ENGINES

Automotive production down the ages has required a wide range of energy-conversion systems. These include electric, steam, solar, turbine, rotary, and different types of piston-type internal combustion engines. The reciprocating-piston internal -combustion system, operating on a four-stroke cycle, has been the most successful for automobiles, while diesel engines are widely used for trucks and buses.
The gasoline engine was originally selected for the automobile due to its flexibility over a wide range of speeds. Also, the power developed for a given weight engine was reasonable; it could be produced by economical mass-production methods; and it used a readily available, moderately priced fuel--gasoline. Reliability, compact size, and range of operation later became important factors.

In today’s world, there has been a growing emphasis on the pollution producing features of automotive power systems. This has created new interest in alternate power sources and internal-combustion engine refinements that were not economically feasible in prior years. Although a few limited-production battery-powered electric vehicles have appeared from time to time, they have not proved to be competitive owing to costs and operating characteristics. However, the gasoline engine, with its new emission-control devices to improve emission performance, has not yet been challenged significantly.

The first half of the twentieth century saw a trend to increase engine horsepower, particularly in the American models. Design changes incorporated all known methods of raising engine capacity, including increasing the pressure in the cylinders to improve efficiency, increasing the size of the engine, and increasing the speed at which power is generated. The higher forces and pressures created by these changes created engine vibration and size problems that led to stiffer, more compact engines with V and opposed cylinder layouts replacing longer straight-line arrangements. In passenger cars, V-8 layouts were adopted for all piston displacements greater than 250 cubic inches (4 liters).


Smaller cars brought about a return a to smaller engines, the four- and six-cylinder designs rated as low as 80 horsepower, compared with the standard-size V-8 of large cylinder bore and relatively short piston stroke with horsepower ratings in the range from 250 to 350.

The automobile engines from Europe had a bigger range, varying from 1to12 cylinders with corresponding differences in overall size, weight, piston displacement, and cylinder bores. Four cylinders and horsepower ratings from 19 to 120 was followed in a majority of the models. Several three-cylinder, two-stroke-cycle models were built while most engines had straight or in-line cylinders. There were several V-type models and horizontally opposed two- and four-cylinder makes too. Overhead camshafts were frequently employed. The smaller engines were commonly air-cooled and located at the rear of the vehicle; compression ratios were relatively low. The 1970s and '80s saw an increased interest in improved fuel economy which brought in a return to smaller V-6 and four-cylinder layouts, with as many as five valves per cylinder to improve efficiency

Advance Engine Technology

The country among other things has seen an enormous development in the engines which are being used in the cars these days. Carburetor engines have become obsolete and Multi Point Fuel Injection (MPFI) engines are the order of the days in petrol cars. The Diesel engines have also under gone a sea change from the time Rudolf Diesel invented it way back in the 1892. Today Common Rail Direct Injection (CRDI) is the order of the day. In this section we will briefly discuss about the technologies that are in both the engines.
MPFI (Multi Point Fuel Injection)

The fuel injections were used to meet stricter emission norms as it keeps pollutants to bare minimum and derives the maximum performance out of a vehicle by squeezing out the maximum mileage even from the last drop of fuel that goes into the engine.

It has to be noted that when these engines first made their debut in the country they were single point engines rather than multi point ones. In fact when Opel Astra first came to India they were fitted with obsolete Single Point Engines rather than the Multi- Point ones.

MPFI system injects fuel into individual cylinders after receiving command from the on board engine management system computer or Engine Control Unit (ECU).

This technology results in superior fuel combustion, better fuel management, engine performance and reduced pollution. To get the maximum out from these types of engine one should use Premium petrol like Speed etc.



Common Rail Direct Injection (CRDI)

Did you ever shy away from buying a Diesel car thinking that you would be buying a taxi? If yes then you can rethink your decision as CRDI engines are all set to revolutionize the way one looks at Diesel cars.

CRDI engine fitted cars offer 25% more power than the normal direct injection engine with a superior pickup and torque offering sometimes up to 70% more power than the conventional diesel engines.

They are smooth less noisy and immensely fuel efficient giving around 24 kilometers to a liter of Diesel. The fact that Diesel is cheaper than petrol in India further attributes greatness to the engine. In a CRDI engine, a tube or a common rail connects all the injectors and contains fuel at a constant high pressure.

This high pressure in the common rail ensures that when injected, the fuel breaks up into small particles and mixes evenly with the air, thereby leaving little un-burnt fuel thus reducing pollution. The common rail principle has been used to cut out the noise factor which used to be associated with Diesel engines; the technology has been pioneered by the Fiat group, only to be adopted by other automobile companies around the world.

Like all good things in life, these engines also come at a price; they are at least 25% more costly than the conventional engines. They also require a higher degree of maintenance and spares aren't cheap also.

New Autotechnique

Now I’m not talking about “talking cars” like Kitt from Knight Rider, this new vehicle can talk to other vehicles wirelessly to let each other know where they are. Check the video below to see a demonstration of their new technology: Car-to-car communication.On June, Participants from San Francisco were invited into the vehicles and driven through common crash scenarios to experience the vehicle to vehicle communication in action.Ford is the first automaker to build dedicated intelligent vehicles to assist us in our dangerous driving world.The best thing about this new technology, is that Ford is working closely with other automakers to make sure that all of the vehicles are equipped with this new vehicle communication technology.

How it works

Ford’s vehicle communications research technology allows vehicles to talk wirelessly with one another using advanced Wi-Fi signals, or dedicated short-range communications, on a secured channel allocated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This new feature is different than the current radar based technologies in place on most luxury vehicles like Volvo. Unlike the radar safety feature, which only identifies hazards that are in front of the vehicle, the new Wireless communication for the vehicles gives your vehicle 360 degree detection of dangerous situations.

This is a new type of Wi-Fi technology, it will help your vehicle communicate with other vehicles before you even get the chance to see the other driver. For example, you could be at a stop light and you have an object, or a car, blocking the view of oncoming traffic, if a vehicle runs the red light, your vehicle will be automatically alerted about the other on coming vehicle. The systems also could warn drivers if there is a risk of collision when changing lanes, approaching a parked vehicle, or if another driver loses control.

Speaking the same language

Ford is partnering with other automakers, the federal government, as well as local and county road commissions to create a common language that ensures all vehicles can talk to each other based on a common communication standard. This will guarantee that your vehicle knows exactly where other vehicles are while you drive down the road.

This has a number of different possibilities, if somehow ford integrates this system onto an App, pedestrians could have this application on their phones to minimize less accident’s against pedestrians on bicycles, or even motorcycles. Ford is trying to lay down the frame work for this new technology, if it works it could minimize the crashes and accidents that cost the US over $100 Billion dollars a year, not to mention your time. Being stuck at rush Hour for 4 hours extra because of an accident is a tremendous inconvenience.