, that is commonly found in lower-power applications. Some of the devices that might have a two-stroke engine include:
In
this article, you'll learn all about the two-stroke engine: how it
works, why it might be used and what makes it different from regular
car and diesel engines.
You find two-stroke engines in such devices as chain saws and jet skis because two-stroke engines have three important advantages over four-stroke engines:
These advantages make two-stroke engines lighter, simpler and less
expensive to manufacture. Two-stroke engines also have the potential to
pack about twice the power into the same space because there are twice
as many power strokes per revolution. The combination of light weight
and twice the power gives two-stroke engines a great
power-to-weight ratio compared to many four-stroke engine designs.
The Two-stroke Cycle :
The following video shows a two-stroke engine in action. You can compare
this animation to the animations in the car engine and diesel engine
articles to see the differences. The biggest difference to notice when
comparing figures is that the spark-plug fires once every revolution in a two-stroke engine.
How Two-Stroke Engine Works ?
The two stroke engine employs both the crankcase and the
cylinder to achieve all the elements of the Otto cycle in only
two strokes of the piston.
1. Intake
|
Intake |
The fuel/air mixture is first drawn into the crankcase by the vacuum
that is created during the upward stroke of the piston. The illustrated
engine features a poppet intake valve; however, many engines use a
rotary value incorporated into the crankshaft.
|
crankcase compression |
2. Crankcase compression
During the downward stroke, the poppet valve is forced closed by the
increased crankcase pressure. The fuel mixture is then compressed in the
crankcase during the remainder of the stroke.
3. Transfer/Exhaust
|
Exhaust |
Toward the end of the stroke, the piston exposes the intake port,
allowing the compressed fuel/air
mixture in the crankcase to escape
around the piston into the main cylinder. This expels the exhaust gasses
out the exhaust port, usually located on the opposite side of the
cylinder. Unfortunately, some of the fresh fuel mixture is usually
expelled as well.
|
compression |
|
4. Compression
The piston then rises, driven by flywheel momentum, and compresses the
fuel mixture. (At the same time, another intake stroke is happening
beneath the piston).
|
Power |
Power
At the top of the stroke, the spark plug ignites the fuel mixture. The
burning fuel expands, driving the piston downward, to complete the
cycle. (At the same time, another crankcase compression stroke is
happening beneath the piston.)
Disadvantages of the Two-stroke
You can now see that two-stroke engines have two important advantages
over four-stroke engines: They are simpler and lighter, and they
produce about twice as much power. So why do cars and trucks use four-stroke engines? There are four main reasons:
- Two-stroke
engines don't last nearly as long as four-stroke engines. The lack of a
dedicated lubrication system means that the parts of a two-stroke
engine wear a lot faster.
- Two-stroke oil is expensive, and you need about 4 ounces of it per gallon of gas. You would burn about a gallon of oil every 1,000 miles if you used a two-stroke engine in a car.
- Two-stroke engines do not use fuel efficiently, so you would get fewer miles per gallon.
- Two-stroke
engines produce a lot of pollution -- so much, in fact, that it is
likely that you won't see them around too much longer.
The pollution comes from two sources. The first is the
combustion of the oil. The oil makes all two-stroke engines smoky to
some extent, and a badly worn two-stroke engine can emit huge clouds of
oily smoke. The second reason is less obvious but can be seen in the
following figure:
Each time a new charge of air/fuel is loaded into the combustion chamber, part of it
leaks out
through the exhaust port. That's why you see a sheen of oil around any
two-stroke boat motor. The leaking hydrocarbons from the fresh fuel
combined with the leaking oil is a real mess for the environment.
These
disadvantages mean that two-stroke engines are used only in
applications where the motor is not used very often and a fantastic
power-to-weight ratio is important.
In the meantime, manufacturers
have been working to shrink and lighten four-stroke engines, and you
can see that research coming to market in a variety of new marine and
lawn-care products.
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