Download Modern internal combustion engines

Modern internal combustion engines Applications
History
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Leonardo da Vinci, in 1509, and Christiaan Huygens, in 1673, described constant pressure engines.
(Leonardo's description may not imply that the idea was original with him or that it was actually
constructed.)
English inventor Sir Samuel Morland used gunpowder to drive water pumps in the 17th century. In 1794,
Robert Street built a compression-less engine whose principle of operation would dominate for nearly a
century. The first internal combustion engine to be Applied industrially was patented by Samual Brown in
1823. It was based on what Hardenberg calls the "Leonardo cycle", which, as this name implies, was
already out of date at that time. Just as today, early major funding, in an area where standards had not yet
been established, went to the best showmen sooner than to the best workers. The Italians Eugenio
Barsanti and Felice Matteucci patented the first working, efficient internal combustion engine in 1854 in
London (pt. Num. 1072) but did not get into production with it. It was similar in concept to the successful
Otto Langen indirect engine, but not so well worked out in detail. In 1860, Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir
(1822 - 1900) produced a gas-fired internal combustion engine not dissimilar in appearance to a steam
beam engine. This closely resembled a horizontal double acting steam engine, with cylinders, pistons,
connecting-rods and fly wheel in which the gas essentially took the place of the steam. This was the first
internal combustion engine to be produced in numbers. The American Samuel Morey received a patent on
April 1, 1826 for a "Gas Or Vapor Engine". His first (1862) engine with compression having shocked
itself apart, Nikolaus Otto designed an indirect acting free piston compression-less engine whose greater
efficiency won the support of Langen and then most of the market, which at that time, was mostly for
small stationary engines fueled by lighting gas. In 1870 in Vienna Siegfried Marcus put the first mobile
gasoline engine on a handcart.
Internal combustion engines are most commonly used for mobile propulsion systems. In mobile
scenarios internal combustion is advantageous, since it can provide high power to weight ratios together
with excellent fuel energy-density. These engines have appeared in almost all cars, motorbikes, many
boats, and in a wide variety of aircraft and locomotives. Where very high power is required, such as jet
aircraft, helicopters and large ships, they appear mostly in the form of gas turbines. They are also used for
electric generators and by industry.
For low power mobile and many non-mobile applications an electric motor is a competitive alternative. In
the future, electric motors may also become competitive for most mobile applications. However, the high
cost, weight, and poor energy density of PbA and even NiMH batteries and lack of affordable on board
electric generators such as fuel cells has largely restricted their use to specialist applications. However
recent battery advancements in lightweight Li-ion and Li-poly chemistries are bringing safety, power
density, lifespan, and cost to within acceptable or even desirable levels. For example recently battery
electric vehicles began to demonstrated 300 miles of range on Lithium, now improved power makes them
appealing for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles whose electric range is less critical having internal
combustion for unlimited range.