A presentation at Car Service UK by Rachel James
Fuel always needs to enter the combustion cylinder for compression and then ignition. Over the years, carburettors and fuel injectors have dominated the fuel supply inside the engine. Though fuel injectors are paving the way for the future, carburettors are already out of the race.
In the case of four wheels, especially cars, fuel injection has been trending towards absolute dominance. However, carburettors have not gone completely out of sight, which makes for an interesting automobile discussion.
But first, let’s look at how a carburettor works and how it supplies fuel to the engine.
How does a carburettor regulate fuel supply?
A carburettor’s basic structure is a cylinder that has an inlet at the top. This inlet allows air to enter the carburettor after cleaning through the air filter. There is a mechanism (venturi, tapers) that restricts air flow and increases air velocity.
A jet releases fuel at the vent, creating an air-fuel mixture that enters the combustion chamber.
At the outlet of the carburettor, a valve (the throttle valve) controls the air flow, its position dictates the air suction into the carburettors where the throttle valve is controlled by the accelerator. When you press the accelerator, the throttle valve opens and increases the airflow. As more fuel flows into the carburettor, the vehicle can burn more fuel.
When you decelerate the pedal and the engine slows down, the supply of air to the fuel mixtures decreases.
How does the fuel injection system manage fuel supply?
A fuel injection system usually has a nozzle inserted into the combustion cylinders. Fuel goes through the pressure pump where it gets atomized, and later it mixes with the air before getting sprayed into a combustion cylinder.
However, an air sensor regulates air intake. Similarly, fuel delivery happens based on the instructions of a fuel sensor. Though there would be other sensors to sense the engine workload, temperature, and throttle position, all these sensors send data to the ECU, where the delivery of fuel is decided by making a number of calculations.
Why do fuel injection systems take over the carburettors
Almost all modern vehicles, particularly those manufactured since the turn of this century, are now equipped with a fuel injection system. What has forced this subtle change? Of course! Why should automobiles fall behind as the world adapts to computer-based technologies?
The carburettors are more of a manual system of fuel injection, there is no intervention from the ECU or any sensors. The amount of air required to ignite the fuel mixture inside the combustion chamber is determined by the throttle position.
On the other hand, the fuel injection system depends on ECU (Electronic Control Unit) to control the majority of the processes in an engine. Electronic controls determine the highly precise delivery of fuel using a number of details from a number of sensors, such as air intake, throttle position, engine speed, etc. All details are processed at the ECU, where it decides how much fuel to supply. So the system takes the decision on fuel delivery and makes fuel injection an efficient system to provide as per the requirements. The fuel injection’s efficiency is so great that it allows a vehicle to start quite easily in the hardest of conditions, like on extremely cold days.
Nowadays, carburettor-equipped vehicles are mostly two-wheelers. Here, the point is that when you need to start a two wheeler, a choke comes into action. Once you pull the choke, the vehicle can only start. Then, you have to warm up the vehicle properly to run it further.
Carburettors require the same effort to start a car on four wheels on cold days. You have to use the choke and warm the engine before driving further. But the fuel injection system discards such requirements.
Besides, carburettors are not the best choice when there is discussion about fuel efficiency because precise delivery of fuel does not let it get wasted. However, there are a number of vehicles apart from the passenger car that prefer carburettors, especially its much improved version known as direct injection.
Besides, there are some geographic areas where there is a demand for carburettor-based vehicles. And somehow they are receiving the supply of these vehicles. Usually, vehicles are bought from the original automakers before making changes such as eradicating the computer controls and using more mechanical devices such as carburettors. The primary reason behind such modifications is to cut the final cost of vehicles.
Is it difficult to maintain fuel injection when compared to carburettors?
The carburettor is more of a mechanical device. Therefore, it requires some hand tools and a willingness to get your hands dirty to repair a carburettor. Though, you cannot do it without a proper technical skill if there is a need of a car engine repair. In case you own a Land rover car, and you are looking for engine repair then we would like to recommend Service My Car to get the best engine repair for your Land rover car in the town. Service My Car not only provide land rover engine repair but also provide land rover service, repair, battery replacement and maintenance services.
While the fuel injection system is a complicated system based on electronic sensors and computers, it requires a skilled person to get rid of any problems. However, a car scanning and diagnostics make it simple, as identifying any problem is as simple as plugging in a wire.
If you have a problem under the hood, a skilled expert at Service My Car is always ready to take on the job and provide an appropriate solution. However, you can avail of such a facility by booking a car service online, or you can order a car repair quote on our website or app.
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