What is Engine? What are Types of Heat Engine?

Table of Contents

Sharing is Caring :)-

What will you learn from this article?

Concept of Engine
Definition of Heat Engine
Basic Types of Heat Engine

Human uses mechanical power form the starting period of human existence. In the old civilization, human used its own muscles to do work or as a source of energy. In later period, they used animal to help them as energy source. After when the science come into existence, they used wind or water power to do work. But when the human learned art of conversion of energy form one form to another, a new era of mechanical discovered. This device, which convert energy form one form to another, known as engine.

What is Engine? What are Types of Heat Engines?

Definition of Engine:

Any device which converts energy from one form to another is known as engine. Energy is in various forms like mechanical energy, chemical energy, wind energy, flow energy, electric energy, magnetic energy, sound energy, light energy etc.

Energy can be convert from one form to another (First law of Thermodynamic).

Any device which convert chemical energy of fuel into thermal energy and convert this thermal energy into mechanical energy, known as heat engine. All automobiles engines, gas turbine engines, steam turbine engines etc. are heat engine. We will focus only on heat engines on this website.

Basic Types of Engines:

Mainly there are two types of heat engines. The first one is known as Internal Combustion Engine (IC Engine) and the other one is known as External Combustion Engine (EC Engine).There engines are further classified into reciprocating engine and rotary engine.

Internal Combustion Engine:

An engine in which combustion of fuel (Burning of Fuel or converting of chemical energy of fuel into thermal energy) take place into a closed cylinder is known as internal combustion engine. All automobile engines are internal combustion engine. These engines have higher thermal efficiency low weight to power ratio.

These engines are further classified into Rotary Engine (Wankel engine) and Reciprocating Engine (Diesel and Petrol Engine).

Reciprocating internal combustion engines are used in automobiles, motor cycles, boat, slow speed aircraft etc.

Rotary internal combustion engine are used in air craft (open cycle gas turbine)

External Combustion Engine:

An engine in which combustion of fuel takes place outside of the cylinder or engine is known as external combustion engine. For example for in steam engine, combustion of fuel takes place outside which convert water into steam and this high pressure steam used to do mechanical work.

These engines are further classified into rotary (Steam Turbine) and reciprocating Engine (Steam Engine).

External combustion engines have wide application in power plant engineering.

Now you should ask yourself these questions?