subject: Advantages and Disadvantages of Diesel Engines [print this page] Advantages and Disadvantages of Diesel Engines
In today's age of consumption, technology is being developed with a great acceleration. As a result of increasing of population all over the world, technology must use the sources of our planet wisely.Furthermore, technology must meet the increasing demands of the consumers. More specifically, in motor technology, customers want low expenditures, less problems after purchasing and more powerful vehicles in return of their money.At this point, there is such a solution of all these matter explained above. It is the diesel engines. Diesel engine is an internal-combustion engine in which the fuel is sprayed into the cylinders after the air charge has been so highly compressed that it has attained a temperature sufficient to ignite fuel. The diesel engines require expensive injection systems. Basic carburetors are cheaper than diesel injection systems. Moreover, the diesel engines are heavier than gasoline engines because of their high ignition pressure and designing aim. The ignition pressure of diesel engines is nearly two times more than gasoline engines, so they are designed heavier to remove this effect Although it is thought that diesel engine is not a good choice for motor vehicles because of its disadvantages like expensive injection systems and being heavy, it is very efficient due to its advantages such as economic benefits, better technical properties and environmental benefits.
First of all, there are so many economic benefits of the diesel engines such as high fuel efficiency and low costs of the diesel technology. Diesel combustion differs fundamentally from spark-ignition combustion in that the entire air charge is at a temperature sufficient to ignite fuel, and each particle of fuel receives the energy that ignites it directly from the hot air. At this point Riesenberg & Faupel asserts on page 8 that direct-injection systems reduce the usage of fuel up to compared to chamber engines. The fuel usage of light-duty diesels compared with gasoline engines of almost the same power is 30-60% lower . The compression ignition and the high energy of diesel fuel are the reasons for these efficiency values . As mentioned in Diesel Engine for General Aviation that compression ratio in diesel engines is approximately twice as high as in gasoline engines
