Apart from that battle tanks, few models of
motor cars, motor cycles and few of the power generation units were also were
using radial engines.
Radial engines are nothing but reciprocating
internal combustion engines, where the cylinders are arranged radially at equal
angular pitch. The pistons are connected to the crank shaft by a
master-and-articulating-rod assembly. Odd number of cylinders used in a row or
per row when there are more than one row of engines. This is done to achieve smooth
running of the engine, by consistent every-other-cylinder-firing order. In a
typical five cylinder engine the firing order will be 1-3-5-2-4-1 and so on, repeating again.
Most of the radial engines are four stroke
engines with overhead poppet valves. The poppet valves are driven by pushrods
and lifters on a cam plate, which is concentric with the crankshaft. There are
also engine designs with individual camshafts within the crankcase for each
cylinder, generally adopted for smaller radial engines. Few designs also
adopted sleeve valves instead of poppet valves. One of the main advantage of
radial engines is that its power-to-weight ratio is more favourable as compared
to conventional reciprocation internal combustion engines.
 |
| Radial Engine in Aircraft |
 |
| Radial Engine in Bike |