The principle of the diesel engine in modern installations

Before touching the topic of an ordinary diesel engine, it would be useful to make a short excursion into the past and see who discovered the principle of the diesel engine, as well as the development of engines throughout the XX century.

The engineer who developed the design of the first engine using liquid fuel as an energy source was Rudolf Diesel. As early as the end of the 19th century, he discovered the possibility of using the instantaneous ignition of fuel in the chamber, as a result of which it was possible to obtain colossal energy capable of rotating the crankshaft. It is from this time that the era of diesel internal combustion engines begins. The main competitor of diesel engines were gasoline engines, which benefited from the fact that they could provide a higher speed of rotation. Only in the 1930s the German engineer R. Bosch was able to design the first ever multi-section high-pressure pump that provided further development of diesel engines.

The principle of the diesel engine is based on the fact that the ignition of the fuel mixture in the engine cylinders is not due to a spark from the spark plugs, but due to the pressure to which the diesel fuel is exposed. If in a gasoline engine fuel is mixed with air before entering the cylinder, then in the diesel engine, the purified air enters the cylinder when the piston moves down, after which the diesel fuel is injected, and as a result of the generated high pressure the mixture ignites. As a result, a more powerful energy release is obtained, and, accordingly, the power of the engine itself increases substantially. Thus, the principle of the diesel engine is based on a strong compression of the fuel mixture and its ignition.

There are, however, a number of shortcomings associated with the physical characteristics of the air and the fuel itself. The matter is that at a strong frost the temperature of compressed air can appear insufficient for ignition of diesel fuel, with what some problems are connected at start-up of the engine of diesel cars in a cold winter. However, in modern diesel units, not only for automotive, but also for industrial purposes, a pre-heating air heating system is used, which almost completely eliminates this trouble.

Diesel engines are widely used today in shipbuilding and aircraft building, where they have proven to be reliable and durable systems with a long service life. In addition, engines of this type have become widespread in turbines. In this case, the very principle of the turbine of a diesel engine is to use all the power that occurs when fuel is burned while the mechanical turbine is running .

Unfortunately, until now in the environment of motorists there are some myths about diesel engines, among which the most common are the following:

- too loud work of a diesel engine;

- slow engine operation;

- economical work;

- poor start-up in case of frost.

With the last point, we found out, and now the principle of the diesel engine does not depend on the temperature of the environment. As for more economical work, it was earlier, when the cost of diesel fuel was 3 times lower than the cost of gasoline. Today, the main advantage of diesel engines lies in the greater power and longer life of such an engine. Speaking of loud and slow operation, the very principle of the diesel engine refutes these statements, because if the engine is properly tuned and the conditions of its operation are met, it will serve you faithfully for a long time.