What Are the Advantages of engine block parts？

Part of an internal combustion engine

In an internal combustion engine, the engine block is the structure that contains the cylinders and other components. The engine block in an early automotive engine consisted of just the cylinder block, to which a separate crankcase was attached. Modern engine blocks typically have the crankcase integrated with the cylinder block as a single component. Engine blocks often also include elements such as coolant passages and oil galleries.

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The term "cylinder block" is often used interchangeably with "engine block". However, technically, the block of a modern engine (i.e., multiple cylinders integrated with another component) would be classified as a monobloc.

The main structure of an engine typically consists of the cylinders, coolant passages, oil galleries, crankcase, and cylinder head(s). The first production engines of the s to s usually used separate components for each element, which were bolted together during engine assembly. Modern engines, however, often combine many elements into a single component to reduce production costs.

The evolution from separate components to monobloc engine blocks has gradually progressed since the early 20th century. The integration of elements has relied on the development of foundry and machining techniques. For example, a practical, low-cost V8 engine was not feasible until Ford developed the methods used to build its flathead V8 engine. Other manufacturers then applied those techniques to their engines.

A cylinder block is a structure that contains the cylinder, plus any cylinder sleeves and coolant passages. In the earliest decades of internal combustion engine development, cylinders were usually cast individually, so cylinder blocks were usually produced separately for each cylinder. Following that, engines began to combine two or three cylinders into a single-cylinder block, with an engine combining several of these cylinder blocks.

In early engines with multiple cylinder banks – such as V6, V8, or flat-6 engines – each bank was typically made of one or multiple separate cylinder blocks. Since the s, mass production methods have developed to allow both banks of cylinders to be integrated into the same cylinder block.

Wet liner cylinder blocks use cylinder walls that are entirely removable and fit into the block using special gaskets. They are called "wet liners" because their outer sides come in direct contact with the engine's coolant. In other words, the liner is the entire cylinder wall, rather than merely a sleeve.

The advantages of wet liners are a lower mass, reduced space requirements, and coolant being heated faster from a cold start, reducing start-up fuel consumption and heating the car cabin sooner.

Dry liner cylinder blocks use either the block's material or a discrete liner inserted into the block to form the backbone of the cylinder wall. Additional sleeves are inserted within, which remain "dry" outside, surrounded by the block's material.

For either wet or dry liner designs, the liners (or sleeves) can be replaced, potentially allowing an engine overhaul or rebuild without replacing the block itself. However, there are more practical repair options.

Main article: Crankcase

The crankcase is the structure that houses the crankshaft. As with cylinder blocks, this is primarily an integrated component in modern engines.

Engine blocks are typically cast from either cast iron or an aluminium alloy. Aluminium blocks are much lighter and transfer heat more effectively to coolant, but iron blocks retain some advantages, such as durability and reduced thermal expansion.

Weight reductions through material selection. Presently, most of the engine blocks in mass production are gray castings. Reducing weight has resulted in using aluminum-silicon alloys more frequently for the engine block in small-displacement engines. Engine blocks of comparable design, but using Al-Si alloys, are not lighter than cast iron engine blocks in the same ratio as that for the specific weights of the materials.

In engine blocks made of gray cast iron, weight can be reduced by optimizing the structure and thin-wall casting. With this casting technique, a wall thickness of as little as about 3 mm is generally possible. In comparison, the walls of cast iron engine blocks are usually from 4.0 to 5.5 mm thick.

Using vermicular graphite cast iron (GGV), a casting material with great strength, enables weight reductions by about 30% compared to conventional casting materials such as GG 25. Weight reduction, to this extent, requires engineering for the engine block, taking into account the particular needs of the material.[1]

An engine where all the cylinders share a common block is called a monobloc engine. Most modern engines use a monobloc design, and few have a separate block for each cylinder. This has led to the term "engine block," which usually implies a monobloc design, with "monobloc" rarely used.

In the early years of the internal combustion engine, casting technology couldn't produce large castings with complex internal cores (for water jackets etc). Most early engines, particularly those with more than four cylinders, had their cylinders cast as pairs or triplets of cylinders, then bolted to a separate crankcase.

As casting techniques improved, an entire cylinder block of 4, 6, or 8 cylinders could be produced in one piece. This monobloc construction was more straightforward and more cost-effective to produce. All the cylinders and crankcase could be made in a single component for straight engine cylinder layouts. One of the early engines produced using this method is the 4-cylinder engine in the Ford Model T, introduced in . The technique spread to straight-six engines and was commonly used by the mid-s.

Up until the s, most V engines retained a separate block casting for each cylinder bank, with both bolted onto a common crankcase (itself a separate casting). For economy, some engines were designed to use identical castings for each bank, left and right.[3]: 120  A rare exception was the Lancia 22½° narrow-angle V12 of , which used a single block casting combining both banks.[3]: 50–53  The Ford flathead V8 – introduced in  – represented a significant development in the production of affordable V engines. It was the first V8 engine with a single-engine block casting, putting a V8 into an affordable car for the first time.[4]

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The communal water jacket of monobloc designs permitted closer spacing between cylinders. The monobloc design approach also improved engines' torsional rigidity as cylinder numbers, engine lengths, and power ratings increased.

Most engine blocks today, except some unusual V or radial engines and large marine engines, use a monobloc design with one block for all cylinders plus an integrated crankcase. In such cases, the skirts of the cylinder banks form a crankcase area of sorts, which is still often called a crankcase despite no longer being a discrete part.

Using steel cylinder liners and bearing shells minimizes the effect of the relative softness of aluminium. Some engine designs use plasma transferred wire arc thermal spraying, instead of cylinder sleeves, to further reduce weight. These types of engines can also be made of compacted graphite iron, such as in some diesel engines.[5]

Some modern consumer-grade small engines use a monobloc design where the cylinder head, block, and half of the crankcase share the same casting. Apart from cost, one reason for this is to produce an overall lower engine height.[citation needed] The primary disadvantage can be that repairs become more time-consuming and impractical.

An example of engines with integrated cylinder heads are the Honda GC-series and GXV-series engines, which are sometimes called "Uniblock" by Honda.[6]

Several cars with transverse engines have used an engine block consisting of an integrated transmission and crankcase. Cars that have used this arrangement include the - Lamborghini Miura[7] and cars using the BMC A-series and E-series engines.[8][9] This design often results in the engine and transmission sharing the same oil.

Motorcycles such as the Honda CB750 use a similar layout, with the cylinder block and crankcase integrated with part of the transmission.

Many farm tractor designs integrate the cylinder block, crankcase, transmission, and rear axle into a single unit. An early example is the Fordson tractor.

The engine block is one of the biggest, heaviest and important component of the internal combustion engine. The engine block is fixed on the vehicle body, through passive elastic supports or more advanced active hydraulic dampers. An engine block is sometimes called a cylinder block but it has the same meaning.

The main functions of the engine block are:

• contains some of the moving arts of the engine: piston, connecting rod, crankshaft
• contains a part of the cooling circuit
• together with the cylinder head forms the combustion chamber
• it is support for a part of the lubrication circuit: oil pan, oil pump, oil filter
• it is support for auxiliary devices: starter motor, A/C compressor, alternator, intake and exhaust manifolds, etc.

1. cylinder head cover
2. cylinder head
3. engine block
4. oil pan

The cylinder head is mounted on top of the engine block. It’s fixed using long bolts which pass through the cylinder head and threaded into the engine block. Between the cylinder head and engine block there is a cylinder head gasket which helps sealing the combustion chamber and the cooling circuits.

Depending on the engine, the cylinder block can be a single component or split in two, an upper and a lower block.

1. crankshaft fixing support
2. coolant circuit passage
3. cylinder
4. threaded hole (for cylinder head bolts)
5. lubrication circuit passage
6. auxiliary equipment support

During engine running there are high mechanical and thermal stress applied on the engine block. The engine block must withstand very high forces, pressures, vibrations and temperatures. The cylinders need to have low friction coefficient but high stiffness. In the same time the engine block mass must be as low as possible.

Usually the engine block is manufactured from cast alloyed iron. This is a cost effective solution. The performance engines are manufactured from aluminium alloy, which, compared to iron engine blocks have the following advantages:

• lower mass
• higher thermal conductivity
• better wear resistance
• are easier to manufacture

The most important disadvantage of the aluminium based engine block is higher cost.

Depending on the cylinder configuration we can have different geometries of engine blocks:

• vertical engine block (e.g. I-4, GM Ecotec): all cylinders are in single row (straight engines)
• “V” engine block (e.g. V8, Ford Mustang): with two rows of cylinders (displaced at an angle of 90° – 120°)
• horizontal engine block (e.g. 4 boxer, Subaru): opposed cylinders at 180° (boxer engine)
• “W” engine block (e.g. W16, Bugatti Veyron): two “V” cylinder rows displaced at an angle

The engine block is a static/fixed component of the engine. It’s not very interesting from the vehicle owner point of view but it is a very important component since it holds together most of the engine parts and it has to withstand high amount of mechanical and thermal stress.

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