How an Engine Works
By: Evan Olson
Index:
• 1: Basic Parts of an
Engine
• 2: How an Engine Works
• 3: Career Opportunities
in This Field
Basic Parts of an Engine
There are many parts in an engine and
if I tried to list them off it would take
me forever. So I will start with the
critical parts of an engine that I will
have to speak about to teach you how
an engine works. It goes as following,
pistons, valves, camshaft, crankshaft,
spark plug, and the timing belt.
Pistons
Pistons are used a major part of an engine,
without these there would be no movement
in the engine to get it going. These pump up
and down to help run the engine.
This is the actual piston the
moves up and down its
sleeve.
Valves
The valves inject oxygen and fuel into the
pistons that make the pistons move and
ultimately move the engine.
This is where the piston
would be
These are the valves, they move up
and down to let oxygen and fuel to
move into the pistons.
Camshaft
• The camshaft if connected to the valves, it
rotates and helps move them up and down.
This is the camshaft
What it actually
looks like
Crankshaft
The crankshaft is connected to the pistons and
moves in a circular motion to move the
engine.
This is the crankshaft
Spark Plugs
Spark Plugs are based at the top of the pistons
are used to ignite fuel in the pistons that move
them.
Timing Belt
The timing belt is connected to the crankshaft
and it rotates the camshaft.
Timing Belt
Crankshaft
Camshaft
Flywheel
• The flywheel is connected to the crankshaft.
It moves in a circle and ultimately moves the
engine.
This is the flywheel, it is connected to the
crankshaft inside the engine
How It Works
You may think that an engine works with the turn
of a key but its much more complicated than
that. To get this you have to understand the
concept that in an engine, one thing runs the
next and the second one then helps move the
first one. It’s a complex system. Once you
understand the concept that I just put out I can
start explaining the actual engine. First off
using the battery energy it starts the engine
moving. This is where it gets complex.
As the engines starts getting going, the valves
release gas into the pistons, this pushes the
piston down and then back up, as the
pressure increases on the gas it explodes
moving the piston back down, then, the
second valve releases this gas and air and a
new cycle of this begins.
These valves are connected to the crankshaft by medal
rods, as the pistons move up and down, the crankshaft
begins to move in a circle.
This is the
crankshaft.
As the crankshaft turns, it is connected to a flywheel at the
front
that ultimately turns the axel and moves the
machine. At the other end
Is the timing belt, this
turns in a circle with the crankshaft and turns the
camshaft at the top, the camshaft is connected to the
valves, as it turns it opens and closes the valves, starting
the piston process again
This is the camshaft, it is turning
because there would be a timing
belt at one end.
Here is the full animation of the previous slides.
These can-shaped objects
are the pistons.
The Flywheel is
connected here at the
front of the crankshaft,
it is what “moves” the
machine.
Career Opportunities
Although my topic is how an engine works, I
will also talk about the career opportunities
that have a relation to engines and things like
that. The obvious career choices here would be
mechanic, body shop worker, car painter etc.
But there are many more. Anything from car
design to economics to small engine repair
people, these all have things to do with engines.