CHAPTER 1 AUTOMOTIVE BASICS

Principal Components

Today's average car contains more than 15,000 separate, individual parts that must work together. These parts can grouped into four major categories: engine, body, chassis and electrical equipment.

Engine

The engine acts as the power unit. The internal combustion engine is most common: this obtains its power by burning a liquid fuel inside the engine cylinder. There are two types of engine :gasoline(also called a spark-ignition engine) and diesel(also called a compression-ignition engine).Both engines are called heat engines; the burning fuel generates heat which causes the gas inside the cylinder to increase its pressure and supply

power to rotate a shaft connected to the transmission.

Body

An automobile body is a sheet metal shell with windows, doors, a hood, and a trunk deck built into it. It provides a protective covering for the engine, passengers, and cargo. The body is designed to keep passengers safe and comfortable. The body styling provides an attractive, colorful, modern appearance for the vehicle.

Chassis

The chassis is an assembly of those systems that are the major operating part of a vehicle. The chassis includes the transmission, suspension, steering, and brake systems.

Transmission systems ― conveys the drive to the wheels. The main components are clutch, gearbox, driveshaft, final drive, and differential. Suspension― absorbs the road shocks.

Steering― controls the direction of the movement. Brake― slows down the vehicle.

Electrical Equipment

The electrical system supplies electricity for the ignition, horn, lights, heater, and starter. The electricity level is maintained by a charging circuit. This circuit consists of the battery, alternator (or generator). The battery stores electricity. The alternator changes the engine's mechanical energy into electrical energy and recharges the batte

Engine and power

Engine is used to produce power. The chemical energy in fuel is converted to heat by the burning of the fuel at a controlled rate. This process is called combustion. If engine combustion occurs with the power chamber. ,the engine is called internal combustion engine. If combustion takes place outside the cylinder, the engine is called an external combustion engine.

Engine used in automobiles are internal combustion heat engines. Heat energy released in the combustion chamber raises the temperature of the combustion gases with the chamber. The increase in gas temperature causes the pressure of the gases to increase. The pressure developed within the combustion chamber is applied to the head of a piston to produce a usable mechanical force, which is then converted into useful mechanical power.

Engine Terms

Linking the piston by a connecting rod to a crankshaft causes the gas to rotate the shaft through half a turn. The power stroke “uses up” the gas , so means must be provided to expel the burnt gas and recharge the cylinder with a fresh petrol-air mixture :this control of gas movement is the duty of the valves ;an inlet valve allows the new mixture to enter at the right time and an exhaust valve lets out the burnt gas after the gas has done its job. Engine terms are :

TDC(Top Dead Center):the position of the crank and piston when the piston is farther away from the crankshaft.

BDC(Bottom Dead Center):the position of the crank and piston when the piston is nearest to the crankshaft.

Stroke : the distance between BDC and TDC; stroke is controlled by the crankshaft. Bore : the internal diameter of the cylinder.

Swept volume : the volume between TDC and BDC.

Engine capacity : this is the swept volume of all the cylinder e.g. a four-stroke having a capacity of two liters(2000cm) has a cylinder swept volume of 50cm.

Clearance volume: the volume of the space above the piston when it is at TDC. Compression ratio = (swept vol + clearance vol)\\(clearance vol)

Two-stroke : a power stroke every revolution of the crank.

Four-stroke : a power stroke every other revolution of the crank..

The Four-stroke Spark-ignition Engine Cycle

The spark-ignition engine is an internal-combustion engine with externally supplied in ignition , which converts the energy contained in the fuel to kinetic energy.

The cycle of operations is spread over four piston strokes. To complete the full cycle it takes two revolutions of the crankshaft. The operating strokes are :

This stroke introduces a mixture of atomized gasoline and air into the cylinder. The stroke starts when the piston moves downward from a position near the top of the cylinder. As the piston moves downward, a vacuum, or low-pressure area, is created.

During the intake stroke, one of the ports is opened by moving the inlet valve. The exhaust valve remains tightly closed.

Compression stroke

As the piston moves upward to compress the fuel mixture trapped in the cylinder, the valves are closed tightly. This compression action heats the air/fuel mixture slightly and confines it