Which engine is generally more compact for the same power output?
Internal combustion engine
The principle at work is where combustion takes place, because that decides how much extra heat-transfer hardware an engine must carry.
In an internal combustion engine the fuel is burned directly inside the cylinder, so heat is released at the very place where work is done.
This means no boiler, furnace or condenser is needed, and the engine can run at high cylinder pressures, so it packs a lot of power into a small, light unit.
Steam and Stirling engines are external combustion engines: they burn fuel outside the working cylinder and must add bulky equipment such as a boiler or a separate heater and condenser to move that heat inside.
Because 'external combustion engine' is simply the category that both the steam and Stirling engines belong to, it carries the same bulky-hardware penalty and cannot be the compact choice.
All three external-combustion options therefore have a lower power-to-size ratio than the IC engine.
Hence, the answer is Internal combustion engine.
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Important Questions from Introduction To Engine
A two-stroke diesel engine is used in:
The movement of piston from TDC to BDC is called:
What form of energy is used by an automobile engine?
IC engine is divided into three parts called _______.
The distance between the centerlines of the main journal and the crank shaft pin is called:
