Generally the vehicles using

petrol/gasoline engine have four strokes

as they are more efficient than two stroke
engine and give complete combustion of
fuel to optimum use.
The four-stroke cycle engine has four
strokes namely intake, compression,
power, and exhaust strokes.
Types of petrol engines
Working of four stock engine
A) Suction or intake stroke:
Initially when engine is started piston
moves downwards towards bottom of the
cylinder which creates low pressure at
top. Due to this intake valve opens and
the fuel mixture containing petrol vapors
and air are sucked in by the cylinder.
Carburetor now decides in what ratio
gasoline/petrol and air should be mixed.
B) The compression stroke:
After this the inlet valve gets closed.
The piston now moves towards the top
of cylinder and compresses the fuel
mixture to one tenth of its initial
volume. The temperature and pressure
inside the cylinder increases due to
compression caused.
 C) The power stroke:

During this stroke the inlet and

exhaust valve remains closed. As the
piston reaches near top position
spark plug produces an electric
spark. Combustion is started by an
ignition system that fires a high
voltage spark through a field
replaceable air gap called a
sparkplug. The spark produced
causes explosion of fuel.
The hot gases expand and force the
piston to move downwards. The piston
is linked to the piston rod and the
piston rod to the crank shaft. They all
move each other due to the link
between them. The crank shaft is
connected to the wheels of a car. As
the crank shaft movess, the wheels
rotate and move the car.
 D) The exhaust stroke:
In this stroke the exhaust valve
remains open at the start. The piston is
forced to move upwards because of the
momentum gained. This forces gases
to move through the exhaust valve into
the atmosphere. Now the exhaust valve
closes and the intake valve opens.
After this the four strokes of the engine
are repeated again and again
shows a cut-away diagrams of a
Two-Stroke Petrol engine. This
engine design is the simpler
mechanically of two and four
stroke as it minimises the number
of moving parts which must be
kept in sync. The description "two
stroke" comes from the fact that
the engine fires (burns fuel) on
every upward stroke (travel of the
piston from bottom of the cylinder
to the top), thus there are two
strokes for every ignition of fuel,
and upward and a downward
stroke.
The first stroke moves from bottom to top,
where compressed air and fuel ignite and begin
the second stroke where the piston is forced
back downwards by the
STROKE 1A: PISTON AT BDC

In the diagram the piston is at

BDC (Bottom Dead Centre -
meaning it is at the lowest
point of travel within the
cylinder). The air, petrol and
oil mixture within the
crankcase is forced into the
cylinder and exhaust gases
are driven out.
STROKE 1B: THE INSTROKE

The piston moves upwards

and covers the air intake and
exhaust ports closing them.
The charge of fresh air is
compressed to about 5:1
(20%) of its original volume.
The act of compressing the air
heats it tremendously.
This happens on every
upward stroke of the piston.
STROKE 2A: PISTON AT TDC

Just as the piston reaches the

uppermost portion of it's travel at
Top Dead Centre (TDC) the
spark plug is fired causing
combustion of the compressed
mixture within the cylinder. At the
same time petrol and oil vapour
is being drawn into the crank-
case in preparation for the next
stroke.
 STROKE 2B: PISTON NEARING
BDC
During the downward stroke the exhaust port
opens, and the cylinder is swept clean of
burnt fuel by fresh air from the inlet port. The
petrol, oil and air charge within the crank-
case is compressed during this stroke in
preparation for the next stroke.This entire
cycle is repeated for every revolution of the
crank shaft.Thanks to Dr Gary Zimmer who
pointed out the compression ratio was way
out for the engines described here. I
appreciate it when people who discover
errors on the pages point them out so they
can be corrected!
Shows how a four stroke petrol
engine works.
Stroke 1. The downward moving piston
sucks a mixture of air and petrol vapour
into the cylinder through the inlet valve.
Stroke 2. The piston then moves upwards,
compressing the gas mixture.
Stroke 3. Just before the piston reaches
the top of the cylinder a spark from the
spark plug explodes the gas mixture. The
pressure from the rapidly expanding gas
pushes the piston down and causes a
flywheel that it is connected to by the
crankshaft to rotate. It is this rotation that
is used to drive the wheels of the car.
Stroke 4. The piston moves upwards in the
cylinder again to push out the gases through
the exhaust valve into the exhaust system of
the vehicle. As the piston moves down, it
pulls more fuel/air mixture in to begin the
cycle again.
SUBMITED
BY:-
1.Ravi Paul
2.Sonu
3.Bikramjeet
ClASS : 10th
 SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
ENCARTA
ENCYCLOPEDIA
INTER NET
BOOK OF CLASS 10TH

(P.S.E.B.)