Types of Aircraft engines. What are the different types of engines used in Airplanes

1)Turboprop

2)Turbojet
3)Ramjet or Scramjet
4)Conventional Radial piston
5)Turbo-ramjet (Turboram) engine
8)Hydrogen Combustion engine

1)Turboprop is a simple jet engine which turns the main propeller alike in helicopters. It consists of a air Intake, reduction gears, compressor, combustion chamber, turbines and  exhaust nozzle.

 

2) Turbojet and Turbofan is a 'now-a-days' conventional engine used primarily in medium to large airliners. It's a jet engine with large bypass ratio. Which has benefits viz: 1)Larger extra thrust through bypass which in-turn reduces fuel necessity making it more efficient. 2) The bypass high speed air which is cooler dampens the noise from the exhaust nozzle in-turn making it quiter. The Turbojets are primarily used in fighter jets.

3)Ramjet is a air breathing engine which does not have a rotary compressor, it uses air. Coming to it at mach speeds to blast it through nozzle with greater velocity. The name comes from the Rams it has as it operates on the RAM EFFECT, which provides the necessary intake compression for the engine. Ramjet is a hypersonic engine which only works past MACH 3+ speeds, so lot of aircrafts using it needs rocket boosters to help attain required MACH 3+ velocity. In Layman's terms, the engine takes super sonic air through the intake which is already compressed by the rams to the flame holder or the combustion chamber where fuel is mixed with the air and burnt which blasts out from the nozzle providing the required thrust.

4) Radial Piston Engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration  in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is called a "star engine" in some other languages.
The radial configuration was commonly used for aircraft engines before gas turbine engines became predominant. Mostly used in the time of World War I.

5) Turborams ain't a different category of engine, it's just a combination of a turbojet and a ramjet engine. As Ramjet can't work from 0, it needs to be propelled externally to reach the required Mach 3 speed from where-on the Ramjet could take charge. This is a Ramjet engine with an internally equiped turbojet engine which shuts off when arrived Mach 3. There ain't a lot of them in the market right now, but there's a Chimera Engine which is made by a America based company Hermeus which is fantastically described in a different blog. CLICK CHIMERA to go there.

6)Hydrogen Powered Jet Engines: These are normal turborjets or Turbofans but with hydrogen as the fuel to be burnt in the combustion chamber. These type of engine has a very simple working on paper but difficult to operate on ground because - 1.Storage in the aircraft is very risky as it's too volatile and imflammable. 2.Proper transfer of fuel to the engine and usage. 4.Transportation and refuelling issues.