The Four Stroke
Engine Process
The four-stroke engine
gets its name from the amount of times that the
piston moves up and down the cylinder, two times up and two times down=
4
strokes. Yet only one of these strokes produces power, the other three
build up
to the power stroke.
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>The first stroke (as shown in the Diagram above) is the intake
stroke,
which fills the cylinder with a combustible fuel.
>The
second stroke the upward stroke is called the compression stroke. As
its name
implies, the compression stroke compresses the fuel charge as it moves
the
piston upward driving the charge towards the top of the cylinder. With this stroke oxygen is compressed with
the fuel. This fuel could be gasoline, diesel, propane, LPG, methanol,
ethanol,
hydrazine, nitro methane, etc., and the fuel is ignited.
>This
brings us to the third stroke or power stroke, the flame from the
ignition
sweeps out in all directions to ignite the mixture, superheating the
air, which
expands and presses against the entire cylinder assembly. Pressure is
exerted
on the piston, which is attached to a connecting rod, which exerts a
pressure
to the crankshaft, another lever, which converts reciprocating movement
to a
rotating or twisting movement commonly referred to as torque (Torque
= Force
on Piston x Stroke / 2), this produces work or energy. The four
stroke or
internal combustion engines basically all works on pressure and
leverage.
This Link
has A great visual moving animation of the process explained
above that may help you understand the four stroke process better.