Types of Carburetors

Types of Carburetors

There are three general types of carburetors depending on the direction of flow of air. The first is the up draught type shown in Fig.8(a) in which the air enters at the bottom and leaves at the top so that the direction of its flow is upwards. The disadvantage of the up draught carburetor is that it must lift the sprayed fuel droplet by air friction. Hence, it must be designed for relatively small mixing tube and throat so that even at low engine speeds the air velocity is sufficient to lift and carry the fuel particles along. Otherwise, the fuel droplets tend to separate out providing only a lean mixture to the engine. On the other hand, the mixing tube is finite and small then it cannot supply mixture to the engine at a sufficiently rapid rate at high speeds.

In order to overcome this drawback the downdraught carburetor [Fig.8 (b)] is adopted. It is placed at a level higher than the inlet manifold and in which the air and mixture generally follow a downward course. Here the fuel does not have to be lifted by air friction as in the up draught carburetors but move into the cylinders by gravity even if the air velocity is low. Hence, the mixing tube and throat can be made large which makes high engine speeds and high specific outputs possible.

Constant Choke Carburetor:

In the constant choke carburetor, the air and fuel flow areas are always maintained to be constant. But the pressure difference or depression, which causes the flow of fuel and air, is being varied as per the demand on the engine. Solex and Zenith carburetors belong to this class.

Constant Vacuum Carburetor:

In the constant vacuum carburetor, (sometimes called variable choke carburetor) air and fuel flow areas are being varied as per the demand on the engine, while the vacuum is maintained to be always same. The S.U. and Carter carburetors belong to tills class.

Multiple Venturi Carburetor:

Multiple venturi system uses double or triple venturi. The boost venturi is located concentrically within the main venturi.The discharge edge of the boost venturi is located at the throat of the main venturi. The boost venturi is positioned upstream of the throat of the larger main venturi. Only a fraction of the total air flows though the boost venturi. Now the pressure at the boost venturi exit equals the pressure at the main venturi throat. The fuel nozzle is located at the throat of the boost venturi.