The internal combustion engine is a heat engine that uses the byproducts of combustion as the working fluid instead of using a heat transfer medium to transfer heat. The combustion is done in a way that produces high-pressure combustion products that can be expanded through a turbine or piston to create work. Internal combustion engines can again be categorized into three kinds: (1) spark ignition gasoline engines, most commonly used in automobiles, (2) compression ignition diesel engines that...

The automobile's ignition system plays a vital role by ensuring the timely ignition of the fuel-air mixture in each cylinder. This ignition is facilitated by a spark plug, which is composed of two electrodes separated by an air gap. A spark forms across this air gap when a substantial voltage is generated between the electrodes, leading to the ignition of the fuel.
One can generate a large voltage using a car battery of 12 volts with the help of inductors. Inductors are known for opposing...

A voltage doubler circuit integrates two main components: a clamping section and a rectifier section. The clamping section consists of a capacitor (C1) and a diode (D1), whereas the rectifier section is equipped with another diode (D2) and capacitor (C2). This circuit produces an output voltage with twice the amplitude of the sinusoidal input voltage.

Electric generators induce an emf by rotating a coil in a magnetic field. A simple alternator is an AC generator that creates electrical energy that varies sinusoidally with time. A simple alternator consists of a conducting loop that is placed inside a uniform magnetic field. The loop is connected to split rings connected to the external circuit with the help of brushes.
The magnetic flux passing through the coil varies sinusoidally as the loop rotates inside the magnetic field. This...

In 1749, Benjamin Franklin coined the word battery for a series of capacitors connected to store energy. Capacitors store electric potential energy that can be released over a short time. This property means capacitors have a wide range of applications.
Capacitor-discharge ignition is a type of ignition system commonly found in small engines where the energy released from a capacitor ignites an induction coil that, in turn, fires the spark plug.
To calculate the energy stored in a capacitor of...

An Otto engine is a four-stroke engine that uses a mixture of gasoline and air as the working fuel. The fuel is injected into the cylinder, and the piston is moved completely down so that the cylinder is at maximum volume. By moving the piston up, adiabatic compression takes place. The spark plug ignites the gasoline-air mixture, and the burning fuel adds heat to the system at a constant volume. The heated mixture expands adiabatically and gets further cooled by exhausting heat, and this cyclic...