CARBURETORS AND THEIR SYSTEMS

 Carburetion & Carburetor

 The process of preparing combustible air fuel
mixture in the petrol engine is called carburetion.
 A device which does this process is called
carburetor (Is a mixing device).
 The carburetor atomizes the fuel and mixes it with
air in correct proportions according to the engine
operating conditions.
 Requirements of Carburetors
The requirements of a good carburetor as follows:
• Easy engine starting, particularly under low
ambient conditions
• Ability to give full power quickly after starting the
engine
• Smooth engine operation at various loads
• Quick acceleration of the engine
• Developing sufficient power at high engine
speeds
• Good fuel economy
• Ensuring full torque at low speeds
• Simple and compact in construction
 A Simple (or) Elementary Carburetor
• It consists of a float chamber, venturi, discharge
jet or main nozzle, choke valve and throttle valve.
 Float Chamber (or) Float Bowl:
• It consists of a float and needle supply valve.
• This system maintains a constant petrol level
in the float chamber.
QUESTION:
What If the fuel level is too high or is too low
in the float chamber?
 fuel level too high
• fuel will continue to flow from the discharge jet
or main nozzle.
• This will make air fuel mixture become too rich.
• This result in wastage of fuel, engine stall or
poor running and the pollutant exhaust
emissions such as hydrocarbons and carbon
monoxide.
 too low fuel level
• The vacuum in the venturi will not pull enough
fuel out of the float chamber.
• The air fuel mixture will become too lean.
This result in engine stall or poor running.
Venturi (or) Choke Tube:
• Venturi is a tube of decreasing cross section which
reaches a minimum at the throat (restricted section).
• During suction stroke air is drawn through the venturi.
• The air passing through the venturi increasing in
velocity and the pressure in the venturi throat
decreases.
 Main Nozzle (or) Discharge Jet:
• This is a part that directs fuel from the carburetor bowl to the
throat of the venturi.
Throttle Valve:
• The throttle valve is a round disc located between the venturi
and the engine inlet of the induction system. The throttle is
connected to the accelerator pedal by a flexible cable.
• Depressing the accelerator pedal opens the throttle valve and
permits an increased amount of air fuel mixture to reach the
engine cylinders.
• This will increase the power output of the engine and hence the
vehicles speed.
Choke Valve:
It is a valve which is used for controlling the amount of air
passing to the venturi when starting a cold engine.
 Types of Carburetors
Based on the venturi & depression
• Fixed Venturi (or) Constant Choke Carburetor: The
venturi area is always maintained to be constant. But the
depression or vacuum which cause flow of fuel and air
Examples: Solex, Carter, Stomberg, Weber, and Zenith
Carburetors
• Variable Venturi (or) Constant Vacuum Carburetor:
The venturi area is being varied as per the demand on the
engine, while the vacuum or depression is maintained to be
always constant.
Example: SU carburetor
 Carburetor Systems
• The fixed venturi carburetor has six systems
and several devices that provide the correct
air-fuel mixture for different operating
conditions. These include:
1. Float System
2. Idle and Low speed System
3. Main-Metering System
4. Power System
5. Accelerator Pump System
6. Choke System
1. Float System
 2. Idle and Low Speed System
• a. Idle System
When the throttle valve is closed or only slightly
open, only a small amount of air can pass
through the air horn. With low air speed, there is
very little vacuum in the venture. No fuel will
feed from the fuel nozzle. To supply fuel during
idle, an idling system is built into the carburetor.
This system has an opening in the side of the
carburetor below the throttle valve. This hole is
called idle port. The port is connected by a
passage to the float bowl or float chamber. In
addition to the idle port, there is an idle-mixture
screw located behind the idle port to control the
amount of mixture discharge through it.
b. Low Speed System
• If the throttle valve is open just a little for low
speed, the edge of the throttle valve moves past
the idle port. More air can flow past the throttle
valve now, reducing the vacuum in the intake
manifold. So less fuel flows from the idle port.
However, the low speed port now comes into
action. The throttle valve has moved past and
above the low speed port. The vacuum in the
intake manifold can act on the low speed
port as well as on the idle port. Both ports
discharge fuel to maintain required amount of
air-fuel mixture for low speed.
 3. Main-Metering System
• If the throttle valve is opened farther, more air
will flow through. This means that there will
be less vacuum in the intake manifold. As a
result, the idle and low speed ports stop
discharging fuel. However, with more air
flow, there is a vacuum in the venturi. This
causes the main nozzle or discharge jet to
discharge fuel. Therefore, fuel gets mixed
with the air passing through.
 4. Power System
• When a driver wants full power, the
accelerator pedal is pushed to the floor (i.e.
to the maximum position). This causes the
throttle valve to open wide. Another system
in the carburetor comes into action to
additional fuel. This system is called power
system. It can be a piston type or metering
rod type.
• In piston type a vacuum piston or diaphragm is
used to lift the metering rod. The space above the
piston is connected to the inlet manifold vacuum.
When there is vacuum in the inlet manifold, the
vacuum holds the piston up. In this position the
metering rod is up and the additional fuel flow is
restricted.
• However, when the throttle is opened wide, the
vacuum is lost and can no longer hold the piston up.
A spring pushes the piston down. This lowers the
metering rod so that additional fuel can flow into the
carburetor. So that a rich mixture is formed and is
delivered to the engine for full power operation.
What happen if:
1.the power valve does not seal well?
2.vacuum escapes from around the power piston, or if the
vacuum passage becomes clogged?
3.the power piston sticks in the up position?
•If the power valve does not seal well, the air-fuel mixture used
in the primary high speed circuit will be too rich, resulting in
poor fuel economy.
•If vacuum escapes from around the power piston, or if the
vacuum passage becomes clogged, the power piston will
remain down, causing the power valve to remain open, and the
air fuel mixture to be too rich. This will result in poor fuel
economy.
•If, on the other hand, the power piston sticks in the up position,
the power valve will not open (which means that the power
circuit will not operate), resulting in poor acceleration and
insufficient power.
 5, Acceleration Pump System
• There is another operating condition that needs a
rich mixture. This condition occurs when the
accelerator pedal is pushed down suddenly to
increase the speed.
• when the throttle valve is suddenly opened,
although the amount of air drawn into the carburetor
immediately increases, more gasoline is not
immediately delivered by the main nozzle (because
gasoline is heavier than air). For this reason, the
air-fuel mixture will become temporarily lean during
acceleration unless this is prevented by the
implementation of an acceleration circuit.
• This can be either piston type or diaphragm type.
• When the accelerator pedal is stepped on, the
gasoline in the pump cylinder is put under pressure
by the pump plunger. This causes the gasoline to
push up outlet steel ball and to be sprayed into
venturi by the pump jet.
• When the accelerator pedal is released, the pump
plunger rises, and the outlet steel ball blocks the
outlet. The inlet steel ball then unblocks the inlet,
allowing gasoline to be drawn up into the pump
cylinder from the float chamber.
6. CHOKE SYSTEM

Mechanical chock
 Automatic chock
a) During starting
b) AFTER STARTING
Hot-Idle Compensator (HIC)
• When the ambient temperature is high, the temperature
inside the engine compartment will rise. This will cause the
gasoline inside the carburetor to become hot and give off
vapour. If this vapour is discharged from the main nozzle
or the air vent tube and goes into the intake manifold, the
air-fuel mixture will become over-rich, causing engine stall
or rough idling. Furthermore, if the vapour remains in the
carburetor after the engine has stopped, the engine will be
difficult to restart.
• There fore the hot idle compensator, a thermostatic valve
adds air to the engine to protect this problem.
Single and Multi Barrel Carburetors
 SECONDARY CIRCUIT
Low speed circuit
 Operation of Vacuum Diaphragm Type
• When the engine is running at low speeds, and the
vacuum created by the vacuum bleeder in the primary
venturi is weak, the vacuum in the diaphragm chamber is
also weak and the secondary throttle valve therefore
cannot open. As the speed of the engine rises, and the
vacuum created by the primary-side vacuum bleeder
becomes strong enough to overcome the resistance of
the return spring, the secondary throttle valve begins to
open.
• When this happens, a vacuum is also created in the
secondary-side vacuum bleeder, causing the vacuum
pulling on the diaphragm to become stronger, thus
opening the secondary throttle valve even wider.
High speed circuit
 Solenoid Switch /or Fuel Cut-Off Solenoid
• It is an electromagnetic cut-off valve, which closes the idle
mixture outlet passing below the throttle valve when the
engine is stopped. This prevents dieseling or run-on.
Dieseling is a condition when the engine continues to run
erratically for a short period after the ignition switch has been
turned off. It is caused by fuel in the engine gets self-ignited
as a result of high temperature areas in the combustion
chamber such as overheated spark plug, exhaust valve or
carbon deposits.
Operation
• When the ignition switch is turned on, electric current flows
through the solenoid valve coil, opening the valve and
supplying fuel to the idle & low speed circuit. But the engine
has to run in order to allow fuel to flow.
• When the ignition switch is turned off, the solenoid is de-energized and
the valve cuts-off the fuel passage so that the fuel can no longer reach the
idle port or the transition ports. This ensures that the engine will not
continue to run on after the ignition switch is off.
• On certain carburetors, the fuel cut-off solenoid has a tapered-end
needle, which closes the fuel jet.