Talk:Combustion chamber

Proposed merger

It was proposed in 2012 that this page should be merged with Combustor. I do not agree with that idea. The Combustor page is a well-developed specialist page, whereas this is a general page which can usefully refer to the other page. However, there is still, in my view, a lot wrong with this page (namely its structure and content!) and I feel a substantial rewrite is called for to bring it up to scratch. Arrivisto (talk) 13:05, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

• Agreed and oppose merge. Andy Dingley (talk) 20:24, 14 December 2014 (UTC)
• OPPOSE the merge. I concur that this article (Combustion chamber) needs a lot of work. I don't see that merging into it another poor article would help, and the sourced statements that are present in the two articles, especially any that would make clear the distinction between "Combustion chamber" and "Combustor" in the technical literature, is not plain to me. N2e (talk) 06:59, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Steam engines

Combustion chamber of a steam locomotive firebox, extending forwards (leftwards) of the main firebox

My understanding of "combustion chamber" is that it is a term relevant only to internal combustion engines, whether piston, Wankel or turbine (jet). As it now is, the article includes also the steam engine (the exemplar of an external combustion engine). I can't see the point of calling the firebox and fire tubes a "combustion chamber". I suggest that any major rewrite includes the steam engine as no more than a footnote. Arrivisto (talk) 23:03, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

This should probably become a disambig page, with the current article moved to Combustion chamber (piston engine). Combustor is the "combustion chamber" of a jet engine. For steam locomotives, not many of them had combustion chambers, just some of them with larger boilers. This is a distinct component from the firebox and tubes - a large single extension of the firebox space, into the boiler barrel, and above the brick arch and separated from the grate and the fire bed.

Scotch marine boiler, sectioned, showing the internal combustion at the right

Some other steam engine boilers, not locomotives, also have combustion chambers. The Scotch is one that always has one, and the Lancashire sometimes has variations. Andy Dingley (talk) 23:53, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Perhaps Combustion chamber (piston & rotary engines) would be favourite, leaving gas turbine & jet engines to be covered by Combustor, and steam engines covered somewhere else? On that reasoning, I propose a move to this new title. Arrivisto (talk) 12:36, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Combustion chamber (piston engine) Titles with lashed-up conjunctions in them are never a good idea. Andy Dingley (talk) 13:04, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Compression Ratio

This article seems to incorrectly identify the combustion-chamber (CC) from the historically used definition, i.e. the chamber where combustion occurs in the head above the piston.

With this article's definition, how does one calculate the compression ratio (CR)?

CR is equal to the sum of the cylinder and CC volume, divided by the CC volume. [ref: Bosch Automotive Handbook, 2nd Ed, p. 333] 2604:2D80:B386:3800:9CD7:8EB2:79D9:9BBE (talk) 19:20, 22 January 2023 (UTC)