How do diesel engines work?

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_engine

explains it easier than I can

Answer 2

Well largely the same as a gasoline engine except that the fuel is ignited differently. A normal gasoline engine will have somewhere in the range of ten-to-one compression. That is to say that when the piston rises during the compression stroke it will squeeze to the air/fuel mixture inside the cylinder to ten times the normal atmospheric pressure. Then the spark plug will ignite the mixture and the resulting explosion pushes the piston down on its power stroke.

A diesel engine may have anywhere from 18 to nearly 30 times the normal atmospheric pressure in the cylinder during the compression stroke and each cylinder has a glow plug in it that is always hot. Once the fuel reaches the desired pressure it will ignite, but unlike gasoline, diesel fuel will not explode at without a good deal of compression.

This is one reason that diesel engines tend to weigh more than gasoline engines. They must be built heavier to withstand the high compression the fuel requires, and the cylinder heads must be fastened on with far more cylinder head bolts to keep them from blowing the cylinder head gasket.

Years ago GM marketed some diesel-powered cars that they had simply converted from gasoline engines with no additional head bolts, and, of course, they proved to be very unreliable.

Answer 3

Same way as a regular gasoline internal combustion engine except the fuel and air mixture in a diesel engine is compressed at a higher rate to the point of explosion in the combustion chamber.The glow plug in the pre-chambers is used to assist in the starting.

Answer 4

Diesel fuel is directly injected into a cylinder on the compresson stroke. The high compression ratio generates enough heat to fire the fuel.

Answer 5

Go Here---->

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/diesel.htm