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Four-stroke engine
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ump to! Four"stroke cycle used in gasoline#petrol engines. The right blue side is the intake and the left yello$ side is the e%haust. The cylinder $all is a thin slee&e surrounded by cooling $ater. Today, internal combustion engines in cars, trucks, motorcycles, aircraft, construction machinery and many others, most commonly use a four-stroke cycle. The four strokes refer to intake, compression, combustion 'po$er(, and e%haust strokes that occur during t$o crankshaft rotations per $orking cycle of the gasoline engine and diesel engine. The cycle begins at Top Dead Center 'T)C(, $hen the piston is farthest a$ay from the a%is of the crankshaft. * stroke refers to the full tra&el of the piston from Top )ead Center 'T)C( to Bottom )ead Center 'B)C(. (See Dead centre.) 1. INTAKE stroke: +n the intake or induction stroke of the piston , the piston descends from the top of the cylinder to the bottom of the cylinder, reducing the pressure inside the cylinder. * mi%ture of fuel and air is forced by atmospheric 'or greater( pressure into the cylinder through the intake port. The intake &al&e's( then close. 2. COMP E!!ION stroke: With both intake and e%haust &al&es closed, the piston returns to the top of the cylinder compressing the fuel"air mi%ture. This is kno$n as the compression stroke.

". PO#E stroke.: While the piston is close to Top )ead Center, the compressed air, fuel mi%ture is ignited, usually by a spark plug 'for a gasoline or +tto cycle engine( or by the heat and pressure of compression 'for a diesel cycle or compression ignition engine(. The resulting massi&e pressure from the combustion of the compressed fuel"air mi%ture dri&es the piston back do$n to$ard bottom dead center $ith tremendous force. This is kno$n as the power stroke, $hich is the main source of the engine-s tor.ue and po$er. $. E%&A'!T stroke.: )uring the exhaust stroke, the piston once again returns to top dead center $hile the e%haust &al&e is open. This action e&acuates the products of combustion from the cylinder by pushing the spent fuel"air mi%ture through the e%haust &al&e's(.

Contents
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/ 0istory o /./ The +tto cycle 1 )esign and engineering principles o 1./ Fuel octane rating o 1.1 2o$er output limit 1.1./ 3ntake#e%haust port flo$ 1.1.1 4upercharging 1.1.5 Turbocharging o 1.5 6od and piston"to"stroke ratio o 1.7 8al&etrain 1.7./ 8al&e clearance o 1.9 Energy balance 5 4ee also 7 6eferences 9 E%ternal links

T(e Otto cycle

The ideali:ed four"stroke +tto cycle p"8 diagram! the intake '*( stroke is performed by an isobaric e%pansion, follo$ed by the compression 'B( stroke, performed by an adiabatic compression. Through the combustion of fuel an isochoric process is produced, follo$ed by an adiabatic e%pansion, characteri:ing the po$er 'C( stroke. The cycle is closed by an isochoric process and an isobaric compression, characteri:ing the e%haust ')( stroke. ;ain article! +tto cycle The four"stroke engine $as first patented by *lphonse Beau de 6ochas in /<=/. Before, in about /<97,9>, t$o 3talians 'Eugenio Barsanti and Felice ;atteucci( in&ented an engine that $as rumored to be &ery similar, but the patent $as lost.
?The re.uest bears the no. >@@ of 8olume 833 of the 2atent +ffice of the 6eign of 2iedmont. We do not ha&e the te%t of the patent re.uest, only a photo of the table $hich contains a dra$ing of the engine. We do not e&en kno$ if it $as a ne$ patent or an e%tension of the patent granted three days earlier, on )ecember 5@, /<9>, at Turin.?

The first person to actually build a car $ith this engine $as Aerman engineer Bikolaus +tto. That is $hy the four"stroke principle today is commonly kno$n as the +tto cycle and four"stroke engines using spark plugs often are called +tto engines. The +tto cycle consists of adiabatic compression, heat addition at constant &olume, adiabatic e%pansion and reCection of heat at constant &olume. 3n the case of a four"stroke +tto cycle, there are also an isobaric compression and an isobaric e%pansion, usually ignored since in an ideali:ed process those do not play any role in the heat intake or $ork output.

This is a &ideo montage of the +tto engines running at the Western ;innesota 4team Threshers 6eunion 'W;4T6(, in 6ollag, ;innesota. '1 min /= sec, 51@D17@, 57@ kbit#s &ideo(

)e*it+ ,esign -n* engineering .rinci.les

)e*it+ Fuel oct-ne r-ting
;ain article! +ctane rating 3nternal combustion engine po$er primarily originates from the e%pansion of gases in the po$er stroke. Compressing the fuel and air into a &ery small space increases the efficiency of the po$er stroke, but increasing the cylinder compression ratio also increases the heating of the fuel as the mi%ture is compressed 'follo$ing Charles-s la$(. * highly flammable fuel $ith a lo$ self"ignition temperature can combust before the piston reaches top"dead"center 'T)C(, potentially forcing the piston back$ards against rotation. *lternately, a fuel $hich self"ignites at T)C but before the piston has started do$n$ards can damage the piston and cylinder due to the e%treme thermal energy concentrated into a &ery small space $ith no relief. This damage is often referred to as engine knocking and can lead to permanent engine damage if it occurs fre.uently. The octane rating is a measure of the fuel-s resistance to self"ignition, by increasing the temperature at $hich it $ill self"ignite. * fuel $ith a greater octane rating allo$s for a much higher compression ratio, &irtually eliminating the risk of damage due to self" ignition. )iesel engines rely on self"ignition for the engine to function. The premature ignition problem is sol&ed by separately inCecting high"pressure fuel into the cylinder shortly before the piston has reached T)C. *ir $ithout fuel can be compressed to a &ery high

degree $ithout concern for self"ignition, and the highly pressuri:ed fuel in the fuel inCection system cannot ignite $ithout the presence of air.

Po/er out.ut li0it

The four"stroke cycle /ET)C 1EB)C A: Int-ke 1: Co0.ression C: Po/er ,: E2(-ust The ma%imum amount of po$er generated by an engine is determined by the ma%imum amount of air ingested. The amount of po$er generated by a piston engine is related to its si:e 'cylinder &olume(, $hether it is a t$o"stroke or four"stroke design, &olumetric efficiency, losses, air"to"fuel ratio, the calorific &alue of the fuel, o%ygen content of the air and speed '62;(. The speed is ultimately limited by material strength and lubrication. 8al&es, pistons and connecting rods suffer se&ere acceleration forces. *t high engine speed, physical breakage and piston ring flutter can occur, resulting in po$er loss or e&en engine destruction. 2iston ring flutter occurs $hen the rings oscillate &ertically $ithin the piston groo&es they reside in. 6ing flutter compromises the seal bet$een the ring and the cylinder $all $hich results in a loss of cylinder pressure and po$er. 3f an engine spins too .uickly, &al&e springs cannot act .uickly enough to close the &al&es. This is commonly referred to as -&al&e float-, and it can result in piston to &al&e contact, se&erely damaging the engine. *t high speeds the lubrication of piston cylinder $all interface tends to break do$n. This limits the piston speed for industrial engines to about /@ m#s. Int-ke3e2(-ust .ort flo/ The output po$er of an engine is dependent on the ability of intake 'air,fuel mi%ture( and e%haust matter to mo&e .uickly through &al&e ports, typically located in the cylinder

head. To increase an engine-s output po$er, irregularities in the intake and e%haust paths, such as casting fla$s, can be remo&ed, and, $ith the aid of an air flo$ bench, the radii of &al&e port turns and &al&e seat configuration can be modified to reduce resistance. This process is called porting, and it can be done by hand or $ith a CBC machine. !u.erc(-rging +ne $ay to increase engine po$er is to force more air into the cylinder so that more po$er can be produced from each po$er stroke. This can be done using some type of air compression de&ice kno$n as a supercharger, $hich can be po$ered by the engine crankshaft. 4upercharging increases the po$er output limits of an internal combustion engine relati&e to its displacement. ;ost commonly, the supercharger is al$ays running, but there ha&e been designs that allo$ it to be cut out or run at &arying speeds 'relati&e to engine speed(. ;echanically dri&en supercharging has the disad&antage that some of the output po$er is used to dri&e the supercharger, $hile po$er is $asted in the high pressure e%haust, as the air has been compressed t$ice and then gains more potential &olume in the combustion but it is only e%panded in one stage. Tur4oc(-rging * turbocharger is a supercharger that is dri&en by the engine-s e%haust gases, by means of a turbine. 3t consists of a t$o piece, high"speed turbine assembly $ith one side that compresses the intake air, and the other side that is po$ered by the e%haust gas outflo$. When idling, and at lo$"to"moderate speeds, the turbine produces little po$er from the small e%haust &olume, the turbocharger has little effect and the engine operates nearly in a naturally"aspirated manner. When much more po$er output is re.uired, the engine speed and throttle opening are increased until the e%haust gases are sufficient to -spin upthe turbocharger-s turbine to start compressing much more air than normal into the intake manifold. Turbocharging allo$s for more efficient engine operation because it is dri&en by e%haust pressure that $ould other$ise be 'mostly( $asted, but there is a design limitation kno$n as turbo lag. The increased engine po$er is not immediately a&ailable, due to the need to sharply increase engine 62;, to build up pressure and to spin up the turbo, before the turbo starts to do any useful air compression. The increased intake &olume causes increased e%haust and spins the turbo faster, and so forth until steady high po$er operation is reached. *nother difficulty is that the higher e%haust pressure causes the e%haust gas to transfer more of its heat to the mechanical parts of the engine.

o* -n* .iston-to-stroke r-tio

The rod"to"stroke ratio is the ratio of the length of the connecting rod to the length of the piston stroke. * longer rod $ill reduce the side$ise pressure of the piston on the cylinder

$all and the stress forces, hence increasing engine life. 3t also increases the cost and engine height and $eight. * ?s.uare engine? is an engine $ith a bore diameter e.ual to its stroke length. *n engine $here the bore diameter is larger than its stroke length is an o&ers.uare engine, con&ersely, an engine $ith a bore diameter that is smaller than its stroke length is an unders.uare engine.

5-l6etr-in
The &al&es are typically operated by a camshaft rotating at half the speed of the crankshaft. 3t has a series of cams along its length, each designed to open a &al&e during the appropriate part of an intake or e%haust stroke. * tappet bet$een &al&e and cam is a contact surface on $hich the cam slides to open the &al&e. ;any engines use one or more camshafts Fabo&eG a ro$ 'or each ro$( of cylinders, as in the illustration, in $hich each cam directly actuates a &al&e through a flat tappet. 3n other engine designs the camshaft is in the crankcase, in $hich case each cam contacts a push rod, $hich contacts a rocker arm $hich opens a &al&e. The o&erhead cam design typically allo$s higher engine speeds because it pro&ides the most direct path bet$een cam and &al&e. 5-l6e cle-r-nce 8al&e clearance refers to the small gap bet$een a &al&e lifter and a &al&e stem that ensures that the &al&e completely closes. +n engines $ith mechanical &al&e adCustment e%cessi&e clearance $ill cause noise from the &al&e train. Typically the clearance has to be readCusted each 1@,@@@ miles '51,@@@ km( $ith a feeler gauge. ;ost modern production engines use hydraulic lifters to automatically compensate for &al&e train component $ear. )irty engine oil may cause lifter failure.

Energy 4-l-nce
+tto engines are about 59H efficient , in other $ords, 59H of the energy generated by combustion is con&erted into useful rotational energy at the output shaft of the engine, $hile the remainder appears as $aste heat.[citation needed]By contrast, a si%"stroke engine may con&ert more than 9@H of the energy of combustion into useful rotational energy. ;odern engines are often intentionally built to be slightly less efficient than they could other$ise be. This is necessary for emission controls such as e%haust gas recirculation and catalytic con&erters that reduce smog and other atmospheric pollutants. 6eductions in efficiency may be counteracted $ith an engine control unit using lean burn techni.ues.[/]

Starting position, intake stroke, and compression stroke.

Ignition of fuel, power stroke, and exhaust stroke.