Forklift Engines
Forklifts are classified as vehicles with small engines. Forklift engines all follow the principles of internal combustion, while the numerous models and makes of forklift would have a different design and layout. Forklifts are designed more toward producing high torque rather than for speed. They usually are geared to low speeds. The engine runs the forklift's drive wheels. The engine is also required to lower and raise the forks through a series of chain pulleys. Most modern lift truck engines are powered by propane because they will be used for indoor applications, where gasoline and diesel engines will be inappropriate due to the exhaust they produce.
Typically, the lift truck is a four-cylinder engine-block. The engines of the forklift are like automobile engines as they contain pistons connecting to a camshaft. The head of each cylinder has an exhaust hatch, a spark plug and an exhaust hatch, each of them one-way and spring-loaded.
Engine Function
Once the operator starts up the engine of the forklift, propane passes through the opened throttle-plate in a fine spray and mixes with air that comes from the mass air intake before moving into the cylinder head intake hatches. Every one of the four pistons is staggered to rise in an exact sequence, compressing the mixture of air and propane as every piston rises to the top of the head. With timing that is very precise, the engine's alternator and battery produce an electrical current that passes through the spark plug. The fuel ignites resulting in an explosion that drives the piston back down to the bottom of the cylinder, causing a continuous turning of the camshaft. In the cylinder, an air pressure imbalance causes the the exhaust hatch to draw out exhaust when more fuel passes into the cylinder. Propane burns much cleaner compared to diesel and gasoline and the exhaust is not as harmful.