Types of Cylinder Head

Types of Cylinder Head Points : Types of Cylinder Head There are in common two main types of cylinder heads—L-head and I-head type or over-head valve type. The, cylinder head of L-head or flat head is comparatively a easy casting having water jackets for cooling. It also contains spark plug openings and pockets for operating valves in them. These pocket having a complex curved surface serve as the top of the combustion. When the piston reaches the end of the compression stroke, the air-fuel mixture is squashed into the pockets to be subjected to violent whirling or turbulence.
In the head or overhead valve cylinder head, water jackets for cooling spark plug openings, valve and combustion chamber pockets as well as supports for valves and valve-operating mechanism are also contained. Certain engines like overhead camshaft engines are provided bearing for supporting the camshaft and the rocker arm shafts. Although head is more complex than the L-head, yet most of the automotive engines have I-head type due to the greater opportunity provided by it for increasing compression ratios. Moreover water jackets for cooling are larger in I-heads than those of Head engines.