English language for technical colleges

7. GEAR

Gear is a toothed wheel or cylinder used to transmit rotary or reciprocating motion from one part of a machine to another. Two or more gears, transmitting motion from one shaft to another, constitute a gear train. At one time various mechanisms were collectively called gearing. Now, however, gearing is used only to describe systems of wheels or cylinders with meshing (постоянное зацепление) teeth. Gearing is chiefly used to transmit rotating motion, but can, with suitably designed gears and flat-toothed sectors, be employed to transform reciprocating motion into rotating motion, and vice versa.

Simple Gears

The simplest gear is the spur (зубчатая) gear, a wheel with teeth cut across its edge parallel to the axis. Spur gears transmit rotating motion between two shafts or other parts with parallel axes. In simple spur gearing, the driven shaft revolves in the opposite direction to the driving shaft. If rotation in the same direction is desired, an idler gear (паразитная) is placed between the driving gear and the driven gear. The idler revolves in the opposite direction to the driving gear and therefore turns the driven gear in the same direction as the driving gear. In any form of gearing the speed of the driven shaft depends on the number of teeth in each gear. A gear with 10 teeth driving a gear with 20 teeth will revolve twice as fast as the gear it is driving, and a 20-tooth gear driving a 10-tooth gear will revolve at half the speed. By using a train of several gears, the ratio of driving to driven speed may be varied within wide limits.

Internal, or annular, gears are variations of the spur gear in which the teeth are cut on the inside of a ring or flanged wheel rather than on the outside. Internal gears usually drive or are driven by a pinion, a small gear with few teeth. A rack, a flat, toothed bar that moves in a straight line, operates like a gear wheel with an infinite radius and can be used to transform the rotation of a pinion to reciprocating motion, or vice versa.

Bevel gears (конические передачи) are employed to transmit rotation between shafts that do not have parallel axes. These gears have cone-shaped bodies and straight teeth. When the angle between the rotating shafts is 90°, the bevel gears used are called mitre gears.

Helical Gears

These gears have teeth that are not parallel to the axis of the shaft but are spiraled around the shaft in the form of a helix. Such gears are suitable for heavy loads because the gear teeth come together at an acute angle rather than at 90° as in spur gearing. Simple helical gearing has the disadvantage of producing a thrust that tends to move the gears along their respective shafts. This thrust can be avoided by using double helical, or herringbone, gears, which have V-shaped teeth composed of half a right-handed helical tooth and half a left-handed helical tooth. Hypoid gears are helical bevel gears employed when the axes of the two shafts are perpendicular but do not intersect. One of the most common uses of hypoid gearing is to connect the drive shaft and the rear axle in motor cars. Helical gearing used to transmit rotation between shafts that are not parallel is often incorrectly called spiral gearing.

Another variation of helical gearing is provided by the worm gear, also called the screw gear. A worm gear is a long, thin cylinder that has one or more continuous helical teeth that mesh with a helical gear. Worm gears differ from helical gears in that the teeth of the worm slide across the teeth of the driven gear instead of exerting a direct rolling pressure. Worm gears are used chiefly to transmit rotation, with a large reduction in speed, from one shaft to another at a 90° angle.

8. BEARINGS

Bearing is a mechanical device for decreasing friction in a machine in which a moving part bears--that is, slides or rolls on another part. Usually in a bearing the support must allow the moving part one type of motion, for example, rotation, while preventing it from moving in any other way, for example, sidewise. The commonest bearings are found at the rigid supports of rotating shafts where friction is the greatest.

Bearings were invented early in history; when the wheel was invented, it was mounted on an axle, and where wheel and axle touched was a bearing. Such early bearings had surfaces of wood or leather lubricated with animal fat.

Modern bearings have been arbitrarily designated as friction bearings and antifriction bearings. The first comprises sleeve or journal bearings; the second, ball and roller bearings. Neither type of bearing is completely frictionless, and both are highly efficient in reducing friction. A large, modern aircraft engine, for example, has more than 100 bearings, including both types; yet the total power consumed in overcoming bearing friction is less than one per cent of the total power output of the engine.

Friction bearings (скольжения) of the sleeve or journal type are simpler than antifriction bearings in construction but more complex in theory and operation. The shaft supported by the bearing is called the journal, and the outer portion, the sleeve. If journal and sleeve are both made of steel, the bearing surfaces, even if well lubricated, may grab or pick up, that is, rip, small pieces of metal from each other. The sleeves of most bearings therefore are lined with brass, bronze, or Babbitt metal. Sleeve bearings are generally pressure-lubricated through a hole in the journal or from the housing that contains the bearing. The sleeve is often grooved to distribute the oil evenly over the bearing surface.

Typical clearance (difference between the diameters of journal and sleeve) is nominally 0.0025 cm for every 2.54 cm of journal diameter. When the journal is rotating, it may be about 0.0000001 cm from the sleeve at the side with the greatest load. The journal is thus supported on an extremely thin film of oil, and the two parts have no actual contact. As the rotational speed increases, other variables remaining constant, the oil film becomes thicker, so that the friction increases in less than direct proportion to the speed. Conversely, at lower speeds the oil film is thinner if other factors are unchanged. At extremely low speeds, however, the film may rupture and the two pieces come into contact. Therefore, friction is high when the machine is started in motion, and the bearing may fail if high stresses are put on it during starting. Ball bearings, on the other hand, have low starting friction.

Jewel bearings are used to mount very little shafts such as those found in fine watches. They are friction-type bearings in which the ends of the shafts are mounted in extremely hard substances. The bearing is lubricated with a microscopic drop of fine oil.

In a ball bearing, a number of balls rotate freely between an inner ring, which is rigidly fixed to a rotating shaft, and an outer ring, which is rigidly fixed to a support. Both balls and rings are made of hardened alloy steel, usually finished to extremely fine tolerances. The balls are generally held in position by a cage or separator that keeps them evenly spaced and prevents them from rubbing against each other. The bearing is lubricated with grease or oil.

A roller bearing is similar to a ball bearing, except that small steel cylinders, or rollers, are substituted for the balls. A needle bearing is a roller bearing in which the rollers are extremely long and thin. An ordinary roller bearing may have 20 rollers -- each twice as long as it is wide -- whereas a needle bearing may have 100 needles, each 10 times as long as it is wide. Needle bearings are particularly useful when space is limited.

9. CONSTRUCTION OF AN AUTOMOBILE

The primary components of a car are the power plant, the power transmission, the running gear, and the control system. These constitute the chassis, on which the body is mounted.

The power plant includes the engine and its fuel, the carburettor, ignition, lubrication, and cooling systems, and the starter motor.

The Engine

The greatest number of cars use piston engines. The four-cycle piston engine requires four strokes of the piston per cycle. The first downstroke draws in the petrol mixture. The first upstroke compresses it. The second downstroke--the power stroke--following the combustion of the fuel, supplies the power, and the second upstroke evacuates the burned gases. Intake and exhaust valves in the cylinder control the intake of fuel and the release of burned gases. At the end of the power stroke the pressure of the burned gases in the cylinder is 2.8 to 3.5 kg/sq cm. These gases escape with the sudden opening of the exhaust valve. They rush to a silencer (muffler), an enlarged section of piping containing expanding ducts and perforated plates through which the gases expand and are released into the atmosphere.

Greater smoothness of operation of the four-cycle engine were provided by the development of the four-cylinder engine, which supplies power from one or another of the cylinders on each stroke of the cycle. A further increase in power and smoothness is obtained in engines of 6,8,12, and 16 cylinders, which are arranged in either a straight line or two banks assembled in the form of a V.

Carburation

Air is mixed with the vapour of the petrol in the carburettor. To prevent the air and the carburettor from becoming too cold for successful evaporation of the fuel, the air for the carburettor is usually taken from a point close to a heated part of the engine. Modern carburettors are fitted with a so-called float-feed chamber and a mixing or spraying chamber. The first is a small chamber in which a small supply of petrol is maintained at a constant level. The petrol is pumped from the main tank to this chamber, the float rising as the petrol flows in until the desired level is reached, when the inlet closes. The carburettor is equipped with such devices as accelerating pumps and economizer valves, which automatically control the mixture ratio for efficient operation under varying conditions. Level-road driving at constant speed requires a lower ratio of petrol to air than that needed for climbing hills, for acceleration, or for starting the engine in cold weather. When a mixture extremely rich in petrol is necessary, a valve known as the choke cuts down the air intake, permitting large quantities of unvaporized fuel to enter the cylinder.

Ignition

The mixture of air and petrol vapour delivered to the cylinder from the carburettor is compressed by the first upstroke of the piston. This heats the gas, and the higher temperature and pressure facilitate ignition and quick combustion. The next operation is that of igniting the charge by a spark plug. One electrode is insulated by porcelain or mica; the other is grounded through the metal of the plug, and both form part of the secondary circuit of an induction system.

The principal type of ignition now commonly used is the battery-and-coil system. The current from the battery flows through the coil and magnetizes the iron core. When this circuit is interrupted at the distributor points by the interrupter cam, a current is produced in the primary coil with the assistance of the condenser. This induces a high-voltage current in the secondary winding. This secondary high voltage is needed to cause the spark to jump the gap in the spark plug. The spark is directed to the proper cylinder by the distributor, which connects the secondary coil to the spark plugs in the several cylinders in their proper firing sequence. The interrupter cam and distributor are driven from the same shaft, the number of breaking points on the interrupter cam being the same as the number of cylinders.

The electrical equipment controls the starting of the engine, its ignition system, and the lighting of the car. It consists of the battery, a generator for charging it when the engine is running, a starter and the necessary wiring. Electricity also operates various automatic devices and accessories, including windscreen wipers, directional signals, heating and air conditioning, cigarette lighters, powered windows and audio equipment.

Lubrication

In the force-feed system, a pump forces the oil to the main crankshaft bearings and then through drilled holes in the crankpins. In the full-force system, oil is also forced to the connecting rod and then out to the walls of the cylinder at the piston pin.

Cooling

At the moment of explosion, the temperature within the cylinder is much higher than the melting point of cast iron. Since the explosions take place as often as 2,000 times per minute in each cylinder, the cylinder would soon become so hot that the piston, through expansion, would «freeze» in the cylinder. The cylinders are therefore provided with jackets, through which water is rapidly circulated by a small pump driven by a gear on the crankshaft or camshaft. During cold weather, the water is generally mixed with a suitable antifreeze, such as alcohol, wood alcohol, or ethylene glycol.

To keep the water from boiling away, a radiator forms part of the engine-cooling system. Radiators vary in shape and style. They all have the same function, however, of allowing the water to pass through tubing with a large area, the outer surface of which can be cooled by the atmosphere. In air cooling of engine cylinders, various means are used to give the heat an outlet and carry it off by a forced draught of air.

The Starter

The petrol engine must usually be set in motion before an explosion can take place and power can be developed; moreover, it cannot develop much power at low speeds. These difficulties have been overcome by the use of gears and clutches, which permit the engine to work at a speed higher than that of the wheels, and to work when the vehicle is at rest. An electric starter receiving its current from the storage battery, turns the crankshaft, thus starting the petrol engine. The starter motor is of a special type that operates under a heavy overload, producing high power for very short periods. In modern cars, the starter motor is automatically actuated when the ignition switch is turned on.

The Power Transmission

The engine power is delivered first to the flywheel and then to the clutch. From the clutch, which is the means of coupling the engine with the power-transmission units, the power flows through the transmission and is delivered into the rear-axle drive gears, or differential, by means of the drive shaft and universal joints. The differential delivers the power to each of the rear wheels through the rear-axle drive shafts.

The Clutch

Some type of clutch is found in every car. The clutch may be operated by means of a foot pedal, or it may be automatic or semi-automatic. The friction clutch and the fluid coupling are the two basic varieties. The friction clutch, which depends on solid contact between engine and transmission, consists of: the rear face of the flywheel; the driving plate, mounted to rotate with the flywheel; and the driven plate, between the other two. When the clutch is engaged, the driving plate presses the driven plate against the rear face of the flywheel. Engine power is then delivered through the contacting surfaces to the transmission.

Fluid coupling may be used either with or without the friction clutch. When it is the sole means of engaging the engine to the transmission, power is delivered exclusively through an oil medium without any contact of solid parts. In this type, known as a fluid drive, an engine-driven, fan-bladed disc, known as the fluid flywheel, agitates the oil with sufficient force to rotate a second disc that is connected to the transmission. As the rotation of the second disc directly depends on the amount of engine power delivered, the prime result of fluid coupling is an automatic clutch action, which greatly simplifies the requirements for gear shifting.

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29