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1952 Shell Oil film showing the development of the diesel engine from 1877. The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is called a compression-ignition engine (CI engine).
Diesel fuel, which is meant for specialized engines most commonly found in commercial vehicles, can cause significant damage if used in cars that run on traditional gasoline.
Diesel engine runaway is an occurrence in diesel engines, in which the engine draws extra fuel from an unintended source and overspeeds at higher and higher RPM, producing up to ten times the engine's rated output until destroyed by mechanical failure or bearing seizure due to a lack of lubrication. [1]
Due to their higher compression ratios, diesel engines have a much smaller final combustion chamber volume, requiring much less liquid to hydrolock. Diesel engines also tend to have higher torque, rotating inertia, and stronger starter motors than gasoline engines. The result is that a diesel engine is more likely to suffer catastrophic damage.
Diesel fuel has many colloquial names; most commonly, it is simply referred to as diesel.In the United Kingdom, diesel fuel for road use is commonly called diesel or sometimes white diesel if required to differentiate it from a reduced-tax agricultural-only product containing an identifying coloured dye known as red diesel.
High pressure fuel pumps depend on diesel fuel for lubrication and the addition of gasoline will cause adverse wear and eventual failure of the pump. Car makers selling common rail or Unit Injector diesel engines prohibit the dilution of diesel fuel with either gasoline or kerosene as it may destroy the injection device. [4] [7]
A diesel engine that operates below the smoke limit produces a visible exhaust. In modern motor vehicle diesel engines, this condition is generally avoided by burning the fuel in excess air even at full load. The primary products of petroleum fuel combustion in air are carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen.
The ignition source of a diesel engine is the heat generated by the compression of the air in the cylinder, rather than a spark as in gasoline engines. The dieseling phenomenon occurs not just because the compression ratio is sufficient to cause auto-ignition of the fuel, but also because a hot spot inside the cylinder (spark plug electrode ...