Have you ever opened the hood of your car and wondered what was going on in there? Well I have, and that's why I have been so interested in cars. Internal combustion engines have been getting us around since the 1800's. A car engine can look like a big confusing jumble of metal, tubes and wires to the uninitiated, but if you want to get down in the dirt they really work in a simple way. You might want to know to, because it is something that you use everyday of your life.
I have been interested in cars and motors since I was a little kid, but recently within the past 5 years I have really gotten into the engine them selves and seeing how they work. I first got into them by hanging out with friends, and us wanting to make things go faster. It did help that we had my friends dad, that has been drag racing cars since he was a little kid. So he knew a lot about making things go fast. One of the first things that we did was build a go-cart, and there are kids that have normal go-carts that can go 15 mph not us though we had to make ours the fastest. We built that go-cart out of an old frame, and took a chainsaw motor out of one of his dads chainsaws. We ran the go-cart on gas first, and it probably did around 50 mph. After a while we got board and thought it went to slow. So we went into the race car trailer and took some of his dads race gas(nitro). Which is a very combustable fuel. Then the go-cart went about 70 mph, and we got to ride it for about 30 minutes and then the motor blew up. That is what happens when you use a fuel like nitro in a little chainsaw motor it eats away at the caburator and the cylinder walls.
Motors have been around for hundreds of years. The first self powered road vehicle was powered by a steam engine that was built by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot of France in 1769. It was recognized by the British Royal Automobile Club as the first vehicle to power it self, and it went 2 miles per hour and weighed about 8000 lbs. It looked like a frame with wheels. It had a bench seat with a steering wheel in front with a big steam engine hung over the front of the vehicle.
My focus on this project is how one of these engines is “rebuilt”, and how can they be changed (from stock) to create more power or be more efficient, through what is called “porting”. I chose this topic because when I was introduced to the rotary engine last year when I bought my second car, I immediately fell in love with the idea. My cars engine was “blown”
The image of a self-propelled vehicle dates back around the early thirteenth century. Europe is the birthplace of the automobile, but it was adopted by America. Roger Bacon had a vision of cars being made without animals so they can be at astonishing speeds and maneuverability . About three hundreds years later, Leonardo Da Vinci rejuvenate Bacon's idea with hopes of creating a military vehicle. His idea was transformed into the modern day tank. The first step in making a self-propelled vehicle was taken by Nicholas Joseph Cugnot. He was an eighteenth century French artillery officer. "In 1769 he built and ran a three-wheeled carriage mounting a steam engine of his own design, with the idea that it might be used for pulling guns"2. It was very clumsy vehicle that was shot into the air when it reached the top speed of three miles an hour. Cugnot's vehicle provided almost no improvement of the horse. In the early years of the nineteenth century an American and British duo had began an automotive experiment. Richard Trevithick, a British engineer, and American genius, Oliver Evans created a workable but crude vehicle propelled by steam3. This early experiment was an improvement, but the railroads and stagecoach companies joined together. With this new combining of forces the new steam vehicle, the Orkuter Amphibolos, was brought down.
One of the most commonly used ways to give a vehicle more horsepower these days is forced induction. There are normally 3 different methods of forced induction, nitrous, turbochargers and superchargers. Although this essay will only consist of superchargers and turbochargers. The problem people face when choosing which equipment to install on their car is what is better, turbocharging or supercharging? Both turbochargers and superchargers have pros and cons, and both of them share quite a few similarities. Choosing a forced induction system can be something that makes or breaks your street car, or weekend warrior. Pending what the budget is, what the power levels desired are, and even the type of car it is going into. Many variables come into play with front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, and all-wheel drive vehicles. It is entirely up to the driver or builder in order to determine the best route to take, or possibly the worst route to end at. Covering the pros and cons is a good way to help make an educated decision on what
After the steam engine was created in the early 17th century, many people and companies tried to take that same technology and apply it to automobiles. Nobody was successful until a British inventor by the name of Richard Trevithick created a multi passenger automobile that ran on a power source that was driven by a steam-propelled piston at high pressure (Bellis). Up until the mid 1900’s cars were only produced by specifically skilled blacksmiths, and were very expensive. There were only about 4,000 cars produced from the 1890’s to mid 1900’s (Bellis).
For over a century people have relied on automobiles, planes and trains as means of transportation, industry and agriculture, it has become such a successful necessity in the modern world that it has become a need for people to use them to get by. Now sure the three basic means of transportation are entirely different in the way the function and their use. All of these means of transportation would not be possible without this invention transportation could not be possible, The Internal Combustion Engine. You might be wondering what is exactly is an Internal Combustion Engine? It’s actually a simple concept but the way it’s performed can becoming very complex. The function of is to create a pulling force through a controlled explosion of compressed air and fuel inside a combustion chamber which then pulls a crank. Depending on what type of platform the engine is on will determine what the crank turns, for an example in a car the crank then turns either a front or rear axle which that axle transversely turns a wheel. In order for this engine to function in needs three elements - air, fuel and spark and without one of these elements the engine will not function, so it takes precise timing and careful planning by the Engineers to make the engine work as required.
Insert the key, turn, and vroom. And down the road you go. Most people take for granted the strange conglomeration of metal and plastic under that sheet of metal either in front or back of their vehicle. The engine as you may have guessed, is modern marvel- so to speak. They’re found in cars, trucks, boats, airplanes…All with various power outputs.
The high point of this research came with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle, the Quadricycle. This bike had four wire wheels and was steered with a tiller, like a boat. It had two forward speeds, and no reverse. Although this was not the first self-propelled vehicle, it set Henry Ford as one of the major pioneers whom helped this nation become one of motorists (Head 22 - 24).
Starting in the late 1700's, European engineers began tinkering with motor powered vehicles. Steam, combustion, and electrical motors had all been attempted by the mid 1800's. By the 1900's, it was uncertain which type of engine would power the automobile. At first, the electric car was the most popular, but at the time a battery did not exist that would allow a car to move with much speed or over a long distance. Even though some of the earlier speed records were set by electric cars, they did not stay in production past the first decade of the 20th century. The steam-driven automobile lasted into 1920's. However, the price on steam powered engines, either to build or maintain was incomparable to the gas powered engines. Not only was the price a problem, but the risk of a boiler explosion also kept the steam engine from becoming popular. The combustion engine continually beat out the competition, and the early American automobile pioneers like Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford built reliable combustion engines, rejecting the ideas of steam or electrical power from the start.
Starting in the late 1700’s, European engineers began messing with motor powered vehicles. By the mid 1800’s, steam, combustion, and electrical motors had all been attempted. By the 1900’s it wasn’t very clear on which type of engine would really power the automobile. At that time, electric cars were the most popular but there were no batteries at that time that would allow a car to move very fast or a long distance. Commercial production in the United States began at the beginning of the 1900’s. In the early 1900’s, the United States had about two thousand firms producing one or more cars.
Although most people deem Henry Ford the father of automobiles, most historians agree that the birth of the modern car came about in the 19th century with some previous trial and error designs that led up to what we consider to be automobiles today. Beginning in the late 1700s, European engineers began experimenting with motor powered vehicles. Steam combustion and electric motors had all been attempted by the mid-1800s but had not yet been mastered. Surprisingly, the electric car was the most popular but a battery strong enough to move at more than a few miles per hour had not yet been invented yet. Imagine how different the world would be today if engineers had spent more time on innovating a battery for an electric car rather than creating a brand new engine with emissions which polluted the atmosphere. Automobile pioneers like Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford c...
Being a member of the future generation of innovators and leaders, I feel that this research combined with my fascination of automobiles could lead to a clearer understanding of how I can help improve the automobile. In a world that is highly connected by roads, if the problem of using petroleum-based fuels is not solved, the entire gas-guzzling world could come to a standstill. This apocalyptic halt would cease all travel and we would be thrown back to a more primitive standing. However, if we research and find an alternative ahead of time, we would be able to transiti...
So what was the original thinking behind the car? Well to get a person and their family from point A to point B in a faster time than a horse. And it has evolved greatly ever since, even starting to loop back to Edison’s original plan for an electric car. So its safe to say that that the automobile is one of, if not, the most influential inventions on the United states.
This along with the lighter construction of a two-stroke makes it the preferred motor used in small vehicles and tools (Two Stroke Engine). A two-stroke engine is operated by first drawing the mixture of fuel and air into the chamber by the vacuum caused by the upward stroke of the piston. During the downward piston stroke, the poppet valve is forced closed due to the increased pressure within the chamber. The mixture is compressed in the chamber throughout the stroke. As the stroke ends, the intake port is exposed allowing the mixture to escape into the main cylinder, expelling the exhaust gasses in the process and some of the fuel mixture as well. Momentum then causes the piston to rise, compressing the mixture as another stroke is beginning. Once the stroke reaches its peak, the spark plug will ignite the mixture causing the fuel to expand driving the piston down thus completing the cycle while additionally initiating a new
Most people today fill up their car with different qualities of petrol, because that's what the average car takes. They don't usually consider an alternative for the petrol that they load into their cars. Although petrol is widely used, it is not the only source for a car to get its power from; diesel and electricity are alternatives to the general petrol used by most cars. Although different from each other, diesel and electricity are alternatives to the average gasoline received at a gas station. Diesel is a more concentrated type of fuel that is usually used by big automobiles because they require a lot of power in a little amount of time. Electricity is a method that uses the power of batteries to produce a low horsepower but, nevertheless fast automobile. Electric cars are generally created to be soundless and environment friendly. The purpose of this paper is to classify and educate the reader of the different types of fuel available for an automobile to use: petrol, diesel, and electricity. The general petrol, used by most people, is usually the only type of fuel accepted on the average car in the United States today.
In my undergraduate years, I have acquired a strong background in the fundamentals of basic mechanical engineering, having studied subjects such as Strength of Materials, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat and Mass Transfer, Design of Machine Elements and Automobile Engineering. Whilst pursuing my diploma & degree courses, my interest for Automotive Engineering grew even more having learnt more on the different types of internal combustion engines, their configuration and importance. However, what I lacked was a practical understanding on these core areas of Automotive Engineering. To gain a better understandi...