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It all comes down to marketing/sales/investors. It is like thorium vs uranium thing, Thorium is technically better, but since the cold war era was around that time, the president at that point wanted to invest in Uranium (plotonium...etc). Currently switching from the nuclear reactors to thorium based reactors, would cost immense amounts of money and/or would cost a lot of energy. Sometimes it is just based where peoples eyes are at, rather than what is better
Their claim of 4x combustion does hold true though... Each cylininder fires every 180°, and the engine fires two cylinders at once, every 90°, which definitely is 4x more than one cylinder every 180°, and one single cylinder experiencing an ignition only every 720° in a traditional inline-4. But otherwise I liked the vid, and share your concerns of the low torque due to low mechanical advantage of the swashplate/cam-plate design. Although, one could optimise the system by making the cam curve asymmetric, giving the crank more leverage at higher compression near top-dead, and giving the piston more leverage at whichever point in combustion makes pressure and force most efficiently.
I was trying to think of ways that could build this engine into an actual torque monster. Thinking "hey, just take the pistons and rotate them 90 degrees, 360 degree placement around a central crankshaft! That will build TONS of low torque!" And then I realized I just discovered a radial engine lol
I absolutely love your, " that's really great but wait just a minute buddy" attitude towards design claims and the like. A very humble but well educated and honest matter of fact approach and comment. Nice video as usual.
It's an axial, uniflow, 2 stroke, opposed piston engine. My favorite arrangement, but it's been around a LONG time. Hopefully these guys will give it the development time it needs.
Modern direct and HCCI ignition systems can really bring a lot of older i.c.e. designs back. If synthetic fuels come like they are touted then yeah maybe we see 2strokes and rotaries make a come back
@russbell6418 This is the first thought i had, The airplane engine with a swash plate and 12 pistons, i believe it was made in the USA It was a beautiful engine, i did encounter it while doing research about rotary engines. Nice to know i am not the only one interested in engine tech. The two stroke opposed engine the op is talking about is indeed an old design, i believe the made some diesels this way as early as The great war.
The 'wavey thing' is a swash plate. It is used in helicopters to control main rotor. It is also used in car AC compressors - which incidentally look a lot like this engine.
Thank you for pointing out the error of thinking "if it hasn't been done before it's because it can't be done". One of my perpetual pet peeves. There are cases in history where it definitely looks like something wasn't done earlier (sometimes for centuries) simply because no one thought of it. More precisely, no one thought of it who was in a position to do anything about it.
Correct, also, even when a "new" idea is "better" than existing technology, marketing, materials & ancillary services may need to be developed for it to be accepted & used. This usually requires extensive capital investment, maybe, even previously non-existent materials or processes. Standard internal combustion engine isn't really "better" than a horse without places that sell affordable gas or roads to drive on. Not to mention an infrastructure in place for replacement parts & training on proper repairs. Airplanes weren't a thing over night, and neither was the gas turbine engine. Why do we use boats If an airplanes would actually work, or propellers if a jet engine could work. If nuclear material can be used to run an electrical powerplant, why are we still using coal & dams? Nuclear weapons, essentially everything in modern society. Somebody came up with the idea AND had a means to advance it beyond the "idea" stage.
Totally agree. The side thrust from the swash plates on the pistons would be an issue, also as with all opposed piston engines, the exhaust pistons get quite hot. Not a problem for the Junkers Jumo engine as it was a diesel but certainly a concern for an Otto cycle engine, the compression ratio would have to be tempered to protect the engine. I was totally suspicious of the initial description of the engine because there is no way opening the exhaust early is going to create a vacuum for the intake process, and there at the end was the reality, a compressor to pump the air in like every other two stroke engine.
@@kramnull8962 Everything, you're just too small minded and emotional to perceive reality. You're not exploited, you're doing the exploiting, because no one is greedier than a socialist.
Hey, i am using your comment to warn people. This company is a scam. They don't have a product. If you give them money, it will be gone without any use for you.
You once again break down it down to its simplest parts and call it what it is, a 2 stroke engine. I see this as being a great hybrid engine. Small, light weight and can run at a set RPM and get great fuel efficiency. Keep up the great work, and may God bless you brother.
I was thinking the same thing, this engine seems great for using in a hybrid configuration. It's small efficient, light, low-vibration and electric engine can produce extra torque whenever needed.
The way you present your videos is honestly the best Ive ever seen on youtube. Technical but easy to understand and no excess talking, always clear and the visuals are great. Its an interesting engine Im guessing this will never be used on motorbikes?
One reoccurring theme that I always notice with opposed piston engines is that they all seem to have a supercharger. I personally think they're critical to the design, mainly because the exhaust scavenging action isn't enough to pull fresh air in, so they need a little extra "push". Detroit 2-stroke diesel engines have a similar operating principle as far as the supercharger goes (or "air pump" as they call it).
Also since the engine technically have 2 outputs might as well use the other output for something useful since one of the output already being use to drive the car forward
2-Stroke Diesel engines need supercharging at low speeds since you need a source of pressure to push the spent exhaust gases out of the cylinder. On turbocharged EMD 2-strokes, the turbocharger becomes a centrifugal supercharger at low speeds.
@archise3191 EXACTLY! I instantly thought they should add a centrifugal supercharger on one end feeding into a ring shaped intake manifold that circles the intake ports!
I immediately recognised this as an Axial engine and similar to a swashplate engine. These are normally always inspired by what others will recognise as AC/Refrigerative compressors and Hydraulic/Hydrostatic pumps and motors.
Hey, anyone here can tell we can replace the roller attached to the end of each connecting rod with a gear to drive the plate below it, or this idea is impossible??
that's exactly what I was thinking very similar to hydraulic axial pump and another thing two stroke diesels been around for years gone now do to emissions.
This engine is a hoax. Those rollers will spin impossible RPMs (at least 4X) due to the size difference between the wavy plate radius and roller radius. No bearing can take 25,000 RPM for more than a few seconds. Also, it's not a 1-stroke, so they shouldn't be claiming that. And the HP claim is impossible too by 4X.
@@travelinkevin5130 i guessing you are missing a zero on that number? Most ball bearings can go to 25k rpm for standard use. But realistically, you can't just go call the engine a hoax more so that the dreamt up figures and efficiencies are what is made up. Its possible and the engine will work with a variety of different bearings, just dont expect it to be reliable let alone put in race car.
@@Syncrusan Look up ball bearing speed limits. Caged ball bearings overheat and die at about 6k RPM. This application has vibrations that would make the matter worse. 500cc is only 30 cubic inches. They claim ~4 HP per cubic inch, which is ridiculous. For those roller bearings to survive, the mainshaft speed would need to stay below ~1000 RPM. That layout has 8 power impulses per 360 degrees on the mainshaft. Working the 'PLANK' formula shows a mean pressure like a Top Fuel engine. I liked the engine initially too, but on closer inspection, it's a pipe dream.
Now that's what I call a very informative video. A man who is capable of taking complex ideas, processing them, and then translating them into fully digestible pieces of information. I am very impressed with his gift and thank him for sharing it with us.
Looking at it purely mathematically, i can see what they mean: 2 strokes per cylinder = 4 strokes per 2 cylinders = 4/2 =2, but here they are sharing the same intake, compression, combustion and exhaust strokes, so you have 2 strokes per two cylinders, = 2/2=1. Yes it's still operating on the exact 2stroke principle, but i get what they mean also, and yes that is good for publicity, so why not?
@richardwilson3336 it still takes 2 strokes to complete the combustion and exhaustion cycle, so unless they're doing that all in one stroke, which is just about impossible unless we discover technology that allows us to combust exhaust efficiently, it's still, at its core, just a 2-stroke engine.
@@popuptoasterust high costs. Gas turbines are actually very efficient due to its simple mechanism that is versatile for features like heat recuperator. So the only thing that holds gas turbine back is expensive design for the blade's engineering and poor throttle response which won't be an issue for range extensing use.
That engine would probably be fantastic in equipment like boom lifts. Just has to run at one speed all day, and the compactness would be hugely beneficial.
I doubt it would compete in a torque run vs a gnome lerone though :-( its very inovative but pretty much only usefull in maybe a 12 volt battery charger? higher volteage would probably cease or stop it :-(
This has been done in a diesel engine, look up Fairbanks-Morse 38 8-1/8. Used extensively in locomotives and diesel electric submarines, originally designed in the 1930s. It uses 2 conventional crankshafts instead of the swash plates.
Had one on the ship I served on as the ships EDG. Lights would go out, you'd hear the HP air valve kick open and that thing would roar to life. Was a cool engine
What struck me was the complex shape of many of the parts and how polished/plated I'm guessing the main shaft - swash plate parts are. Most mass produced engines eschew anything polished with the possible exception of valves and possibly ports. It adds loads of cost to the end product
This thing will likely be expensive to re-produce in mass. Whether or not this thing could live for a reasonable amount of time with the way people take care of their stuff remains to be seen. I don't hate it though.
While I agree with you on polishing /coating parts is expensive. They are waving the cost of cams,valves,and a traditional crank. It may be enough to offset the cost of hardening coatings.
Well, to make a crankshaft and cam shafts is only cheap because the mass production part was already covered in the hundred years+ since they started building those, but that doesn't mean those are not expensive to balance and manufacture polished parts.
I think what would have been cool to mention is how the swash plate offsetting not only varies the compression but also the timing of the exhaust and intake ports.
Balance is relative to the movement of the piston in relation to the crankshaft…in this case, both are still moving at the same speed so the relative balance isn’t affected.
@@davidchristensen2970 Yes it would indeed. For some period, both pistons are moving in the same direction when the wavy things are not in time with one another.
I have enjoyed the video as always and as a mechanic/machinist/amateur designer, you never cease to amaze me with what you dig up and how you are able to explain it in Lehman terms so everyone is able to understand it .
You did a fine job presenting this video on a non-biased professional manner explaining the operation, limits and application. The company like many new ones marketing a innovative product has to over-embellish to sell it to potential investors that are clueless on the physical/mechanical properties of its performance. Your statement is perfect in how you described it as a "contender in certain applications"...very nicely put ! Your presentation is excellent !
I converted a DA6 and HR6 into internal combustion engines in 1992 in auto shop while a sophomore in high school. This INN engine is essentially two ac compressor opposing one another. The swash(wave) plate gives it away. It’s all been done before… Excellent video and excellent channel. Thanks for the time and hard work you put into each episode.
Isn't a swash plate a flat disk on a shaft that is tilted relative to the axis of rotation? In this engine I think the "wavy thing" would be more correctly called it a cam plate. It is anything but flat.
Great presentation and explanation. Interestingly, Napier built an opposed piston 2-stroke diesel engine many years ago in a triangular format with three crankshafts called the 'Deltic'. Used successfully in trains for many years!
the liquid piston engine is pretty cool too, check that one out & lmk what you think. My intuition is that this one might have a little bit of the upper hand (for racing/motorsports) because of the simplicity of the dynamic compression ratio mechanism though, but the lack of moving parts in the liquid piston engine is noteworthy no doubt.
@@STRUTZKOFF You beat me to it. Not only is this not a new design, but it is certainly not a good design, lol. At least a regular 2 stroke engine uses the crank case area and piston to pressurize the intake charge and ensure adequate scavenging of the combustion chamber. These probably still have 30%-50% exhaust in the charge without some form of forced induction to actually scavenge adequately. Watching this video I am so curious if this person knows the history, but is trying to steal it, or if they are so ignorant of engineering and history that they honestly think they came up with something new...
@@willchristian5954 The Dynacam engine was about the same. It was used during WWII in torpedoes and it's a certificated aircraft engine. This is nothing new.
Some turbos should help with scavenging. Fab videos as always. Always makes me think. I'm an ex engineer and I love your presentation style, engaging and keeps the mind working.
cant remember which car it was, but there was an engine with a turbo or supercharger that didnt "push in" air but worked on the other end and basically sucked out the exhaust gasses. something like this could help. it could also create enough vacuum so that it could help with low end torque too
Yep it could be a good idea but this engine is design to be use as a range extender so operating contex is full of starting and suddenly stops something turbos don't like to much.
@@rodrigomartinez3937 Ehh… not necessarily: as a range extender, it could be cycled on when the battery reaches 20% or so, and stay running until it reaches 80%. With suitably sized battery pack that could take half an hour or more.
So much to love in this engine! I notice that each piston pair fires twice per engine revolution, which is nice from the standpoint of applying shaft torques in opposed pairs.. but I think it would be fun to design the cam plates (wavy things) with three lobes instead of two (increasing the angle of their slopes, increasing torque output), and then using either 4, 5, or 7 cylinder blocks, so that there is always a cylinder delivering torque when another cylinder is in compression. The configuration shown, 2 lobes and 4 cylinders, relies on momentum to power compression, so the output is constantly switching from acceleration to deceleration, and a relatively larger rotating mass is necessary to dampen these pulses and provide the rotational momentum for compression. Using a setup where the number of cylinders isn't an integer multiple of the lobes number, would have the engine powering its compression strokes to provide smoother output with less need for adding rotating mass like a flywheel. Powered compression should also help the engine run better at lower speeds. I agree that their test drive description ("no turbo.. atmospheric pressure") was deceptive.. two strokes always require forced induction. The old GM Diesel 2 strokes had Roots blowers.. Mercury 2 stroke outboards (and smaller 2 strokes like chain saws, leaf blowers, and even tiny nitro engines for RC models and such) use the crankcase under the pistons to compress the intake charge and effect cylinder scavenging. A two stroke which relied entirely on port timing and exhaust momentum to initiate scavenging and draw in the intake air, would be extremely sensitive to exhaust tuning and engine RPM, and might struggle to run at all except under ideal conditions.
Six cylinders in the two lobe design would also make sense, that way we would also always have one on the expanding stroke and creating torque. One thing still baffles me, and that is what keeps the pistons from lifting off the "wavy thing" and crashing back down afterwards. An analogy would be valves with too weak or missing springs on a cam shaft.
@@rabiatorthegreat6163 At one point in the animation I can see a groove track running around the outside of the center shaft barrel, I imagine that a pin or roller on the piston follows that track to move the pistons when cylinder pressures aren't sufficient to do it.
Thanks for breaking this down. They could get away with “blowing smoke” up our back sides if we didn’t have folks who could honestly tell it like it is.
It'd make a good motorbike engine, with their light weight compared to cars and not having the need for big torque at low RPM, and the lack of camshafts, chains etc. would be great for low required maintenance. I owned many two stroke bikes in the 1970's but one was always aware that they'd wear out pretty fast, at least regarding the top ends. Great review, as always.
@@EstrogenGhoul I once had a ported Kawasaki 500 that made around 80 crank horsepower but was totally gutless at anything under 3000 RPM, needing lots of clutch slipping to even move off the line. A Suzuki RG 500 Gamma made about 95 crank horsepower. To my knowledge, only Bimota's ill fated V Due was a 500cc two stroke that made about 120 BHP in roadgoing form, and like all two strokes, needed tearing down too often. We're talking about usability here, not racing or dragstrip antics. This engine had a 500cc displacement. Have you owned one or smaller two stroke road bikes that were tuned ? If not, I can assure you that you'd soon be sick of the sight of them if you had to use any at throttle openings of less than flat out. I also had a Suzuki T500 and GT750 in standard trim that were pretty torquey but made only 47 and 70 BHP respectively.
@@michaelarchangel1163 True enough. I had a gamma for a while, enormous fun but the square 4 setup was just plain stupid if you wanted the engine to last. I'd be worried about the durability of this engine too, and for about the same reasons as the gamma's 2 rear cylinders. the "intake" pistons are going to be effectively cooled, but the exhaust side is going to get really hot, really fast. There's probably room for cam profile shenanigans in this case, you could, for example, "stall" a piston at TDC or BDC (stupid terms themselves in the case of what's effectively a swash plate engine), with the most gains probably by holding the exhaust open longer to help scavenging, but I really can't see this delivering enough to beat a conventional inline 4 600 without forced induction.
@@EstrogenGhoul 4 stroke 600cc engines can make 120 hp, but require revs up to 14,000 (give or take). This makes them very inefficient. They are being regulated into non existence due to emissions and noise pollution. They are also very maintenance heavy. Most supersports require significant maintenance by the time they reach 40,000-50,0000 miles and just aren't very good for anything other than going fast.
Well, they are rollers, so fundamentally less friction than cam shafts or pistons. Those rely entirely on a layer of lubricant to keep prevent friction.
Axial designs like this, using a swash plate rather that a crankshaft are very relevant. They have great potential for constant speed applications - aviation, marine, generators and of course range extenders. Another huge benefit of flexible compression is the ability to easily adapt to different fuels. We'll done! Great review - thanks.
the rollers at the bottom of the piston will cause reliability issues. I see wear marks on camshafts all the time, but fluid bearings basically live forever if they have oil pressure.
you got it. cams at least are rolling. these are SLIDING. hint... think about taper roller bearings. all cones converge to a common point, and they roll on a line of contact. whereas on this design, only one infinitesimally small line is actually rolling. everywhere else, its sliding. theres no real way around it. the swashplate has to follow a certain helical path for the line of contact. converging to a point. the angles are always changing. so either the rollers must have matching bumps, at which point theyre simply gears, or they must be infinitely thin... lots and lots of them, side by side. tis why most of these designs tend to use rocker arms and spherical ends, or uni joints of some type. most. not all. the geometry isnt as simple as it looks at first glance. a spherical path is actually whats wanted. hence, ball ends are best. the only good swashplate design i know of was michels. that uses pads, thrust bearings, that create an oil wedge under themselves. no line of contact or metal on metal.... true oil film, spread over an area. someone should revive that little feature again. its still used. in ships. the prop shaft thrust bearing.
I feel the big issue with this design would be wear. The cams/rollers supporting the piston return movement are offset causing a lot of lateral force on the piston and guides. Also, tolerance on the dual rollers and piston would need to be very tight to avoid knocking.
@@paradiselost9946 They could probably shape into a conical shape to have the bearing to be in line with the rotation. That would definitely be a manufacturing challenge though.
@@peterbaugh51 yes. You are right. Much better to go to a two stage tesla turbine, keep the pistons for pumping the condensed working fluid to pressure on the evaporator side. Drive the pump with the turbo expander condensing second stage. Then you have three moving parts, reversing with the turn of a valve, no electricity required, last forever, and you can get unlimited energy from the day night temperature difference. And five hundred horsepower from something a quarter of the size and weight of this. All proven by 1909. We certainly have to consider the necessity of burying those industry scumbags where in a pit so deep they can never climb out.
I love your videos, I have been watching them all for so long and it fuels my love for engineering and mechanical power. Obviously English is not your first language but you speak the language far better than I do as a native speaker. You have a correct way of phrasing everything so when I hear you say "wavy thing", you absolute made my night. You are a legend, thank you for so much educational information and entertainment.
NO! that super charger is (most likely) not adding power. look up the function of of Detroit Two strokes. I bet you that pro charger was for scavenging purposes. That is very common for large engines that have ports and not valves. They have something that can create pressure in the intake, so that exhaust won't come back through. When they do this (usually) it is tuned to approximate atmospheric pressure. The vacuum that these engine create in the cylinder is probably not enough to properly scavenge the exhaust out, that's what the charger is used for. On Detroit's it is a roots style blower. That don't add ANY power, in fact they actually become parasitic at higher RPM's and decrease the engines performance. Twin screws didn't really exists yet which would aid the problem. ALSO! ( I am capitalizing so that people will actually read this, I am not actually angry haha) When they are saying two combusting per rotation.... THEY MEAN, two combustions per rotation. If you really look at the animation you will see. One chamber will combust twice in one rotation. A two stroke does not do that. I think he got hung up on the 180 degree swash plate. It is 8 TOTAL combustion per 360 degrees. twice as much as 4 cylinder. If he said the same as a two stroke 4 cylinder the yes, true. But he did not. This has combustion every 90 degrees, just look at the animation and think about it.
great video as always! this is in effect a compact 4 cylinder evolution of the Rootes/Commer TS3 'knocker' diesel engine with a different motion transfer method from the pistons. the TS3 was incredibly clever in its motion transfer to a single output shaft overcoming the need for dual crankshafts. and yes, the engine featured is a 2-stroke.
The marketing material feels like a separate marketing department who never talked to the engineers got a hold of a few spec sheets and stats and just went to town.
Probably because he is European, and many times people from different countries get self conscious about their accents. Great to know that by doing this we actually help some people with impairments understand us better, cheers!
Nuerotypical youtubers will use huge variations in their voice and talk a million miles an hour for dramatic effect to keep people enganged, I just find it annoying.
This could be a perfect back up engine for an electric car. Make it much smaller, make it run all the time at low speed so its always charging the battery. A great way to add airconditioning and heat too. This might extend the range by hundreds of miles and reduce anxiety.
Erm.. EV drivers don't have range anxiety. We can do 30' more to do the one journey per year that is more than 400km, sure, but I don't think this is important.. And solid state batteries are due to be commercial in 5-6 years so even that edge case will be gone.. This has it's uses, like, electric planes range extender, yeah, probably. But not EV I feel.
Like, if you are going to do up to 2000km on an EV today, that would need around 6 stops of 30', aka, 3h extra. In an ICE, you would need 3 - 4 10 min stops to refuel aka, 30' - 40' extra. So we did 2000km, or, 20h of driving, with 2h 30' difference... not a problem. EV stopped and stretched a healthy amount, ICE drove 20h non stop. And if you plan to do more than 2000 km well... use a plane, it is cheaper.
So, what about the many people who aren't convinced of the practicality of EVs yet or can't use an EV for their purposes because they drive larger distances than the EV can do on a charge without time to recharge (for instance cab drivers, delivery drivers, mobile nurses, field service)? Range anxiety is as real as your view is narrow!
I ran and maintained a Fairbanks Morse 10 cylinder 20 piston diesel engine that used the opposed piston configuration. Wonderfully reliable engine with 8&1/8” pistons with a Roots Blower to feed that beast. This new configuration has a lot of potential. I can’t wait to see it evolve. Offer it to Toyota they’ll help perfect it to market.
The Detroit diesel engine is a two stroke with a roots blower to scavenge the cylinders by forced induction. The opposed piston arrangement has been used in diesel engines in Britian for years by using two crank shafts on opposite ends of the cylinder. Fairbank Morse also used this arrangement in large stationary and marine engines. I don't think the swash plate will hold up long term but it does make the engine extremely compact. Interesting design.
@@amramjose I dunno, the cam in a conventional engine doesn't actually take nearly the amount of load that the crank does and modern roller cams can last a very long time when the valvetrain is set up properly. Plus, in theory at least, the crank journals should never touch the bearings while the engine is running. The bearings float on the oil a thousandth or two of an inch away from the crank journals. Most of the wear you see comes from startup, foreign debris, or not changing the oil before it becomes acidic from mixing with stray combustion gases. Maybe these new "one stroke" engines will surprise me, but it seems a lot more difficult to keep that swash plate oiled than a conventional crank.
This is know as the uniflow principle where a supercharger merely creates the scavenging flow to fill the cylinder with atmospheric pressure and flush the exhaust simultaneously. It works extremely well and my old boat was powered by the Detroit diesel using this principle.
This engine reminds me of the AC compressor on the car... And as always, very detailed and comprehensive assessment... Love watching your videos... Keep up the good work...
This would be a great small / light aircraft or drone engine. Aviation engines tend to run at high RPM continuously. Maybe in a push puller arrangement with two props
Especially good for aviation there are no belts/chains and a simple design is everything you want, especially if you're on to going to the FAA for getting a permission ^^
I really appreciate your break down on how this as well as other engines work. This engine being so light would be great in the small boats here in the USA.
I'd pretty much written it off as a bad joke until the end when I saw all the other benefits - you're absolutely right, it has a LOT going for it, they should stop making stupid claims and talk about the low weight and ability to run in any orientation and all the other advantages it has, like a 25hp lawnmower! 🤗
Good to see the development of this type of engine continue. Certainly not a new idea. Many different variants have been produced since before 1900. I believe one of the most famous designs was a series of opposed piston diesel aircraft engines produced by Junkers in Germany beginning around 1932.
The English also had this configuration with their famous Commer truck diesel engines that had opposed pistons but unlike Junkers used a common crankshaft with a pivot and lever system for the pistons. Most unusual sound when the supercharger used to howl to boost and scavenge the engine.
@@vumba1331 Don't forget the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic in the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_55 Apparently sounded quite incredible.
Would probably make a really good generator in stationary applications and range extender for Hybrid Electric vehicles, where it could run continuously at the most efficient rpm
that was my first thought too: if it doesn't have torque but it does have size / weight / efficiency, they should just mate it to an EV platform that takes care of the driving needs and doesn't have to be as big or lossy as existing hybrids
One thing to keep in mind, a regular piston 2-stroke engine is also forced induction. The underside of the Piston compresses air before it's let loose into the chamber. Also, most four strokes in the diesel category are I mean two strokes have forced induction too, but it doesn't pressurize the chamber. It just blows the exhaust out and lets a fresh charge in at atmospheric pressure. Kind of like a regular gasoline. 2-stroke. The only time you start getting above atmospheric pressure without using a turbocharger is when you use tuned intake and tuned exhaust and expansion chamber for example, then you can get quite high pressure in the cylinder after the exhaust pork closes
There was a much larger engine and was similar in design. It was a company called (As I recall) THUNDER ENGINES. It was flown successfully on a Rockwell Twin Commander and produced around 400HP and designed to be very easy and inexpensive (relatively speaking) to overhaul. It had 6 cylinders and 12 pistons. It was based on the General Motors air conditioning compressor that it self was based on an early 1900's internal combustion engine. The Wavy Thing is a Swash or Wobble plate. I suspect the best application would be aviation related as the torque needed would be at a fairly high RPM.
Right, anytime you discuss low weight, aviation comes to mind. Starting with the ultralights, say under 60 lbs and making 45-50hp, then LSA at 100lbs and say 85- 120hp, and upward. The current piston designs are good but tend to be heavy. Reliability is the next level for aviation and then of course fuel economy. Turbines are reliable but thirsty. If any piston design could incorporate low rpm and still develop acceptable torque and hp, then you would have a solution to a great number of aviation problems. Perhaps this design that is overbuilt for a given application and develops the acceptable performance at a much lower rpm. Just saying.
This is an existing idea used on the Rapier Deltic engines used in railway engines and more often in high performance shipping (minesweepers for example). These engines had some issues that were design related so it’s good to see it being re-engineered in a modern environment with better design tools.
@@markbeale7390 I didn’t even notice until you pointed it out. It’s an age thing. A friend recently rebuilt one (because he could) and my father was a chief engineer in the RN. The Deltics were his expertise as they required a lot of babysitting. Very high power to weight ratio. I for my part was involved in Electro Motive Diesels and GM as a distributor for engines that included the big supercharged diesel two strokes. You could dump full load on those (over a MegaWatt) in one step. Great for trains, tugs and emergency power generation.
The Napier Deltic was a development of the German Junkers Jumo 205 to 208 aircraft engines, effectively putting 3 of them together in a delta. Napier licensed the Jumo before WW2 and worked on their own variants. Many people had tried to make a delta engine and failed but Napier realised it would work if one of the 3 crankshafts should rotate in the opposite direction to the others.
@jacksjaunts8580 That's very interesting thanks,napier made a rapier engine,a 16 cylinder H configuration. I read the New York fire debt have or had a deltic fire pump to deal with high rise fires 🔥.
@@thegame9305808 Actually most inventors had mothers that supported innovation, development, thus encouraged their children as they did their husbands too. @donsmanufactorty; Are You claiming that Your mother was so negative ??!! My mother was always encouraging, supportive with my ides, concepts, imagination, development desire to know everything around me, take apart, disassemble, reassemble, repair, fiix, develop, etc. Good Luck
something overlooked is that having the wavy things at different angles would (most likely) mean you can have separate intake and exhaust timings within the same stroke, which could massively improve efficiency
@@affiliatereviews4079 Yeah, apparently you can get a kit with different cam timing, injectors and turbo that makes them meet current emissions, but the coolest part about them was the smoke and noise :), trying to get a 6x6 project truck happening soon :), here's where one gets converted to common rail hi pressure injection; ruclips.net/video/XocHVgHeOLQ/видео.html
Same here; I'd love to see a modern 92 series with common rail injection, bypassable blower, and twin turbos on the V engines. Preferably with a long stroke as well, as I find the short stroke/bore ratios of Detroit 2-stroke engines to be rather odd.
Yup, with the additional advantage of lower weight, further decreasing the net weight of the vehicle ( _and,_ making it possible to create smaller hybrid vehicles). Less battery drain for equal, or better, results.
In other applications we could call the "wavy thing" a swashplate. But as a swashplate differs slightly in most applications where it applies a fixed angular contact, perhaps "wavy thing" is more accurate here. Really enjoy your stuff, keep it up!
With it being relatively light, even a smaller 150cc might be much easier to carry around and generate maybe 10-20kW with maybe a whole 35kg package all in and that would be an amazing generator. Less rattly too seeing as it’s smooth.
Exactly, in one of the interviews the CEO has given he expresses that they want to market first those kind of markets, since it's the perfect engine for a range extender system due to it's really compact size.
I think range extenders are inevitable to fill the gap in battery technology. The smoothness of such an engine will chime well with the ethos of an ev. Also with the engine able to run within a relatively narrow rapm range, the design can be tailored to optimise port timing, compression ratio, scavenge pressure etc. to achieve minimum emissions.
I've been thinking a 49cc version that carries a similar weight saving advantage may well replace a whole lot of scooter / moped engines. Terrible fuel economy could ruin that, as well as other replacement-engine applications, but I don't know what sort of economy the 500cc engine gets.
typical limited thinking and reduction of innovation !! For another excellent innovation engine with more uses, the Liquidpiston X rotary is excellent with very few parts, components along with air cooling.
I suspect that the weak point (and reason you'll always be torque limited even with forced induction) is those roller bearings running on the wavy ramp. There's also lateral loading on the bottom of the piston because it's pushing against an angled ramp so if you increase the ramp angle to increase torque, you're also increasing the force applied against the side of the cylinder wall. Their cutaway 3D printed models don't show how they handle those lateral forces (causing friction and wear), at all.
have you ever seen the angle of a connecting rod? There is already huge side load in conventional engine. this part is probably easily manageable especially since the piston is really long.
Yes. I agree about the roller bearing on the piston being the weak point. That’s a lot of shock and a big load for it to handle… not to mention the side loading of the wobble plate ends
@@copy4862 This is a 3d animation... Even tho they're not common, engine like this already exist. A "journal bearing" like we use on our crank still work the same on a flat surface as long as it has oil pressure.
It's mechanically a _really_ interesting design, though I still can't get over my suspicions with efficiency losses to friction and directional change in transferring the lateral movement of the pistons pependicularly to the swash plate. That said, the fact that they actually succeeded in mounting it in a car and drive it shows that it still works. The inconsistencies with terminology I can chalk up to the investors in the project not actually understanding what the engineering team were saying. Definitely want to see where this project goes.
For a car the inefficiency from constant stop to high load won't work good with this design. It's a great engine for continuous run applications though where it can just keep going at the same rpm and load. The big weakness of this engine has to be the bearings. You make bearings for heavy torque that go slow and last 50 000 hours. You make bearings for light torque that go fast and last 50 000 hours. Once you make bearings for heavy torque that go fast, you're looking at 1000-5000 hours of operation. Suddenly a full engine breakdown is on your yearly car maintenance so that's not going to work.
@@Rizon1985 Yeah, I wonder if instead having each piston attached to a crankshaft which then drives the main shafts through 90 degree gears might produce better results
@Rizon1985 well yea, but the perpendicular forces instead of parallel put way more load on it than a normal engine though. I'm not saying it can't be fixed with better material and tolerances and things but it could be a potential problem
This is pretty brilliant. I love the simplicity of the design. Seeing ingenuity like this is always exciting. And of course, any oddball engine is always cool and intriguing to dissect and learn about.
Check out the Omega 1 rotary engine. VIDEO: Inside the Aston Aerospace Omega 1 Engine: How it Works and Why it's Unique I like the Omega 1 rotary engine the most. It has no reciprocating movement. Less energy is wasted and less chance of engine brake down.
Great video. I'm not a mechanic nor an automobile enthousiast, but the normal clear voice, the care put in every explanation made me watch it yo the end. I appreciate a lot that the title is not misleading like so many videos on youtube. great work. I just subscribe to your channel as a consequence !
one of the biggest downsides to opposed piston engines is the requirement of external scavenging to increase efficiency (basically a supercharger). i think at lower rpms it will work effectively, but to maintain high rpms will probably need forced induction to maintain the scavenging. you can see it on the fairbanks morse diesels, they use either a turbocharger or a scavenging air blower (supercharger) to scavenge cylinders
The wavy thing bothers me, but I like the possibility of changing reciprocation profile (or that's what I'm calling it). Opposed pistons seem to be making a comeback, though they've been hanging around as an option since I think 1895 or some such. No cylinder head or valve train is a huge potential advantage. I always liked OP. I'm a little suspicious about the amount of vacuum that can be created here. Every OP I've ever heard of needs a blower or compressor, and I see no design feature to make this unnecessary, they all uncover the exhaust ports before the inlet ports, and by the time the inlet ports open the volume between the pistons is no longer expanding. So far, momentum hasn't been enough on any other OP design, I don't see why it's enough here.
"Wavy thing" is commonly called a swash plate. Many aviation hydraulic pumps work this way. Some can vary the angle of the swash plate in order to increase pumping volume.
@@Flies2FLL This is not a swash plate, it's more accurately called an axial cam. A swash plate is a flat plate mounted at an angle so you only get one cycle of reciprocating motion per revolution, effectively the axial version of an eccentric.
Lots of two cycle engines need positive pressure to operate. Detroit Diesels like the 6V71 required a blower to operate and keep positive pressure. Small motorcycle engines didn't need this and instead employ an expansion chamber in the exhaust pipe to drop pressure quickly, thus enabling scavenging. The difference in a design like this and what we'd commonly associate as being the job of a supercharger is that the blower on a 2-cycle isn't for increasing power. It's load on the engine is largely inconsequential, needing only to generate enough pressure to keep it higher than atmospheric. You could theoretically turn up the boost pressure and get more power, but it isn't strictly needed.
Something you didn't mention, maybe out of respect for their design choices, is the wheels on the on the "wavy things" (swash plates?) needing to be lubricated. Imagine the forces they are under and the wear they will experience over the life of the engine! The way that many car owners treat their vehicles these days is like appliances that they never maintain; they just replace them when they stop working. So using a quality oil and changing it regularly would be what keeps an engine like this going for a long time. Or not. Keep making these videos! You always think things out and present them in ways that help us know more of the story than we might have otherwise. You have a great mind!
Heavy duty roller bearings (as opposed to balls) would have no problem carrying the load, in fact racing engines often forego shell bearings for rollers.... I wonder about the side-thrust on the cylinder wall ..."equal & opposite reactions" and all that... 🤔 Also, a reed valve on the inlet side might be better than offsetting the ports... Another tuning tweak for higher than standard compression (if you were racing this engine, say) would be to simply drop in a larger bottom end bearing (diameter)... no messing around with skimming heads... Or what about a diesel version ?? Seems like the possibilities are endless, I would love to see energy (fuel) efficiency figures for this configuration... we definitely need more data... rpm range, torque curve, wear characteristics etc.
There appears to be no reason that this design would need more frequent oil changes than a 4-stroke engine. There have always been vehicle owners who ignored maintenance, resulting in destroyed engines since the invention of the car.
Is it just me? Why couldn't we hear what it sounds like? How high does it rev? I think it probably sounds incredible. I believe it has big potential in many applications, keep up the good work.
The thing you all might be missing is that thing is only 500cc and it's already making 125 hp and 150nm. You may be able to make three times that power if you increase the displacement four times (considering losses). It's absolutely brilliant for a 2 liter engine to produce over 350 hp and 450 nm of torque. Also it could be used in racing engines since there we need high power at high rpms, especially if we make the displacement even larger.
Great analysis. The best marketing for this engine is as you said, simplicity and compactness. There are tons of applications where having a more compact engine would free up space for other things. Such as the forementioned range extender engine for a EV. This engine reminds me of the axial engines used in torpedo propulsion systems.
I like it, being in primary and secondary balance is lovely, could see some motorbike attempts at using it just because of the balance. Small and light too. Don't think it'll revolutionise anything, reading their promotional information was painful, but still seems like it's got plenty potential for some fun builds. Edit: I wonder if it'll suffer from bad wear in the cylinders though from the lateral forces caused by the ramped cam, or significant efficiency losses from handling it.
@@RJM-II There's already 2wd drive motorcycles on the market, but mostly hydraulic or driveshafts via the fork headstock route and for dirtbike use. The Tesi was the Bimota hub centre steering bike & its very marmite to ride because it just feels so different even without 2wd, Yamaha made a HCS bike (GTS1000) & hold a patent on a 2wd GTS setup with drive fore and aft from a central point but never put it into production. Suzuki the same with their Nuda working concept bike but no production variant. Christini are probably the leading success story for awd & do awd kits for motorcrossers using a hydraulic drive system from ohlins. I think this engine wouldn't help solve any of the issues as if you side mounted the engine and took drive from front and rear, independent of each other, you'd need two clutch/gearbox setups and to keep them in sync and that's without considering the need for differential drive speeds mid corner. If you drove a common idler shaft from the two ends, then fed that into the input shaft of a single gearbox, that would give you a conventional setup, then you would have to solve the issues that caused the gts awd and nuda to never go into production. If you build one, can I blag a go though? :)
Good point about the ramped cam causing lateral forces. This has been addressed in other "basically conventional" internal combustion engines, and has been patented. It does add weight, complexity, and cost, and therefore is not widely used in vehicles, although it can improve fuel mileage by perhaps 1 or 2 percent.
@d4a, you are the best man to analyze piston engines. The "Kugelmotor" or Wolfhart engine has been waiting 50 years to be analyzed. You could write history.
The rollers would be the part needed to be made of a material that wears easier so it can be changed from time to time and won't damage the wave block.
Was thinking the same. This can be a brilliant turbine alternative for light helicopters. IIRC the APU of Typhoon fighters is about the same weight and output as this.
My thought as well. Since the rollers are rolling in a circular path there is obviously friction in there. A little bit like an axial roller bearing, they are not great for high loads and high speeds.
Nice job describing an engine that seems perfectly suited to drone power - steady, high RPM, very compact and low weight to improve net payload potential. If inexpensive, that's also a plus for a drone.
Creating rotational force by pushing rollers onto a slope seems like it would be very hard on the parts - especially on one side of the cillinder and certainly not the best way to produce a lot of power on low RPM. Also, it reminds me of an AC compressor :D
Even more than that. In a compressor, the "wavy thing" (the swash plate) moves the pistons. In this engine, the pistons push on the swash plate. It's trying to force energy into a cam, a feat as difficult as turning a worm gear from it's mated flat gear.
see whats funny is that conventional piston engines actually have many small rockers on camshafts that control the valve timing, which I assume adds a lot of friction as well. but we don't see camshafts being broken all the time and these being beefier I assume would be durable with oil lubricating the surfaces.
@@-aid4084you are comparing a tiny light-weight little valves and springs against a big heavy pistons energised with power strokes. Camshaft did wear out over time, though miniscule wear marks against cam roller are visible, no big deal since its only for timing control. Engine piston however transferring powerful energy directly through that "wavy thing"
Rotary hydraulic motors fitted to earthmoving machines use a cam ring with pistons pushing balls or rollers out against the cam ramps to produce rotation.
Thank you for presenting this novelty and analysing its capabilities based on facts. I also see the technology better placed in running at constant speed, benefiting of lower vibration (and potentially noise) levels. It's low weight is a huge benefit, but efficiency still needs to be quantified.
@@danielmanly4793but FN used 2 crankshafts causing moments of 1st and 2nd order. This type of energy transfer runs very smooth without these vibrating effects. But thank you for reminding of the opposed cylinder engine sharing the same combustion chamber. It even was in serial production.
In the early 1900’s Fairbanks-Morse developed the opposed piston diesel engine which was used by the US navy in submarines. They were used in ships and later in locomotives.
The Fairbanks Morse 38 8 and 1/8 we had one on my boat U.S.S. Buffalo ssn 715. La class fast attack submarine. Was the back up generator. 4mw elec. Never had a problem with it. Big clunky thing, but it always ran like a top. 1300 hp and 1400 lbs torque at idle. 720 rpm. Only ran at idle. Could power about 1000 single family homes. She was a beast.
@@TunturiRacing you're garbage. Care to elaborate? They ran factories, generated power, pumped water, and propelled ships. Massive, low speed industrial engines that ran for years straight, and were reliable for their time. Garbage compared to what? A Ferrari?
Videos and channels like this are what i love youtube for. There is so much thrash and clickbait on this platform but if you follow the right guys there is something fascinating to learn in every video. Keep up the good work! appreciate it
@3:32 and i'm loving this idea already. Using a swashplate instead of a crankshaft gives sooo many options. You can control dwell time of the valves, you can control dwell time at TDC to allow fixed-volume combustion. You could use the swashplate volume to pressurize the intake charge air (similar to how a 2-stroke RC engine uses crankcase volume). so much flexibility in this design.
Was it used as in this fashion as a power transmission component or a timing device in the plane engine? The forces on the whole arrangement in this videos engine seem counterproductive, but I well could not be understanding
@@desertblbuesman timing, but that component is subject to all the forces the crankshaft is, so I dont think it makes sense to deliniate between its purpose as a timing component or not
This is quite impressive. It has a lot of the advantages of two stroke engines without the drawback of burning oil. I would still assume it's not as efficient as a four stroke engine as I believe at least some of the air that goes into the engine during intake escapes out of the exhaust port. That might also be the reason for including forced induction. Either way, an 8-cylinder engine that weighs only 35kg is insane and I'd love to hear it at full throttle.
@@brentdixon9143 People like you are so impatient. People like you said the same shit when the 4 stroke was invented. Yet here we are. New 4 stroke engines are designed all the time by car manufacturers. So stop with your negativity, creativity and optimism is what made all of this possible. If everyone were pessimistic and didn't think outside of the box we wouldn't have any combustible, steam, pneumatic engines or electric motors. It's the pessimistic people like you that stop innovation
They put it on an MX5 to test and it worked quite well (although it was just for testing). They also successfully put it into a big scale RC plane and it worked well too. There’re a couple of videos (in Spanish) out there. The head of the project, Juan Garrido, says that a 2.0 generation is on the way and that it’ll be purpose built to work as a range extender for EVs. He also says that COVID hindered a deal he was ment to sign with an OEM manufacturer to develop it further with solid funding.
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too long videos, you just talk and have nothing to say
It reminds me of a car air conditioner compressor
It all comes down to marketing/sales/investors. It is like thorium vs uranium thing, Thorium is technically better, but since the cold war era was around that time, the president at that point wanted to invest in Uranium (plotonium...etc). Currently switching from the nuclear reactors to thorium based reactors, would cost immense amounts of money and/or would cost a lot of energy. Sometimes it is just based where peoples eyes are at, rather than what is better
So its INNgine ?
Their claim of 4x combustion does hold true though... Each cylininder fires every 180°, and the engine fires two cylinders at once, every 90°, which definitely is 4x more than one cylinder every 180°, and one single cylinder experiencing an ignition only every 720° in a traditional inline-4.
But otherwise I liked the vid, and share your concerns of the low torque due to low mechanical advantage of the swashplate/cam-plate design.
Although, one could optimise the system by making the cam curve asymmetric, giving the crank more leverage at higher compression near top-dead, and giving the piston more leverage at whichever point in combustion makes pressure and force most efficiently.
I was trying to think of ways that could build this engine into an actual torque monster. Thinking "hey, just take the pistons and rotate them 90 degrees, 360 degree placement around a central crankshaft! That will build TONS of low torque!" And then I realized I just discovered a radial engine lol
😂😂😂 lol
It's kinda cool that you were able to think your way to something like that though
Wouldn't 90 degrees make them inline ?
90 degrees (upright) an then rotated in another plane and placed around the crankshaft in a circle@@jimmyjames8573
Love to see this in a Motorcycle .
I absolutely love your, " that's really great but wait just a minute buddy" attitude towards design claims and the like. A very humble but well educated and honest matter of fact approach and comment. Nice video as usual.
Exactly!
It's an axial, uniflow, 2 stroke, opposed piston engine. My favorite arrangement, but it's been around a LONG time. Hopefully these guys will give it the development time it needs.
Modern direct and HCCI ignition systems can really bring a lot of older i.c.e. designs back. If synthetic fuels come like they are touted then yeah maybe we see 2strokes and rotaries make a come back
@@captaintoyota3171 Two strokes, forget it. It will never pass emissions.
@@expertmax32 That's exactly what I was thinking. This thing is never going to see production
@@expertmax32 Fuel injected 2 strokes have been running on roads for many, many years
@russbell6418 This is the first thought i had, The airplane engine with a swash plate and 12 pistons, i believe it was made in the USA
It was a beautiful engine, i did encounter it while doing research about rotary engines.
Nice to know i am not the only one interested in engine tech.
The two stroke opposed engine the op is talking about is indeed an old design, i believe the made some diesels this way
as early as The great war.
The 'wavey thing' is a swash plate. It is used in helicopters to control main rotor. It is also used in car AC compressors - which incidentally look a lot like this engine.
And integza made a bike with them
It's an encentric.
There's a significant difference between an air conditioning compressor and this engine. air conditioning compressors don't have opposing pistons.
It's also used in hydraulic pumps on heavy equipment. Swash Plate.
@@Javelin276 Yes. And car AC's too.
Thank you for pointing out the error of thinking "if it hasn't been done before it's because it can't be done". One of my perpetual pet peeves. There are cases in history where it definitely looks like something wasn't done earlier (sometimes for centuries) simply because no one thought of it. More precisely, no one thought of it who was in a position to do anything about it.
Correct, also, even when a "new" idea is "better" than existing technology,
marketing, materials & ancillary services may need to be developed for it to be accepted
& used.
This usually requires extensive capital investment, maybe, even
previously non-existent materials or processes.
Standard internal combustion engine isn't really "better" than a horse without
places that sell affordable gas or roads to drive on.
Not to mention an infrastructure in place for replacement parts & training on proper repairs.
Airplanes weren't a thing over night, and neither was the gas turbine engine.
Why do we use boats If an airplanes would actually work, or propellers
if a jet engine could work.
If nuclear material can be used to run an electrical powerplant, why
are we still using coal & dams?
Nuclear weapons, essentially everything in modern society.
Somebody came up with the idea AND had a means to advance it beyond the "idea" stage.
@@travissmith2056good points 👍
@@travissmith2056 The same people that marketed things yesterday, today and tomorrow is Wall Street.
So what changes.
Totally agree. The side thrust from the swash plates on the pistons would be an issue, also as with all opposed piston engines, the exhaust pistons get quite hot. Not a problem for the Junkers Jumo engine as it was a diesel but certainly a concern for an Otto cycle engine, the compression ratio would have to be tempered to protect the engine. I was totally suspicious of the initial description of the engine because there is no way opening the exhaust early is going to create a vacuum for the intake process, and there at the end was the reality, a compressor to pump the air in like every other two stroke engine.
@@kramnull8962 Everything, you're just too small minded and emotional to perceive reality. You're not exploited, you're doing the exploiting, because no one is greedier than a socialist.
Actual one stroke engine, mass manufactured and used widely in it’s era: the double-acting steam engine. Each stroke of the piston is a power stroke.
Hey, i am using your comment to warn people. This company is a scam. They don't have a product. If you give them money, it will be gone without any use for you.
steam engine is not even a 1 stroke, it is always on a power stroke on either side of the same piston. power on push and pull of every stroke.
It's still intake and exhaust though. It's just using both sides of the piston
I came to comments to say that as well.
Stream engines are external combustion engines; you're mixing apples and oranges.
You once again break down it down to its simplest parts and call it what it is, a 2 stroke engine. I see this as being a great hybrid engine. Small, light weight and can run at a set RPM and get great fuel efficiency. Keep up the great work, and may God bless you brother.
I'd see it as being a great range extender in EV applications.
I was thinking the same thing, this engine seems great for using in a hybrid configuration. It's small efficient, light, low-vibration and electric engine can produce extra torque whenever needed.
IMHO I see it as a Primary Source for the Drive Motor(s) with Batteries as the $ange Extenders.
Yeah, I was also immediately thinking generator, compressor, pump and other fixed RPM tasks where low RPM torque isn't needed.
The way you present your videos is honestly the best Ive ever seen on youtube. Technical but easy to understand and no excess talking, always clear and the visuals are great. Its an interesting engine Im guessing this will never be used on motorbikes?
One reoccurring theme that I always notice with opposed piston engines is that they all seem to have a supercharger. I personally think they're critical to the design, mainly because the exhaust scavenging action isn't enough to pull fresh air in, so they need a little extra "push". Detroit 2-stroke diesel engines have a similar operating principle as far as the supercharger goes (or "air pump" as they call it).
Also since the engine technically have 2 outputs might as well use the other output for something useful since one of the output already being use to drive the car forward
2-Stroke Diesel engines need supercharging at low speeds since you need a source of pressure to push the spent exhaust gases out of the cylinder. On turbocharged EMD 2-strokes, the turbocharger becomes a centrifugal supercharger at low speeds.
Right, even though those Detroit engines were NA, they still had the supercharger in order to run.
Yes the supercharger is there for scavenging gases. This engine need it to work. It can use a turbo too to being more efficient.
@archise3191 EXACTLY! I instantly thought they should add a centrifugal supercharger on one end feeding into a ring shaped intake manifold that circles the intake ports!
I immediately recognised this as an Axial engine and similar to a swashplate engine.
These are normally always inspired by what others will recognise as AC/Refrigerative compressors and Hydraulic/Hydrostatic pumps and motors.
Hey, anyone here can tell we can replace the roller attached to the end of each connecting rod with a gear to drive the plate below it, or this idea is impossible??
that's exactly what I was thinking very similar to hydraulic axial pump and another thing two stroke diesels been around for years gone now do to emissions.
This engine is a hoax. Those rollers will spin impossible RPMs (at least 4X) due to the size difference between the wavy plate radius and roller radius. No bearing can take 25,000 RPM for more than a few seconds. Also, it's not a 1-stroke, so they shouldn't be claiming that. And the HP claim is impossible too by 4X.
@@travelinkevin5130 i guessing you are missing a zero on that number? Most ball bearings can go to 25k rpm for standard use.
But realistically, you can't just go call the engine a hoax more so that the dreamt up figures and efficiencies are what is made up.
Its possible and the engine will work with a variety of different bearings, just dont expect it to be reliable let alone put in race car.
@@Syncrusan
Look up ball bearing speed limits. Caged ball bearings overheat and die at about 6k RPM. This application has vibrations that would make the matter worse. 500cc is only 30 cubic inches. They claim ~4 HP per cubic inch, which is ridiculous. For those roller bearings to survive, the mainshaft speed would need to stay below ~1000 RPM.
That layout has 8 power impulses per 360 degrees on the mainshaft. Working the 'PLANK' formula shows a mean pressure like a Top Fuel engine. I liked the engine initially too, but on closer inspection, it's a pipe dream.
Now that's what I call a very informative video. A man who is capable of taking complex ideas, processing them, and then translating them into fully digestible pieces of information. I am very impressed with his gift and thank him for sharing it with us.
You mean moronic ideas
But he didn't get the idea, he is wrong about the combustion cycles
I need this guy to explain the meaning of life to me!
For all that excellent description he had to do a lot of research so HOW could he miss the name of the "wavy thing"??!!
@@aguerra1381 dude, he didn't even count the number of the cycles right.
I was going to say "Okay, but this is still a 2-stroke engine...?" and then you covered it lol. Thank you.
Looking at it purely mathematically, i can see what they mean: 2 strokes per cylinder = 4 strokes per 2 cylinders = 4/2 =2, but here they are sharing the same intake, compression, combustion and exhaust strokes, so you have 2 strokes per two cylinders, = 2/2=1.
Yes it's still operating on the exact 2stroke principle, but i get what they mean also, and yes that is good for publicity, so why not?
@richardwilson3336 it still takes 2 strokes to complete the combustion and exhaustion cycle, so unless they're doing that all in one stroke, which is just about impossible unless we discover technology that allows us to combust exhaust efficiently, it's still, at its core, just a 2-stroke engine.
Looks like a perfect generator unit for a hybrid electric vehicle. Electric motor will compensate for lack of torque.
That is exactly what they show on their tech page. it is a range extender.
If reliable can be decent for small planes.
I’ve always wondered why not run a small gas turbine for charging - much lighter.
Terrible fuel economy, hot exhaust and high materials costs.
@@popuptoasterust high costs.
Gas turbines are actually very efficient due to its simple mechanism that is versatile for features like heat recuperator.
So the only thing that holds gas turbine back is expensive design for the blade's engineering and poor throttle response which won't be an issue for range extensing use.
Excellent presentation without any hype. Down-to-earth and to-the-point. Really a template for good reviews.
That engine would probably be fantastic in equipment like boom lifts. Just has to run at one speed all day, and the compactness would be hugely beneficial.
Blinding.
I'm 65 and been playing with engine's since my early teens, and in the RAF....
I love this motor, it is absolutely brilliant....
I doubt it would compete in a torque run vs a gnome lerone though :-( its very inovative but pretty much only usefull in maybe a 12 volt battery charger? higher volteage would probably cease or stop it :-(
This has been done in a diesel engine, look up Fairbanks-Morse 38 8-1/8. Used extensively in locomotives and diesel electric submarines, originally designed in the 1930s. It uses 2 conventional crankshafts instead of the swash plates.
Exactly
We had 3 on the barbel...dbf
Used the same engine on Los Angeles class nuclear submarines too.
Had one on the ship I served on as the ships EDG. Lights would go out, you'd hear the HP air valve kick open and that thing would roar to life. Was a cool engine
I think even in old airplane diesel engine
What struck me was the complex shape of many of the parts and how polished/plated I'm guessing the main shaft - swash plate parts are. Most mass produced engines eschew anything polished with the possible exception of valves and possibly ports. It adds loads of cost to the end product
They're probably not in the stage where they optimise for mass production
This thing will likely be expensive to re-produce in mass. Whether or not this thing could live for a reasonable amount of time with the way people take care of their stuff remains to be seen. I don't hate it though.
@@Schaddn If they haven't been engineering manufacturing processes along the way then they're in big trouble.
While I agree with you on polishing /coating parts is expensive. They are waving the cost of cams,valves,and a traditional crank. It may be enough to offset the cost of hardening coatings.
Well, to make a crankshaft and cam shafts is only cheap because the mass production part was already covered in the hundred years+ since they started building those, but that doesn't mean those are not expensive to balance and manufacture polished parts.
I think what would have been cool to mention is how the swash plate offsetting not only varies the compression but also the timing of the exhaust and intake ports.
Bingo!!! 😃
Would it not also affect the balance?
Balance is relative to the movement of the piston in relation to the crankshaft…in this case, both are still moving at the same speed so the relative balance isn’t affected.
@@davidchristensen2970 Yes it would indeed. For some period, both pistons are moving in the same direction when the wavy things are not in time with one another.
No doubt this is the reason for the existence of the adjustment. I'm surprised he missed that...
so basically this engine is an AC compressor
No. I guess you didn't even watch the video.
Yes basically it is likely a ac compressor in car
With that logic, any engine with a piston can be an AC compressor...
Yes, but that doesn't make it a bad idea. I'm sure there are plenty of other limitations that make it a bad idea.
More like,.. GUNS
I have enjoyed the video as always and as a mechanic/machinist/amateur designer, you never cease to amaze me with what you dig up and how you are able to explain it in Lehman terms so everyone is able to understand it .
I agree. (By the way, it’s “Layman’s” terms. Don’t you just hate autocorrect?
You did a fine job presenting this video on a non-biased professional manner explaining the operation, limits and application. The company like many new ones marketing a innovative product has to over-embellish to sell it to potential investors that are clueless on the physical/mechanical properties of its performance. Your statement is perfect in how you described it as a "contender in certain applications"...very nicely put ! Your presentation is excellent !
many applications except heavy machines, where we have the 2t diesel which works very similarly without the rotary assembly, check it out!
I converted a DA6 and HR6 into internal combustion engines in 1992 in auto shop while a sophomore in high school.
This INN engine is essentially two ac compressor opposing one another. The swash(wave) plate gives it away.
It’s all been done before…
Excellent video and excellent channel. Thanks for the time and hard work you put into each episode.
In a hydraulic piston pump the wavy thing is referred as a swash plate (or swash disk)
Isn't a swash plate a flat disk on a shaft that is tilted relative to the axis of rotation? In this engine I think the "wavy thing" would be more correctly called it a cam plate. It is anything but flat.
I love your rational and completely unhysterical approach to evaluating these new engine designs.
He is cool
Except with Alfadan lol
@@ScarlettStunningSpace he learnt a lesson there 😂
@@facepalmboy4203 At least this engine is a proven concept that runs lol.
Great presentation and explanation. Interestingly, Napier built an opposed piston 2-stroke diesel engine many years ago in a triangular format with three crankshafts called the 'Deltic'. Used successfully in trains for many years!
Deltic made a great sound!
And marine craft before that during WW2
Old Soviet tanks T64 had 2-stroke direct injection internal opposite engine named 5ТДФ
@@maxjooherand future us tank engine (ACE - advanced combat engine) is also supposed to work with this principle
I seen that on curious droid
The best answer I've ever heard to the question, "if it's so good, why aren't we already using it?" The government gets in the way.
Probably one of the better engine designs I have seen in several years. Hope they make it. Looking forward to the bigger engine version.
the liquid piston engine is pretty cool too, check that one out & lmk what you think. My intuition is that this one might have a little bit of the upper hand (for racing/motorsports) because of the simplicity of the dynamic compression ratio mechanism though, but the lack of moving parts in the liquid piston engine is noteworthy no doubt.
its opposed 2 stroke engine .. made 100 years ago .. works but poor emissions and economy
Just How many engine designs have Seen ? I'll be 70 in a few months, I've seen them ALL ! LIKE your 100 years old! .
@@STRUTZKOFF You beat me to it. Not only is this not a new design, but it is certainly not a good design, lol. At least a regular 2 stroke engine uses the crank case area and piston to pressurize the intake charge and ensure adequate scavenging of the combustion chamber. These probably still have 30%-50% exhaust in the charge without some form of forced induction to actually scavenge adequately.
Watching this video I am so curious if this person knows the history, but is trying to steal it, or if they are so ignorant of engineering and history that they honestly think they came up with something new...
@@willchristian5954 The Dynacam engine was about the same. It was used during WWII in torpedoes and it's a certificated aircraft engine. This is nothing new.
Some turbos should help with scavenging.
Fab videos as always. Always makes me think. I'm an ex engineer and I love your presentation style, engaging and keeps the mind working.
cant remember which car it was, but there was an engine with a turbo or supercharger that didnt "push in" air but worked on the other end and basically sucked out the exhaust gasses. something like this could help. it could also create enough vacuum so that it could help with low end torque too
That’s basically what I was thinking… a small turbo.
No such thing as an ex engineer... ;)
Yep it could be a good idea but this engine is design to be use as a range extender so operating contex is full of starting and suddenly stops something turbos don't like to much.
@@rodrigomartinez3937 Ehh… not necessarily: as a range extender, it could be cycled on when the battery reaches 20% or so, and stay running until it reaches 80%. With suitably sized battery pack that could take half an hour or more.
So much to love in this engine! I notice that each piston pair fires twice per engine revolution, which is nice from the standpoint of applying shaft torques in opposed pairs.. but I think it would be fun to design the cam plates (wavy things) with three lobes instead of two (increasing the angle of their slopes, increasing torque output), and then using either 4, 5, or 7 cylinder blocks, so that there is always a cylinder delivering torque when another cylinder is in compression. The configuration shown, 2 lobes and 4 cylinders, relies on momentum to power compression, so the output is constantly switching from acceleration to deceleration, and a relatively larger rotating mass is necessary to dampen these pulses and provide the rotational momentum for compression. Using a setup where the number of cylinders isn't an integer multiple of the lobes number, would have the engine powering its compression strokes to provide smoother output with less need for adding rotating mass like a flywheel. Powered compression should also help the engine run better at lower speeds.
I agree that their test drive description ("no turbo.. atmospheric pressure") was deceptive.. two strokes always require forced induction. The old GM Diesel 2 strokes had Roots blowers.. Mercury 2 stroke outboards (and smaller 2 strokes like chain saws, leaf blowers, and even tiny nitro engines for RC models and such) use the crankcase under the pistons to compress the intake charge and effect cylinder scavenging. A two stroke which relied entirely on port timing and exhaust momentum to initiate scavenging and draw in the intake air, would be extremely sensitive to exhaust tuning and engine RPM, and might struggle to run at all except under ideal conditions.
Six cylinders in the two lobe design would also make sense, that way we would also always have one on the expanding stroke and creating torque.
One thing still baffles me, and that is what keeps the pistons from lifting off the "wavy thing" and crashing back down afterwards. An analogy would be valves with too weak or missing springs on a cam shaft.
@@rabiatorthegreat6163 At one point in the animation I can see a groove track running around the outside of the center shaft barrel, I imagine that a pin or roller on the piston follows that track to move the pistons when cylinder pressures aren't sufficient to do it.
Thanks for breaking this down. They could get away with “blowing smoke” up our back sides if we didn’t have folks who could honestly tell it like it is.
It'd make a good motorbike engine, with their light weight compared to cars and not having the need for big torque at low RPM, and the lack of camshafts, chains etc. would be great for low required maintenance. I owned many two stroke bikes in the 1970's but one was always aware that they'd wear out pretty fast, at least regarding the top ends.
Great review, as always.
2 straight me bikes are amazing
I miss my 1982 rd 350 lc
Motorbike engines can already make that much power with that displacement. There's no advantage.
@@EstrogenGhoul I once had a ported Kawasaki 500 that made around 80 crank horsepower but was totally gutless at anything under 3000 RPM, needing lots of clutch slipping to even move off the line. A Suzuki RG 500 Gamma made about 95 crank horsepower. To my knowledge, only Bimota's ill fated V Due was a 500cc two stroke that made about 120 BHP in roadgoing form, and like all two strokes, needed tearing down too often. We're talking about usability here, not racing or dragstrip antics. This engine had a 500cc displacement. Have you owned one or smaller two stroke road bikes that were tuned ? If not, I can assure you that you'd soon be sick of the sight of them if you had to use any at throttle openings of less than flat out. I also had a Suzuki T500 and GT750 in standard trim that were pretty torquey but made only 47 and 70 BHP respectively.
@@michaelarchangel1163 True enough. I had a gamma for a while, enormous fun but the square 4 setup was just plain stupid if you wanted the engine to last. I'd be worried about the durability of this engine too, and for about the same reasons as the gamma's 2 rear cylinders. the "intake" pistons are going to be effectively cooled, but the exhaust side is going to get really hot, really fast.
There's probably room for cam profile shenanigans in this case, you could, for example, "stall" a piston at TDC or BDC (stupid terms themselves in the case of what's effectively a swash plate engine), with the most gains probably by holding the exhaust open longer to help scavenging, but I really can't see this delivering enough to beat a conventional inline 4 600 without forced induction.
@@EstrogenGhoul 4 stroke 600cc engines can make 120 hp, but require revs up to 14,000 (give or take). This makes them very inefficient. They are being regulated into non existence due to emissions and noise pollution. They are also very maintenance heavy. Most supersports require significant maintenance by the time they reach 40,000-50,0000 miles and just aren't very good for anything other than going fast.
I would have major concerns about longevity with that roller/cam design. How the lubrication system works will make a big difference there.
probably lots of wear and tear on that wavy plate, but maybe the lack of maintenance and tuneups might make up for it?
It looks like it is simple to service and inspect. It is light enough to lift out easily.
looks like the swash plate and bearings would be a wear part.
Well, they are rollers, so fundamentally less friction than cam shafts or pistons. Those rely entirely on a layer of lubricant to keep prevent friction.
Also the metallurgy of these components, as their meeting surfaces would be enduring some fairly unique stresses over time.
Axial designs like this, using a swash plate rather that a crankshaft are very relevant. They have great potential for constant speed applications - aviation, marine, generators and of course range extenders. Another huge benefit of flexible compression is the ability to easily adapt to different fuels. We'll done! Great review - thanks.
Been around since 1911.
I think that swash plate could be an interesting solution for Atkinson cycle
I love watching your videos! You explain things in a very down to earth manner!
the rollers at the bottom of the piston will cause reliability issues. I see wear marks on camshafts all the time, but fluid bearings basically live forever if they have oil pressure.
you got it.
cams at least are rolling. these are SLIDING. hint... think about taper roller bearings.
all cones converge to a common point, and they roll on a line of contact.
whereas on this design, only one infinitesimally small line is actually rolling. everywhere else, its sliding. theres no real way around it. the swashplate has to follow a certain helical path for the line of contact. converging to a point. the angles are always changing. so either the rollers must have matching bumps, at which point theyre simply gears, or they must be infinitely thin... lots and lots of them, side by side.
tis why most of these designs tend to use rocker arms and spherical ends, or uni joints of some type. most. not all. the geometry isnt as simple as it looks at first glance. a spherical path is actually whats wanted. hence, ball ends are best.
the only good swashplate design i know of was michels. that uses pads, thrust bearings, that create an oil wedge under themselves. no line of contact or metal on metal.... true oil film, spread over an area. someone should revive that little feature again. its still used. in ships. the prop shaft thrust bearing.
I feel the big issue with this design would be wear. The cams/rollers supporting the piston return movement are offset causing a lot of lateral force on the piston and guides. Also, tolerance on the dual rollers and piston would need to be very tight to avoid knocking.
@@paradiselost9946 They could probably shape into a conical shape to have the bearing to be in line with the rotation. That would definitely be a manufacturing challenge though.
Like a cone-and-cup system in bicycle hubs, this lobe thing will wear down, causing pitting and caverns in the races.
You obviously missed the lubrication segment at 6:22
This would be great as a range extender/generator engine. Charge DC batteries and electric drive motors to the wheels will provide your torque.
I'm sure that or ducted fan aircraft is what they are targeting.
Two or three cylyders would be nice instead of four.
Now we are talking. My thoughts also. Still, upset to the oil and engine industries must be considered.
@@peterbaugh51 yes. You are right. Much better to go to a two stage tesla turbine, keep the pistons for pumping the condensed working fluid to pressure on the evaporator side. Drive the pump with the turbo expander condensing second stage.
Then you have three moving parts, reversing with the turn of a valve, no electricity required, last forever, and you can get unlimited energy from the day night temperature difference.
And five hundred horsepower from something a quarter of the size and weight of this.
All proven by 1909.
We certainly have to consider the necessity of burying those industry scumbags where in a pit so deep they can never climb out.
@@Maungateitei Both ideas are on the pipeline.
My thoughts exactly, especially given the apparent sensitivity to changes in rpm. Just find the optimum rpm and use that for the generator.
I love your videos, I have been watching them all for so long and it fuels my love for engineering and mechanical power. Obviously English is not your first language but you speak the language far better than I do as a native speaker. You have a correct way of phrasing everything so when I hear you say "wavy thing", you absolute made my night. You are a legend, thank you for so much educational information and entertainment.
NO! that super charger is (most likely) not adding power. look up the function of of Detroit Two strokes. I bet you that pro charger was for scavenging purposes. That is very common for large engines that have ports and not valves. They have something that can create pressure in the intake, so that exhaust won't come back through. When they do this (usually) it is tuned to approximate atmospheric pressure. The vacuum that these engine create in the cylinder is probably not enough to properly scavenge the exhaust out, that's what the charger is used for. On Detroit's it is a roots style blower. That don't add ANY power, in fact they actually become parasitic at higher RPM's and decrease the engines performance. Twin screws didn't really exists yet which would aid the problem.
ALSO!
( I am capitalizing so that people will actually read this, I am not actually angry haha)
When they are saying two combusting per rotation.... THEY MEAN, two combustions per rotation. If you really look at the animation you will see. One chamber will combust twice in one rotation. A two stroke does not do that. I think he got hung up on the 180 degree swash plate. It is 8 TOTAL combustion per 360 degrees. twice as much as 4 cylinder. If he said the same as a two stroke 4 cylinder the yes, true. But he did not. This has combustion every 90 degrees, just look at the animation and think about it.
great video as always!
this is in effect a compact 4 cylinder evolution of the Rootes/Commer TS3 'knocker' diesel engine with a different motion transfer method from the pistons. the TS3 was incredibly clever in its motion transfer to a single output shaft overcoming the need for dual crankshafts.
and yes, the engine featured is a 2-stroke.
The marketing material feels like a separate marketing department who never talked to the engineers got a hold of a few spec sheets and stats and just went to town.
I love this guy I am hearing impaired and hespeaks slowly, delibertly, with perfect diction.
Probably because he is European, and many times people from different countries get self conscious about their accents. Great to know that by doing this we actually help some people with impairments understand us better, cheers!
Nuerotypical youtubers will use huge variations in their voice and talk a million miles an hour for dramatic effect to keep people enganged, I just find it annoying.
He's very clear and concise.
not only that, but it has good captions too, not the terrible auto generated youtube ones
My apologies to you and to him but I find the audio of this video annoying and don’t wish to continue viewing it strictly because of the annoyance
Thank you so much for all your In depth Knowledge. I strive to know and explain engineering as good as you do. Thanks from Australia mate!!
Thanks!
This could be a perfect back up engine for an electric car. Make it much smaller, make it run all the time at low speed so its always charging the battery. A great way to add airconditioning and heat too. This might extend the range by hundreds of miles and reduce anxiety.
Erm.. EV drivers don't have range anxiety. We can do 30' more to do the one journey per year that is more than 400km, sure, but I don't think this is important.. And solid state batteries are due to be commercial in 5-6 years so even that edge case will be gone.. This has it's uses, like, electric planes range extender, yeah, probably. But not EV I feel.
Like, if you are going to do up to 2000km on an EV today, that would need around 6 stops of 30', aka, 3h extra.
In an ICE, you would need 3 - 4 10 min stops to refuel aka, 30' - 40' extra. So we did 2000km, or, 20h of driving, with 2h 30' difference... not a problem.
EV stopped and stretched a healthy amount, ICE drove 20h non stop.
And if you plan to do more than 2000 km well... use a plane, it is cheaper.
I am not bashing your idea, I am just saying that the whole range anxiety thing is not real, it is a silly oilcompany fed narrative.
So, what about the many people who aren't convinced of the practicality of EVs yet or can't use an EV for their purposes because they drive larger distances than the EV can do on a charge without time to recharge (for instance cab drivers, delivery drivers, mobile nurses, field service)?
Range anxiety is as real as your view is narrow!
yeah@@LRM12o8
The way this video explains these concepts is fantastic. I feel like I could learn anything from this guy. Thank you!
I ran and maintained a Fairbanks Morse 10 cylinder 20 piston diesel engine that used the opposed piston configuration. Wonderfully reliable engine with 8&1/8” pistons with a Roots Blower to feed that beast. This new configuration has a lot of potential. I can’t wait to see it evolve. Offer it to Toyota they’ll help perfect it to market.
The Detroit diesel engine is a two stroke with a roots blower to scavenge the cylinders by forced induction. The opposed piston arrangement has been used in diesel engines in Britian for years by using two crank shafts on opposite ends of the cylinder. Fairbank Morse also used this arrangement in large stationary and marine engines. I don't think the swash plate will hold up long term but it does make the engine extremely compact. Interesting design.
You're talking about Deltic diesel engines I believe, but they don't directly power the vehicle, they power an electric drive train iirc.
I believe the opposite is the case, with proper lubrication the swash plates will show minimum wear as opposed to crank/cam shafts.
@@amramjose I dunno, the cam in a conventional engine doesn't actually take nearly the amount of load that the crank does and modern roller cams can last a very long time when the valvetrain is set up properly. Plus, in theory at least, the crank journals should never touch the bearings while the engine is running. The bearings float on the oil a thousandth or two of an inch away from the crank journals. Most of the wear you see comes from startup, foreign debris, or not changing the oil before it becomes acidic from mixing with stray combustion gases. Maybe these new "one stroke" engines will surprise me, but it seems a lot more difficult to keep that swash plate oiled than a conventional crank.
@@flammenjc Napier deltics powered mine sweepers and motor torpedo boats 🚢.
This is know as the uniflow principle where a supercharger merely creates the scavenging flow to fill the cylinder with atmospheric pressure and flush the exhaust simultaneously. It works extremely well and my old boat was powered by the Detroit diesel using this principle.
Great explanations, graphics and pace. No stupid background noise or effects. Very well done! Thanks!
Fully agree, appreciate the good editing
This engine reminds me of the AC compressor on the car...
And as always, very detailed and comprehensive assessment... Love watching your videos... Keep up the good work...
This would be a great small / light aircraft or drone engine. Aviation engines tend to run at high RPM continuously. Maybe in a push puller arrangement with two props
Especially good for aviation there are no belts/chains and a simple design is everything you want, especially if you're on to going to the FAA for getting a permission ^^
what about motocycles! :D
Motorcycles as well come on!
Using it to drive a prop certainly helps with the pressure on the swash plate.
@@pespsisipper yep, my first though, perfect powerplant for 2 wheels.
I really appreciate your break down on how this as well as other engines work.
This engine being so light would be great in the small boats here in the USA.
that engine is not light so its still heavy
@@steveharrigan3425 oh, the way that guy was holding it in video I thought it was. Thanks.
The weight and less complexity are the big selling points.
Hard to compete with a conventional ICE that can easily last 200,000 miles.
Love to see this in a dirtbike.
@@mxcollin95 No low end torque. Probably can't pull a wheelie 'til you hit 6000 rpm.
Your description of this very unique engine just got you my subscription. Great job explaining this interesting "one-stroke".
clickbait fake 😂
ditto.............
My subscription too!
Your subconscious is correct. It is a perfect motorcycle engine.
I'd pretty much written it off as a bad joke until the end when I saw all the other benefits - you're absolutely right, it has a LOT going for it, they should stop making stupid claims and talk about the low weight and ability to run in any orientation and all the other advantages it has, like a 25hp lawnmower! 🤗
Good to see the development of this type of engine continue. Certainly not a new idea. Many different variants have been produced since before 1900. I believe one of the most famous designs was a series of opposed piston diesel aircraft engines produced by Junkers in Germany beginning around 1932.
The English also had this configuration with their famous Commer truck diesel engines that had opposed pistons but unlike Junkers used a common crankshaft with a pivot and lever system for the pistons. Most unusual sound when the supercharger used to howl to boost and scavenge the engine.
@vumba1331 this was Rootes TS3 aka "The Commer Knocker"
those junkers were 2 strokes tho
@@vumba1331 Don't forget the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic
in the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_55
Apparently sounded quite incredible.
Currently used in mk 48 torpedoes
Would probably make a really good generator in stationary applications and range extender for Hybrid Electric vehicles, where it could run continuously at the most efficient rpm
Free-piston linear generator looks better.
that was my first thought too: if it doesn't have torque but it does have size / weight / efficiency, they should just mate it to an EV platform that takes care of the driving needs and doesn't have to be as big or lossy as existing hybrids
You'll have a 7000rpm tiny engine revving like crazy... not sure if it's ideal haha
One of the reasons this would work great for a hybrid is if it actually low torque output the electric motor would easily compensate for that
@@tecnogadget2 But you can tune an exhaust system to make it less harsh.
One thing to keep in mind, a regular piston 2-stroke engine is also forced induction. The underside of the Piston compresses air before it's let loose into the chamber. Also, most four strokes in the diesel category are I mean two strokes have forced induction too, but it doesn't pressurize the chamber. It just blows the exhaust out and lets a fresh charge in at atmospheric pressure. Kind of like a regular gasoline. 2-stroke. The only time you start getting above atmospheric pressure without using a turbocharger is when you use tuned intake and tuned exhaust and expansion chamber for example, then you can get quite high pressure in the cylinder after the exhaust pork closes
There was a much larger engine and was similar in design. It was a company called (As I recall) THUNDER ENGINES. It was flown successfully on a Rockwell Twin Commander and produced around 400HP and designed to be very easy and inexpensive (relatively speaking) to overhaul. It had 6 cylinders and 12 pistons. It was based on the General Motors air conditioning compressor that it self was based on an early 1900's internal combustion engine. The Wavy Thing is a Swash or Wobble plate. I suspect the best application would be aviation related as the torque needed would be at a fairly high RPM.
It was not better, it closer to just a inline, but a circle. This here although simlar so many times better.
Right, anytime you discuss low weight, aviation comes to mind. Starting with the ultralights, say under 60 lbs and making 45-50hp, then LSA at 100lbs and say 85- 120hp, and upward. The current piston designs are good but tend to be heavy. Reliability is the next level for aviation and then of course fuel economy. Turbines are reliable but thirsty. If any piston design could incorporate low rpm and still develop acceptable torque and hp, then you would have a solution to a great number of aviation problems. Perhaps this design that is overbuilt for a given application and develops the acceptable performance at a much lower rpm. Just saying.
This is an existing idea used on the Rapier Deltic engines used in railway engines and more often in high performance shipping (minesweepers for example). These engines had some issues that were design related so it’s good to see it being re-engineered in a modern environment with better design tools.
Napier.
@@markbeale7390 I didn’t even notice until you pointed it out. It’s an age thing. A friend recently rebuilt one (because he could) and my father was a chief engineer in the RN. The Deltics were his expertise as they required a lot of babysitting. Very high power to weight ratio. I for my part was involved in Electro Motive Diesels and GM as a distributor for engines that included the big supercharged diesel two strokes. You could dump full load on those (over a MegaWatt) in one step. Great for trains, tugs and emergency power generation.
The Napier Deltic was a development of the German Junkers Jumo 205 to 208 aircraft engines, effectively putting 3 of them together in a delta. Napier licensed the Jumo before WW2 and worked on their own variants. Many people had tried to make a delta engine and failed but Napier realised it would work if one of the 3 crankshafts should rotate in the opposite direction to the others.
@jacksjaunts8580 That's very interesting thanks,napier made a rapier engine,a 16 cylinder H configuration.
I read the New York fire debt have or had a deltic fire pump to deal with high rise fires 🔥.
@@lisakingscott7729 Very informative thank you 👍
As a youngster I was precocious coming up with ideas regularly. My mother used to say “if it’s such a good idea, how come nobody’s thought of it yet?”
Most of the inventors did not listen to their mothers😂😂
@@thegame9305808 Actually most inventors had mothers that supported innovation, development, thus encouraged their children as they did their husbands too.
@donsmanufactorty; Are You claiming that Your mother was so negative ??!!
My mother was always encouraging, supportive with my ides, concepts, imagination, development desire to know everything around me, take apart, disassemble, reassemble, repair, fiix, develop, etc. Good Luck
Your mother stifled innovation... The best ideas haven't been come up with .
@@cyclonicbladeHow can you know that?
And if you know, why don't you speed things up by turning these ideas into reality?
Don't ever stop having ideas
Don't ever stop dreaming
something overlooked is that having the wavy things at different angles would (most likely) mean you can have separate intake and exhaust timings within the same stroke, which could massively improve efficiency
I always found it weird how the Detroit 2 stroke diesel design was completely abandoned. Glad to see it come back somewhat.
love the old detroits !!
The emissions regulations killed them. Using direct injection and an oil pump would probably be enough to get them to meet regulations again.
@@affiliatereviews4079 Yeah, apparently you can get a kit with different cam timing, injectors and turbo that makes them meet current emissions, but the coolest part about them was the smoke and noise :), trying to get a 6x6 project truck happening soon :),
here's where one gets converted to common rail hi pressure injection;
ruclips.net/video/XocHVgHeOLQ/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/kRziS6C3i1Q/видео.html
Love those Detroit Diesels :)
Same here; I'd love to see a modern 92 series with common rail injection, bypassable blower, and twin turbos on the V engines.
Preferably with a long stroke as well, as I find the short stroke/bore ratios of Detroit 2-stroke engines to be rather odd.
this engine seems like the sort of thing that is perfect for use as an ICE for a hybrid car or as a petrol range extender for an EV
Yup, with the additional advantage of lower weight, further decreasing the net weight of the vehicle ( _and,_ making it possible to create smaller hybrid vehicles).
Less battery drain for equal, or better, results.
@@ironwolfF1 I'll subscribe to those comments also. Great presentation, as usual!
Hoping this is why it's called amper
A constant high rpm generator.
@@nobiden3134 If you want to run continuous high RPM, a small gas turbine is much more efficient.
In other applications we could call the "wavy thing" a swashplate. But as a swashplate differs slightly in most applications where it applies a fixed angular contact, perhaps "wavy thing" is more accurate here. Really enjoy your stuff, keep it up!
This engine type is used in torpedoes
Thanks
Thank you for your support
My first thought was that it might be useful as a range extender or portable AC/DC generator system.
With it being relatively light, even a smaller 150cc might be much easier to carry around and generate maybe 10-20kW with maybe a whole 35kg package all in and that would be an amazing generator. Less rattly too seeing as it’s smooth.
Exactly, in one of the interviews the CEO has given he expresses that they want to market first those kind of markets, since it's the perfect engine for a range extender system due to it's really compact size.
I think range extenders are inevitable to fill the gap in battery technology. The smoothness of such an engine will chime well with the ethos of an ev. Also with the engine able to run within a relatively narrow rapm range, the design can be tailored to optimise port timing, compression ratio, scavenge pressure etc. to achieve minimum emissions.
I've been thinking a 49cc version that carries a similar weight saving advantage may well replace a whole lot of scooter / moped engines. Terrible fuel economy could ruin that, as well as other replacement-engine applications, but I don't know what sort of economy the 500cc engine gets.
typical limited thinking and reduction of innovation !!
For another excellent innovation engine with more uses, the Liquidpiston X rotary is excellent with very few parts, components along with air cooling.
I suspect that the weak point (and reason you'll always be torque limited even with forced induction) is those roller bearings running on the wavy ramp. There's also lateral loading on the bottom of the piston because it's pushing against an angled ramp so if you increase the ramp angle to increase torque, you're also increasing the force applied against the side of the cylinder wall. Their cutaway 3D printed models don't show how they handle those lateral forces (causing friction and wear), at all.
have you ever seen the angle of a connecting rod? There is already huge side load in conventional engine. this part is probably easily manageable especially since the piston is really long.
Yes. I agree about the roller bearing on the piston being the weak point. That’s a lot of shock and a big load for it to handle… not to mention the side loading of the wobble plate ends
@@TJPDmemberthe connecting rod has a bearing between it and the piston meanwhile this engine it is a one solid piece
@@copy4862 This is a 3d animation... Even tho they're not common, engine like this already exist. A "journal bearing" like we use on our crank still work the same on a flat surface as long as it has oil pressure.
I suspect the second wave plate, which retains the pistons from smashing into each other, deals with the lateral loading too. 8:56
It's mechanically a _really_ interesting design, though I still can't get over my suspicions with efficiency losses to friction and directional change in transferring the lateral movement of the pistons pependicularly to the swash plate. That said, the fact that they actually succeeded in mounting it in a car and drive it shows that it still works. The inconsistencies with terminology I can chalk up to the investors in the project not actually understanding what the engineering team were saying. Definitely want to see where this project goes.
For a car the inefficiency from constant stop to high load won't work good with this design. It's a great engine for continuous run applications though where it can just keep going at the same rpm and load.
The big weakness of this engine has to be the bearings. You make bearings for heavy torque that go slow and last 50 000 hours. You make bearings for light torque that go fast and last 50 000 hours. Once you make bearings for heavy torque that go fast, you're looking at 1000-5000 hours of operation. Suddenly a full engine breakdown is on your yearly car maintenance so that's not going to work.
@@Rizon1985 Yeah, I wonder if instead having each piston attached to a crankshaft which then drives the main shafts through 90 degree gears might produce better results
Yea the swash plate will probably wear out super fast unless it's made from some kind of super metal like titanium or inconel or something idk
@@joshuasimmons2412 The chambers will use lubricant to prevent galling just like in any crankshaft housing.
@Rizon1985 well yea, but the perpendicular forces instead of parallel put way more load on it than a normal engine though. I'm not saying it can't be fixed with better material and tolerances and things but it could be a potential problem
Great video! Thanks for the share.
I've never found two strokes to be problematic. In fact, two strokes are massive fun
Can you imagine the fun 120 hp would be in a side by side!!!
@@abnerschmucker1I have two VMAX-4 750 engines just kicking around, lol.
Sounds like torque will be a problem though
@abnerschmucker1 some boffin will work it out 😁
Someone defending two-strokes in 2023 probably already suffered two strokes.
This is pretty brilliant. I love the simplicity of the design. Seeing ingenuity like this is always exciting. And of course, any oddball engine is always cool and intriguing to dissect and learn about.
Check out the Omega 1 rotary engine.
VIDEO: Inside the Aston Aerospace Omega 1 Engine: How it Works and Why it's Unique
I like the Omega 1 rotary engine the most. It has no reciprocating movement. Less energy is wasted and less chance of engine brake down.
Its a 100 year old design lol
Great video. I'm not a mechanic nor an automobile enthousiast, but the normal clear voice, the care put in every explanation made me watch it yo the end. I appreciate a lot that the title is not misleading like so many videos on youtube. great work. I just subscribe to your channel as a consequence !
An excellent idea and it looks very impressive..Let's look forward to seeing some of these in a final product soon
You take really complex mechanics and make them so understandable! Awesomeness! 😊
Thank you for explaining this in such a nice and straightforward manner with no fluff. I subscribed immediately after the video ended.
one of the biggest downsides to opposed piston engines is the requirement of external scavenging to increase efficiency (basically a supercharger). i think at lower rpms it will work effectively, but to maintain high rpms will probably need forced induction to maintain the scavenging. you can see it on the fairbanks morse diesels, they use either a turbocharger or a scavenging air blower (supercharger) to scavenge cylinders
Also many EMD locomotives use a cool supercharger/turbocharger hybrid, where after a certain RPM the charger switches from super to turbo :)
A really interesting presentation on something I had no idea about previously. Thank You.
The wavy thing bothers me, but I like the possibility of changing reciprocation profile (or that's what I'm calling it). Opposed pistons seem to be making a comeback, though they've been hanging around as an option since I think 1895 or some such. No cylinder head or valve train is a huge potential advantage. I always liked OP. I'm a little suspicious about the amount of vacuum that can be created here. Every OP I've ever heard of needs a blower or compressor, and I see no design feature to make this unnecessary, they all uncover the exhaust ports before the inlet ports, and by the time the inlet ports open the volume between the pistons is no longer expanding. So far, momentum hasn't been enough on any other OP design, I don't see why it's enough here.
"Wavy thing" is commonly called a swash plate. Many aviation hydraulic pumps work this way. Some can vary the angle of the swash plate in order to increase pumping volume.
@@Flies2FLL Some torpedo engines use a similar approach. Lots of power from a small package, short working life not a concern.
@@Flies2FLL This is not a swash plate, it's more accurately called an axial cam. A swash plate is a flat plate mounted at an angle so you only get one cycle of reciprocating motion per revolution, effectively the axial version of an eccentric.
I agree with you about the scavenging. The "air syphon" would be insufficient. It needs some positive PSIG at the manifold to function.
Lots of two cycle engines need positive pressure to operate. Detroit Diesels like the 6V71 required a blower to operate and keep positive pressure. Small motorcycle engines didn't need this and instead employ an expansion chamber in the exhaust pipe to drop pressure quickly, thus enabling scavenging. The difference in a design like this and what we'd commonly associate as being the job of a supercharger is that the blower on a 2-cycle isn't for increasing power. It's load on the engine is largely inconsequential, needing only to generate enough pressure to keep it higher than atmospheric. You could theoretically turn up the boost pressure and get more power, but it isn't strictly needed.
Something you didn't mention, maybe out of respect for their design choices, is the wheels on the on the "wavy things" (swash plates?) needing to be lubricated. Imagine the forces they are under and the wear they will experience over the life of the engine! The way that many car owners treat their vehicles these days is like appliances that they never maintain; they just replace them when they stop working. So using a quality oil and changing it regularly would be what keeps an engine like this going for a long time. Or not.
Keep making these videos! You always think things out and present them in ways that help us know more of the story than we might have otherwise. You have a great mind!
Heavy duty roller bearings (as opposed to balls) would have no problem carrying the load, in fact racing engines often forego shell bearings for rollers.... I wonder about the side-thrust on the cylinder wall ..."equal & opposite reactions" and all that... 🤔
Also, a reed valve on the inlet side might be better than offsetting the ports...
Another tuning tweak for higher than standard compression (if you were racing this engine, say) would be to simply drop in a larger bottom end bearing (diameter)... no messing around with skimming heads...
Or what about a diesel version ??
Seems like the possibilities are endless, I would love to see energy (fuel) efficiency figures for this configuration... we definitely need more data... rpm range, torque curve, wear characteristics etc.
There appears to be no reason that this design would need more frequent oil changes than a 4-stroke engine. There have always been vehicle owners who ignored maintenance, resulting in destroyed engines since the invention of the car.
Is it just me? Why couldn't we hear what it sounds like? How high does it rev? I think it probably sounds incredible. I believe it has big potential in many applications, keep up the good work.
there's a few other videos showing the engine in Spanish YT channels, with sound and all
Found a vid with the engine running ruclips.net/video/Hc6eTABcLTo/видео.html
Think of about four 2 stroke motorcycles reving there engines, Then think of how stinky two stroke - engines are.
The thing you all might be missing is that thing is only 500cc and it's already making 125 hp and 150nm. You may be able to make three times that power if you increase the displacement four times (considering losses). It's absolutely brilliant for a 2 liter engine to produce over 350 hp and 450 nm of torque. Also it could be used in racing engines since there we need high power at high rpms, especially if we make the displacement even larger.
Great analysis. The best marketing for this engine is as you said, simplicity and compactness. There are tons of applications where having a more compact engine would free up space for other things. Such as the forementioned range extender engine for a EV. This engine reminds me of the axial engines used in torpedo propulsion systems.
I like it, being in primary and secondary balance is lovely, could see some motorbike attempts at using it just because of the balance. Small and light too. Don't think it'll revolutionise anything, reading their promotional information was painful, but still seems like it's got plenty potential for some fun builds.
Edit: I wonder if it'll suffer from bad wear in the cylinders though from the lateral forces caused by the ramped cam, or significant efficiency losses from handling it.
@@RJM-II There's already 2wd drive motorcycles on the market, but mostly hydraulic or driveshafts via the fork headstock route and for dirtbike use. The Tesi was the Bimota hub centre steering bike & its very marmite to ride because it just feels so different even without 2wd, Yamaha made a HCS bike (GTS1000) & hold a patent on a 2wd GTS setup with drive fore and aft from a central point but never put it into production. Suzuki the same with their Nuda working concept bike but no production variant. Christini are probably the leading success story for awd & do awd kits for motorcrossers using a hydraulic drive system from ohlins.
I think this engine wouldn't help solve any of the issues as if you side mounted the engine and took drive from front and rear, independent of each other, you'd need two clutch/gearbox setups and to keep them in sync and that's without considering the need for differential drive speeds mid corner. If you drove a common idler shaft from the two ends, then fed that into the input shaft of a single gearbox, that would give you a conventional setup, then you would have to solve the issues that caused the gts awd and nuda to never go into production.
If you build one, can I blag a go though? :)
ruclips.net/video/brrTUmBk4u8/видео.html
Good point about the ramped cam causing lateral forces. This has been addressed
in other "basically conventional" internal combustion engines, and has been patented.
It does add weight, complexity, and cost, and therefore is not widely used in vehicles,
although it can improve fuel mileage by perhaps 1 or 2 percent.
@d4a, you are the best man to analyze piston engines. The "Kugelmotor" or Wolfhart engine has been waiting 50 years to be analyzed. You could write history.
This could be really good for the aviation industry. It's the roller wavey components that I worry about in terms of wear and tear.
The rollers would be the part needed to be made of a material that wears easier so it can be changed from time to time and won't damage the wave block.
Was thinking the same. This can be a brilliant turbine alternative for light helicopters. IIRC the APU of Typhoon fighters is about the same weight and output as this.
Yeah ! Ultralight aviation will jump on this as soon as it gets commercial
My thought as well. Since the rollers are rolling in a circular path there is obviously friction in there. A little bit like an axial roller bearing, they are not great for high loads and high speeds.
Also boat industry
It appears to me that it’s power to weight ratio would make it appealing in many applications even if the power is the same or less.
Yes, the question is if it's any better than a rotary in that regard.
I think how these engines could be used in developing nations. What a time to be alive
Nice job describing an engine that seems perfectly suited to drone power - steady, high RPM, very compact and low weight to improve net payload potential. If inexpensive, that's also a plus for a drone.
Great honest review with appreciated lucid honesty.
Creating rotational force by pushing rollers onto a slope seems like it would be very hard on the parts - especially on one side of the cillinder and certainly not the best way to produce a lot of power on low RPM. Also, it reminds me of an AC compressor :D
Even more than that. In a compressor, the "wavy thing" (the swash plate) moves the pistons. In this engine, the pistons push on the swash plate. It's trying to force energy into a cam, a feat as difficult as turning a worm gear from it's mated flat gear.
see whats funny is that conventional piston engines actually have many small rockers on camshafts that control the valve timing, which I assume adds a lot of friction as well. but we don't see camshafts being broken all the time and these being beefier I assume would be durable with oil lubricating the surfaces.
@@arthurfunk3104 excellent analogy with the worm gear
@@-aid4084you are comparing a tiny light-weight little valves and springs against a big heavy pistons energised with power strokes. Camshaft did wear out over time, though miniscule wear marks against cam roller are visible, no big deal since its only for timing control. Engine piston however transferring powerful energy directly through that "wavy thing"
Rotary hydraulic motors fitted to earthmoving machines use a cam ring with pistons pushing balls or rollers out against the cam ramps to produce rotation.
Thank you for presenting this novelty and analysing its capabilities based on facts. I also see the technology better placed in running at constant speed, benefiting of lower vibration (and potentially noise) levels. It's low weight is a huge benefit, but efficiency still needs to be quantified.
it is intended for long range and in combination with electric motors.
It really isn't a novelty FM had opposed piston two cycle engines in operation nearly 100 years ago.
@@danielmanly4793but then big oil decided they weren't burning enough
@@danielmanly4793but FN used 2 crankshafts causing moments of 1st and 2nd order.
This type of energy transfer runs very smooth without these vibrating effects.
But thank you for reminding of the opposed cylinder engine sharing the same combustion chamber.
It even was in serial production.
In the early 1900’s Fairbanks-Morse developed the opposed piston diesel engine which was used by the US navy in submarines. They were used in ships and later in locomotives.
This engine design, via Achates Power, is currently undergoing road testing with Walmart.
Fairbanks morse engines were garbage
The Fairbanks Morse 38 8 and 1/8 we had one on my boat U.S.S. Buffalo ssn 715. La class fast attack submarine. Was the back up generator. 4mw elec. Never had a problem with it. Big clunky thing, but it always ran like a top. 1300 hp and 1400 lbs torque at idle. 720 rpm. Only ran at idle. Could power about 1000 single family homes. She was a beast.
Like a locomotive engine and marine engine. The Napier Deltic.
@@TunturiRacing you're garbage.
Care to elaborate? They ran factories, generated power, pumped water, and propelled ships. Massive, low speed industrial engines that ran for years straight, and were reliable for their time. Garbage compared to what? A Ferrari?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and incredibly easy to follow explanations.
Videos and channels like this are what i love youtube for. There is so much thrash and clickbait on this platform but if you follow the right guys there is something fascinating to learn in every video.
Keep up the good work! appreciate it
I think that a constant speed small, lightweight application this would be great.
Like a generator or a water pump.
@3:32 and i'm loving this idea already. Using a swashplate instead of a crankshaft gives sooo many options. You can control dwell time of the valves, you can control dwell time at TDC to allow fixed-volume combustion. You could use the swashplate volume to pressurize the intake charge air (similar to how a 2-stroke RC engine uses crankcase volume). so much flexibility in this design.
You can even use the swashplate to customize the level of seduction for maximized rizz.
The "wavy thing" is called a Cam-plate and was used extensively in radial engines in aviation.
I have seen it called a "Wave plate" as well.
@@DocWolph me too come to think of it
Was it used as in this fashion as a power transmission component or a timing device in the plane engine? The forces on the whole arrangement in this videos engine seem counterproductive, but I well could not be understanding
@@desertblbuesman timing, but that component is subject to all the forces the crankshaft is, so I dont think it makes sense to deliniate between its purpose as a timing component or not
Excellent Explanation! Very Fair on the Pluses and Minuses!! Also great at calling out their marketing fluff!!!
This is quite impressive. It has a lot of the advantages of two stroke engines without the drawback of burning oil. I would still assume it's not as efficient as a four stroke engine as I believe at least some of the air that goes into the engine during intake escapes out of the exhaust port. That might also be the reason for including forced induction. Either way, an 8-cylinder engine that weighs only 35kg is insane and I'd love to hear it at full throttle.
ruclips.net/video/Hc6eTABcLTo/видео.html
@@brentdixon9143 People like you are so impatient. People like you said the same shit when the 4 stroke was invented. Yet here we are. New 4 stroke engines are designed all the time by car manufacturers. So stop with your negativity, creativity and optimism is what made all of this possible. If everyone were pessimistic and didn't think outside of the box we wouldn't have any combustible, steam, pneumatic engines or electric motors. It's the pessimistic people like you that stop innovation
They put it on an MX5 to test and it worked quite well (although it was just for testing). They also successfully put it into a big scale RC plane and it worked well too. There’re a couple of videos (in Spanish) out there. The head of the project, Juan Garrido, says that a 2.0 generation is on the way and that it’ll be purpose built to work as a range extender for EVs. He also says that COVID hindered a deal he was ment to sign with an OEM manufacturer to develop it further with solid funding.
Sadly, it will be too fragile to be worth anyone's time. I don't see this thing lasting anywhere close to life expectancy of a regular 4 stroke.
@@alanwatts8239 It’s a new engine and a prototype, designs go through many iterations