Operation of Multicylinder Engines
The cycle of operations of four-stroke engines is completed in two turns of the crankshaft.
With such an operating cycle, the crankshaft receives energy from the piston only during
one half its turn when the piston moves on the power stroke. During the remaining three
half turns, the crankshaft continues to revolve by inertia and, aided by the flywheel, it
moves the piston on all its supplementary strokes - exhaust, intake, and compression.
Therefore, the crankshaft of a single-cylinder engine operating on the four-stroke principle
revolves nonuniformly: it accelerates on the power stroke and decelerates on the
supplementary strokes of the piston. Furthermore, the single-cylinder engine usually
produces little power and features excessive vibration. For this reason, modern tractors
and automobiles are powered by multiple-cylinder engines.
Fig.1 (a) Schematic diagram and (b) firing-order diagram of a four-cylinder four-stroke
engine
For a multicylinder engine to run uniformly, the power strokes of its pistons must be
spaced rotationally at one and the same crank angle (i.e., they must occur at regular
intervals, called the firing intervals). To find this angle, the duration of the engine cycle,
expressed in degrees of crankshaft rotation, is divided by the number of the engine
cylinders. For example, in a four-cylinder four-stroke engine, the power stroke occurs
every 180° (720°:4), i.e., every half turn of the crankshaft. The other strokes in this engine
occur also every 180°. Therefore, the crankshaft throws (or crankthrows) of four-cylinder
four-stroke engines are spaced at 180°, i.e., they lie in a single plane. The crankthrows of
the first and fourth cylinders are arranged on one side of the crankshaft, and those of the
second and third cylinders, on the opposite side. Such a shape of the crankshaft provides
for even firing intervals and a good engine balance, since all the pistons simultaneously
reach their extreme positions (two pistons reach their TDC at the same time as the other
two reach BDC).
The order in which like piston strokes occur in the engine cylinders is known as
the firing order. The firing order of the four-cylinder tractor engines produced in this
country is 1-3-4-2. This means that after the piston in the first cylinder has completed its
power stroke, the next power stroke occurs in the third cylinder, then in the fourth
cylinder, and finally, in the second cylinder. When selecting a firing order for a particular
engine, the designers try to distribute the load on the crankshaft as uniformly as possible.
Multicylinder engines used on automobiles and tractors may have an in-line or a two-bank
(V-type) cylinder arrangement. In an in-line cylinder engine, all the cylinders are arranged
vertically in a straight line, while in a two-bank engine, the cylinders are arranged in two
banks set at an angle to each other. V-type engines are more compact and less heavy than
their in-line cylinder counterparts.
Fig. 2. Multicylinder engines (a) in-line cylinder arrangement; arrangements in V-6 and V-
8, type engines, respectively; (b) V-type cylinder arrangement; 1 through 8 – serial
numbers (c) and (d) crankthrow of cylinders
In a six-cylinder four-stroke engine, like piston strokes occur at 120-degree intervals.
Therefore, its crankthrows are spaced in pairs in three planes with an angle of 120°
between them (Fig. 2c). In an eight-cylinder four-stroke engine, like piston strokes occur
every 90°, and so the crankthrows are arranged crosswise with an angle of 90° between
them (Fig. 2d). With an eight-cylinder four-stroke engine, eight power strokes occur for
every two revolutions of the crankshaft, which makes for very smooth running of the
engine. Modern six- and eight-cylinder automotive engines use V-type cylinder
arrangements. The firing order of eight-cylinder four-stroke engines is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8
and that of six-cylinder ones, 1-4-2-5-3-6.
Knowing the firing order of an engine, one can correctly connect the ignition wires to the
spark plugs, or the fuel pipes to the fuel injectors, and adjust the valves.
