Fill in spaces with the appropriate word or phrase.

1. A wide range of energy-conversion systems have been used in automotive production including a variety of piston-type …. 2. The reciprocating-piston internal-combustion engine proved to be …. 3. …, and range of operations later became important factors. 4. In the late 1940s a trend began to increase ….

 

Are the following statements true or false?

1. European engines were of usual variety. 2. As s gasoline engine could operate more flexibly over a wide range of speeds, it was selected for automobiles. 3. The return to smaller engines brought the advent of smaller cars. 4. All known methods of raising engine capacity were incorporated in these design changes.

 

Answer the following questions.

1. What are the energy conversion systems used in automotive production? 2. What engines proved to be the most successful for automobiles? Why? 3. What factors have created new interest in alternate power sources and internal-combustion engine refinements? 4. What are the characteristics of European automobile engines?

 

MINI TEST 10 (UNIT 10)

Translate the word combinations.

1. energy-conversion machine. 2. variety of piston-type internal combustion engines. 3. reciprocating piston internal combustion engine. 4. operate more flexibly. 5. engine weight. 6. moderately priced fuel-gasoline engine. 7. ongoing reassessment. 8. pollution-producing characteristics. 9. automotive power system. 10. economically feasible.

 

Find definitions to the words.

1. Energy-conversion system. 2. Stroke sycle. 3. Mass production. 4. Speed. 5. Range.

A. Swiftness; rapidity of movement. B. Manufacture of large numbers of identical articles by standardized processes. C. Series of regularly repeated movements of piston. D. Row, line or series of things, e.g. of energy-conversion systems. E. Device or system for conversion energy from forms provided by nature into those most useful to society.

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate word.

1. Heat engines … heat energy into mechanical energy. 2. Motor car engines … to the type of internal combustion engines. 3. Engines can … on two-stroke cycle. 4. Diesel engines … power by burning oil in a body of air. 5. A crankshaft and a connecting rod … the to-and-fro motion into rotary motion.

A. Produce. B. Belong. C. Change. D. Convert. E. Operate.

 

Match the synonyms.

1. Require. 2. Equipment. 3. Convert. 4. Velocity. 5. Rotate. 6. Suitable.

A. Tools. B. Change. C. Need. D. Speed. E. Right. F. Revolve.

 

Find the antonyms.

1. Independent. 2. Mobile. 3. Move. 4. To-and-fro motion. 5. Output.

A. Rotary motion. B. Input. C. Stationary. D. Dependent. E. Idle.

 

Name the component parts of an engine.

1. … – is the shaft that turns or is turned by a crank. 2. … is a heavy wheel revolving on a shaft to maintain a constant velocity. 3. … is a shaped chamber in an engine in which gas or steam works a piston. 4. … is a round plate or short cylinder fitting closely inside in cylinder in which it moves up and down or backwards or forwards. 5. … is an electric mechanism for igniting the air-fuel mixture.

 

7. Translate the 1^st and the 3^d paragraphs of the text.

ADDITIONAL TEXTS.

ENGINE OPERATION

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 springs are used against shocks. There are leaf springs, coil springs, torsion bars and air suspensions.

 

AIR-COOLED ENGINES

All vehicle engines are air-cooled to some degree. Even in water-cooled engines heat is transmitted first from cylinder to water and afterwards, in the radiator, from water to air. This method of cooling is not difficult to accomplish, because the heat taken off the hot cylinder walls by large cooling surface of the radiator and so easy transmission of heat to air is made possible.

Reciprocating engines used in aircraft are almost entirely air-cooled. Aircraft engines cooled by air are manufactured today in sizes ranging from 50 to 3500 hp and they have superseded water-cooled engines. The principal advantages of air-cooled aircraft engines are low weight, and greater reliability in operation. Modern motor-cycles are also designed almost exclusively with air-cooled engines.

New designs of air-cooled vehicle engines are notable for their easy maintenance, reliability and economical operation.

 

COOLING SYSTEM

Almost all automobiles employ liquid systems for their engines. All typical automotive cooling system comprises (1) a series of channels cast into engine block and cylinder head, surrounding the combustion with circulating water or other coolant to carry away excessive heat, (2) a radiator consisting of many small tubes equipped with honeycomb of fins to radiate heat rapidly, that receives and cools hot liquid from the engine, (3) a centrifugal-type water pump with which to circulate coolant, (4) a thermostat, which maintains constant temperature by automatically varying the amount of coolant passing into the radiator, (5) and a fan, which draws fresh air through the radiator.

For operation at temperature below 32 F (0 C), it is necessary to prevent the coolant from freezing. This is usually done adding some compound to depress the freezing point of the coolant. Alcohol formerly was commonly used, but it has a relatively low boiling point and evaporates quite easily, making it less desirable than organic compounds with a high boiling point.

Air-cooled cylinders operate at higher, more efficient temperatures, and air-cooling offers the important advantage of eliminating not only freezing and boiling of the coolant at temperature extremes but also corrosion damage to the cooling system. Control of engine temperature is more difficult, however, and high-temperature-resistant ceramic parts more difficult, however, and high-temperature is significantly increased.

 

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Originally, the electrical system of the automobile was to the ignition equipment. With the advent of the electric starter, electric lights and horns began to replace the kerosene and acetylene lights and bulb horns. Electrification was rapid and complete, and by 1930, six-volt systems were standard everywhere. The electrical system comprises a storage battery, generator, starting motor, lighting system, ignition system, and various accessories and controls.

The ignition system provides the spark to ignite the air-fuel mixture in the cylinders of the engine. The system consists of the spark plugs, coil, distributor, and battery. In order to jump the gap between the electrodes of the spark plugs, the 12-volt potential of the electrical system must be stepped up to about 20,000 volts. This is done by a circuit that starts with the battery, one side of which is grounded on the chassis and leads through the ignition switch to the primary winding of the ignition coil and back to the ground through an interrupter switch. Interrupting the primary circuit induces a high voltage across the secondary of the coil to each of the wires leading to the spark plugs.

The source of energy for the various electrical devices of the automobile is a generator, or alternator, that is belt-driven from the engine crankshaft.

A lead-acid battery serves as a reservoir to store excess output of the generator. Energy for the starting motor is thus made available along with power for operating other electric devices when the engine is not running or when the generator speed is not sufficiently high to carry the load.

 

STEERING

Automobiles are steered by a system of gears and linkages that transmit the motion of the steering wheel to the pivoted front wheel hubs. The gear mechanism, located at the lower end of the shaft carrying the steering wheel, is usually a worm-and-nut or cam-and-lever combination that rotates a shaft with an attached crank arm through a small angle as a steering wheel is turned. Tie rods attached to the arm convey its motion to the wheels. In concerning, the inner wheel must turn through a slightly greater angle than the outer wheel, because the inner wheel negotiates a sharper turn. The geometry of the linkage is designate to provide for this.

When the front wheels are independently suspended, the steering must be designed so that the wheels are not turned as tie-roads lengthen and shorten as result of spring action. The point of linkage attachment to the steering gear must be placed so that it can move vertically with respect to the wheel mountings without turning the wheels.

The distribution of weight between the front and rear wheels of automobiles shifted toward the front as the engine and passenger compartment were moved forward to improve riding comfort and road-handling characteristics. As the weight carried on the front wheels increased to more than the half of the total vehicle weight, the effort necessary to turn the wheels in steering increased. Larger, heavier cars with wider tires and lower tire pressure also contribute to drag between tire and road that must overcome in steering, particularly in parking. It was originally considered satisfactory to limit the pull on the rim of the steering wheel to 30 pounds (14 kilograms), but this limit proved to be too high. Considerable reduction in the work of steering resulted from increased efficiency of the steering wheel was accomplished by increasing the overall steering gear ratio. Large steering gear ratios make high-speed maneuverability more difficult, however, because the steering wheel must be turned through greater angles. On the other hand, steering mechanisms of higher efficiency are also more reversible; that is, road shocks are transmitted more completely from the wheels and must be overcome to a greater extend by the driver. This causes a dangerous situation on rough roads or when a front tire blows out, because the wheel may be jerked from the driver's hands.

 

WHEELED VEHICLES

After the early efforts to domesticate animals for their burden-carrying abilities, the most significant addition to human locomotion was the wheeled vehicle. It was one of the great inventions of all times because of the contribution that the wheel, and its utilization in a vehicle, makes up applying supplemental sources of power to an individual's mobility. Horses and camels can travel faster than the humans on their backs, but to transport more than one person with a single animal – something most horses had the strength to do – vehicle was needed. Probably the first conveyance of this sort was a plank or log dragged along the ground; the Plains Indians of North America used such a travois of two poles in their transhuman wandering until the 19^th century. Its mechanical inefficiency must have prompted the search for improvements. The invention of the wheel made the contribution of a horse more productive. The power provided by any one horse has grown with changes in vehicles, in harnessing and in the surface on which it operates.

Much of human history saw no technology superior to the sling or travois but when the wheel was devised changes was both substantial and probably fairly rapid. It seems that there were versions of the travois shaped like a platform, with a great reduction in the extent of actual contact with the ground; only the ends of the poles supporting the platform dragged along the surface, where friction would be great. Improvement came with placing a revolving wheel at the end of each of the drag poles. From this advance it was but a minor step to arrive at a two-wheel cart.

 

ANTITHEFT DEVICES

Most vehicle theft is an increasing problem for owners, insurers, and manufacturers. The annual number of thefts increases almost every year, and the rate of thefts mat by expected to exceed 1 out of every 100 registered vehicles per year in the United States by the end of the 20^th century. The problem is, however not new. The 1900 Leach automobile featured a removable steering wheel that the driver could carry away to prevent unauthorized vehicle use. More recently, sophisticated electronic alarms, some of which incorporate radio beacons, and more tamper-resistant wiring electronic locks have been produced.

 

SAFETY SYSTEMS

From its beginnings, the automobile posed serious hazards to public safety. Vehicle speed and weight provided an impact capacity for occupants and pedestrians that produced great numbers of fatalities (13,000 in 1920) and serious injuries. During the 20^th century, the rates of death and injury declined significantly in terms of vehicle miles. Because of the increased number of vehicles on the road, however, total fatalities have declined only slightly. Most fatal accidents occur on either city streets or secondary roads. Federal expressway systems are relatively safer. Driver training, vehicle maintenance, highway improvement, and law enforcement were identified as key areas with potential for improving safety, but the basic design of the vehicle itself and the addition of special safety features received increased attention. Safety features of automobiles come under two distinct headings: accident avoidance and occupant protection.

 

INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT

International transport refers to any of goods between countries. The journey may involve carriage only, but if the countries are separated by strength of water (sea or ocean), the crossing, or voyage if the distance is longer, will have to be organized specifically.

In both cases, the operations will normally resort to surface transport.

The transport of goods may be classified according to the countries where operation take place or to the means of transport – transport facilities – involved.

The choice of the means of conveyance depends on the communication network of the countries as well as on the nature of the goods and the cost of the transport operation.

Inland waterways (navigable rivers and canals) can also be of use for certain type of goods. Associating different means of transport gives rise to what is known as multimodal transport – or intermodal/combined transport – which has become more common with the development of containerization.

 

ROAD TRANSPORT

Road transport is perhaps the most visible and common means of conveyance because of the presence on our roads of a great number of lorries whose variety stems from the necessity for carriers to meet the wide range of needs from shippers.

A road hauler (GB) or trucker (US) may own a fleet of vehicles, but part of their equipment can be rented from specialized firms for special shipments. They usually set up their business by determining a specific route and serving a few well-defined areas. Lorry drivers then commonly ply between the same cities and the experience they gain by so doing reinforces the efficiency of the service.

A semi-trailer – or articulated lorry – with an important payload, is mostly resorted to for a long haul in order to reduce transport costs. When an open-top trailer is used, a tarpaulin – or tilt – will protect the goods from the rain. A removal van carries all the furniture and belongings of a family moving house. A tanker lorry is especially designed for the transport of liquid cargoes, whether foodstuff, oil products or chemicals. Retailers and shopkeepers often have their orders brought to them by means of a delivery van.

More and more goods are transported in containers by both road and rail. This bimodal transport makes it necessary to tranship the goods from train onto lorries in a piggy-back terminal.

Road transport depends on the road network. Not all roads can be used by any sort of lorry and if motorways and main roads – or trunk roads – are generally available, as well as dual carriageways in great Britain, there may be a few limitations on secondary roads in order to prevent lorries from causing obstructions – or "hod-ups", "traffic-jams", "congestions". This may indeed be the case at certain junctions – or "crossroads" – which is one of the reasons why these are gradually being replaced by roundabouts. In the same way, level crossings which halt the traffic at regular intervals tend to disappear in modern road networks. Road works are another cause of delays and a diversion may have to be set up to avoid inconvenience.

Finally, when planning a route, haulers must remember that not all the roads and bridges are free, and they may have to pay a toll for part of the route.

Topics

My life’s story

Let me introduce myself. My name is Victor Ivanov. I am 18 now. I was born on the 21^st of September in Rivne, so I have been living in Rivne since my childhood. I am not married and live with my family. We are a family of six people: my parents, my elder brother Pete, his wife, his son and I. My father works as a mechanical engineer at a private motor pool. My mother is an accountant in a private company. My elder brother is 23. He graduated from Lviv Polytechnic University and works as a manager. His wife is an economist. Their daughter Kate, my niece, is 3 years old and she goes to a nursery school. I think we are a friendly family and happy to live together.

This year I have left secondary school and entered National University of Water Management and Natural Resources Use. Now I am a first year student of the Mechanical-Energetic Faculty and study at the correspondence department. My speciality is Automobile Transport. At the University we study many general educational and special subjects. Two times a year we have sessions during which we have practical classes, lectures and pass tests and exams.

Besides my studies I work as a mechanic at a motor pool. My duties are to diagnose car breakdown and to remedy it. My working day lasts 8 hours a day with an hour for lunch. In the evening when I come home I have a short rest, watch TV or read something for my studies. At about 11 o’clock I go to bed.