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To understand how a model engine works, first we have to know the parts that make up the engine.
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| Crankcase | Cooling Head | Crankshaft |
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| Liner/Sleeve | Piston (top) and Conrod | Glow Plug |
And all together they look like this:
Firstly the fuel/air mixture enter from the carb and goes into the crankshaft. It passes through the crankshaft and into the engine (crankcase). The mixture then travels up to the ports of the liner. When the piston is low enough down the mixture can travel into the liner. As the piston moves up, the mixture is compressed more and more. When the compression is at its most, the heat from the glow plug causes the mixture to burn. It does this with an explosion creating large amounts of hot gasses (exhausts) which force (push) the piston down at great speed.
The movement of the piston pushes down on the conrod, which rotates the the crankshaft in a rotary motion, thus powering the model. As the exhausts are escaping out the engine, the engine is drawing in more mixture from the carb and cycle will continue.
To help visualise this, here's a super slow motion animation, following the
mixture as it travels through the engine:
Please
note this may take a short time to load/work fully depending on your connection
speed, the file is 1.4mb.
If that was a little simple for your liking, check out the technical description by clicking the link at the top of this page.