FreeValve Engine
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 1:56 pm
I came across a news release about the introduction of a new type of four-stroke-power-cycle engine that has no camshaft and no conventional poppet valves. It is called the FreeValve engine. The engine has the expected intake and exhaust valves, but each valve is controlled by its own electrical actuator. This gives the engine designer and the engine microprocessor controller the freedom to operate the valves in any sort timing and duration; the valve timing and opening distance is not locked in place by a mechanical camshaft.
In an initial application to a four-cylinder 1.6-liter displacement engine, the results are impressive. Changing to a FreeValve design resulted in:
--increased power output
--increased torque output
--reduced fuel consumption
--improved exhaust emission
--reduced operating noise
--elimination of the throttle body
--reduction in cost of fuel injectors (by going back to port injection instead of direct injection)
--simple implementation of displacement on demand
--improved operation with turbo-charging by elimination of waste gate
--improved operation with catalytic convertors by very rapid initial warm up
--reduced size compared to conventional cam and valves
--reduced weight compared to conventional cam and valves
This technology sound great. What worries me is the technology was developed by Koenigeggs. They're the people who make hyper-cars--cars that are faster, lighter, more exotic, and much more expensive than anything you could imagine, and cost millions of dollars per car. However, it is being demonstrated now in a Chinese-made German-design engine called the Qoros. Keeping the "Q" theme, it is a Qamfree engine. More about this technology at
http://www.freevalve.com/technology/fre ... echnology/
and
http://www.freevalve.com/category/news/
Since everything sounds so positive about the FreeValve, the cost must be the hold-up. But they used to say the same thing about early transistors when they were being made by hand in laboratories. Now, with mass production and a lot of manufacturing refinements, you can get a billion transistors on a chip for $5.
I thought I would throw this into the PERFORMANCE discussion to see if we have any gear heads whose boating is done for the winter and want to chime in.
In an initial application to a four-cylinder 1.6-liter displacement engine, the results are impressive. Changing to a FreeValve design resulted in:
--increased power output
--increased torque output
--reduced fuel consumption
--improved exhaust emission
--reduced operating noise
--elimination of the throttle body
--reduction in cost of fuel injectors (by going back to port injection instead of direct injection)
--simple implementation of displacement on demand
--improved operation with turbo-charging by elimination of waste gate
--improved operation with catalytic convertors by very rapid initial warm up
--reduced size compared to conventional cam and valves
--reduced weight compared to conventional cam and valves
This technology sound great. What worries me is the technology was developed by Koenigeggs. They're the people who make hyper-cars--cars that are faster, lighter, more exotic, and much more expensive than anything you could imagine, and cost millions of dollars per car. However, it is being demonstrated now in a Chinese-made German-design engine called the Qoros. Keeping the "Q" theme, it is a Qamfree engine. More about this technology at
http://www.freevalve.com/technology/fre ... echnology/
and
http://www.freevalve.com/category/news/
Since everything sounds so positive about the FreeValve, the cost must be the hold-up. But they used to say the same thing about early transistors when they were being made by hand in laboratories. Now, with mass production and a lot of manufacturing refinements, you can get a billion transistors on a chip for $5.
I thought I would throw this into the PERFORMANCE discussion to see if we have any gear heads whose boating is done for the winter and want to chime in.