Reciprocating engine dynamic properties

1-st and 2-nd order free forces and

moments for the most common
engine configurations

Fr mr r 2
F ma r 2 cos
1
F ma r 2 cos 2
2

Scuola di Dottorato di Ricerca 2010 - Road vehicle and engine engineering science

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Reciprocating engine dynamic properties

1-st and 2-nd order free forces and

moments for the most common
engine configurations

Fr mr r 2
F ma r 2 cos
1
F ma r 2 cos 2
2

Scuola di Dottorato di Ricerca 2010 - Road vehicle and engine engineering science

17

Reciprocating engine dynamic properties

Optimum cylinder number vs engine displacement

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

2Cil
3Cil
4Cil

5Cil
6Cil
8Cil

Scuola di Dottorato di Ricerca 2010 - Road vehicle and engine engineering science

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Reciprocating engine dynamic properties

In line 4 cylinder engine

The Inline-four engine or Straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders
mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase.
For in-line four-cylinder engines the first and fourth crankthrows are therefore indexed on one side of the
crankshaft and the second and third throws on the other side. The firing order of these engines, numbering
from the front, may then be either 1-3-4-2 or 1-2-4-3 at 180 intervals.
The inline-four is not a fully balanced configuration. An even-firing inline-four engine is in primary balance
because the pistons are moving in pairs, and one pair of pistons is always moving up at the same time as the
other pair is moving down. However, piston acceleration and deceleration are greater in the top half of the
crankshaft rotation than in the bottom half, because the connecting rods are not infinitely long, resulting in a
non sinusoidal motion. As a result, two pistons are always accelerating faster in one direction, while the other
two are accelerating more slowly in the other direction, which leads to a secondary dynamic imbalance that
causes an up-and-down vibration at twice crankshaft speed. This imbalance is tolerable in a small, lowdisplacement, low-power configuration, where alternate weight and stroke are moderate, but the vibrations
get worse with increasing size and power. Above 2.0 L, most modern inline-four engines now use balance
shafts to eliminate the second-order harmonic vibrations. In a system invented by Dr. Frederick W.
Lanchester in 1911, and popularized by Mitsubishi Motors in the 1970s, an inline-four engine uses two
balance shafts, rotating in opposite directions at twice the crankshaft's speed, to offset the differences in
piston speed.
Scuola di Dottorato di Ricerca 2010 - Road vehicle and engine engineering science

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Reciprocating engine dynamic properties

Flat 4 cylinder engine (boxer)

A flat-4 or horizontally-opposed-4 is a flat engine with four cylinders arranged horizontally in

two banks of two cylinders on each side of a central crankcase. The pistons are usually
mounted on the crankshaft such that opposing pistons move back and forth in opposite
directions at the same time, somewhat like a boxing competitor punching their gloves together
before a fight, which has led to it being referred to as a boxer engine.
However, the flat-4 does have a less serious secondary imbalance that causes it to rotate
back and forth around a vertical axis twice per crankshaft revolution (2nd order free moment).
This is because the cylinders cannot be directly opposed, but must be offset somewhat so the
piston connecting rods can be on separate crank pins, which results in the forces being
slightly off-centre. The vibration is usually not serious enough to require balance shafts.
The configuration is characterized by a low centre of gravity, and a very short engine length,
however the two overheads imply a higher production cost and a higher complexity of the
intake and exhaust system layout; generally the ground clearance of the bottom side can be
a problem.
Scuola di Dottorato di Ricerca 2010 - Road vehicle and engine engineering science

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