROCATING

ENGINE:
The base of a reciprocating internal combustion engine is the engine block, which is typically
made of cast iron (due to its good wear resistance and low cost) or aluminum. In the latter case,
the cylinder liners are made of cast iron or steel, or a coating such as nikasil or alusil. The engine
block contains the cylinders. In engines with more than one cylinder they are usually arranged
either in 1 row (straight engine) or 2 rows (boxer engine or V engine); 3 rows are occasionally
used (W engine) in contemporary engines, and other engine configurations are possible and
have been used. Single cylinder engines (or thumpers) are common for motorcycles and other
small engines found in light machinery. On the outer side of the cylinder, passages that contain
cooling fluid are cast into the engine block whereas, in some heavy duty engines, the passages
are the types of removable cylinder sleeves which can be replaceable. Water-cooled engines
contain passages in the engine block where cooling fluid circulates (the water jacket). Some
small engines are air-cooled, and instead of having a water jacket the cylinder block has fins
protruding away from it to cool the engine by directly transferring heat to the air. The cylinder
walls are usually finished by honing to obtain a cross hatch, which is able to retain more oil. A too
rough surface would quickly harm the engine by excessive wear on the piston.
The pistons are short cylindrical parts which seal one end of the cylinder from the high pressure
of the compressed air and combustion products and slide continuously within it while the engine
is in operation. In smaller engines, the pistons are made of aluminum; while in larger
applications, they are typically made of cast iron.] The top wall of the piston is termed
its crown and is typically flat or concave. Some two-stroke engines use pistons with a deflector
head. Pistons are open at the bottom and hollow except for an integral reinforcement structure
(the piston web). When an engine is working, the gas pressure in the combustion chamber exerts
a force on the piston crown which is transferred through its web to a gudgeon pin. Each piston
has rings fitted around its circumference that mostly prevent the gases from leaking into the
crankcase or the oil into the combustion chamber. ] A ventilation system drives the small amount
of gas that escapes past the pistons during normal operation (the blow-by gases) out of the
crankcase so that it does not accumulate contaminating the oil and creating corrosion. ] In two-
stroke gasoline engines the crankcase is part of the air–fuel path and due to the continuous flow
of it, two-stroke engines do not need a separate crankcase ventilation system.

Valve train above a Diesel engine cylinder head. This

engine uses rocker arms but no pushrods.
The cylinder head is attached to the engine block by numerous bolts or studs. It has several
functions. The cylinder head seals the cylinders on the side opposite to the pistons; it contains
short ducts (the ports) for intake and exhaust and the associated intake valves that open to let
the cylinder be filled with fresh air and exhaust valves that open to allow the combustion gases to
escape. However, 2-stroke crankcase scavenged engines connect the gas ports directly to the
cylinder wall without poppet valves; the piston controls their opening and occlusion instead. The
cylinder head also holds the spark plug in the case of spark ignition engines and the injector for
engines that use direct injection. All CI (compression ignition) engines use fuel injection, usually
direct injection but some engines instead use indirect injection. SI (spark ignition) engines can
use a carburetor or fuel injection as port injection or direct injection. Most SI engines have a
single spark plug per cylinder but some have 2. A head gasket prevents the gas from leaking
between the cylinder head and the engine block. The opening and closing of the valves is
controlled by one or several camshafts and springs—or in some engines—a desmodromic
mechanism that uses no springs. The camshaft may press directly the stem of the valve or may
act upon a rocker arm, again, either directly or through a pushrod.

Engine block seen from below. The cylinders, oil spray

nozzle and half of the main bearings are clearly visible.
The crankcase is sealed at the bottom with a sump that collects the falling oil during normal
operation to be cycled again. The cavity created between the cylinder block and the sump
houses a crankshaft that converts the reciprocating motion of the pistons to rotational motion.
The crankshaft is held in place relative to the engine block by main bearings, which allow it to
rotate. Bulkheads in the crankcase form a half of every main bearing; the other half is a
detachable cap. In some cases a single main bearing deck is used rather than several smaller
caps. A connecting rod is connected to offset sections of the crankshaft (the crankpins) in one
end and to the piston in the other end through the gudgeon pin and thus transfers the force and
translates the reciprocating motion of the pistons to the circular motion of the crankshaft. The end
of the connecting rod attached to the gudgeon pin is called its small end, and the other end,
where it is connected to the crankshaft, the big end. The big end has a detachable half to allow
assembly around the crankshaft. It is kept together to the connecting rod by removable bolts.
The cylinder head has an intake manifold and an exhaust manifold attached to the corresponding
ports. The intake manifold connects to the air filter directly, or to a carburetor when one is
present, which is then connected to the air filter. It distributes the air incoming from these devices
to the individual cylinders. The exhaust manifold is the first component in the exhaust system. It
collects the exhaust gases from the cylinders and drives it to the following component in the path.
The exhaust system of an ICE may also include a catalytic converter and muffler. The final
section in the path of the exhaust gases is the tailpipe.