>I think understanding the principles of each system here is key. For example, if you understand how a motor works, it's easy to see you could either have a mechanical contraption with cams responsible for timing and controlling fuel injection or simply a computer-controlled system with some electrically actuated valve.
Are you trying to teach theory or real-world mechanics?
No engine in any car in the world has electrically actuated valves, except for a handful of prototype test mules such as one by Koenigsegg in Sweden. Everyone's still using "mechanical contraptions with cams", so it's pretty important to teach that, because any engine you look at will be made that way, and the design of the camshafts (and any support components, such as a variable-vale-timing mechanism) is critical to the engine performance.
>The benefit of the computer controlled system is of course you have more flexibility and have the ability to integrate data from various sensors to achieve some kind of "optimal" injection volume.
Yeah, that's great, but you might as well be talking about Moon colonies. It's sci-fi at this point. It may come in the near future, it may not; we might end up just skipping it in favor of EVs.
However, distributors by now are truly obsolete. I don't think any cars have them any more; they've all gone to coil-on-plug systems. Distributors aren't quite that old; there were still cars being made with them about 15 years ago, but those were the last holdouts. So I don't see the point in showing the distributor as is done on this site: it's simpler and easier to just show the spark plugs by themselves firing at the appropriate time, perhaps with some wires shown connected to the ECU.
It's a bit odd too, because aside from the distributor, this guy's illustrations seem to show a fairly modern engine, though he's omitted the variable-valve timing system that most modern cars have now. Notice that the fuel injector is squirting fuel directly into the cylinder: that's called "GDI", or gasoline direct injection. It's become pretty common these days (I think some Kias and Hyundais have been holding out on it), but go back just 5 years and not that many cars had it, and go back 10 years and it was pretty much none. Of course, like distributorless ignition, GDI is simpler in concept, though technically more difficult to accomplish reliably (the fuel pressure is much higher for one thing), as the old way had injectors shooting fuel into the intake plenum before it got sucked into the engine.
My only other complaint about this site is that they left out the V-12 configuration. There's still plenty of Ferraris that have those.
> No engine in any car in the world has electrically actuated valves
It was just an example, I don't actually know what I'm talking about :) But it was my understanding that electronic fuel injection involves solenoids to, well, control fuel injection (as seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#EFI_gasoline_en... ).
The point is that conveying the operating principles should be the main goal, if you call that "theory" or "practical info", it doesn't matter -- if you don't understand the basics well the practical (or theoretical) details will escape you.
Your suggestion about getting rid of distributors sounds reasonable.
I'm pretty sure he meant that no car has electrically actuated intake and exhaust valves, which is mostly true, but the Fiat/Chrysler MultiAir (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiAir) line of engines does have electro-hydraulic valve actuation which allows for variable duration and lift, and I think they don't even have a throttle plate.
There's probably as many Ferraris sold per year as, say, a Chevy Volt. They're not super-high-volume cars by any means, but they're not as rare as a Maybach or even a Rolls.
Are you trying to teach theory or real-world mechanics?
No engine in any car in the world has electrically actuated valves, except for a handful of prototype test mules such as one by Koenigsegg in Sweden. Everyone's still using "mechanical contraptions with cams", so it's pretty important to teach that, because any engine you look at will be made that way, and the design of the camshafts (and any support components, such as a variable-vale-timing mechanism) is critical to the engine performance.
>The benefit of the computer controlled system is of course you have more flexibility and have the ability to integrate data from various sensors to achieve some kind of "optimal" injection volume.
Yeah, that's great, but you might as well be talking about Moon colonies. It's sci-fi at this point. It may come in the near future, it may not; we might end up just skipping it in favor of EVs.
However, distributors by now are truly obsolete. I don't think any cars have them any more; they've all gone to coil-on-plug systems. Distributors aren't quite that old; there were still cars being made with them about 15 years ago, but those were the last holdouts. So I don't see the point in showing the distributor as is done on this site: it's simpler and easier to just show the spark plugs by themselves firing at the appropriate time, perhaps with some wires shown connected to the ECU.
It's a bit odd too, because aside from the distributor, this guy's illustrations seem to show a fairly modern engine, though he's omitted the variable-valve timing system that most modern cars have now. Notice that the fuel injector is squirting fuel directly into the cylinder: that's called "GDI", or gasoline direct injection. It's become pretty common these days (I think some Kias and Hyundais have been holding out on it), but go back just 5 years and not that many cars had it, and go back 10 years and it was pretty much none. Of course, like distributorless ignition, GDI is simpler in concept, though technically more difficult to accomplish reliably (the fuel pressure is much higher for one thing), as the old way had injectors shooting fuel into the intake plenum before it got sucked into the engine.
My only other complaint about this site is that they left out the V-12 configuration. There's still plenty of Ferraris that have those.