Something Interesting
Whenever I'm bored nowadays (like now when I'm in the midst of a major recursive portupgrade) I kinda like to click on the Stumble Button on the Firefox Stumble Upon toolbar. This time, this quite fabulous add-on brought me to this site: http://www.new4stroke.com/. Basically, the authors of the site claim to have created a new form of 4 stroke engine that basically replaces the old valve running gear.
I'm no mechanical engineer (my comment above should tell you the industry I work in) but this invention looks interesting (if it is indeed theirs). I have no idea if it is even theoretically possible but for a guy who's spent a lot of his life looking at various people taking engines apart and fixing them up again, this idea seems brilliant.
The engine utilizes a basic 4 stroke engine block. In the case of the "inventors" an old Fiat short block was used. Then, the cylinder heads are replaced with their invention. Now instead of having the intake and exhaust cycles controlled by cams and valves, the new heads have a single crankshaft. Yes, you read correctly. The heads have a crank. Attached to this overhead crank (??!!) are two pistons per cylinder. One piston is tasked with the air/fuel intake and the other lets exhaust gases out. The pistons move in a reciprocating manner but is pushed by the overhead crankshaft. This in turn in chain driven by the bottom end crank (at least it seems so in the gallery pictures).
Too complicated to explain further, you should have a look for yourself on the website in the How It Works section. Then the mechanical engineers among you can perhaps tell me if this engine should work or not. More importantly, can it burn hydrogen? All I know is right now, this type of engine is automatically banned by the current Formula 1 rules.
5 comments:
Very clever - I see no reason why it should not work. Basically it's a combination between a 4-stroke and a 2-stroke engine - the upper pistons perform the inlet/outlet tasks just as the pistons do in a 4-stroke.
My question would: what advantage does it give over valves? It would be considerably heavier for a start, and that means it would have to give more power than the orthodox arrangement. But I don't see where that extra power would come from...
Ooops, I meant "as the pistons do in a 2-stroke". Must remember to check my comments...
Perhaps not power as in BHP but perhaps greater torque. But on the circuit the "rate of doing work" is the more important factor.
But you're right about the weight. Springs and valves or in the case of Formula 1 valves and pneumatic suction results in a far lighter powerplant.
Not forgetting of course that much of the weight of this invention is placed higher up resulting in a higher centre of gravity than an ordinary 4 stroke... or so I'd think.
Exchaust port .See some carbon.
http://www.new4stroke.com/images/1%20013.jpg
http://www.new4stroke.com/new4strokegreek2.gif
Andrew
The reason for this system is: variable displacement. By changing the timing between both crankshafts, it is possible to change the displacement. The inventor claims his twin-cylinder prototype to have 600-960 ccm displacement. It is a small engine, when you are just cruising, and bigger engine when you need power.
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