Lift truck Engines
Forklifts are classified as vehicles with small engines. The engines of the forklift all follow the principles of internal combustion, though the many models and makes of lift truck will have a different layout and design. Forklifts are made more toward producing high torque rather than for speed. They generally are geared to low speeds. The engine powers the forklift's drive wheels. The engine is also required to lower and lift the forks via a series of chain pulleys. Most modern lift truck engines are fueled by propane as they will be used indoors, where diesel and gasoline engines will be unsuitable because of the exhaust they generate.
Normally, the lift truck is a four-cylinder engine-block. Forklift engines are like automobile engines since they contain pistons connecting to a camshaft. The head of each cylinder consists of an exhaust hatch, a spark plug and an exhaust hatch, each of them one-way and spring-loaded.
Engine Function
When the driver starts up the engine of the forklift, propane passes through the opened throttle-plate in a fine spray and mixes together with air coming from the mass air intake before moving into the head intake hatches of the cylinder. Every one of the four pistons is staggered to rise in a precise sequence, that compresses the mixture of propane and air as each piston rises to the top of the head. With extremely exact timing, the engine's alternator and battery produce an electrical current which passes through the spark plug. The fuel ignites causing an explosion which drives the piston back down to the bottom of the cylinder, resulting in 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 a lot cleaner compared to diesel and gasoline and the exhaust is not as harmful.