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boyce59
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Please can someone explain clearly in perhaps lay man terms the difference between REVERSIBLE & NON REVERSIBLE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES. Thanks
Dickfore said:There are no reversible internal combustion engines! To prove this, try turning the crankshaft and wait for the exhaust gases to get sucked in and become fine fuel droplets mixed with air agian.
S_Happens said:Certainly not true of two strokes.
As for four strokes, although mostly a good point, this could be remedied by direct injection or valvetrain actuation that is not mechanically linked to the crankshaft.
To concede, I have never seen any evidence of a reversible four stroke. All I have seen/heard are vauge rumors.
Dickfore said:Why don't you use a gearbox like any normal person would do then? Also, this is not what I meant by reversible heat engine.
Danger said:I'm not sure what the official engineering take on this is, but I can say from experience that you can make a 4-stroke run backwards by using a reversed-grind cam and bass-ackwards starter. (It might be a tad more complicated now; that was when the distributor was driven from the camshaft.) You would then, of course, have to also build a custom bell-housing so you could flip your tranny upside-down. Elsewise, you would have 4 reverse gears and one forward.
A reversible internal combustion engine is one that can operate in both forward and reverse directions, allowing it to perform both work and heat transfer. A non-reversible internal combustion engine, on the other hand, can only operate in one direction and is typically used for work production only.
Both types of engines use the same basic principles of converting fuel into energy through combustion. However, a reversible engine has additional components, such as valves and ports, that allow it to change the direction of its operations.
Reversible internal combustion engines are commonly used in machines that require both forward and reverse movement, such as boats and locomotives. Non-reversible engines are typically used in vehicles and machinery that only require forward motion, such as cars and generators.
The main advantage of a reversible engine is its ability to perform both work and heat transfer, making it more versatile for certain applications. However, reversible engines are more complex and expensive to build and maintain. Non-reversible engines, on the other hand, are simpler and less expensive, but they have limited functionality.
Yes, there are ongoing research and development efforts to create hybrid engines that combine the advantages of both reversible and non-reversible engines. These engines could potentially offer increased efficiency and versatility, but they are still in the early stages of development.