Some engine components

(based on H.Heywood Internal combustion engine fundamentals and DieselNet website) 4.1. Cylinder banks

Piston engines are typically arranged with their pistons in rows, moving inside individual cylinders. This allows the engine block to be built from a single piece of metal. Engines often have more than one row of pistons, each with their own block, and these are referred to as cylinder banks. Note that not all engines have cylinder banks. Radial engines have each piston in a separate cylinder, and this was common in earlier in-line engine designs as well.

Fig. 4.1. A cylinder bank and its component parts

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Short block Short block is an automotive term describing a bare engine including the block, crankshaft, and pistons, but not including the head, manifold or any accessories like alternator or power steering pump. The term may or may not include the camshaft. The camshaft will probably be included if the engine is a pushrod design, and will not be included if it uses an overhead camshaft. In other words, a short block is only the "bottom end" of the engine Long block Long block refers to a bare engine including the block, head, valves, crankshaft, camshaft and pistons, but the term does not include the manifolds or any accessories like the alternator or power steering pump. The oil pan or valve covers may or may not be included.

4.2 Cylinders A cylinder in an internal combustion engine is the space a piston travels in. It gets its name from the shape it makes, a "cylinder". An arrangement of more than one cylinder is called a cylinder block. On most air-cooled engines, cylinders have heat sink fins and are removable from the crank case. They can be removed and replaced from water cooled engines also, but not without some machining. The piston is the same size as the two bases of the cylinder (the circular and flat surfaces). The duality of the cylinder is that it works as a seal with the piston rings and as a bearing to the piston itself. Along with the piston rings, the cylinder condition is one of the main factors of how long an engine will last. Cylinder can be dry and wet, depends on type of fixed in bank.

Fig. 4.2. Wet cylinder liner A- general view, B cross section and rubber-composition sealing

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Chapter 4. Engine components mechanical sets

Fig. 4.3. View of micro-geometry of cylinder inner surface after machining (honowanie)

Oversquare A piston engine is oversquare if its cylinders have a greater bore (width, diameter) than stroke (length of piston travel). This is generally considered to be a positive trait, since a longer stroke means greater friction and a weaker crankshaft. An oversquare engine is more reliable, wears less, and can be run at a higher speed. Power does not suffer, but low-speed torque does to some degree, since torque is relative to crank throw (distance from the crank centre to the crankpin) - the leverage, essentially.

4.3 Pistons A piston is a sliding plug that fits closely inside the bore of a cylinder. Its purpose is either to change the volume enclosed by the cylinder, or to exert a force on a fluid inside the cylinder. A piston in an internal combustion engine has some piston rings. Usually there are two compression rings as a seal between the piston and the cylinder wall and one or more oil control rings below the compression rings. The head of the piston can be flat or bulged or otherwise shaped. Pistons can be forged or cast.

Fig. 4.4. Piston design

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Internal combustion engines

The piston is an important component of a piston engine. The head of the piston forms one wall of an expansion chamber inside the cylinder. The opposite wall, called the cylinder head, contains inlet and exhaust valves for gases. As the piston moves inside the cylinder, it transforms the energy from the expansion of a burning gas (usually a mixture of petrol or diesel and air) into mechanical power (in the form of a reciprocating linear motion). From there the power is conveyed through a connecting rod to a crankshaft which transforms it into rotary motion, which usually drives a gearbox.

Fig. 4.5. Piton set

Fig. 4.6. Two pieces piston design

4.4 Connecting rods In a reciprocal piston engine, the connecting rod connects the piston to the crankshaft. It can rotate at both ends so that its angle can change as the piston moves up and down and the crankshaft rotates. The top end, with a small opening for the piston pin is called the small end. The lower end, that connects to the crankshaft with a larger opening, is called the big end. The big end holds the crank's bearing shells and also has a pinhead size hole bored to the crank bearing journal that squirts lubricating engine oil onto the cylinder wall.

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Chapter 4. Engine components mechanical sets

Fig. 4.7. Design of connecting road

Fig. 4.8. Slide bearing design

4.5 Crankshaft The crankshaft is that part of an engine which transforms linear piston motion into rotation. Generally more than one piston is attached to the crank to provide a smoother delivery of power to the rotating part, though many small engines, such as those found in mopeds or garden machinery, use only a single piston. The configuration and number of pistons in relation to each other and the crank leads to straight, V or flat engines. Some (outdated) aircraft engines had a fixed crankshaft and rotating cylinders in a star configuration rotary piston engine. In the Wankel engine, the rotors drive an eccentric shaft, which can be considered the equivalent of the crankshaft in a piston engine.

Fig. 4.9. An crankshaft in view

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Fig. 4.10. The following states of manufacturing process of crankshaft

4.6 Cylinder head The cylinder head sits atop the cylinders and consists of a platform containing most of the combustion chamber. It is also where the valves and spark plug or injectors are located. The top half of the cylinder head contains the camshaft in an overhead cam engine, or another mechanism (such as rocker and pushrods) to transfer rotational mechanics from the crankshaft to linear mechanics to operate the valves (pushrod engines perform this conversion at the camshaft lower in the engine and use a rod to push a rocker arm that acts on the valve). Internally the cylinder head has passages for the fuel/air mixture to travel to the inlet valves from the intake manifold, for exhaust gases to travel from the exhaust valves to the exhaust manifold, and for coolant to cool the head and engine.

Fig. 4.11. Cylinder head design

The number of cylinder heads in an engine is a function of the engine configuration. A V-engine usually has two cylinder heads, one at each end of the V. A straight engine has only one cylinder head. The cylinder head is key to the performance of the internal

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Chapter 4. Engine components mechanical sets

combustion engine, as the shape of the combustion chamber, inlet passages and ports (and to a lesser extent the exhaust) determines a major portion of the volumetric efficiency and compression ratio of the engine.

4.7 Valves A poppet valve is the type of valve system used in most piston engines, used to seal the intake and exhaust ports. The valve is usually a flat disk of metal with a long rod known as the valve stem projecting out one end. The stem is used to push down on the valve and open it, with a spring generally used to close it when the stem is not being pushed on. Desmodromic valves are closed by positive mechanical action instead of by a spring, and are used in some high speed motorcycle and auto racing engines, eliminating 'valve float' at high engine speed. For certain applications the valve stem and disk are made of different steel alloys, or the valve stems may be hollow and filled with sodium to improve heat transport and transfer. The engine normally operates the valves by pushing on the stems with cams and cam followers. The shape and position of the cam determines the valve lift and when and how quickly (or slowly) the valve is opened. The cams are normally placed on a fixed camshaft which is then geared to the crankshaft, running at half crankshaft speed in a four-stroke engine. On high performance engines the camshaft is moveable and the cams have a varying height (this is used by Ferrari, for example), so by axially moving the camshaft in relation to the engine rpm, also the valve lift varies.

Fig. 4.12. Valve set design

In very early engine designs, the valves were 'upside down' in the block, parallel to the cylinders. This was the so called L-head engine because of the shape of the cylinder and combustion space. It was also known as a 'flat head engine as the top of the cylinder head is

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flat. This evolved into 'Intake Over Exhaust', IOE or F-head, where the intake valve was in the block and the exhaust valve was in the head. Later both valves moved to the head. In most such designs, the camshaft remained relatively near the crankshaft, and the valves were operated through pushrods and rocker arms. This led to significant energy losses in the engine, but was simpler, especially in a V engine where one camshaft can actuate the valves for both cylinder banks; for this reason, pushrod engine designs persisted longer in these configurations than in others. More modern designs have the camshaft on top of the cylinder head, pushing directly on the valve stem (again through cam followers), a system known as overhead camshaft; if there is just one camshaft, this is a single overhead cam or SOHC engine. Often there are two camshafts, one for the intake and one for exhaust valves, creating the dual overhead cam, or DOHC which is found in almost all modern engines.

Fig. 4.14. Types of camshaft positions

The camshaft is driven by the crankshaft - through gears, a chain or in modern engines with a rubber belt.

4.8 Camshaft The camshaft is an apparatus used in piston engines to operate poppet valves. It consists of a cylindrical rod running the length of the cylinder bank with a number of oblong lobes or cams, protruding from it, one for each valve. The cams force the valves open by pressing on the valve, or on some intermediate mechanism, as they rotate. The relationship between the rotation of the camshaft and the rotation of the crankshaft is of critical importance. Since the valves control the flow of fuel intake and exhaust, they must be opened and closed at the appropriate time during the stroke of the piston. For this reason, the camshaft is connected to the crankshaft either directly, via a gear mechanism, or indirectly via a belt or chain called a timing belt or timing chain. In some designs the camshaft also drives the distributor and the oil and fuel pumps.

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Chapter 4. Engine components mechanical sets

Fig. 4.15. Camshaft in the cylinder head composition

Fig. 4.16. Different types of cams

In a two-stroke engine that uses a camshaft, each valve is opened once for each rotation of the crankshaft; in these engines, the camshaft rotates at the same rate as the crankshaft. In a four-stroke engine, the valves are opened only half as often; thus, two full rotations of the crankshaft occur for each rotation of the camshaft. Depending on the location of the camshaft, the cams operate the valves either directly or through a linkage of pushrods and rockers. Direct operation involves a simpler mechanism and leads to fewer failures, but requires the camshaft to be positioned at the top of the cylinders. In the past when engines were not as reliable as today this was seen as too much bother but, as mentioned above, in modern gasoline engines the overhead cam system is quite common. The rockers or cam followers have a mechanism to manually adjust and set the valve play. Modern engines have hydraulic lifters, eliminating the need to adjust the valve play. Sliding friction between the surface of the cam and the cam follower which rides upon it is considerable. In order to reduce wear at this point, the cam and follower are both surface hardened, and modern lubricant motor oils contain additives specifically to reduce sliding friction. The lobes of the camshaft are usually slightly tapered, causing the cam followers or valve lifters to rotate slightly with each depression, and helping to distribute wear on the parts. The surfaces of the cam and follower are designed to "wear in" together, and therefore when either is replaced, the other should be as well to prevent excessive rapid wear.

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VarioCam VarioCam is an automobile variable valve timing technology developed by Porshe. VarioCam varies the timing of the intake valves by adjusting the tension on the timing chain connecting the intake and exhaust camshafts. VarioCam was first used on the 1992 3.0 L engine in the Porshe 968. Porsche's more recent VarioCam Plus uses two sets of cam lobes (similar to Hondas VTEC) to vary timing and lift. This system is found on the latest Porshe 996. VTEC VTEC (standing for Variable Valve Timing and lift Electronic Control) is a system developed by the car manufacturer Honda to improve the combustion efficiency of its engines throughout the RPM range.

4.9

Manifolds

There are two kinds of manifold: inlet and outlet. An intake manifold or inlet manifold is the part of an engine that supplies the fuel/air mixture to the cylinders. An exhaust manifold or header collects the exhaust gases from multiple cylinders into one pipe. Due to the sucking effect of the downward movement of the pistons in a reciprocating piston engine, a partial vacuum (lower than atmospheric pressure) exists in the intake manifold. This vacuum can be used as a source of ancillary power to drive auxiliary systems (such as ignition advance, power assisted brakes, cruise control, windscreen wipers, ventilation system valves, etc.). The intake manifold is located between the carburettor and the cylinder head. On multi point injected engines, the intake manifold holds the fuel injectors. Exhaust manifolds were traditionally simple cast iron units which collected engine exhaust and delivered it to the exhaust pipe. However, this restrictive tube is often replaced with individual headers which are tuned for low restriction and improved performance. Headers have been widely available from aftermarket sources for decades, and some manufacturers have begun using them as original equipment. Some engines do away with exhaust manifolds together, using an integral engine block passage to route gasses directly to the catalytic converter.

Fig. 4.17. Composition of intake system

Fig. 4.18. Different filling of each cylinder

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Chapter 4. Engine components mechanical sets

Variable Length Intake Manifold Variable Length Intake Manifold (VLIM) is an automobile engine manifold technology. As the name implies, VLIM can vary the length of the intake tract of an engine in order to optimise power and torque. A tuned intake can have a light pressurizing effect similar to a lowpressure supercharger. This is due to Helmholz Resonance. Many automobile manufacturers use similar technology with different names. Another common term for this technology is Variable Resonance Induction System (VRIS).

4.10 Gasket A gasket is a mechanical seal that serves to fill the space between two objects, generally to prevent leakage between the two objects while under pressure. Gaskets are commonly produced by cutting from sheet materials, such as rubber, silicon, metal, felt, fibreglass, or a plastic polymer. It is usually desirable that the gasket be made from a compressible or slightly compressible material so that it fits tightly into the space it is designed for. One of the more desirable properties of an effective gasket in industrial applications for compressed fibre gasket material is the ability to withstand high compressive loads. Most industrial gasket applications involve bolts exerting compression well into the 2,000 psi range or higher. Generally speaking, there are several truisms that allow for best gasket performance. One of the more tried and tested is: The more compressive load exerted on the gasket, the longer it will last. There are several ways to measure a gasket materials ability to withstand compressive loading. The hot compression test is probably the most accepted of these, and most manufacturers of gasket materials publish or will provide the results of these tests.

Review questions What are the main engine components and sets? What does it mean shortage OHV and DOHC? Explain the idea behind the use of VarioCam.

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