What is an engine cylinder?

Cylinders play an essential role in the engine because they are where the combustion of the air/fuel mixture that powers your car takes place. It is the engine's power unit. Many people need to learn what an engine's cylinders are, or what variations there are. Here's everything you need to know about car cylinders, engine cylinder types, and more.

What is an engine cylinder?

The cylinder is an essential part of a car engine. Your vehicle's engine is what's known as an internal combustion engine. It works by burning a mixture of air and fuel that is compressed to explode and create energy.

This air/fuel mixture is fed into the cylinder, where a piston moves up and down to admit the mixture, compress it, and then expel the exhaust gases produced by the combustion reaction.

The cylinder is the element in which the piston moves. It is located in the engine block. However, there are multiple cylinders in an engine. Most cars have engines with four, six, or eight cylinders arranged in a straight, V, or flat configuration. The more cylinders a car has, the easier it is to get a large displacement.

How do cylinders work?

The engine must go through four stages to power your car (a four-stroke cycle): intake, compression, power, and exhaust.

• During the intake stroke, a piston moves into the cylinder and the intake valve opens, allowing fuel and air to mix.  
• The compression stroke allows the piston to compress the explosive air-fuel mixture. The power stroke is a phase during which combustion occurs, creating a spark.
• During the exhaust stroke, the exhaust valve opens, allowing the piston to descend and exhaust gases to exit through the exhaust port.  
• In this way, cylinders play an important role in generating power in your engine by telling which pistons to move and when to burn fuel.

It's partly thanks to the cylinder that all this can happen because it's connected to the piston. The cylinder also seals in the gases inside, whether it's the air-fuel mixture or exhaust gases. Quite simply, without the cylinder, the engine wouldn't run!

Where does the cylinder come from?

The automobile engine was born with a very simple single-cylinder engine. The first two-cylinder engine was built by Benz in 1897 and produced 6 horsepower.

In 1907, the first inline 6-cylinder engines appeared to meet the need for more power. At the end of World War I, technological advances led to the introduction of 8-cylinder engines.

Between 1927 and 1928, the first engines with cylinders in a single block appeared, along with the first 8- and 12-cylinder V-engines.

What's the difference between a large-displacement engine and a small-displacement engine?

Generally, the smaller the displacement of a gasoline engine, the less powerful it is. However, with the advent of superchargers, turbochargers and compressors, this notion has been distorted. In reality, it's easier to get more DIN horsepower from a large displacement naturally aspirated engine than from a small displacement turbocharged engine.

However, as the displacement of a car engine increases, so does its size. This is because the piston chambers become larger and the engine block becomes larger. At the same time, the larger the displacement of the engine, the greater the torque, which improves acceleration.

The different types of cylinders

There are two main types of cylinders used in car engines: cast iron and aluminum.

Cast iron cylinders are heavier and more durable than aluminum cylinders, but they are also more expensive. Aluminum cylinders are lighter and less expensive than cast iron cylinders, but not as durable.

Most economy cars use cast iron cylinders, while most larger or more powerful cars use aluminum cylinders.