four-stroke diesel engine
The typical sequence of cycle events in a four-stroke diesel engine involves a single intake valve, fuel-injection nozzle, and exhaust valve, as shown here. Injected fuel is ignited by its reaction to compressed hot air in the cylinder, a more efficient process than that of the spark-ignition internal-combustion engine.
diesel fuel
liquid fuel
Also known as: diesel oil
diesel fuel, combustible liquid used as fuel for diesel engines, ordinarily obtained from fractions of crude oil that are less volatile than the fractions used in gasoline. In diesel engines the fuel is ignited not by a spark, as in gasoline engines, but by the heat of air compressed in the cylinder, with the fuel injected in a spray into the hot compressed air. Diesel fuel releases more energy on combustion than equal volumes of...