new engine development?

[Doc Dave]

O.K. you engineers/mechanics. What do you think of this? Interesting at the very least.

http://www.ecomotors.com/videos/intr...%A2-powertrain

[QuantumJo]

Very interesting piston configuration. A first for me. I'll take some time and do some research on it later tonight. Thanks for posting Doc Dave.

[712edf]

Kinda neat. Certain airless paint pumps use a single piston that pumps on both the up stroke & the down stroke, but thats a different cookie there. I'm wondering about the pistons that have the dual connecting rods.

Bucky

[Aaron S]

That's interesting. I believe I read something about an automobile steam engine designed around those principals in the early 1900's, just before cheap gas killed the steam car forever. A simple enough idea, to give two cylinders the motive force of four, but a complicated valve arrangement to be sure.

[Blisters]

A re-design of an old concept. Fairbanks-Morse built opposed-piston diesel engines for railroad and marine use (locomotives and tugboats) int he 1930's to 1950's. It ran exceptionally smooth, espcially for a diesel.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...:1&um=1&itbs=1


Their original design used two crankshafts geared together, so this is a fairly big change and probably not contestable in patent court.

The F-M engines were very tall compared to conventional assemblies; I wonder how a big flat engine will fit in a modern car???

Note that FM is still doing strong business here in the US:

http://www.fairbanksmorse.com/



Thanks for posting this!

Ken J

[Joe Flo]

I remember years ago reading in a Mechanix Illustrated or Popular Mechanics magazine (from the early 60's) about a guy who developed a 2 stroke double piston engine. Instead of two pistons opposing each other, these pistons were attached back to back and a connecting rod (so to speak) came out between them that went to an offset disc on a shaft. The pistons traveled in an arc shaped cylinder back and forth. There were several sets of pistons. The engine looked like a barrel. Does anyone remember this? It was kind of like an old GM air conditioner compressor but doubled.

Joe

[MoparFreak69]

Interesting concept but I think with the way emission standards are going, a 2 stroke type of induction system will not be able to run clean enough to become an effective technology. We are seeing major changes in the landscaping equipment field as a result of stricter emission standards. A Japanese corporation called Shindaiwa has added valves into a 2 stroke string trimmer motor in an attempt to clean up exhaust emissions. It burns 2 stroke oil mixed with gas, looks very very similar to most 2 stroke motors but runs and sounds like a normal 4 stroke engine. We jokingly call it a 2-4 stroke. A big problem we are seeing is that a 4 stroke engine design does not like anything other than gasoline being burned in the combustion chamber. The additive oil necessary to lubricate the crankcase causes valve gumming issues. Many companies are moving away from 2 stroke designs entirely due to the difficulties in curing emission troubles. Simply put 2 strokes are inherently dirty engines and without some other way to manage and lubricate the crankcase they arent the wave of the future.