The Working of an Automobile.

We all love our swanky beasts but ever wondered how these massive machines work?

Here today we try decoding some of the basic principles on which these glorious things work.

We love them and most of us might even consider them to be as dear as their family and lives. We've been fascinated about them since we were kids and were always jealous of that one kid who arrived at school in the swankiest car.

We've witnessed them skid, swirl, fly and even burst into flames or blown into pieces across a dozen movies and our heart ached when we saw all such things happen to our favorite beauty. But despite all this love, how much do we actually know about them or at least how they work? Let's look at some basics.

What exactly an Automobile is?

An automobile is generally a motorized vehicle consisting of four wheels and powered by an internal engine.
Usually, the Automobile is used to transport people and items from one location to another.

How does Automobile work?

Now that we've figured out what an automobile is, let's check out how it does work

Generally speaking, the working of an automobile depends on three basic components.
Those basic components may be considered to be:

1.The Engine.
2.The Frame and Chassis.
3.The Transmission.

Even the most basic automobile needs to have at least these three parts/components in order to be considered as an automobile.

1.The Engine:

The Engine also called The power plant or Heart of an automobile is a machine designed to convert one type of energy into mechanical energy, Thus the engine requires heat to do operations.heat is generated by burning fuel which is used to do work.
Electric motors convert electrical energy into mechanical motion. Pneumatic motors use compressed air and clockwork in wind-up toys uses elastic energy.

The mileage of your vehicle, the power and other such various important aspects of the automobile are mostly dependent on this part/component of the automobile.

How doe the engine work?

The engine partially converts the energy from the combustion to work.
The engines consist of a fixed cylinder and a moving piston. After the piston compresses the fuel-air mixture, the spark ignites it, causing the combustion.

The expansion of the combustion gases pushes the piston during the Powerstroke due to which the power is generated. This is how an engine actually works.

The engine is the component that generates the power which is utilized for the working of a vehicle and is considered to be the most important part and hence called the heart of the vehicle.

2. The Frame and the Chasis.

The Frame and the chassis are also called the skeleton of the automobile.
The Chasis is the load-bearing work of an artificial object which structurally supports the components of the automobile like the engine, the body, transmission, etc.

Most passenger cars have a pressed steel frame. The vehicle chassis formes a skeleton on which the engine, wheels, axle, transmission, steering mechanism, brakes, and suspension are mounted.
The body is flexibly bolted to the chassis during the manufacturing process typically referred to as the body-on-frame construction.

This process is also used for heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks, which benefit from having a strong central frame, subjected to the force involved in such activities as carrying freight, including the absorption of moments of engine and axle that is allowed by the combination of body and frame.

In recent times, in passenger-cars designs, the chassis frame and the body are combined into a single structural element.
This combination of body and chassis frame is known as unit-body design.

The unit-body is reinforced with brakes that make it rigid enough to resist the forces that are applied to it. In some cases, separate frames (or) stub frames have been used to achieve better noise-isolation.
Chassis is the part that absorbs the maximum energy during the impact or accidents.

3. The Transmission.

The third major component of an automobile is the Transmission or the Gear system. The transmission system is also called the veins of an automobile since its main purpose is to transmit the required power from the engine to the wheels.

In other words, it provides a controlled application of power.
The gearbox is usually termed as transmission which uses gear and gear-trains to provide required speed and torque conversions from a rotating power source (engine) to another device of an automobile.

The Transmission comprises of the clutch, the gearbox, prop shaft(for rear-wheel), differential and final drive shafts. The transmission adapts the output of the internal combustion engine to the drive wheels. Such engines need to operate at a relatively high rotational speed which is inappropriate for starting, stopping and slow travel. The transmission reduces the higher engine speed to the wheel speed, increasing the torque in the process.

Transmissions are also used in pedal bicycles, fixed machines and where different rotational speeds and torque are adapted.

The transmissions work on a gear- ratio or simply gear with the ability to switch between them as speed varies. these variations can be controlled manually known as manual transmission or automatically known as automatic transmissions,

In motor vehicles, the transmission generally is connected to the engine crankshaft via a flywheel or a clutch or fluid couplings, partially because internal combustion engines cannot run below a particular speed.

The conventional gear transmission is not the only mechanism for speed adaption. Automatic transmissions use a valve body to shift gears using fluid pressures in response to speed and throttle input.

Conclusion.

Apart from the above-mentioned components or parts there several others too without whom an automobile may be considered to be incomplete or Unusable, such as the suspensions, battery, brakes, radiator, alternator, etc.

But that's for some other day. Right now we've figured out how the most basic automobile works are and how it works. So, we end this by thanking God for Family, Friends and above everything else we thank him for Fast Cars!.

I hope you found this helpful as well as interesting.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.