Diesel Cycle
The diesel engine is a technical refinement of the 1876 Otto Cycle engine. Where Otto had realized in 1861 that the efficiency of the engine could be increased by first compressing the fuel mixture prior to its ignition, Rudolph Diesel wanted to develop a more efficient type of engine that could run on much heavier fuel. The Lenoir, Otto Atmospheric, and Otto Compression engines (both 1861 and 1876) were designed to run on Illuminating Gas (coal gas). With the same motivation as Otto, Diesel wanted to create an engine that would give small industrial concerns their own power source to enable them to compete against larger companies, and like Otto to get away from the requirement to be tied to a municipal fuel supply. Like Otto, it took more than a decade to produce the high compression engine that could self-ignite fuel sprayed into the cylinder. Diesel used an air spray combined with fuel in his first engine.
During initial development, one of the engines burst nearly killing Diesel. He persisted and finally created an engine in 1893. The high compression engine, which ignites its fuel by the heat of compression is now called the Diesel engine whether a four-stroke or two-stroke design.
The four-stroke diesel engine has been used in the majority of heavy duty applications for many decades. Chief among the reasons for this is that it uses a heavy fuel that contains more energy, requires less refinement, and is cheaper to make (although in some areas of the world diesel fuel costs more than gasoline). The most efficient Otto Cycle engines run near 30% efficiency. The Volkswagen Jetta TDI 1.9 liter engine achieves 46%. It uses an advanced design with turbocharging and direct fuel injection. Some BMW ship Diesels with ceramic insulation have exceeded 60% efficiency.
Both Audi and Peugeot compete in the endurance races of the Le Mans Series with cars having diesel engines. These are four-stroke turbocharged diesels that dominate largely due to fuel economy and having to make fewer stops.
Read more about this topic: Four-stroke Engine, History
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Famous quotes containing the word cycle:
“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower.”
—Robert M. Pirsig (b. 1928)