What is a 5 stroke engine?
Why aren't they using them in vehicles right now?
Is this a new thing or has it been around for a while?
asked Jan 9, 2016 at 18:38
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There's an improved version of the 5 stroke engine. There are 4 videos on Youtube explaining this new patent. Search "olshammar engine" and you will find Part 1 to 4.– Mats OlshammarApr 6, 2020 at 12:31
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1 Answer
What is a 5 stroke engine?
They tend to consist of only three cylinders rather than the more traditional 4 stroke, 4 cylinder engines that many people are using today. There are two small small high-pressure cylinders and one larger low-pressure cylinder. This video has some good information and animations.
Why aren't they using them in vehicles right now?
PROS
- A secondary cylinder provides an additional expansion process enabling extra work to be extracted, which results in better thermodynamic efficiency (which means less thermal energy is wasted, hence the engine efficiency must increase)
- 5 stroke engines tend to be quite small as the firing (smaller) cylinders can be very highly rated
- The engine uses 100% conventional technology and so requires no new manufacturing techniques as such
- Intended to increase engine efficiency
- Intended to reduce emissions and fuel consumption A few reasons as far as I can tell:
CONS
- Increased manufacturing costs due to the fact that it is not widely adopted, also referred to as the "early adopter tax"
- Not in mass production so it doesn't benefit from economies of scale (lower manufacturing cost per unit when made in higher quantities)
- It is a requirement to have two camshafts per engine, resulting in higher overheads on a production line
- Possibly higher cost of materials (much less significant compared to the first two points)
- Irregularly sized cylinders and cylinder casings, which would cause engineering difficulties and increased costs associated with that
- More points of failure, resulting in less comprehensive warranties on new cars
Is this a new thing or has it been around for a while?
From wikipedia, according to Suzuki, Ph.D., Takashi (1997). The Romance of Engines. SAE. pp. 87–94., the engine was first introduced during the early 1900's by the Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle Company, there was and I quote:
an unusual model called the Compound with three cylinders. Two were working cylinders, the larger middle one further expanded the exhaust gases of the outer working cylinders, this concept received later the name: '5-Stroke engine'.
References
http://www.ilmor.co.uk/capabilities/5-stroke-engine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhuth_Horseless_Vehicle_Company
answered Jan 9, 2016 at 21:41
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2Look at this wiki article. ... according to Suzuki, Ph.D., Takashi (1997). The Romance of Engines. SAE. pp. 87–94., the engine was first introduced during the early 1900's by the Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle Company.– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Jan 9, 2016 at 21:47
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8In a sense, the five-stroke engine has been around since the late 1700s, in the form of double- and triple-expansion steam engines.– MarkJan 10, 2016 at 20:51
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3I saw a white paper once--haven't been able to find it since--about someone who adopted an inline four-cylinder engine so it could handle five-stroke operation. All that was required was the addition of a manifold connecting all the cylinders, and an extra valve per cylinder connected to that manifold. During acceleration or when significant power was needed, operation all the extra valves would be closed and the system would act like a four-cylinder four-stroke engine. When full power was not needed, however...– supercatFeb 14, 2016 at 8:10
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3...the intake valves for the inner two cylinders and the exhaust valves for the outer two cylinders would be disabled; on each stroke where the inner cylinders were moving down the inner cylinders and one of the outer cylinders would connect to the manifold (so the exhaust from that outer cylinder would expand into both inner cylinders). When the inner cylinders were moving up, both their exhaust valves would be open so they could push out the exhaust. If I recall, the author of the paper had modified a four-cylinder car to use the manifold full-time; the effect was that performance...– supercatFeb 14, 2016 at 8:13
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3...anemic but if I recall fuel economy was improved; it would seem that on a vehicle with computer-controlled valves such an engine design could quite economically combine the advantages of four-stroke and five-stroke engines by switching on demand between the two modes.– supercatFeb 14, 2016 at 8:14