Other attributes
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high-pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine. The force is applied typically to pistons, turbine blades, a rotor, or a nozzle. This force moves the component over a distance, transforming chemical energy into useful kinetic energy and is used to propel, move or power whatever the engine is attached to. This replaced the external combustion engine for applications where weight or size of the engine is important.
The first commercially successful internal combustion engine was created by Étienne Lenoir around 1860 and the first modern internal combustion engine was created in 1876 by Nicolaus Otto (see Otto engine).
The term internal combustion engine usually refers to an engine in which combustion is intermittent, such as the more familiar four-stroke and two-stroke piston engines, along with variants, such as the six-stroke piston engine and the Wankel rotary engine. A second class of internal combustion engines use continuous combustion: gas turbines, jet engines and most rocket engines, each of which are internal combustion engines on the same principle as previously described.[4][5] Firearms are also a form of internal combustion engine, though of a type so specialized that they are commonly treated as a separate category, along with weaponry such as mortars and anti-aircraft cannons.
In contrast, in external combustion engines, such as steam or Stirling engines, energy is delivered to a working fluid not consisting of, mixed with, or contaminated by combustion products. Working fluids for external combustion engines include air, hot water, pressurized water or even liquid sodium, heated in a boiler.
ICEs are usually powered by energy-dense fuels such as gasoline or diesel fuel, liquids derived from fossil fuels. While there are many stationary applications, most ICEs are used in mobile applications and are the dominant power supply for vehicles such as cars, aircraft and boats.
ICEs are typically powered by fossil fuels like natural gas or petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel fuel or fuel oil. Renewable fuels like biodiesel are used in compression ignition (CI) engines and bioethanol or ETBE (ethyl tert-butyl ether) produced from bioethanol in spark ignition (SI) engines. Renewable fuels are commonly blended with fossil fuels. Hydrogen, which is rarely used, can be obtained from either fossil fuels or renewable energy.
History
Main article: History of the internal combustion engine
Various scientists and engineers contributed to the development of internal combustion engines. In 1791, John Barber developed the gas turbine. In 1794 Thomas Mead patented a gas engine. Also in 1794, Robert Street patented an internal combustion engine, which was also the first to use liquid fuel, and built an engine around that time. In 1798, John Stevens built the first American internal combustion engine. In 1807, French engineers Nicéphore Niépce (who went on to invent photography) and Claude Niépce ran a prototype internal combustion engine, using controlled dust explosions, the Pyréolophore, which was granted a patent by Napoleon Bonaparte. This engine powered a boat on the Saône river, France. In the same year, Swiss engineer François Isaac de Rivaz invented a hydrogen-based internal combustion engine and powered the engine by electric spark. In 1808, De Rivaz fitted his invention to a primitive working vehicle – "the world's first internal combustion powered automobile". In 1823, Samuel Brown patented the first internal combustion engine to be applied industrially.
In 1854 in the UK, the Italian inventors Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci obtained the certification: "Obtaining Motive Power by the Explosion of Gases". In 1857 the Great Seal Patent Office conceded them patent No.1655 for the invention of an "Improved Apparatus for Obtaining Motive Power from Gases". Barsanti and Matteucci obtained other patents for the same invention in France, Belgium and Piedmont between 1857 and 1859. In 1860, Belgian Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir produced a gas-fired internal combustion engine. In 1864, Nicolaus Otto patented the first atmospheric gas engine. In 1872, American George Brayton invented the first commercial liquid-fuelled internal combustion engine. In 1876, Nicolaus Otto, working with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, patented the compressed charge, four-cycle engine. In 1879, Karl Benz patented a reliable two-stroke gasoline engine. Later, in 1886, Benz began the first commercial production of motor vehicles with the internal combustion engine, in which a three wheeled, four cycled engine and chassis formed a single unit. In 1892, Rudolf Diesel developed the first compressed charge, compression ignition engine. In 1926, Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. In 1939, the Heinkel He 178 became the world's first jet aircraft.