Engines Quiz

Answer: Petrol engine. The petrol engine uses a spark plug to ignite the air/fuel mixture, unlike the diesel which works by auto-ignition.

Answer: Turbocharger. The turbocharger increases the amount of air admitted, thus increasing power.

Answer: High efficiency. It has far higher efficiency than thermal engines. However, the production and delivery of electricity must also be factored in.

Answer: Fuel cell. It produces electricity from hydrogen.

Answer: Pollution. It emits polluting gases.

Answer: Steam. Used since the 18th century.

Answer: Maybach petrol engine. Zeppelins were mostly powered by Maybach petrol engines, light and powerful. A notable exception: the LZ 129 Hindenburg (1936) used four Daimler-Benz diesel engines of about 1,200 hp each.

Answer: It was the first viable internal combustion engine. Jean-Joseph Étienne Lenoir created the first internal combustion engine to produce useful work on an industrial scale, albeit with low efficiency.

Answer: The 2-stroke completes one cycle per crankshaft revolution. In a 2-stroke engine, intake, compression, combustion and exhaust all occur in one crankshaft revolution (360°), versus two revolutions (720°) for a 4-stroke.

Answer: Fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber under high pressure, instead of being mixed with air in the intake manifold. Unlike indirect injection, which mixes petrol with air in the intake manifold before it enters the cylinder, direct injection sprays fuel under high pressure directly into the combustion chamber, just before or during the compression stroke. This precision allows better control of the air/fuel mixture, more efficient combustion, and reduced fuel consumption compared to conventional indirect injection.

Answer: Wankel rotary engine. It uses a rotor instead of pistons.

Answer: Turbine jet engine. The Thrust SSC, powered by two Rolls-Royce Spey fighter jet engines, reached 1,228 km/h, breaking the sound barrier.

Answer: Both of the above. In this engine, two pistons move in opposition in the same cylinder, with no traditional cylinder head or valves. This design offers superior thermal efficiency.

Answer: Peroxide engine. The hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) engine decomposes the peroxide over a catalyst, releasing steam and oxygen. It has powered certain experimental aircraft and torpedoes.

Answer: BMW 1.5L turbocharged 6-cylinder. The 1.5L BMW M12/13 turbo used by Brabham and Benetton exceeded 1,500 hp in qualifying — a power density record never equalled in F1.

Answer: To drive milk separators at very high speed. Gustaf de Laval invented a high-speed steam turbine to drive centrifugal cream separators, marking the dawn of modern turbines.

Answer: They need no external oxygen. AIP systems (such as the Stirling engine or fuel cell) allow diesel-electric submarines to remain submerged for several weeks without surfacing.

Answer: Finland / Switzerland. The Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C is a 2-stroke, 14-cylinder inline diesel engine developed by Wärtsilä (Finland) and Sulzer (Switzerland). Its 109,000 hp makes it the most powerful engine ever built.

Answer: Since fuel no longer passes over the intake valves, carbon deposits build up on them over time, which can reduce airflow. On indirect injection engines, fuel sprayed into the intake manifold had a natural 'cleaning' effect on the valves. With direct injection, fuel only enters the combustion chamber after the intake valves, so oil vapours and combustion residues can settle there and form carbon deposits, gradually reducing airflow and sometimes requiring preventive cleaning.

Answer: About 350 to 500 bar, much higher than indirect injection. While conventional indirect injection operates at just a few bar of pressure, gasoline direct injection requires much higher pressures, around 350 to 500 bar in the most recent systems, in order to finely atomise the fuel directly into the combustion chamber despite the pressure already present during the compression stroke. This high pressure improves fuel atomisation and therefore combustion quality.