This article explains how mechanical engineering technology is applied to automobiles and introduces typical technologies such as turbocharged engines and spoilers. It will also cover how automotive technology continues to evolve, becoming more complex and sophisticated as it converges with next-generation technologies such as electric and autonomous vehicles.
Among the many sayings about the difference between humans and animals is the phrase, ‘Humans use tools.’ It’s true. Humans have been making and refining tools for survival since the beginning. Initially, they were simple tools for survival that were smashed and wielded, but they have evolved into complex operations that make the difference between humans and other animals. Humans have evolved with and through tools. The engineering discipline that studies the development of these tools and the tools themselves is mechanical engineering. Today, machines are everywhere in human life. Among the many machines, the automobile is a typical example of the technology of mechanical engineering.
Cars are not as massive as airplanes or ships. However, the smaller volume means that the parts have to be smaller and less precise, so they have to be more delicate and sophisticated, even if the same principles of technology are applied. That’s why cars are more intensive. And above all, cars are machines that are used very closely in everyday life, so they need to be intuitive and easy to use for the user. People may think that a car just rolls, but it’s actually a very complex system with tons of parts and technologies that work together seamlessly. This means that reliability is just as important as technical perfection. You don’t just want a machine with wheels that roll, you want to be able to ride it safely day in and day out.
One of the most important technologies in cars is the turbo engine. In order for a car’s engine to be powerful, it needs to burn a lot of fuel. In order to burn a lot of fuel, it’s good to put a lot of fuel in, but it’s also good to fan the fuel so that it burns well. How to add more air. You might think of the fan you have around you. But when you spin it, you don’t get much air anyway, because the spinning itself takes effort. So, what if we could turn the fan without any effort? This is where the idea came from: ‘Let’s use the power of waste. If you think about it, if you blow air in from one side, it will naturally come out the other side. If you can turn the fan by using the force of the outgoing air instead of letting it go, you can blow air without effort. In other words, the incoming and outgoing air will be in sync, saving energy.
This technology has many applications in everyday life. For example, the idea of reusing this “wasted power” in cars and other mechanical or electrical equipment is also important in terms of energy conservation. With the importance of environmental protection and energy conservation in today’s world, technologies that maximize efficiency, such as automotive turbocharging, are likely to become more common in the future in a variety of industries. One simple idea can make a big difference.
Another technology is spoilers. When a train entering a platform is traveling fast, the body of a person standing on the platform is sucked towards it. This is because the pressure is lower on the side where the air is moving faster than on the side where it’s not. In this case, if you think of the train as a reference point, it’s like the air around it is moving fast, and the train is being sucked in all directions. But because the direction is symmetrical, it doesn’t wobble. The same is true for a car. When a car is traveling fast, it receives a sucking force from the air all around it. Because the left and right sides are symmetrical, the forces cancel each other out, but the upward force remains. So the car lifts off the ground the faster it goes, and the wheels don’t stay perfectly on the ground. This can lead to skidding when changing direction sharply in a corner. This increases the turning radius, which is time-consuming and can lead to accidents in worse cases. To prevent this, cars install spoilers. The word may not be familiar, but we’ve all seen those wing-like things on top of the trunk lid of a loud sports car. That’s a spoiler. A spoiler is like a sail on a ship. If a sail on a boat is what gives it the power to push the boat forward, a spoiler gives it the power to push down on the car. It keeps the wheels perfectly glued to the ground and allows the car to take short turns without slipping in corners.
Technologies like turbochargers and spoilers are only a small part of the technology in cars, and these are very simple principles. A car is not just a rolling box on four wheels, it’s a work of art that incorporates a lot of mechanical engineering, many of which are inspired by simple principles but are applied through complex calculations and trial and error. This incredibly complex and amazing thing called a car is still evolving right now. But all of this is just the tip of the iceberg of mechanical engineering, just the tasting section of a big box store. Mechanical engineering is as wide as the ocean and as complex as the human mind.
And the advances in automotive technology don’t stop there. Even now, the next generation of technologies such as self-driving cars, electric cars, and hydrogen cars are being developed, and they are the result of the convergence of traditional mechanical engineering and new IT technologies. It’s no longer possible to describe cars solely in terms of mechanical engineering. Now, various disciplines are working together to create a huge complex system called an automobile.
