Components of the automobile

 

Automobiles are trackless, self-propelled vehicles for land transportation of people or goods, or for moving mate­rials. There are three main types of automobiles. These are passenger cars, buses and lorries (trucks). The automobile consists of the following components: a) the engine; b) the framework; c) the mechanism that transmits the power-en­gine to the wheels; d) the body.

Passenger cars are, as a rule, propelled by an internal combustion engine. They are distinguished by the horse-pow­er of the engine, the number of cylinders on the engine and the type of the body, the type of transmission, wheelbase, weight and overall length.

There are engines of various designs. They differ in the number of cylinders, their position, their operating cycle, valve mechanism, ignition and cooling system.

Most automobile engines have six or eight cylinders, although some four-, twelve-, and sixteen-cylinder engines are used. The activities that take place in the engine cylinder can be divided into four stages which are called strokes. The four strokes are: intake, compression, power and exhaust. "Stroke" refers to the piston movement. The upper limit of piston movement is called top dead centre, TDC. The lower limit of piston movement is called bottom dead centre, BDC. A stroke constitutes piston movement from TDC to BDC or from BDC to TDC. In other words, the piston completes a stroke each time it changes the direction of motion.

An automobile, powered by a petrol engine, begins to op­erate when the driver turns a flywheel connected to the en­gine crankshaft. As the crankshaft revolves, a mixture of fuel and air is drawn from a carburettor into the engine cylinders. The ignition system provides the electric sparks that ignite this mixture. The resultant explosions of the mixture turn the crankshaft, and the engine starts moving. By regulating the flow of the fuel and air with a throttle, the driver controls the rotational speed of the crankshaft.

Cooling, electrical ignition and lubrication systems are of great importance for the good performance of a car. The lights, radio and heater add to the flexibility, comfort, and convenience of the car. The indicating devices keep the driver informed as to engine temperature, oil pressure, amount of fuel, and battery charging rate.

Brakes are of drum and disk types. The steering system consists of a manually operated steering wheel which is con­nected by a steering column to the steering gear from which linkages run to the front wheels. It is difficult to turn the steering wheel, and special hydraulic power mechanisms are used to lessen this effort. Suitable springings are used against shocks. These are leaf springs, coil springs, torsion bars and air suspensions.

 

TEXT 5. Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary:

a) THE CAR OF THE FUTURE

It is safe to predict that in the near future most cars will use the internal combustion engine and burn petrol. At the present rate of production oil supplies will run out rather soon, and we will have to look for other sources of energy. That is one of the most important aspects of the problem, another being the damage that exhaust fumes do to the environment (окружающая среда) and health, especially the towns.

What kind of vehicle will eventually dominate? At present there is a lot of, talks about electric cars, for they have the advantage of giving off no exhaust gases. The electric car has a long history. The first cars were built at the end of the last century, but they could not compete (конкури­ровать) against the internal combustion engine.

They have several disadvantages. First, we have по really suitable batteries — they are too heavy, fake a long time to charge (заряжать), have too small a capacity and a relatively short life.

For a while the fuel cell (элемент) looked very hopeful, This does not have to be charged, it generates its own energy from a chemical reaction. But this, too, proved too large and expensive.

An electric car would have to run 200-250 km on one charge to compete with the conventional car which can do about 300 km on a full tank.

So scientists and engineers are looking for better storage batteries or cells and ways of using energy more economically. There are many different electric cars around the world. Some can run 100 km and longer on one charge. This is quite sufficient for town traffic, where cars do not cover such long distances. Electric vans can have their storage batteries recharged while being loaded or unloaded.

The first electric cars have already been used in Moscow and in several other cities. So far there are few of them. They are used for local deliveries, post offices and the services. Specialists think that in future these cars will be used for urban transportation.

But will the electric car ever become a universal means of transport? Hardly.

Today there are several hundred million cars in the world not to mention millions of motorcycles. It is estimated that if these changed over to electricity, they would require six million kilowatt hours, and all the power stations in the world now generate only a little over a third of that. This means that tremendous efforts will have to be made in future to increase the power output.

 

 

b) POLLUTION-FREE ELECTRIC CAR

A Japanese automobile firm has announced successful development of three-wheel electric light van for pickup and delivery service and has started production of the car for full-scale marketing. Recently, development work on electric cars has been accelerated in Japan as a principal means of eliminating environmental damage caused by automobiles through air pollution and noise. The electric car will be the first to be used on the streets.

 

This car will be employed mainly for delivery of newspapers, mail and milk, as well as for light loads in a limited area, such as factory premises. It has a motor and four 12-volt improved lead batteries as the power source. The vehicle, seating only the driver, has maximum speed of 40 kilometres per hour. The batteries can be charged with home electricity. With each charging, which takes eight hours, the electric van can run for 40 kilometres. The price is about twice that of conventional gasoline cars of a similar type.

 

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