Here's some diesel links I found while trying to find out about Rear Engined,Cat powered schoolbuses. I'm trying to find out which white filter can it is and what it's filtering, it's on the passenger side engine check bay(rear of bus) it's behind the power steering fluid cannister in plain view, mounted upside down on a mount of some type but I can't see any hoses or IP, vision is blocked there. There's one more similar filter under engine and forward of engine near chassis rails. Can barely see that one. My Instructor, a nice lady bus driver, not a mechanic,(I'm only a student) doesn't know exactly what they're for or which is which(i.e. fuel, oil or power steering fluid filter) even though I have to be tested on this knowledge. So if there are any Cat mechanics out there or bus drivers I'd appreciate the help.
diesel link to animated piston
More diesel links, maybe they've been posted before.

One picture generates 10k answers. Got photos?

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check this one out, notice though the animation messes up after it runs awhile...

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/diesel1.htm

Attached Thumbnails

 

That's a nice looking animation but unfortunately, is very misleading. From the animation, it looks like the fuel is injected AFTER TDC and what's the deal about 'compressed air' up at the injector?

Technical illustrators have a huge responsibility to 'get it right', particularly on a site like How Stuff Works where literally thousands of people will look at it and assume that, because it was on the 'net' it must be correct.

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R Leo,

Early Diesel engines did input compressed air with the fuel possibly because they did not know how to build a high pressure fuel injections that would atomize the fuel. The compressed air was used to help atomize the fuel to make the engine more efficient.

But I agree with you that the injection of the fuel in the animation is incorrect. It should show that the fuel is injected slightly BTDC and then show orange color in the cylinder for the entire power stroke.

P E H

if you let the "how stuff works" animation run for a while it gets completly out of wack. it will start to inject the fuel while the piston is at the the top of the exaust stroke! its kinda' funny
will

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Hehe, then maybe that page should be titled: "How Things Used to Work"

Those old oil engines were also using heavy oil instead of the relatively thin distillate we call 'diesel fuel.' They needed compressed air to blow fuel that was about the consistency of house paint into droplets that would have enough surface area to burn...oil burning steam locomotives did a similar thing with their atomizers and bunker fuel.

PEH, ever heard of a 'hot bulb' engine?

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...they used to run on super finely powered coal dust? Think what a chore it would be getting one of those smog certified!

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I bet that erodes injector nozzles in a hurry!

Coal-fired generating plants also use pulverized coal (it's about the consistency of baking flour). They literally spray the stuff into the boiler's combustion chamber.

R

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Rover made their turbine-powered LeMans racer run on powdered coal as a demonstration to prove the flexible fuel merits of turbine engines. The results were interesting, but it suffered a huge loss in power and top speed. I hope no one tries that with a turbine powered airplane when I'm on board.

RLeo,

I heard of hot tube ignition. Is that the same thing as a hot bulb engine.

On some of the early stationery engines they heated the GP on the exterior of the engine with a torch that burned diesel fuel. The heat would conduct thru the GP from the outside to the inside of the cylinder to aid cold starting same as our electrically heated GP do.

P E H

Correct, a hot tube engine is the same as a hot bulb engine.

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