CAM LESS ENGINE

The cam has been an integral part of the IC engine from its invention. The cam controls the “breathing channels” of the IC engines, that is, the valves through which the fuel air mixture (in SI engines) or air (in CI engines) is supplied and exhaust driven out. Besieged by demands for better fuel economy, more power, and less pollution, motor engineers around the world are pursuing a radical “camless” design that promises to deliver the internal – combustion engine’s biggest efficiency improvement in years. The aim of all this effort is liberation from a constraint that has handcuffed performance since the birth of the internal-combustion engine more than a century ago. Camless engine technology is soon to be a reality for commercial vehicles. In the camless valve train, the valve motion is controlled directly by a valve actuator – there’s no camshaft or connecting mechanisms .Precise electrohydraulic camless valve train controls the valve operations, opening, closing etc.   The seminar looks at the working of the electrohydraulic camless engine, its general features and benefits over conventional engines.  The engines powering today’s vehicles, whether they burn gasoline or diesel fuel, rely on a system of valves to admit fuel and air to the cylinders and let exhaust gases escape after combustion. Rotating steel camshafts with precision-machined egg-shaped lobes, or cams, are the hard-tooled “brains” of the system. They push open the valves at the proper time and guide their closure, typically through an arrangement of pushrods, rocker arms, and other hardware. Stiff springs return the valves to their closed position. In an overhead-camshaft engine, a chain or belt driven by the crankshaft turns one or two camshafts located atop the cylinder head.

A single overhead camshaft (SOHC) design uses one camshaft to move rockers that open both inlet and exhaust valves. The double overhead camshaft (DOHC), or twin-cam, setup does away with the rockers and devotes one camshaft to the inlet valves and the other to the exhaust valves.            

OVERVIEW OF CAMLESS ENGINE

To eliminate the cam, camshaft and other connected mechanisms, the

Camless engine makes use of three vital components – the sensors, the electronic control unit and the actuator

Mainly five sensors are used in connection with the valve operation. One for sensing the speed of the engine, one for sensing the load on the engine, exhaust gas sensor, valve position sensor and current sensor. The sensors will send signals to the electronic control unit.

                 

The electronic control unit consists of a microprocessor, which is provided with a software algorithm. The microprocessor issues signals to the solid-state circuitry based on this algorithm, which in turn controls the actuator, to function according to the requirements.

ADVANTAGES OF CAMLESS ENGINE

Electro hydraulic camless valve train offers a continuously variable and independent control of all aspects of valve motion. This is a significant advancement over the conventional mechanical valve train. It brings about a system that allows independent scheduling of valve lift, valve open duration, and placement of the event in the engine cycle, thus creating an engine with a totally uncompromised operation. Additionally, the ECV system is capable of controlling the valve velocity, perform selective valve deactivation, and vary the activation frequency. It also offers advantages in packaging. Freedom to optimize all parameters of valve motion for each engine operating condition without compromise is expected to result in better fuel economy, higher torque and power, improved idle stability, lower exhaust emissions and a number of other benefits and possibilities. Camless engines have a number of advantages over conventional engines.

In a conventional engine, the camshaft controls intake and exhaust valves. Valve timing, valve lift, and event duration are all fixed values specific to the camshaft design. The cams always open and close the valves at the same precise moment in each cylinder’s constantly repeated cycle of fuel-air intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust. They do so regardless of whether the engine is idling or spinning at maximum rpm. As a result, engine designers can achieve optimum performance at only one speed. Thus, the camshaft limits engine performance in that timing, lift, and duration cannot be varied.

But in a cam less engine, any engine valve can be opened at any time to any lift position and held for any duration, optimizing engine performance. The valve timing and lift is controlled 100 percent by a microprocessor, which means lift and duration can be changed almost infinitely to suit changing loads and driving 0conditions. The promise is less pollution, better fuel economy and performance.

Another potential benefit is the cam less engine’s fuel savings. Compared to conventional ones, the cam less design can provide a fuel economy of almost 7- 10% by proper and efficient controlling of the valve lifting and valve timing. The implementation of camless design will result in considerable reduction in the engine size and weight. This is achieved by the elimination of conventional camshafts, cams and other mechanical linkages. The elimination of the conventional camshafts, cams and other mechanical linkages in the camless design will result in increased power output.

The better breathing that a camless valve train promotes at low engine speeds can yield 10% to 15% more torque. Camless engines can slash nitrogen oxide, or NOx, pollution by about 30% by trapping some of the exhaust gases in the cylinders before they can escape. Substantially reduced exhaust gas HC emissions during cold start and warm-up operation.

CONCLUSIONS

An electro hydraulic camless valve train was developed for a camless engine. Initial development confirmed its functional ability to control the valve timing, lift, velocity, and event duration, as well as to perform selectively variable deactivation in a four-valve multicylinder engine.The system employs the hydraulic pendulum principle, which contributes to low hydraulic energy consumption.The electro hydraulic valve train is integral with the cylinder head, which lowers the head height and improves the engine packaging.Review of the benefits expected from a camless engine points to substantial improvements in performance, fuel economy, and emissions over and above what is achievable in engines with camshaft-based valve trains.The development of a camless engine with an electro hydraulic valve train described in this report is only a first step towards a complete engine optimization. Further research and development are needed to take full advantage of this system exceptional flexibility.