Web animation: Four-stroke petrol engine

The following animations illustrate the processes that take place inside a four-stroke petrol engine.

The animation is suitable as a basic introduction to the functioning of four-stroke petrol engines.

Description of the animation

1. Intake: The valves open. The piston moves downwards. The vacuum fills the cylinder with air and fuel. Both components mix to form a fuel-air mixture.

2. Compression: The valves are closed. The piston moves upwards. This increases the pressure and temperature inside the combustion chamber.

3. Combustion: Shortly before the piston reaches the top dead centre, the fuel-air mixture is ignited by the spark plug. The fuel-air mixture burns from top to bottom. The flame front hits the piston and pushes it downwards.

4. Exhaust: The fuel-air mixture is completely burnt. The valves open again. The piston moves upwards. The combustion gases are expelled.

Requirements

PlatformPC/Mac bzw. Tablet
Resolution(min)1280 x 720

Contributors

C. Hein, S. Rikowski

References

Further information

The GUI elements used in this animation are published under the MIT license:

https://github.com/sebriko/animiert

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