Diesel History & Milestones

His work in engine design was driven by the goal of much higher efficiency ratios. He tried to design an engine based on the Carnot Cycle. However, he gave up on this and tried to develop his own approach. Eventually he designed his own engine and obtained a patent for his design. In his engine, fuel was injected at the end of compression and the fuel was ignited by the high temperature resulting from compression.

Since Robert Bosch introduced the low-voltage magneto for motor vehicles as it's first product in 1897, the company has been growing steadily and developed into the Bosch Group operating on an international scale. In the area of automotive equipment, the Bosch name is synonymous with quality, performance and precision. Some examples are ABS, suspension and safety systems, lighting equipment, engine management systems, electrical and electronic automotive body equipment, semiconductors and electronic control units as well as starters and alternators.

Through innovative development work, precision in production and high quality standards, Bosch will continue to help make motor vehicles even safer, cleaner and more fuel efficient.

Within the Bosch Automotive Equipment Sector, the K5 product division is responsible for diesel injection systems.

The development of the diesel engine and biofuels run concurrent in their history, weaving a story of technological advancement and political and economic struggle. The story of the diesel engine is the more technological aspect of this history, but it becomes easy to see how the political and economic aspects of biofuels impacted its evolution.

A write up with animation on how a diesel engine works.