It utilizes a counter-rotating balance shaft mounted between the cylinder banks to deal with vibration problems of the 90-degree V6 design, as well as use a 30-degree split pin crankshaft to fire the cylinders every 120 degrees.

Saab has further refined the balance shaft principle to overcome second harmonic sideways vibrations ( due to the same basic asymmetry in engine design, but much smaller in magnitude ) by locating the balance shafts with lateral symmetry but at different heights above the crankshaft, thereby introducing a torque which counteracts the sideways vibrations at double engine RPM, resulting in the exceptionally smooth B234 engine.

Plunger pumps with a larger number of plungers have the benefit of increased flow or smoother flow without a pulsation dampener, and a drawback is the increase in moving parts and crankshaft load.

The combustion is started by the spark plug some 10 to 40 crankshaft degrees prior to top dead center ( TDC ), depending on many factors including engine speed and load.

The system is closed loop using camshaft sensors, crankshaft sensors, air flow meter, throttle position as well as oxygen sensors and / or Air-Fuel ratio sensors in order to calculate engine load.

Like the earlier Ferranti steam generating plants, these placed half of the engine each side of a centrally-mounted alternator, thus reducing the maximum load on the crankshaft.

To convert the reciprocating motion into rotation, the crankshaft has " crank throws " or " crankpins ", additional bearing surfaces whose axis is offset from that of the crank, to which the " big ends " of the connecting rods from each cylinder attach.

It typically connects to a flywheel and to reduce the pulsation characteristic of the four-stroke cycle, and sometimes a torsional or vibrational damper at the opposite end, to reduce the torsional vibrations often caused along the length of the crankshaft by the cylinders farthest from the output end acting on the torsional elasticity of the metal.

Large engines are usually multicylinder to reduce pulsations from individual firing strokes, with more than one piston attached to a complex crankshaft.

The distance the axis of the crank throws from the axis of the crankshaft determines the piston stroke measurement, and thus engine displacement.

In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from expanding gas in the cylinder to the crankshaft via a piston rod and / or connecting rod.

In a pump, the function is reversed and force is transferred from the crankshaft to the piston for the purpose of compressing or ejecting the fluid in the cylinder.

Most rotary engines were arranged with the cylinders pointing outwards from a single crankshaft, in the same general form as a radial, but there were also rotary boxer engines and even one-cylinder rotaries.

The key difference between a turbocharger and a conventional supercharger is that the latter is mechanically driven from the engine often from a belt connected to the crankshaft, whereas a turbocharger is driven by the engine's exhaust gas turbine.

However, unlike the crossplane crankshaft V8, there is no way to arrange a V6 so that unbalanced forces from the two cylinder banks will completely cancel each other.

As a result, the 120 ° V6 acts like two straight-3s running on the same crankshaft and, like the straight-3, suffers from a primary dynamic imbalance which requires a balance shaft to offset.

By use of variable engine strokes from a complex crankshaft, Atkinson was able to increase the efficiency of his engine, at the cost of some power, over traditional Otto-cycle engines.

The crankshaft had a longer stroke which increased engine capacity by 15 % from.

Additionally, the long crankshaft suffered from excessive flex, restricting straight 8s to a relatively low compression ratio with a modest redline.

The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central crankshaft like the spokes of a wheel.

In addition, camshaft, pushrods, and valve rockers can be eliminated in a sleeve valve design, as the sleeve valves are generally driven by a single gear powered from the crankshaft.

When in place a simple coupling provided drive straight from an extension of the engine's crankshaft.

The cycle begins at Top Dead Centre ( TDC ), when the piston is farthest away from the axis of the crankshaft.

Some potential solutions to increase fuel efficiency to meet new mandates include firing after the piston is farthest from the crankshaft, known as top dead centre, and applying the Miller cycle.

Major parts ( block, crankshaft, head assembly ) were initially purchased from Audi and shipped to the U. S. where final assembly was accomplished by AMC at a plant purchased specifically for production of this engine.

On smaller engines the connecting rod links the piston and the crankshaft directly, but this transmits transverse forces to the piston, since the crankpin ( and thus the direction the force is applied ) moves from side to side with the rotary motion of the crank.

A straight engine is considerably easier to build than an otherwise equivalent horizontally opposed or V engine, because both the cylinder bank and crankshaft can be milled from a single metal casting, and it requires fewer cylinder heads and camshafts.

Usually, each pair of corresponding pistons from each bank of cylinders share one crank pin on the crankshaft, either by master / slave rods or by two ordinary connecting rods side by side.

The same engine, however, can be made to provide evenly spaced power pulses by using a crankshaft with an individual crank throw for each cylinder, spaced so that the pistons are actually phased 120 ° apart, as in the GM 3800 engine.

The Bugatti Veyron 16. 4 operates with a W16 engine meaning that two V8 cylinder layouts are positioned next to each other to create the W shape sharing the same crankshaft.

Multiple crankshaft configurations do not necessarily need a cylinder head at all because they can instead have a piston at each end of the cylinder called an opposed piston design.

Cylinders may be aligned in line, in a V configuration, horizontally opposite each other, or radially around the crankshaft.

A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60 ° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft.

A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at either a right angle or an acute angle to each other, with all six pistons driving a common crankshaft.

In a crossplane V8, balance is achieved at each cylinder pair, since the primary imbalance of a 90 ° pair is a special case that can be cancelled with a crankshaft counterweight.

Most V8 engines share a common crankpin between opposite cylinders in each bank, and a 90 ° V8 crankshaft has just four pins shared by eight cylinders, with two pistons per crankpin, allowing a cylinder to fire every 90 ° to achieve smooth operation.

While a four-stroke piston engine makes one combustion stroke per cylinder for every two rotations of the crankshaft ( that is, one-half power stroke per crankshaft rotation per cylinder ), each combustion chamber in the Wankel generates one combustion stroke per driveshaft rotation, i. e. one power stroke per rotor orbital revolution and three power strokes per rotor rotation.

As with most four-strokes, the crankshaft takes two revolutions to complete the four strokes of each piston ( intake, compression, combustion, exhaust ).

Most radial engines use overhead poppet valves driven by pushrods and lifters on a cam plate which is concentric with the crankshaft, with a few smaller radials, like the Kinner B-5 and Russian Shvetsov M-11, using individual camshafts within the crankcase for each cylinder.

In a two-stroke engine that uses a camshaft, each valve is opened once for each rotation of the crankshaft ; in these engines, the camshaft rotates at the same speed as the crankshaft.

In a four-stroke engine, the valves are opened only half as often ; thus, two full rotations of the crankshaft occur for each rotation of the camshaft.

Using an 18 ° split journal crankshaft the firing order can be made even, and the two balanced shaft do not balance each other completely, but are combined into a single very small balance shaft ( Lamborghini Gallardo ).

Using a five-throw crankshaft and 72 ° bank angle the firing order can be made even, and the two balanced shafts do not balance each other completely, but are combined into a single A 36 ° degree bank angle and a 108 ° flying arm crankshaft would allow even firing without a balance shaft and smaller counterweights, but would be impractical.