BADSZ28

iTrader: (39)

Has anyone heard of this? I read about it in magazine artical years ago that GM was playing with the idea. The concept is that instead of cams and pushrods and lifters and rockers there would be a solenoid on each valve. I think this is a great idea because you will not have to worry about low lift flow numbers in high hp aplications. Valve timeing can be done on an individual basis as well as open time and lift. Esentially with propper valve timing you could idle and drive completely stock, then with the push of a button (or accelerator) sound and drive like a huge cam (with propper computer tuning and controllers). Can you imagine. Unlimitted cam options without going into the motor. I am betting someone has already done this, a big company, but it will never come out because of the ease of change over. All these benefits plus less rotating mass and less parts to break. If this has not been thought of yet, then I have dibs.

BADSZ28

Wnts2Go10O

iTrader: (12)

money, money, money and lots of it. its called an F1 car

sb427f-car

You beat me to it. Problem with pneumatic (sp?) valves is that you have to fill up with air from time to time and it's HELLA expensive. Very cool though. That's how F1 v-10s rev to 20k. Yes you read that right. No worry about valve float since there is no spring to retract the valve up into the seat.

NHRATA01

iTrader: (10)

Yeah its definitely the wave of the future. I heard GM and BMW were both in various phases of development of such a valvetrain. Soleniod durability was the biggest stumbling block from the rumors I heard. I think what's bad is when they fail, they fail open so the valve drops.

BADSZ28

iTrader: (39)

Why not electro magnetic instead of pneumatic? I was not aware that the F1 engines had this, I thought they were DOHC.

BADSZ28

iTrader: (39)

I think if they went electromagnetic with a spring that keeps it closed, it would work. It would be bigger and heavier though. But for the bennefits, those downfalls are nothing.

1CAMWNDR

iTrader: (21)

There is a company that uses a digital valve to open a presurarized hydraulic line for each valve. They have it on a couple semi's. One raced up Pike's Peak last year. Give me a minute to remember who these people are and I can give a link.......
Edit: Here ya go: www.sturmanindustries.com

BADSZ28

iTrader: (39)

That is the kind of characteristics I am talking about.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Solenoid valves are the wave of the future. They just need to develop them further to get the price down and the reliability up.

Cstick

They will be electric soleniods. First vehicles have to get away from 12V. When vehicles go to 36 or 42V systems, then such engines will be possible. No where near cost efficient yet.

AllThrottle4U

iTrader: (14)

Yeah I was playing with that idea a while back when bose came out with their suspension. Imagine 16 linnear motors adjusting to driving conditions instantly. Of course, microprocessors, dead on ***** accurate crank sensors, ect... would be needed. To me, it wouldn't be worth it unless you were able to utilize the freed up space(cam, lifters, valley) and have an "internal" super charger. That is whole different ball game though.This would be one highly efficient engine.
Paul

Richard@WCCH

iTrader: (3)

Fun topic. There actually are a group of guys working on this very subject. So far all their testing is with micro sized engines. Try this link: http://rbowes1.11net.com/dbowes/

What I found fascinating was that they could control the engine speed with valve timing changes. No throttle blade necesary in the intake tract. Kinda like a diesel........
Should they be able scale it up, the potential for the internal combustion engine will be big.

Richard

BADSZ28

iTrader: (39)

More efficiency, more performance capabilities and fewer emissions. If I had the money I would definitely pursue this further. The group that makes it work for the right price will be millionaires. This would go great with my fuel injection idea.

Dave_62

iTrader: (10)

BMW has this type system on some of their cars right now. They call it Valvetronic. Currently they use it only on the intake valves. No throttle butterflies, the infinitely variable lift and duration on the intake valves renders conventional throttling redundant. Makes for a fuel economy gain by reducing engine pumping losses as well as a broad power curve in a small (by our standards) displacement engine.

BADSZ28

iTrader: (39)

Do they still use a camshaft with a variable tappet or is it camless?

sb427f-car

No. No way a conventional coil spring can control the vavle properly when you're talking about 19,000 (not a misprint) RPMs. Do the math on the valve train and you'd find that it would far exceed that number (wouldn't it or would it be 1/4?). At anyrate, I would imagine electromag. vavles with springs in passanger cars would be ok but the harmonics of springs @ those extremes of an F1 car would simply not work.

sb427f-car

Solenoid valves are operated by pnuematics or by electric servos, so no.

BADSZ28

iTrader: (39)

For street cars we do not need to turn 19k. Just about 8k max. Most cases not even near that.

Grimes

iTrader: (3)

soelnoids are too slow right now for passenger engine types. I know some R&D for diesel is going on with them....give it time

Dave_62

iTrader: (10)

A picture is worth......http://www.bmwworld.com/technology/valvetronic.htm

I was wrong about the infinitely variable timing bit. It only has 60 degrees variation in the cam timing. The lift is fully variable though.