ABSTRACT
Conventional diesel engines rely on compression ignition of an atomized liquid fuel jet injected into the high-temperature and high-pressure cylinder air charge toward the end of the compression stroke of a high-compression-ratio unthrottled reciprocating piston engine. A brief review of the main specific features of these engines and how they differ from the common spark ignition type follows:
• Diesel engines need to have sufficiently high compression ratios to ensure reliable, prompt, and well-controlled autoignition of the injected fuel. They involve nonhomogenous fuel-air mixtures leading mainly to heterogeneous diffusion type combustion. The rapid energy releases produced require robust engine construction to withstand the resulting high mechanical and thermal loading rates.
