TSINGHUA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ISSN 1007-0214 17/21 pp381-386

V o l u m e 10, N u m b e r 3 , J u n e 2 0 0 5

Novel Micro Free-Piston Swing Engine and Its

Feasibility Validation

ZHANG Shimin (5M&), WANG Jinsong GUO Zhiping ( # 4 ^ )

Institute of Manufacturing Engineering, Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanology,

Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract: T o develop high energy-density micro power generation systems, a novel two-stroke cycle micro

free-piston s w i n g e n g i n e ( M F P S E ) , inspired by t h e c o n c e p t of t h e micro internal c o m b u s t i o n s w i n g e n g i n e ,

is p r o p o s e d t o s u p p l y m e c h a n i c a l p o w e r f o r a m i c r o p o w e r g e n e r a t i o n s y s t e m . T h e w o r k i n g p r i n c i p l e , g a s

e x c h a n g e a n d ignition t i m i n g c o n t r o l c y c l e s , a n d s t r u c t u r e a n d o p e r a t i o n a d v a n t a g e s o f t h e M F P S E a r e d i s -

c u s s e d in d e t a i l . A p r o t o t y p e w h e r e t h e t i m i n g c o n t r o l a n d g e o m e t r i c p a r a m e t e r s a r e d e s i g n e d w i t h refer-

e n c e t o a t r a d i t i o n a l t w o - s t r o k e c y c l e i n t e r n a l c o m b u s t i o n e n g i n e is f a b r i c a t e d . T h e s u c c e s s f u l ignition e x -

p e r i m e n t s h o w s t h a t t h i s n e w c o n c e p t e n g i n e is f e a s i b l e a n d is w o r t h y o f f u r t h e r s t u d y .

Key words: two-stroke cycle; free-piston engine; swing output

generation systems. However, at present, the approach

Introduction is largely focused on scaling down the existing
macroscale power generation systems into microscale
As a result of the continuous and rapid development of
versions, with the hope of using more advanced
portable electronic devices, high energy-density power
manufacturing techniques, such as micro electro-
sources are urgently required. However, the energy-
mechanical systems (MEMS), to achieve the
density of chemical storage cells widely used by port-
production requirements. In fact, these particular
able electronic devices has only increased by a factor
combustion systems do not appear to be especially
of two over the last decades; far less than the increased
well-suited for miniaturized operation, because most of
demand for higher density power sources over the
their major components must be retained at the
same period.
reduced scale in order for the system to function
As an alternative to improving the energy-density of
properly. It is apparent that the ideal internal
chemical storage cells, scientists have also started in
combustion system specifically intended for operation
recent years to develop new power s o u r c e s [1_5]
. In these
at the micro-scale level is likely to be very different
efforts, owing to the very high energy densities of
from that running best at the macro-scale level.
liquid or gaseous fuels and the high energy conversion
Moreover, as a consequence of the limited availability
efficiency of internal combustion processes, it seems
of feasible manufacturing processes, the scale-down
that there is most potential in employing the relatively
approach requires most of the time and the effort to be
complex internal combustion systems for power
spent on h o w to build the scale-down components
Received: 2004-03-01 before a point can be reached where the system can be
* Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China studied as a whole.
(No. 50375078) To overcome the problems met in the efforts of
* * To whom correspondence should be addressed.
miniaturizing large scale power generation systems,
E-mail: wangjs@tsinghua.edu.cn; Tel: 86-10-62797039
Dahm et al. have developed a n e w concept micro
 382 Tsinghua Science and Technology, June 2005, 10(3): 381 - 386

internal combustion swing engine ( M I C S E ) , which is [6]

the swing arm by a bond. In each pre-compression
composed of four combustion chambers in one base chamber, there is a reed valve covering the inlet port to
plate, where each operating cycle includes four strokes. serve as a check valve for the pre-mixed air/fuel
The MICSE is the first engine especially designed for mixture. The exhaust port is at the bisector of the upper
man-portable power generation systems. It also two combustion chambers, and shared by two
represents a breakthrough for realization of man- combustion chambers. Along the axis of the output
portable power generation systems. shaft, a front cover and a back cover are fixed on the
Inspired by MICSE system, and in order to further base structure. All the axial and radial clearances
simplify the structure and the control system of this between the swing arm and the base structure are
type of internal combustion engine, a new micro free- 15 .
piston swing engine (MFPSE) has been developed at It is apparent that the M F P S E is a two-cylinder
Tsinghua University . [7]
super-charged micro internal combustion engine. It can
be envisaged as two crankcase-scavenged internal
1 MFPSE Structure Description and combustion engines in parallel designed on one base
Working Principle structure.

1.2 Working principle

1.1 Structure description
The working process and the flow directions are illus-
In contrast to the MICSE, the M F P S E is a two-stroke trated in Fig. 2. Suppose that combustion chamber A is
cycle micro internal combustion swing engine, where at the position of the top dead center (TDC)the very
the mechanical power is also output by means of a beginning of the combustion/expansion process. Trans-
swing instead of by rotation as in traditional internal fer port A and exhaust port are thus closed by the
combustion engines. A schematic diagram of the struc- swing arm (Fig. 2a); the compressed mixture is ignited
ture of the M F P S E is illustrated in F i g . l . by a spark plug, and the swing arm will be pushed to-
Exhaust port Combustion wards the bottom dead center (BDC) of combustion
Combustion chamber chamber A. In the mean time, combustion chamber
chamber A
Spark plug is at the position of its own BDCthe very beginning
tap hole of the compression process. Transfer port and ex-
Pre-compression Pre-compression haust port are both opened, the scavenging process
chamber A chamber
Reed valve
takes place, and the fresh charge sweeps the burnt gas-
Inlet port
ses out from it. When pre-compression chamber A is at
Body
the beginning of the pre-compression process, the reed
Transfer port A Swing arm Transfer port valve will be closed at once; the pressure of the mix-
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the MFPSE ture inside will increase as the swing arm moves
clockwise. When pre-compression chamber is at the
A swing arm is installed in the center of the cavity in beginning of the pre-intake process, the reed valve will
a single base structure, dividing the cavity into four be opened by the vacuum formed in it as the swing arm
chambers. The upper two chambers, labeled moves clockwise.
combustion chamber A and combustion chamber B,
When the swing arm swings clockwise to the TDC
serve as combustion chambers; the lower two
of combustion chamber B, combustion chamber will
chambers, labeled pre-compression chamber A and
begin its combustion/expansion process, exactly as for
pre-compression chamber B, serve as pre-compressing
combustion chamber A (Fig. 2c). However, this time
for the fresh charge. The swing arm is also used as a
the high pressure produced in combustion chamber
sealing part between the chambers. There are two
will push the swing arm swinging counterclockwise. In
transfer ports on the hinge surface of the swing arm,
other words, the combustion chamber A and combus-
symmetrically located with respect to the long axis of
tion chamber will repeat their stroke cycles by turn,
the swing arm. A n output shaft is fixed in the center of
and the oscillating mechanical power can be extracted
 Z H A N G S h i m i n ( ? & ) et a l : Novel Micro Free-Piston Swing Engine and 383

from the output shaft continuously. One cycle will be center is reached.
completed from Fig. 2a to Fig. 2f, and the next cycle It is very clear that the working process of the
will be started from Fig. 2a again. M F P S E is different from that of the M I C S E , even
[6]

The M F P S E simplifies engine timing control and though they have a similar appearance. The former is a
there is no necessity to use any valve. More parallel two-cylinder, two-stroke internal combustion
importantly, it increases the integratability of the engine, and the latter is a four cylinder, four stroke in-
swing-piston engine system. The engine timing control ternal combustion engine. The differences of structure,
cycle for gas exchange and ignition is illustrated in timing control method, and working process result in
Fig. 3. The ignition switch is on whenever the top dead different characteristics and performance.

(a) (b) (c)

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ' ^"]}^^^^^^jp

(d) (c) (f)

Exhaust flow *~ Intake flow

Scavenge flow ^ ^ Moving direction of the swing arm

Fig. 2 MFPSE working process

importantly, the energy released from the combustion

1.3 Characteristics
process is converted directly into the pure momentum

The following advantages are obvious for the MFPSE. energy of the output shaft; no significant radial and
axial force components exist during engine operation
1) The structure of the M F P S E is simple. The only
that could cause the device to vibrate.
moving part is the swing arm, which serves simultane-
3) The M F P S E will have a better external-load (ex-
ously as the sealing wall between chambers and as the
tracting energy level) characteristic because of its
mechanical energy-extracting component. Instead of
unique swing motion output. One part of the energy re-
exhaust valves and associated driving mechanisms, the
leased from the combustion process will be converted
M F P S E uses inlet ports, exhaust ports, and scavenging
into kinetic energy of the swing arm first; the other
ports to further simplify its structure. Moreover, there
part will be extracted from the system and the remain-
is no reed valve exposed in the combustion chambers.
ing part will be converted back to the system as the po-
The system reliability is greatly increased.
tential energy of the gases inside the compression
2) There are less vibration concerns from the
chamber. When the external extracting energy level
M F P S E unit, because the only moving part, the swing decreases, it will increase the energy converted back to
arm, can easily be balanced dynamically. More the system, thereby increasing the pressure of the
 384 Tsinghua Science and Technology, June 2005, 10(3): 381 - 386

compression chamber and the compression ratio.
4) Almost all-major components of the M F P S E in-
volve two-dimensional planar
geometric shapes. There are various ways to build
them. The complete system can be made in many dif-
ferent sizes according to the best cost-performance
characteristics, and developed based on how much of
the extracting energy is needed.
design with simple 5) The control system is very simple because no so-
lenoid valves are needed. The timing control for gas
exchange is decided by the position of the swing arm.

Transfer port A

Transfer port A

Exhaust port
Exhaust port
combustion

combustion
combustion

chamber A
chamber A

chamber A
opened

opened

closed
closed
BDC,

TDC,
TDC,

Prc-comprcssion|
chamber A
\ 1 1
Pre-compression Scavenging Pre-in take
Combustion
chamber A g Combustion/Expansion Ex. Scavenging Ex. 1 Compression
1 l
Swing
-0 0 + 0 * angle
Combustion g Combustion/Expansion Ex.
Sc. Ex. 1 Compression Sc.
chamber
Sc. Prc-intakc Pre-compression Sc.
Pre-compression| \

Transfer port
TYansfer port

chamber
Exhaust port

Exhaust port
03
combustion

combustion
chamber

chamber

opened
closed

closed

to o>

opened
u
BDC

TDC

Q 3-D
CQ

Ignition switch on

Fig. 3 MFPSE timing control cycle ("Ex." represents the exhaust process, and "Sc." represents the scavenging process)

Compared with other micropower generation port. The thickness of the swing arm is 15 mm; the
systems, it seems that the M F P S E is a more practical width and radius of the transfer port are 8 m m and
approach for achieving robust, high energy-density, 7 mm, respectively; and the diameter of the intake port
and miniaturized power generation systems. is 6 mm. A fabricated swing arm is illustrated in Fig. 5.

2 Prototype Fabrication and

Experimental Bench Build
In order to validate the feasibility of this new concept
of micro free-piston swing engine, a prototype was
fabricated, and an experimental bench unit was built.

2.1 Prototype fabrication

For manufacture, wire electrical discharge machining

(EDM) was adopted to cut the cavity and the outline of
the swing arm; the scavenging ports were also made by
E D M . The geometric parameters were designed with Fig. 4 Definitions of the geometric parameters

reference to traditional two-stroke cycle engines in the

(d\=45 mm, d =36 mm, i=144,
2 r/ =36, a =18,
2 3

h=17 mm)
MFPSE prototype ~ .[8 10]
Some definitions of the
geometric parameters are illustrated in Fig. 4. d\ is the
2.2 Experimental bench build
base diameter of base cavity; d is the hinge diameter
2

of swing arm; a\ is the base cavity angle; a is the

2
The M F P S E is fueled by gasoline; an ignition system
included angle of the swing arm; a is the included
3
must also therefore be developed for the experimental
angle of exhaust port; h is the height of the exhaust
 Z H A N G S h i m i n ( ? & ) et a l : Novel Micro Free-Piston Swing Engine and 385

Fig. 7 Experimental bench unit of the MFPSE (Outline

dimension of the MFPSE: 50 m m X 5 0 m m X 3 5 mm)

2.3 Analysis

From Fig. 7, it can be noticed that there are no

Fig. 5 A fabricated swing arm
bench unit. The experimental ignition system (Fig. 6)
consists of an encoder, an F-V module, two ignition
modules, two coils, and two spark plugs. The swing
motion of the M F P S E is checked by the photoelectric
encoder, which is connected to the output shaft by a
plastic connector. The photoelectric encoder produces
two signals, named signal A and signal B, are sent to
the F-V module, which can convert the frequency of
the digital signal into a continuous voltage signal. Next,
the voltage signal is fed to one of the ignition modules
directly, and its reversed signal is fed to another.
Finally, the high voltage is formed in each coil, and the
spark is generated at the corresponding spark plug
whenever the swing arm reaches TDC. The micro
carburetor used in the M F P S E is a set assembled on a
model engine for a model airplane. The completed
experimental bench unit is presented in Fig. 7.
Coil
Signal A
experimental sensors fixed for test purposes; the reason
is that the original goal of manufacturing the prototype
and experimental bench unit is just to validate the
feasibility of this type of micro-swing engine. It is also
obvious that an M F P S E designed by means of
comparison is impossible to work at its optimal state.
Thus, it is not necessary to test the system thoroughly
in its present form.
3 Conclusions
The main purpose of this work is to validate a new
concept of a micro free-piston swing engine (MFPSE).
The parameters obtained by introducing the design
method used in traditional two-stroke cycle internal
combustion engines will not result in the M F P S E
working at an optimal state. The successful realization
and operation of the prototype are encouraging, and
further studies on its combustion process and scaveng-
ing process, as well as the thermodynamics and the
fluid dynamics analyses, are being carried out. More-
over, from the structure and the operating characteris-
tics of the MFPSE, it is already clear that the M F P S E

Photo- i J T J T J L
electric
hA/W Ignition
module
is worthy of further study, and that it has the potential
to realize practical micro power generation systems.
encoder
JUUl F-V

Signal modulel
W A Ignition References
module
LH MFPSE A
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Olympic Logistics Symposium Garners Global Input for 2008 Games

The first Olympic Logistics Symposium jointly sponsored by the University of North Carolina and Tsinghua Uni-
versity opened on Feb. 25, 2005, bringing together more than 100 domestic and foreign logistics experts to discuss
the logistical challenges posed by the 2008 Olympic Games.
The experts were from governments, universities, and academic research institutions throughout the world.
Discussions centered on such topics as how logistics enterprises in the Chinese capital and throughout the coun-
try will design appropriate logistics plans for the Games; how advanced technology will be applied in logistics; and
how the logistics experience of other countries can be put to use in the organizing of the 2008 Games.
In 2004, the Engineering Department of Tsinghua organized a team of researchers to seek solutions to the logis-
tical issues surrounding the upcoming Games. The department has taken part in the official planning projects, and
has recommended a number of professors to work for the Beijing Olympic Committee.
To promote the Olympic-related logistics research projects, Tsinghua University will establish a logistics
research center with University of North Carolina and plan to hold the logistics symposium annually until 2008.
Tsinghua Vice President Kang Kejun delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.

(From http://news.tsinghua.edu.cn)