Peer Review

Four Stroke Cycle (Otto Cycle)

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 28, 2023 by Engineering

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This video is an animation explaining the working of Otto cycle. The pressure volume diagram of both theoretical and practical concepts are explained. The adiabatic process,constant volume process i.e. the isometric process are also explained. You can also get an idea of the piston movement inside the cylinder as per the PV diagram.

Type of Material:

Animation (video).

Recommended Uses:

It could be recommended for courses on thermodynamic courses in any engineering degree. Useful for traditional and hybrid/blended teaching.

Technical Requirements:

Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers were used to access the material. It seems that all facilities are active for any browser.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

This video helps to understand how the Otto Cycle is represented in a P/V diagram, in both theoretical and practical cases.

The video is addressed to engineers and students of engineering degrees interested in learning about Heat Engines and Thermodynamics.

Target Student Population:

High School, College General Ed., College Upper Division, Professional, First course Degrees.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Knowledge on physics at high school level. It should be desirable to have some Thermodynamic basic concepts knowledge.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The pressure-volume diagram of the Otto cycle is presented, comparing the theoretical one to the practical one. It highlights the differences between the “perfect” processes of the theoretical cycle with respect to the real processes of the practical cycle. Contents are presented in a clear and concise manner. The contents are core concepts in basic Thermodynamics or Heat Engines courses. Information is provided accurately and summarizes well the main ideas.

Concerns:

-The author must explain the factors of poor performance of this engine in order to understand the difference between the theoretical and real cycle.

- For the comparison to be clear, it is necessary to keep the same number of each transformation in the two cycles and to give the number 0 to the first practical cycle point.

- It is better to add the arrows which indicate the direction of energy either thermal or work on each transformation.

- It is better to draw the engine in a horizontal way and under the diagram indicating the top and bottom dead center on the diagram and on the engine schematic.

- It is better to add on the schematic of the engine the intake and exhaust valves in order to understand well the 4-stroke cycle.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The major strength of this material is its presentation and length. These are the optimal to help students acquire concepts without being boring.

The material could be used for self-learning as well as a supplementary material in traditional or blended/hybrid courses on Thermodynamics or Heat Engines. The learning objectives are clearly stated. Relations and differences between thermodynamic processes are demonstrated.

Concerns:

As corresponds to video materials, to become useful for effective learning it should be combined with extra exercises and quizzes, or to become integral part of additional lectures on the topic of Thermodynamics.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The video is a standalone material, easy to use. Only connection to the Internet and link to the video repository is needed. It can be reproduced in computer, iPad and smartphone. Visual design of the video corresponds to a succession of pictures as the explanations are given.

Concerns:

The format doesn’t allow the viewer to interact with it.

It should be interesting to include subtitles in other languages in common use (Spanish, French…), or video voice in other languages.

Other Issues and Comments:

The video is aimed to engineers and engineering students who want to learn about thermodynamics and fluid mechanics.

This presentation explains how the Otto cycle works. On the PV diagram, a comparison between the theoretical and practical cycle is explained. A simultaneous animation between the movement of the piston inside the cylinder and the 4 transformations on the PV diagram is shown.

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