Internal combustion is what we call a car engine. AKA internal combustion engine(ICE). All gasoline, propane, bio-diesel and diesel engines are ICE’s. This means that pressure in the cylinders causes an explosion in the combustion chamber and forces the pistons to move up and down in a sequenced order to make power. Easy, right?
Internal Combustion Engine
Basically:.. the fuel enters a gasoline type engine through the carburetor or fuel injectors, then the fuel directly goes into the cylinders and when the piston comes up to make compression by squeezing the ingredients with tremendous pressure and the spark plug sparks it then pushes the piston down and you have power. This is an oversimplification, simply put, fuel and compression and spark in the proper sequence produces combustion and power.
Diesel engines don’t have spark plugs or carburetors, all diesel engines have fuel injectors. Diesel engines operate off of compression only. Meaning that there is enough pressure in the cylinder (300-400 psi) when it reaches the top most position to cause diesel fuel/oil to spontainiously combust or explode. Pressure means compression. When the piston is at the top of the cylinder, it is squeezing the contents of the cylinder at very high pressures, exploding the diesel fuel and pushing the piston down to make power. Pretty cool.
That is what an internal combustion engine is in a nutshell. There are many more activities happening when an engine makes power. I’m going to cover some of the other contributors to internal combustion and ignition timing tomorrow. GotEngines.com Blog has a wealth of the information needed to become an educated consumer, when and if you ever need a replacement engine. Gotengines.com has the engines to fit your bill. It is our job to make sure you are fitted with the correct replacement engine.
By The Way, ICE’s produces lots of heat, which is a by product of compression and this is where the correct engine oil is of great benefit in your engine lifespan, and a well maintained cooling system is imperative also. Don’t cheat here. Enjoy.
