Diesel engine

An internal-combustion engine that ignites fuel by injecting it into air heated through compression, rather than using a spark plug. Its compression ignition distinguishes it from spark-ignition engines.

Compression ignition: Combustion initiated when fuel enters air heated by compression, without an external spark. The defining ignition process in a diesel engine.
Internal combustion engine: An engine that releases chemical energy by burning fuel inside a working chamber. A diesel engine is one type of internal-combustion engine.
Rudolf Diesel: A German engineer who developed and patented the compression-ignition engine associated with his name. His design gave diesel engines their name and operating principle.
Diesel locomotive: A railway locomotive powered by a diesel engine, often transmitting power electrically or mechanically. Rail transport uses diesel engines where electrification is unavailable or impractical.
Spark-ignition engine: An internal-combustion engine that ignites a premixed fuel–air charge with an electric spark. It contrasts directly with compression ignition, the diesel engine’s defining method.
Diesel fuel injection: The delivery of metered fuel into a diesel engine’s combustion chamber under high pressure. Injection timing and atomization control when and how fuel burns.
Thermodynamic cycle: A sequence of thermodynamic processes that returns a working substance to its initial state. Idealized cycles help explain how diesel engines convert heat into work.
Diesel cycle (historical proposal): Rudolf Diesel’s proposed engine cycle, described in an 1893 treatise on rational heat engines. The proposal framed the original ambition behind the engine’s development.
Diesel generator: An electric generator driven by a diesel engine. Diesel engines provide standby and off-grid electrical power.
Gasoline engine: An engine commonly using spark ignition to burn gasoline inside its cylinders. It typically relies on a spark plug rather than compression-triggered ignition.

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