Understanding How a 4-Stroke Engine Works in Your Beloved Vehicle

Almost all layers of society now have personal vehicles, both two-wheeled and four-wheeled. When examined in detail, you can find information stating that the vehicle engine uses a 4-stroke engine. How does a 4-stroke engine work? Here’s the review.  

1. Intake Stroke (Intake)

The intake stroke is the stage when the intake valve opens and draws in the fuel mixture that has been atomized. Several processes occur during the intake stroke. 

First, the piston moves from TDC (top dead center) and continues down to BDC (bottom dead center). 

After that, the inlet valve opens, allowing the fuel to flow into the engine's cylinder. The next stage involves the crankshaft rotating up to 180°, the camshaft rotating up to 90°, and generating negative pressure. 

This condition allows the piston to draw in the air mist and facilitates the delivery of fuel to the cylinder. 

This process successfully allows the air mist and fuel to enter the cylinder due to the influence of the engine's power. The amount of power produced by the engine is influenced by the number of combustions at the engine's energy source. Once the first working cycle of the 4-stroke engine is completed, the engine will automatically move to the next stage. 

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2. Compression Stroke (Compression)

The next principle of the 4-stroke engine is the compression stage. At this stage, the inlet valve will close, while the piston moves towards the combustion chamber due to the momentum of the flywheel. This stage also occurs in several steps before entering the third stage. 

First, the piston moves from BDC to TDC, followed by the closing of the inlet and exhaust valves. The fuel that is already in the combustion chamber will be compressed. 

Before TDC reaches the 15° position, the vehicle's spark plug begins to produce a spark that aids the combustion process. 

3. Power or Combustion Stroke (Combustion)

The power or combustion stroke is the most important working cycle of the 4-stroke engine. Because at this stage, the generation of power to drive the vehicle begins. 

Power is obtained from the mixture of air and fuel that has started to be compressed, then ignited by the help of the spark plug in the combustion chamber. 

When the engine's spark plug ignites, the combustion speed will automatically propagate, resulting in an explosion that is contained against the cylinder head walls. 

This condition creates feedback when generating power. A perfect explosion in the combustion chamber causes the piston to be pushed from TDC to BDC. 

As a result, the inlet valve closes perfectly, and the exhaust valve slowly opens due to the push. Next, a reciprocating motion occurs in the piston that can generate rotational energy in the crankshaft. Even the camshaft rotation changes to 270°, which is claimed to produce environmentally friendly energy. 

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4. Exhaust Stroke (Exhaust)

The exhaust stroke is equally important in the working cycle of the 4-stroke engine. Because the piston pushes the leftover combustion gases out of the cylinder towards the exhaust pipe. 

The process of expelling the leftover combustion gases must occur optimally to minimize the risk of new gases being produced along with new power. 

As the name suggests, a 4-stroke engine is a machine that goes through 4 stages to generate energy. Now, many vehicles have been equipped with this advanced engine. 

It does not produce excessive emission gases, which is one of the reasons why this advanced engine is labeled environmentally friendly.