Just imagine the tuning possibilities

[JeepsAndGuns]

Just imagine the endless tuning possiabilities you could have on a engine if it could be retrofitted with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bch5B23_pu0

No more camshaft, lifters, push rods, rocker arms or timing chains. Any "camshaft" profile you could dream of could be programed in, from the most stock, tame and fuel efficent profile, up to the dragstrip choppy bumpstick from hell. And everywhere inbetween. Change profiles on the go.

I believe this is the future of internal combustion engines.

I am also a big fan of Koenigsegg. If you have the time, check out the other videos in the series. 1140 hp from a 5.0L V8. Not too shabby.

[Six_Shooter]

The idea of a camshaftless engine has been talked about since the late '80s.

The problem has been an actuator that will move fast enough, and accurately enough, along with being reliable enough to make feasible.

It's great to see this actually working, even in prototype stage.

I had never considered the ability to turn the engine into an air compressor during engine braking, interesting concept.

We have those same Tektronix O'scopes at school. I wish I could afford one for my home lab.

I am also a fan of Koenigsegg. If I can ever afford it, I would definitely be looking for a CCXR.

[Jim85IROC]

I remember reading about electric actuators years ago, but they never seemed to materialize. I suspect it was because they couldn't make an electric servo that would operate fast enough. This air system seems to overcome that limitation. The one thing I don't see (yet) from this is the ability to control the valve lift. This seems to be an on or off type of control, and not variable. Hopefully future generations of this technology will find a way to vary that lift. Doing so would provide for the ability to directly control engine RPM, making the overall motor system much simpler.

[1project2many]

The problem to overcome is inertia. With any actuator you need to open the valve then close it again. Mechanical systems press against spring pressure because the spring is an easy device to use to hold the valve shut, and because it's relatively easy to make a mechanical link strong enough to compress the spring.

Electrical actuators strong enough to compress springs generate large amounts of heat. They also have large amounts of energy to be dealt with as they're large inductors surrounding rapidly moving iron cores... generators of sorts. This requires large amounts of current and fairly large semiconductors.

Air pressure can be used for both open and closing events but response time can be a challenge. Building pressure against a spring means rapid build / release events must occur. Using pressure on both sides of the valve means pressure must be applied to one side while the release is applied to the other. Timing is everything in this game.

Years ago Hot Rod Magazine showed a patented lifter design for SBC which would bleed down a lifter through electronic valving. The idea was to build the cam too big then open/close the valve to control the ramp rate, lift, and duration of the valve events. Too bad it never went into production.

Using engine as an air compressor? Lotsa stories about removing one spark plug, two rockers, and building check valves to turn cylinder into compressor. I did it with a 3 1/2 horse Briggs engine years ago. Years later, in the '80s, met a guy who'd tried to build super mileage car using Vega. Had a special cam made with double lobes on cam and forced air under pressure into intake. Engine became "air engine" and ran without fuel. Never saw the car, only the story from the local paper about how the feds confiscated the car and crushed it.

[steveo]

i've thought about this often as well, and i really want to try it on a small engine.

electrically controlled pneumatic would be great, as an engine driven air pump could likely take care of it, but i think pure electric would be the way to go in the end.

i think doing away with the valve spring entirely would be a good thing, with a very fast linear actuator rather than an on-off solenoid used for valve motion, so both lift and duration would have fairly precise control, within the limitations of the speed of motion of the actuator. i'm 100% certain such an actuator could be developed

reliability? electronics burn out, right? mechanical things like a camshaft might wear, but they dont instantly fail like a solenoid coil that cracks under stress.

redundancy is the key.

just engineer a way that multiple actuators (say two or three) can actuate the same valve, and alternate their use. actuator fails? great, stop using it, and set a "service engine soon" light so it can be swapped out. suddenly the entire system is failure-tolerant.

it could be programmed as such that if multiple intake actuators fail, or say.. the driver for those actuators failed.. the exhaust valves for that cylinder could open until the engine was serviced. it'd still run enough to limp home, just drop that cylinder with full decompression.

also the multiple actuators could be leveraged to provide extra torque for opening/closing the valves more quickly in extreme circumstances such as WOT.

the possibilites are too insane to ignore. you guys know what a miller cycle engine is? screw 'highway lean cruise', how about a miller cycle mode vs map vs rpm table

drool

[1project2many]

Rotary valve with electronically controlled variable timing. Nearly zero restriction from the valve when fully open.

[Hog]

My buddy is a diesel etch and he said there were some diesels that are running camless technology. That woudl make sense that the slower turning diesels would get it 1st.

This is of course a major advantage to the OE's. Non more cam phasers to make high end hp, while retaining low rpm torque. AT low rpm the calibration would build high combustion prtessusres at low rpm, then teh calibration would change for higher pressures at high rpm. Big innovation of rthe ICE.

peace
Hog