Deisel, Rudolf
First Diesel experimental engine built at Augsburh, 1893
The diesel engine is a internal
combustion
engine invented by a German engineer Rudolf Diesel and patented by him
in 1892. The diesel engine differs from the gasoline engine in that the
ignition of fuel is caused by compresion of air in the cylinder
instead of by a spark: the high compression ratio allows the air in
the cylinder to become hot enough to ignite the
fuel.
At the top of the stroke a jet
of oil is sprayed in through an injector. The oil is ignited and the
rapid expansion of the gas created by the explosion forces the piston
down in the working, or firing, stroke. The next upstroke drives the
waste gases out through the exhaust valve, and the cycle is complete.
The speed and power of the diesel are controlled by varying the amount of fuel injected into the cylinder, not the amount of air admitted as in the gasoline engine. Small and medium-size ships may have several diesels producing as much as 50,000 hp. Heavy-duty land transport such as trains, trucks, busses, and tractors are often diesel-powered. Some automobiles and even some airplanes have had diesel engines.
The speed and power of the diesel are controlled by varying the amount of fuel injected into the cylinder, not the amount of air admitted as in the gasoline engine. Small and medium-size ships may have several diesels producing as much as 50,000 hp. Heavy-duty land transport such as trains, trucks, busses, and tractors are often diesel-powered. Some automobiles and even some airplanes have had diesel engines.