Chapter 6 Multicylinder Engines

Page 1

Introduction
Multicylinder Engine Designs
The Crank Phase Diagram
Shaking Forces in Inline Engines
Inertia Torque in Inline Engines
Shaking Moment in Inline Engines
Even Firing
Two-Stroke Cycle Engine
Four-Stroke Cycle Engine
Balancing Multicylinder Engines
Secondary Balance in the Four-Cylinder Inline Engine
A Perfectly Balanced Two-Cylinder Engine
 Introduction
Page 2

Previous Chapters discussed design of slider-crank mechanism for

single-cylinder internal combustion engine and piston pumps.

Some problems with shaking forces and torques can be improved by

combination of multiple slider-crank linkages on a common
crankshaft.

You are encourage to use of the program ENGINE provided in order

to develop a better understanding of kinematic and mechanical
dynamic aspects.

This Chapter do not address the thermodynamic aspects.

 Multicylinder Engines
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 Multicylinder Engines
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Inline Engines
Most common and simplest arrangement
Two, three, four, five and six cylinder inline engines are
in common use.
Each cylinder have its individual slider-crank
mechanism.
Cranks are formed together in a common crankshaft.
Each cylinders crank on the crankshaft is referred to as
a crank throw.
Crank throw will be arranged with some phase angle
realationship one to the other.
 Multicylinder Engines
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Inline Engines
 Multicylinder Engines
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Inline Engines
 Multicylinder Engines
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Vee Engines
Two, four, six, eight, then and twelve cylinder versions
are produced with vee six and vee eight being the most
common.
Can be thought of as two inline engines grafted
together onto a common crankshaft.
The geometric arrangements of the crankshaft (phase
angle) and cylinders (vee angle) have a significant
effect on the dynamic condition of the engine.
 Multicylinder Engines
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Vee Engines
 Multicylinder Engines
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Vee Engines
 Multicylinder Engines
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Opposed Engines
Essentiallyvee engines with a vee angle of 180o
This arrangement promotes cancellation of inertial
forces and is popular in aircraft engines (Continental
six-cylinder aircraft engine)
 Multicylinder Engines
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11

Radial Engines
Cylinders arranged radially around the crankshaft in
nearly a common plane.
Common on World War II vintage aircraft as they
allowed large displacements, and thus high power, in a
compact form whose shape was well suited to that of
an airplane.
Air cooled because the cylinder arrangement allowed
good exposure of all cylinder to the airstream.
Gas turbine jet engine has rendered these radial
aircraft engines obsolete.
 Multicylinder Engines
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Radial Engines (WW II)

 Multicylinder Engines
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Rotary Engines
An interesting variant on the aircraft radial engine and
were used in World War I airplanes.
The crankshaft was the stationary ground plane.

It is a kinematic inversion of the slider-crank.

Piston mass centers can be in pure rotation and so do

not impart any vibration to the airframe.
 Multicylinder Engines
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Rotary Engines (WW I)

 The Crank Phase Diagram
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We must establish some convention for the measurement

of these phase angles which will be:
The first (front) cylinder will be number 1 and its phase
angle will always be zero. It is the reference cylinder for all
others.
The phase angles of all other cylinders will be measured
with respect to the crank throw for cylinder 1.
Phase angles are measured internal to the crankshaft, that
is, with respect to a rotating coordinate system embedded in
the first crank throw.
Cylinders will be numbered consecutively from front to back
of the engine.
 The Crank Phase Diagram
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For counter clock wise rotation, phase angles are negative as each cylinder lags the
one before.
Despite their signs, are stated as absolute values
A 4-cyl, 4-stroke inline engine, what do you think the phase angles should be?

Fundamental to the design of any Multicylinder engine (or piston pump) is the
arrangement of crank throws on the crankshaft. We will use the four-cylinder inline
engine as an example. Many choices are possible for the crank phase angles in the
four-cylinder engine. We will start, for example, with the one that seems most
obvious from a commonsense standpoint. There are 360o in any crankshaft. We
have four cylinders, so an arrangement of 0, 90, 180, and 270o seems
appropriate. The delta phase angle between throws is then 90o. In general, for
maximum cancellation of inertia forces, which have a period of one revolution, the
optimum delta phase angle will be:
360
inertia
n
where n is the number of cylinders.
 The Crank Phase Diagram
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 The Crank Phase Diagram
Page 18

Crank Phase Diagram

 The Crank Phase Diagram
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Simplified Crank Phase Diagram

 Shaking Forces in Inline Engines
Page 20

For a single cylinder we found that:

With exactly balanced crank throws, it becomes:

For a Multicylinder engine of n cylinders:

Where i are the phase angles of each cylinder.

 Shaking Forces in Inline Engines
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 Shaking Forces in Inline Engines
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Force Balance for 0-90-180-270 Crankshaft Phase

Angles
 Inertia Torque in Inline Engines
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In a single cylinder, inertia (shaking) torque is

We want inertia torque to be zero as it does not contribute to

driving torque.
Sum all cylinders to get

Where i are the phase angles of each cylinder.

 Inertia Torque in Inline
Engines
Page 24
 Shaking Moment in Inline Engines
Page 25

Moments are transverse to crank axis. Torques are

about crank axis. (Same math - different name.)
 Shaking Moment in Inline Engines
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 Shaking Moment in Inline Engines
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 Shaking Moment in Inline Engines
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 Even Firing
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What is Even Firing?

Power pulses evenly spaced in time.

An uneven-firing engine will run rough

The requirements for inertia balance can be in conflict with

those for even firing
May have to trade off one for the other.

Engine designers often favour even firing over inertia

balance
Inertia effects can be compensated for with balancing

Balancing forces track inertia forces with speed

Power pulses are as large at low speed as at high speed

 Even Firing
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Conditions for Even Firing and Inertia Balance

 Even Firing
Page 31

Power Stroke Angles

Are the angles at which the cylinders fire

Defined by a combination of the crank phase

angles and the firing order

 Even Firing
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Power Stroke Angles

 Two-Stroke Cycle Engine
Page 33
 Two-Stroke Cycle Engine
Page 34
 Four-Stroke Cycle
Engine
Page 35
 Four-Stroke Cycle
Engine
Page 36
 Four-Stroke Cycle Engine
Page 37

What Phase Angles are Needed for Even Firing in a

4-Stroke, 4-cylinder inline?
What is the best delta phase angle?

What phase angles will work?

Try 0 180 0 180
 Four-Stroke Cycle
Engine
Page 38
 Four-Stroke Cycle Engine
Page 39

What is its Balance State?

 Four-Stroke Cycle Engine
Page 40

Can We Improve the Balance?

 Four-Stroke Cycle
Engine
Page 41
 Four-Stroke Cycle Engine
Page 42

What is the Balance State with a Mirror-Symmetric

Crankshaft?
 Four-Stroke Cycle Engine
Page 43
 Balancing Multicylinder Engines
Page 44

With a sufficient number (m) of cylinders, properly arranged in

banks of n cylinders in a multibank engine, an engine can be
inherently balanced.
In a two-stroke engine with its crank throws arranged for even firing,
all harmonics of shaking force will be balanced except those whose
harmonic number is a multiple of n.
In four-stroke engine with its crank throws arranged for even firing,
all harmonics of shaking force will be balanced except those whose
harmonic number is a multiple of n/2.
Primary shaking moment components will be balanced if the
crankshaft is mirror-symmetric about the central transverse plane.
Four stroke inline configuration requires at least six cylinders to be
inherently balanced through the second harmonic.
 Balancing Multicylinder Engines
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Unbalanced Inertia Torques

Can be smoothed with a flywheel for the single-
cylinder engine.
Flywheel is required to smooth its variations in gas
torque even it has zero initial torque.
 Balancing Multicylinder Engines
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Unbalanced Shaking Forces and Shaking Moments

Can be cancelled by the addition of one or more
rotating balance shafts within the engine.
To cancel the primary components requires two balance
shafts rotating at crank speed, one of which can be the
crankshaft itself.
To cancel the secondary components usually requires at
least two balance shafts rotating at twice cranks speed,
gear or chain drive from the crankshaft.
 Secondary Balance in the Four-
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Cylinder Inline
Four cylinder inline engine with a 0, 180, 180, 0o crankshaft
is one of the most widely used engines in the automobile
industry.
It suffers from unbalanced secondary force, moment and
torque.
If the displacement of the engine is above 2.0 liters,
objectionable noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) may be
heard and felt by the passengers at certain engine speeds
where the frequency of the engines second harmonic
coincides with one of the natural frequencies of the body
structure.
Balancing is needed in the engine to avoid customer
dissatisfaction.
 Secondary Balance in the Four-
Page 48
Cylinder Inline
Lanchester balancer
Can be used to counteract the secondary forces by
driving its two counter rotating balance shafts at twice
crankshaft speed with chains and/or gears.
The balance force from the two balance shafts
combined is

Fbal 8mbalrbal 2 cos 2ti

where mbal and rbal are the mass and radius, respectively, of
one balance weight.
 Secondary Balance in the Four-
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Cylinder Inline
Lanchester balancer
 Secondary Balance in the Four-
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Cylinder Inline
Lanchester Balancer
As originally used in Mitsubishi 2.6 liters, four-

cylinder engines
 Secondary Balance in the Four-
Page 51
Cylinder Inline
 Secondary Balance in the Four-
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Cylinder Inline
Nakamura Balancer
Improves on Lanchesters 1913 design by arranging the balance
shafts within the engine
Cancels secondary inertia force and torque but does not affect the
unbalanced secondary shaking moment.
The time-varying couple about the crankshaft axis defined as :

Tbal 4mbalrbal 2 x1 x2 sin 2t y1 y2 cos 2tk

Where x and y refer to the coordinates of the shaft centers referenced to

the crankshaft center, and the subscripts 1 and 2 refer, respectively, to the
balance shaft turning in directions the same as and opposite to that of that
crankshaft.
 Secondary Balance in the Four-
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Cylinder Inline
Nakamura Balancer
For force balance,

4r
mB r 2 cos 2t 8mbalrbal 2 cos 2t 0
l
r
mbalrbal mB r
2l
which defines the mass radius product needed for the balance mechanism.
For torque balance,
2mB r 2 2 sin 2t 4mbalrbal 2 x1 x2 sin 2t y1 y2 cos 2t 0
r
2mB r 2 sin 2t 4 mB r x1 x2 sin 2t y1 y2 cos 2t 0
2l
For this equation to be zero for all t
y2 y1
x1 x2 l
 A Perfectly Balanced Two-Cylinder
Page 54
Engine
Lanchesters Perfect Engine
Devised an extremely clever horizontally opposed
engine arrangement with only two cylinders, completely
cancelled all harmonics of inertia forces and moments.
The crank counterweights exactly balance the cranks.

The collinear opposed pistons exactly balance one

anothers linear accelerations and the scissors action of

the multiple conrods exactly cancels all higher
harmonics of motion.
 A Perfectly Balanced Two-Cylinder
Page 55
Engine
Lanchesters Perfect Engine