Comparison between Six-Stoke and Four-

Stroke Engine
Final Report
Internal Combustion Engine

Submitted By

Saad bin Sarfraz Bme-143004

Muhammad Hassan Lodhi Bme-143016
Huzefa Babar Bme-143033
Muhammad Faizan Zafar Bme-143036
Faizan Basharat Bme-143044

Submitted to

Dr. Saif-ur-Rehman

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering

Capital University of Science and Technology

Islamabad

December 14, 2017

 Abstract
The report describes about modification of engine from four stroke engines to six stroke engines.
Two more additional strokes are the fifth stroke, which called water injection stroke while the last
stroke is called exhaust stroke. Besides, the stroke engine also known as engine two-stroke, four-
stroke and six-stroke, which are new things for us. Some modification has to do at the conventional
four-stroke to six-stroke. Whereas some of them are modification at the camshaft, which is gear to
contact between camshaft and crankshaft with ratio 3:1, shape of plunger, head cover engine and
add more other components such as water injector and pump to make the system operate well.
After the modification, performance results outcomes are compare with the conventional four-
stroke engines. Unfortunately, this engine is not running as well as expected when some problems
occur at few part of the engine. To fix the entire problems, analysis has been undertaken to improve
some part of the followers, especially since his main problems in their engines. For the future
work, the follower must be upgrading the level to get the best design and strength to make sure
this engine running well. A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC)
engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke
refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either direction.
.

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Contents
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... i
1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1
2.0 Four-Stroke Engine.................................................................................................................................. 2
2.1. Description ......................................................................................................................................... 2
2.2. Pros .................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.3. Cons.................................................................................................................................................... 3
3.0 Six-Stroke Engine..................................................................................................................................... 3
3.1 Types of Six-stroke engine .................................................................................................................. 5
3.1.1. Griffin Six-stroke Engine .............................................................................................................. 5
3.1.2 Bajulaz Six-Stroke Engine ............................................................................................................. 5
3.1.3. Velozeta Six-Stroke Engine.......................................................................................................... 5
3.3.4. Crower Six-Stroke Engine ............................................................................................................ 5
3.2 Strokes ................................................................................................................................................ 6
3.3. Modification in six-stroke engine....................................................................................................... 7
3.3.1. Crankshaft ................................................................................................................................... 7
3.3.2. Camshaft ..................................................................................................................................... 8
3.3.3. Cam Follower .............................................................................................................................. 8
3.4 Pros ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
3.5 Cons..................................................................................................................................................... 8
4.0 Comparison ............................................................................................................................................. 9
4.0. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 11
5.0 References ............................................................................................................................................ 12

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1.0 Introduction
One of the most difficult challenges in engine technology today is the urgent need to increase
thermal efficiency. Six-stroke is one of the solutions for this problem. In the first approach, the
engine captures the heat loss from the four-stroke Otto cycle or diesel cycle and uses it to power
an additional power and exhaust stroke of the piston in the same cylinder. The pistons in this type
of six-stroke engine go up and down six times to complete one cycle in a combustion engine. Fresh
water, which injected into the cylinder after the exhaust stroke is quickly turned to superheated
steam, which causes the water to expand to 1600 times its volume and force piston down for an
additional stroke and can reduce the temperature of the engine. As well as extracting power, the
additional stroke cools the engine and removes the need for a cooling system making the engine
lighter and giving 40 % increased efficiency. Nowadays, all the conventional internal-combustion
engines are running in two stroke and four-stroke. To convert the engine to run in six-stroke, there
is a need to do some modification like camshaft modification, crankshaft to camshaft ratio and
introducing a new water injection system [1].
An internal-combustion engine is any engine that operates by burning its fuel inside the
engine. In contrast, an external combustion engine burns its fuel outside the engine like in a steam
engine. The majority of the actual internal-combustion engines, operating on different cycle have
one common feature, combustion occurring in the cylinder after each compression, resulting in
gas expansion that acts directly on the piston (work) and limited to 180 degrees of crankshaft angle.
The Nikolaus August Otto first designed the four-stroke internal - combustion engine. The basic
operating principle of this engine is the conversion of heat energy liberated by the combustion of
the fuel into mechanical energy, which rotates the crankshaft. The names of the stroke from the
start of the stroke are intake stroke, compression stroke, and power stroke and finally exhaust
stroke. To complete this operation, there is a need two cycles. The objective of developing this
engine is to improve the efficiency and reduce the emission [2]. The six-stroke engine already
developed since 1990s and many concepts of this six-stroke engine has been developed. The
concept of the six - stroke is different depending on the creator of the six-stroke engine. The first
approach of the concept is to get an additional power and exhaust stroke of the piston in the same
cylinder. For the second approach is using a second opposed piston in each cylinder, which moves
at half the cyclical rate of the main piston, thus giving six piston movements per cycle.

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2.0 Four-Stroke Engine
The four-stroke engine is probably the most common engine type nowadays. It powers almost all
cars and trucks. It consists of four-stroke, one cycle operation is completed in four movement
stroke of the piston. That is one cycle complete in every two revolutions of the crankshaft. Each
stroke consists of 180⁰ of crankshaft rotation and hence a cycle consists of 720⁰ of crankshaft
rotation. In a four-stroke engine, an explosive mixture is drawn into the cylinder on the first stroke
and is compressed and ignited on the second stroke; work is done on the third stroke, and the
products of combustion are exhausted on the fourth stroke.

2.1. Description
A four-stroke internal combustion engine has to do four things to complete one
cycle as discussed below:
 Intake/Admission stroke The crankshaft rotates and pulls the piston down in the
cylinder, which creates a partial vacuum in the cylinder. Since the intake valve is
open, air is pulled through the carburetor where it also picks up fuel. At the end of
the intake stroke, the camshaft rotates to a low spot on the lobe, which allows the
valve spring to close the intake valve.
 Compression stroke It compresses the fuel air mixture. During
this stroke, both the intake and exhaust valve are closed.
 Power stroke Just before the piston/crankshaft reaches top dead center (TDC), the
spark plug fires and the fuel/air mixture is ignited. The heated gasses expand very
rapidly and force the piston down (turning the crankshaft in the process). This is
the only part of the cycle where power is produced.
 Exhaust stroke At the beginning of the stroke, the exhaust valve is opened by the
camshaft. When the crankshaft forces the piston back up, the burned fuel/mix is
forced past the exhaust.

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 Figure 1. Four-Stroke Cycle

2.2. Pros
Pros of the four-stroke engine are listed below
 Can produce far more power than two-stroke engine because they can be made
much larger
 Pollute less than two stroke
 More efficient use of gas

2.3. Cons
Cons of the four-stroke engine are listed below
 Low power to weight ratio.
 More moving parts, not suitable for high speed.
 More number of stroke per circle.
 High service and overhaul cost due to more parts

3.0 Six-Stroke Engine

The six-stroke engine is a type of internal-combustion engine based on the four-stroke engine, but
with additional complexity to make it more efficient and reduce emissions. Two different
approaches of the six-stroke engine has been developed since the 1990s.

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1. In the first approach, the engine captures the heat loss from the four-stroke Otto cycle or
Diesel cycle and uses it to power an additional power and exhaust stroke of the piston in
the same cylinder. The designs use either steam or air as the working fluid for the additional
power stroke [3]. The pistons in this type of six-stroke engine go up and down six times
for each injection of fuel. There are two power strokes
 One with fuel, the other with steam or air. The currently notable designs in this
class are the Crower six-stroke engine, invented by Bruce Crower in the U.S.
 The Bajulaz engine by the Bajulaz S.A. Company of Switzerland; and the Velozeta
Six-stroke engine built by the College of Engineering, at Trivandrum in India.
2. The second approach to the six-stroke engine uses a second opposed piston in each cylinder
that moves at half the cyclical rate of the main piston, thus giving six piston movements
per cycle. Functionally, the second piston replaces the valve mechanism of a conventional
engine but also increases the compression ratio. The currently notable designs in this class
include two designs developed independently: the Beare Head engine, invented by
Australian Malcolm Beare, and the German Charge pump, invented by Helmut Kottmann
Griffin six-stroke engine. (S.N. Gurukulam Collage of Engineering).
The 6-stroke internal combustion engine is an advance over the existing four stroke, which
employs the same principle as that of the four-stroke. The 5th stroke or the second power
stroke used the heat evolved in the exhaust stroke (directly or indirectly) as the heat
required sudden expansion of the secondary fuel (air or water) which pushes the piston
downward for the 2nd power thereby rotating the crankshaft for another half cycle. As heat
evolved in the fourth stroke is not wasted, the requirement for a cooling system is
eliminated [4].
Here the fuel is injected once in every three complete cycles of the crankshaft, which is
anytime better than four-stroke where fuel is injected once in two complete cycles of the
crankshaft. It should be noted that efficiency of the six-stroke is more than the existing
four-stroke. Two major types of secondary fuels used in the fifth stroke are air and water.
Many types of six-strokes were being designed on two fuels of which few important types
will be discussed.

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3.1 Types of Six-stroke engine
In a single piston design they use single piston per cylinder, like a conventional two
or four stroke engine. A secondary non-detonating fluid is injected into the chamber, and
the leftover heat from combustion causes it to expand for a second power stroke followed
by a second exhaust stroke.
3.1.1. Griffin Six-stroke Engine
This type of engine is very much capable of burning heavier and cheaper grades of
oil. The engine works on the principle of a heated exhaust jacketed external
vaporizer, inside which the fuel is being sprayed. Sufficient temperature around
550 degree Fahrenheit is held for physically vaporizing the oil but not to breaking
it down chemically. This type of fractional distillation supports the use of heavy oil
fuels, asphalts, unusable tars separating out in the vaporizer.
3.1.2 Bajulaz Six-Stroke Engine
The Bajulaz six-stroke engine is somewhat similar in design to combustion engine
as change with two supplementary fixed capacity chambers with two
supplementary fixed capacity chambers [5]. The first is combustion chamber in
which pre-heated air enters from the cylinder and fuel begins are isochoric (constant
volume) burn which increases the thermal efficiency and high pressure is released
to the cylinder to work as expansion stroke another air pre -heating chamber which
blanket the combustion chamber to a high degree heating by passing through the
cylinder wall. Then an additional stroke of piston is generated by this heated and
pressurized air.
3.1.3. Velozeta Six-Stroke Engine
In this engine, fresh air is used and injected during the exhaust stroke, which
expands the air by heat and forces the piston down for additional stroke [6]. This
engine has the ability to run on various fuel, ranging from gasoline and diesel fuel
to LPG.
3.3.4. Crower Six-Stroke Engine
In this engine, he uses the waste heat and put it into the use of driven piston by
injecting water into the cylinder after the exhaust stroke which instantly turns into
steam and forces the piston down for an additional stroke. The engine provides with
40% less fuel consumption and some power output at lower rotational speed. The

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 engine weight is balanced by addition of water tank and eliminating cooling
arrangement which is not needed as waste heat is being is used up.

3.2 Strokes
There are following six strokes in six strokes engine
First Stroke The first stroke is accompanied by the opening of the inlet valve F. As the
piston moves from top dead center (IDC) to the bottom dead center (BDC),charge, a
homogenous mixture of air and fuel, is introduced in the cylinder. The stroke ends as piston
reaches BDC i.e. 180° of the crankshaft rotation.
Second Stroke Upward movement of the piston accompanied by the opening of valve A
results in compression of charge into the inner spherical chamber (combustion chamber).
Introduction of water in the steam chamber (assumed to be pumped at 15 bar) is initiated
and completed as the temperature of charge is well above 150 °C and below 200 °C
respectively. Hence, the compression stroke comprises of pure compression and
compression and heat rejection to water, latter one being after the introduction of water in
the steam chamber. Second stroke comes to an end as the piston reaches top dead center
(TDC).
Third Stroke As soon as the compression of charge is completed; spark is struck, such
that combustion of charge in inner sphere takes place. The instantaneous release in energy
due to combustion, results in complete conversion of water into steam. In this stroke, the
water converted into steam is used for giving the power stroke through valve C, thereby
forcing the piston to move towards the BDC. The charge is still held in the inner sphere
and the process of combustion is continued. As a result of this, the combustion of fuel takes
place in a more efficient manner as compared to its four stroke counterpart.
Fourth Stroke Steam after giving the expansion stroke is forced to move out of the
cylinder through valve D by the upward motion of piston towards the TDC. Exhaust steam
is made to pass through closed condenser, where the condensation of steam into water takes
place and the water is recycled in the system.
Fifth Stroke Exhaust of steam is followed with an expansion stroke given by the
combusted charge forcing the piston towards the BDC. Valve A is kept open during the
stroke.

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Sixth Stroke The combustion products after giving the power stroke are exhausted out of
the cylinder.

Figure 2. Six-Stroke Cycle

3.3. Modification in six-stroke engine

Modifications are only done to specific parts of conventional four stroke engine so that the
new engine in which two more cylinder are added for additional power with six strokes
works successfully [7]. These modifications are:
3.3.1. Crankshaft
Crankshaft to Camshaft Ratio Modification In conventional four-stroke engine, the
gear at crankshaft must rotate 720 degree while the camshaft rotates 360ο to
complete one cycle. For six-stroke engine, the gear at the Crankshaft must rotate
1080 to rotate the camshaft 360ο and complete one cycle. Hence, their
corresponding gear ratio is 3:1. Therefore, it is necessary to keep Camshaft pulley
three times bigger than crankshaft pulley.

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 3.3.2. Camshaft
Modification In the six-stroke engine, the 360 degree of the cam has been
divided into 60degree among the six-strokes. The exhaust cam has two lobes to
open the exhaust valve at fourth stroke (first exhaust stroke) and at the sixth stroke
to push out the steam.
3.3.3. Cam Follower
Cam follower modification the bottom shape of regular follower as used in inlet
valve and closed valve has the flat pattern, which is suitable with the normal
camshaft for four-stroke engine [8]. By making roller follower, it reduces the
duration of valve opening from 9000 to only 6000. Therefore, the shape of the
follower must be changed from flat to roller or spherical shape.

3.4 Pros
Pros of the six-stroke engine are listed below
 Thermal efficiency reaching 50%. (30% of the actual internal combustion engine)
 Fuel consumption reduced by more than 40%
 Reduction of chemical, noise and thermal pollution
 Two expansions (work) through six strokes
 The cooling system is eliminated
 Direct injection and optimal fuel combustion at every engine speed
 Multiple fuels
3.5 Cons
Cons of the six-stroke engine are following
 Early Engine starting problems
 Running problems in cold regions
 Requirement of neutral water
 Engine size increases due to extra components
 Higher manufacturing cost

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4.0 Comparison

Six-Stroke Engine

Four-Stroke Engine
As from the above graphs, it is clear that torque produced by the six-stroke engine working
on either Otto or Dual cycles is much more than what it is obtained from the four-stroke
engine working on these cycles [9].

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This comparison shows that the area covered by the six-stroke cycle is greater than the
four-stroke cycle. Both engine works on the Otto Cycle and greater area of six stroke shows
that the extra work obtained from the same amount of the fuel supplied [10].

This shows that the efficiency of six-stroke engine is higher than four stroke operating at
same speed (rpm).

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4.0. Conclusion
It is concluded that with some cons of six-stroke engine, it is still a better development, as it is
increasing efficiency. We have to compromise on some aspects of it, but overall performance of
six-stroke engine is better than four stroke. The six-stroke engine modification promises dramatic
reduction of pollution and fuel consumption of an internal combustion engine. Its adoption by the
automobile industry would have a tremendous impact on the environment and world economy,
assuming up to 40% reduction in the fuel consumption and 60% to 90% in polluting emissions,
depending on the type of fuel being used, the second piston replaces the valve mechanism of a
conventional engine, and it increases the compression ratio. With all the desired modifications and
qualities, the Six Stroke Engine better than the Four Stroke Engine will be hitting the market soon.
As in this day, there is no replacement of the internal combustion engine and only current
technology can help it to progress within reasonable time and financial limits.

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5.0 References

[1] T. U. Kothari, "Design and Analysis of Six Stroke Internal Combustion Engine," IJEDR, vol. 2, no. 2,
2014.

[2] K. C. Gohil, "A Review-A Feasibility Study of Six Stroke Engine by Analysis through Available
Research Design," IJETT, vol. 23, 2015.

[3] Vikash, "A Review on Six Stroke Engine," International Journal of Research in Aeronautical And
Mechanical Engineering, vol. 3, no. 11, 2015.

[4] B. Ramya, "Study and Analysis of Six Stroke Engine," Int. Journal of Engineering Research and
Applications, vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 23-26, 2014.

[5] ChinmayeeKarmalkar&VivekRaut, "Implementation of Six Stroke Engine in a Hybrid Car,"

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Applications, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-4, 2014.

[6] K. N. K. M. Raje, "Velozita Six Stroke Engine," IJPRET, vol. 2, no. 9, pp. 72-80, 2014.

[7] A. Alkhaniya&Aakashkotiyal, "Concept of Six Stroke Engine," International Journal of Mechanical

and Industrial Technology, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 1-4.

[8] A. MR. BHATIA, "SIX STROKE ENGINES INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE," ICMEE, pp. 1-3, 2010.

[9] G. J. Larson, "Engine with a six stroke cycle, variable compression ratio and constant stroke," US
Patent, 1988.

[10] G. B. Schmitz, "Six stroke internal combustion cycle," US Patent, 1990.

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