It's unclear to me, why would the compression stroke (the 2nd out of 4) happens? There's nothing pushing the piston upwards.
Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
101–110 of 112 posts
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#102It's unclear to me, why would the compression stroke (the 2nd out of 4) happens? There's nothing pushing the piston upwards.
It's being pushed up by the crankshaft which keeps moving because of the inertia of the moving engine parts, especially the flywheel.
On multi-cylinder engines, other cylinders add torque at different phases of the rotation.
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#103Worth noting the design of the internal combustion engine hasn't changed much in 50 years. The thing that has changed is the control systems. What used to be a primitive mechanical way of mixing fuel and air (the carburettor), is now an electronic fuel injection system, with the fuel air ratio very carefully matched to reduce pollution (fun fact: modern cars release so little carbon monoxide, you won't kill yourself…
What I am surprised by is that cams are still used to operate the valves. Given to how precise these need to be these days, I would've guessed they would've switched to electronically actuated valves.
[dead]
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#104This is what I think learning should look like. Interactive, high-definition, 100% functioning of something you are studying. If only we can use LLMs for good, to create stuff like this.
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
> fun fact: modern cars release so little carbon monoxide, you won't kill yourself by starting one in a garage Modern cars still release as much CO2 as older cars… which is still incompatible with human respiration.
Another fun fact: the body's suffocation response isn't caused by lack of oxygen. It's caused by high CO2 levels in the blood [0]. If your car floods the air with CO2, you will respond like someone is holding your head under water. Carbon monoxide kills you by binding more strongly to the hemoglobin than the O2. You don't notice, because the CO2 removal mechanism continues to work fine. You'll usually die before real…
I just read this fact in Hail Mary, but it doesn’t fully add up to me. If you fall flat on your back and wind yourself (phrenospasm) that triggers an immediate suffocation response which has nothing to do with CO2 and seemingly everything to do with a lack of oxygen.
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#106This should probably be called “Four Strike Engine”. There are other types of ICE that work differently.
You mean stroke?
Yes. I think the iPhone keyboard tricked me again. I remember having to work quite a bit to convince it to take "stroke" instead of "strike" and I guess it finally decided at submission to go back to "strike".
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
what car company is using forced labor as you are claiming that is pretty serious, almost all except China, are built in countries with strong labor unions. what I really hate is that EVs have given people a false sense of superiority that seemingly stems from their curious unwillingness to look at the ugly environmental and human rights abuses around the lithium sourcing.
> the ugly environmental and human rights abuses around the lithium sourcing. Be specific, please, and for completeness compare to the impacts of fossil fuel extraction and production for ICE vehicles. Lithium supply chains: Environmental impacts and trade-offs analysis - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235248472... Most world lithium production is attributed to spodumene mining in Australia, Brazi…
you've refused to answer a simple question twice so for the third time : what car company is using forced labor as you are claiming?
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Questioning the lithium source is valid, but also a red herring when we're talking about environmental impact. But yes, battery minerals can involve human rights abuses. But ICE vehicles are also built from steel, aluminum, copper, rubber, electronics, and metals that can involve forced labor, unsafe mining, land displacement, pollution, or exploitative labor. The ethical issue is supply chain due diligence across th…
what car company is using forced labor as you are claiming that is pretty serious, almost all except China, are built in countries with strong labor unions. what I really hate is that EVs have given people a false sense of superiority that seemingly stems from their curious unwillingness to look at the ugly environmental and human rights abuses around the lithium sourcing.
> what car company is using forced labor as you are claiming that is pretty serious, almost all except China, are built in countries with strong labor unions.
You're conflating final car assembly with the sourcing of the raw materials.
GM's report [0] says "We have reason to believe that certain of the 3TG in our products may have originated in a Covered Country [1] and may not have all come from recycled or scrap sources."
Honda admits [2] "Among all the smelters and refiners disclosed to us by our suppliers, we determined that some of them processed minerals sourced in the DRC or its adjoining countries."
I read reports from other car manufacturers and they're all full of the same weasel words. Ford says "We do not knowingly procure materials that contribute to child and forced labor, bribery and corruption, conflict, or environmental concerns" [3] while admitting "Through our 2023 data collection and due diligence efforts described below, Ford has reason to believe some 3TG contained in our products may come from Covered Countries."
[0] https://investor.gm.com/static-files/5e0ea429-ded3-40ca-b3a1...
[1] SEC defines "Covered Country" as "the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country"
[2] https://global.honda/en/investors/news/news20250522/main/0/l...
[3] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/37996/00000379962400...
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#109I remember as a teenager trying to understand what made rally cars go bang-bang, by modifying the ignition timing among other things, those gases hit a hot exhaust manifold where they create a mini explosion that keeps turbo spooled.
Re: Internal Combustion Engine (2021)
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the ugly environmental and human rights abuses around the lithium sourcing. Be specific, please, and for completeness compare to the impacts of fossil fuel extraction and production for ICE vehicles. Lithium supply chains: Environmental impacts and trade-offs analysis - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235248472... Most world lithium production is attributed to spodumene mining in Australia, Brazi…
you've refused to answer a simple question twice so for the third time : what car company is using forced labor as you are claiming?
Can you please link to these prior two occasions you've asked me this question?
I have no recollection of ever having addressed you or being addressed by you before this interaction. (EDIT: we have had zero intersection in HN comments for at least 16 days.)
I suspect you've confused a user name.
Still, to address your question, for the very first time, there are reports of car companies in China, Japan and elsewhere being linked to third party forced labour practices - Toyota, for one example, made a comprehensive statement in 2021 to explain how they were acting to mitigate (ie minimise, reduce, limit) their existing exposure to Forced Labor of Migrant Workers and the Modern Slavery Acts. That 13 page statement is essentially a confession that Yes, they did rely on parts in the supply chain with a forced labour element and Yes, we will minimise this but it will likely be hard to entirely eliminate this.
If you like I can link to this statement, should you be unable to unable to find it yourself.
Would you now be kind enough to expand on your statement about the lithium supply chain and sensibly compare it to the environmental damages of the fossil fuel industry?