Principle of Operation of the Four-Stroke Petrol Engine

The internal combustion engine is called so because fuel is burned directly inside the engine itself. Most automobile engines work on a 4-stroke cycle. A cycle is one complete sequence of 4 strokes of the piston in the cylinder. The operating cycle of the four-stroke petrol engine includes: inlet stroke (intake valve opens), compression stroke (both valves closed), power stroke (both valves closed), exhaust stroke (exhaust valve is opened).

To describe the complete cycle, let's assume that the piston is at the top of the stroke (top dead center) and the inlet and the exhaust valves are closed. When the piston moves down the inlet valve opens to intake a charge of fuel into the cylinder. This is called the inlet (intake) stroke. On reaching the lowest position (bottom dead center) the piston begins to move upward into the closed upper part on the cylinder, (he inlet valve is closed and the mixture is compressed by the rising piston. This is called the compression stroke. As the piston again reaches the top dead center the spark plugs ignite the mixture, both valves being closed during its combustion. As a result of burning mixtures the both valves being closed during its combustion. As a result of burning mixtures the gases expand and great pressure makes the piston move back down the cylinder. This stroke is called the power stroke. When the piston reaches the bottom of its stroke, the exhaust valve is opened, pressure is released, and the piston again rises. It lets the burnt gas flow through the exhaust valve into the atmosphere. This is called the exhaust stroke which completes the cycle. So the piston moves in the cylinder down (intake stroke), up (compression stroke), down (power stroke), up (exhaust stroke).

The heat released by the fuel is transformed into work so that the reciprocating movement of the pistons is converted into rotary movement of a crankshaft by means of connecting rods.

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