One of my favourite videos to watch on YouTube are the animated engine assembly and operation videos. If you’ve never seen one before the video below shows a Perkins diesel engine being assembled. It’s very detailed and every single part is included. This would be an excellent video to watch if you actually had to put this engine together. All you would need is the torque specs and you would not have a problem figuring it out.
I’m very biased when it comes to diesel engines because of their superior strength and stamina. Diesels can withstand a lot of abuse and think about how much pressure is built up in the cylinders on the compression stroke. Combined with fuel injection and the force that a diesel has to absorb is enormous. Think about the amount of heat that is accumulated at top dead centre to ignite the fuel and air mixture.
The heat of compression and combustion combined is thousands of degrees that a diesel engine has to deal with at high rpms so the pistons, rods, valves, and crankshaft have to be engineered to take a lot of abuse. Sometimes I wonder how a diesel can start in minus 20 to 30 degree weather. The air is extremely cold and the fact that compressed gases in the cylinder causes the fine spray of diesel from the injectors to ignite is amazing.
Diesel engines have come a long way from the beginning. Today the onboard diagnostics help maintain a smooth running engine. Technology has been hard at work tweeking fuel injection with higher pressures to save fuel and reduce emissions. What goes out the pipe is closely monitored by sensors mounted everywhere on the engine and on the exhaust components as well. I hope you enjoyed the video and if you want to see more just search online on YouTube for diesel engines animated.
