Gas engine

A gas engine is an internal combustion engine which runs on a gas fuel, such as coal gas, producer gas, biogas, landfill gas or natural gas. In the UK, the term is unambiguous. In the US, due to the widespread use of 'gas' as an abbreviation for gasoline, such an engine might also be called a gaseous-fueled engine or natural gas engine or spark ignited.1905 National company's ordinary gas engine of 36 hp1903 Körting gas engineBackus upright gas engineOtto horizontal gas engineOtto vertical gas engineWestinghouse gas engineCrossley gas engine and dynamoPremier twin gas engine electric generating plant125 hp gas engine and dynamoCrossley Brothers Ltd., 1886 No. 1 Engine, 4.5 hp single cylinder, 4-stroke gas engine, 160 rpm.1915 Crossley Gas Engine (type GE130 No75590), 150 hp.National Gas EnginePremier tandem scavenging high-power gas engineBlast furnace gas engine with blowing cylinderStockport gas engine and belt-driven dynamo A gas engine is an internal combustion engine which runs on a gas fuel, such as coal gas, producer gas, biogas, landfill gas or natural gas. In the UK, the term is unambiguous. In the US, due to the widespread use of 'gas' as an abbreviation for gasoline, such an engine might also be called a gaseous-fueled engine or natural gas engine or spark ignited. Generally the term gas engine refers to a heavy-duty industrial engine capable of running continuously at full load for periods approaching a high fraction of 8,760 hours per year, unlike a gasoline automobile engine, which is lightweight, high-revving and typically runs for no more than 4,000 hours in its entire life. Typical power ranges from 10 kW (13 hp) to 4 MW (5,364 hp). There were many experiments with gas engines in the 19th century but the first practical gas-fuelled internal combustion engine was built by the Belgian engineer Étienne Lenoir in 1860. However, the Lenoir engine suffered from a low power output and high fuel consumption. His work was further researched and improved by a German engineer Nikolaus August Otto, who was later to invent the first 4-stroke engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. In August 1864 Otto met Eugen Langen who, being technically trained, glimpsed the potential of Otto's development, and one month after the meeting, founded the first engine factory in the world, NA Otto & Cie, in Cologne. In 1867 Otto patented his improved design and it was awarded the Grand Prize at the 1867 Paris World Exhibition. This atmospheric engine worked by drawing a mixture of gas and air into a vertical cylinder. When the piston has risen about eight inches, the gas and air mixture is ignited by a small pilot flame burning outside, which forces the piston (which is connected to a toothed rack) upwards, creating a partial vacuum beneath it. No work is done on the upward stroke. The work is done when the piston and toothed rack descend under the effects of atmospheric pressure and their own weight, turning the main shaft and flywheels as they fall. Its advantage over the existing steam engine was its ability to be started and stopped on demand, making it ideal for intermittent work such as barge loading or unloading. The atmospheric gas engine was in turn replaced by Otto's four-stroke engine. The changeover to four-stroke engines was remarkably rapid, with the last atmospheric engines being made in 1877. Liquid-fuelled engines soon followed using diesel (around 1898) or gasoline (petrol) (around 1900). The best-known builder of gas engines in the UK was Crossley of Manchester, who in 1869 acquired the UK and world (except German) rights to the patents of Otto and Langden for the new gas-fuelled atmospheric engine. In 1876 they acquired the rights to the more efficient Otto four-stroke cycle engine. There were several other firms based in the Manchester area as well. Tangye Ltd., of Smethwick, near Birmingham, sold its first gas engine, a 1 nominal horsepower two-cycle type, in 1881, and in 1890 the firm commenced manufacture of the four-cycle gas engine. The Anson Engine Museum in Poynton, near Stockport, England, has a collection of engines that includes several working gas engines, including the largest running Crossley atmospheric engine ever made. Manufacturers of gas engines include Hyundai Heavy Industries, Rolls-Royce with the Bergen-Engines AS, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Liebherr, MTU Friedrichshafen, GE Jenbacher, Caterpillar Inc., Perkins Engines, MWM, Cummins, Wärtsilä, GE Energy Waukesha, Guascor Power, Deutz, MTU, MAN, Fairbanks Morse, Doosan, and Yanmar. Output ranges from about 10 kW (13 hp) micro CHP to 18 MW (24,000 hp). Generally speaking, the modern high-speed gas engine is very competitive with gas turbines up to about 50 MW (67,000 hp) depending on circumstances, and the best ones are much more fuel efficient than the gas turbines. Rolls-Royce with the Bergen Engines, Caterpillar and many other manufacturers base their products on a diesel engine block and crankshaft. GE Jenbacher and Waukesha are the only two companies whose engines are designed and dedicated to gas alone.