Do opposed-piston engines have potential in today's vehicles?
I had never heard of them until I did some research recently and feel that they have a pretty solid design. They would likely be more efficient than the typical two stroke while having more HP than a four stroke with similar displacement. Why has this design not been used in conventional applications such as lawnmowers or auto engines?
Answer:
Opposed Piston engines do not have a cylinder head and consist of two pistons and usually two crankshafts. The air/fuel is squeezed together between the two pistons within the cylinder. Hence no cylinder head is required.
There are single crankshaft version but these have a complicated push/pull rod system and are usually reserved for very large marine diesel engines.
Opposed piston engines should NOT be confused with Horizontal Opposed Piston Engines ( Boxer / Flat pack ) these HOP have a single crank shaft and two cylinder heads. This is the old air cooled VW engine.. (Or think V8 / V6 flattened out)
The Opposed Piston engine besides not having a cylinder head also doesn't have any valves. Rather scavenging and exhaust ports are used in combination with a blower to exhaust and recharge the air in the cylidner prior to compression. A scavenging blower is commonly used in two stroke diesel engines.
As an Opposed Piston engine is usually a diesel and because of the need for dual crankshafts, gears and scavenging blower these would limit its application due to size and cost.
Opposed Piston engines typically are used in marine applications such as Auxilliary Generators. ( I was told in school that these were commonly used on submarines as main propulsion .)
they usually are harder to work on
and are prone to breaking down
but have alot of power .eg, japanise made subaru
So ,if the valve timing and firing order has some irrelevant play ,would the opposed piston engine will work efficiently
It actually was used, under a different name: boxer engine!
A lot of BMW motorcycles also have horizontally opposed cylinders...
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Answer:
Opposed Piston engines do not have a cylinder head and consist of two pistons and usually two crankshafts. The air/fuel is squeezed together between the two pistons within the cylinder. Hence no cylinder head is required.
There are single crankshaft version but these have a complicated push/pull rod system and are usually reserved for very large marine diesel engines.
Opposed piston engines should NOT be confused with Horizontal Opposed Piston Engines ( Boxer / Flat pack ) these HOP have a single crank shaft and two cylinder heads. This is the old air cooled VW engine.. (Or think V8 / V6 flattened out)
The Opposed Piston engine besides not having a cylinder head also doesn't have any valves. Rather scavenging and exhaust ports are used in combination with a blower to exhaust and recharge the air in the cylidner prior to compression. A scavenging blower is commonly used in two stroke diesel engines.
As an Opposed Piston engine is usually a diesel and because of the need for dual crankshafts, gears and scavenging blower these would limit its application due to size and cost.
Opposed Piston engines typically are used in marine applications such as Auxilliary Generators. ( I was told in school that these were commonly used on submarines as main propulsion .)
they usually are harder to work on
and are prone to breaking down
but have alot of power .eg, japanise made subaru
So ,if the valve timing and firing order has some irrelevant play ,would the opposed piston engine will work efficiently
It actually was used, under a different name: boxer engine!
A lot of BMW motorcycles also have horizontally opposed cylinders...
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