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History of Diesel

Diesel Engine was invented by Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, a GermanEngineer. Diesel was born on 18 March 1858 in Paris. He Studied Engineering and became astudent ofCarl Von Linde, the inventor of refrigerator while he was studying in technical

university in Munich.

Nikolaus Olto had developed the Spark ignited I.C. engine but itwas less efficient and most unsuited for heavy duty.

y Diesel showed his interest in thermo dynamics and inspired byhis teacher Carl Linde he dreamed of inventing an engine which would have a muchhigher efficiency and use a cheaper fuel. He thought of compressing air enough to ignite a fuel

sprayed in. It was successful and gradually developed the concept of the diesel engine. In thebeginning he tried ammonia gas as a fuel but the ammonia cylinder exploded. He encountered the

problem of injection fuel at very high pressures in to the compressed air in the cylinder. He triedusing pulverized coal but its ash content troubled the cylinder. He tried liquid petroleum which is a

fraction derived from raw petroleum, itself ignites easily in compressed air.y In 1897 the first commercial model comes in market.y There are 4 stroke and 2 stroke diesel engines. In a 2 stroke engine cycle of operations is completed

in 2 strokes of the piston corresponding to the one revolution of the crankshaft.

y Where in the 4 stroke, the piston moves down on the first stroke, the inlet valve opens and air fromthe atmosphere is drawn in to the cylinder. During the second stroke or the upward movement of thepiston, both the inlet and the exhaust valves close and air get highly compressed. At the end of

second stroke diesel oil is sprayed at a very high pressure into the high compressed air. The fuel getsself ignites due to the high temperature of the air. The heat released by the combustion raises the

pressure and temperature of the gas in the cylinder which pushes the piston down forcefully, formingthe power stroke. During the exhaust stroke or fourth stroke the exhaust valve opens and the products

of combustion are pushed out.

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y This cycle goes on repeating and the engine moves. The reciprocating motion of the piston isconverted in to rotary motion by the connecting rod and crankshaft.

y

Dr.Rudolf Diesel spent his last days in poverty. Diesel engines are far less polluting than the petrol

engines since they use more air than in necessary for combustion.y Dr.Rudolf Diesel died on 29 September 1913.