What Gas Does a Gasoline Engine Inhale?
2 Answers
Gasoline engines inhale a mixture of gasoline and air. Below are the working principle and classification of gasoline engines. Working principle of gasoline engines: By burning the fuel inside the cylinder, kinetic energy is generated, which drives the piston inside the engine cylinder to reciprocate. This, in turn, drives the connecting rod attached to the piston and the crankshaft connected to the connecting rod, performing reciprocating circular motion around the center of the crankshaft, thereby outputting power. Classification of gasoline engines: By fuel type: Diesel engines, gasoline engines, and natural gas engines. By cycle strokes: Four-stroke engines and two-stroke engines. By cooling method: Water-cooled engines and air-cooled engines. By ignition method: Compression ignition engines and spark ignition engines. By mixture formation method: Engines with external mixture formation and internal combustion engines with internal mixture formation. By intake method: Naturally aspirated engines and turbocharged engines. By number of cylinders: Single-cylinder engines and multi-cylinder engines.
The gasoline engine actually just sucks in regular air during operation, don't be intimidated by those technical terms. It draws outside air into the cylinder through the intake valve - mainly a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen. Here's the key point: The fuel injector precisely sprays atomized gasoline particles that mix with air in the cylinder to form the air-fuel mixture. This mixing ratio is particularly crucial - 14.7 parts air to 1 part gasoline provides the most complete combustion. When I tested my old car's increased fuel consumption, 80% of the time it was caused by dust accumulation on the mass airflow sensor disrupting this ratio. Remember that changing the air filter is also important - when clogged, insufficient air intake makes the engine sluggish. Last time my car had poor throttle response, I found leaves packed in the air filter like a sandwich when I opened it up.
