Overhead valve engine

Components of a pushrod valve actuation system
Picture of a V8 engine block (with intake manifold removed), showing the camshaft, pushrods, and rockers.

An overhead valve engine (OHV engine) is an engine in which the valves are placed in the cylinder head. This was an improvement over the older flathead engine, where the valves were placed in the block next to the piston. Overhead camshaft (OHC) engines, while still overhead valve by definition, are usually categorized apart from other OHV engines.

In a piston engine configuration where the valves are overhead but the camshaft is not, informally called pushrod engine or I-head engine, the camshaft is placed within the cylinder block (usually beside and slightly above the crankshaft in a straight engine or directly above the crankshaft in the V of a V engine), and uses pushrods or rods to actuate rocker arms above the cylinder head to actuate the valves. Lifters or tappets are located in the engine block between the camshaft and pushrods.[1] By contrast, overhead camshaft design avoids the use of pushrods by putting the camshaft directly above the valves in the cylinder head, thus simplifying the valvetrain.

Developments

Valve-In-Head engine, illustration from 1904 patent, Buick Manufacturing Company

The overhead valve internal combustion engine was known by at least 1896 when U.S. patent 563,140, awarded to William F. Davis, illustrated an internal combustion engine with valves in the head.[2][3] The concept of push rods and rocker arms was being widely used in steam engines before then. In 1898, Detroit bicycle manufacturer Walter Lorenzo Marr built a motor-trike with a one-cylinder OHV engine with a bore and stroke of 3 inches each.[4] In 1900, David Buick hired Marr as chief engineer at the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company in Detroit, where he worked until 1902.[5] Marr's engine employed pushrod-actuated rocker arms, which in turn pushed valves parallel to the pistons, and this is still in use today. This contrasts with previous designs which made use of side valves and sleeve valves. Marr left Buick briefly to start his own automobile company in 1902, the Marr Auto-Car, and made a handful of cars with overhead valve engines, before coming back to Buick in 1904. The OHV engine was patented in 1902 (awarded 1904) by Buick's second chief engineer Eugene Richard, at the Buick Manufacturing Company, precursor to the Buick Motor Company. The world's first production overhead valve internal combustion engine was put into the first production Buick automobile, the 1904 Model B, which used a 2-cylinder Flat twin engine, with 2 valves in each head. The engine was designed by Marr and David Buick.

Eugene Richard of the Buick Manufacturing Company was awarded US Patent #771,095 in 1904 for the valve in head engine. It included rocker arms and push rods, a water jacket for the head which communicated with the one in the cylinder block, and lifters pushed by a camshaft with a 2-to-1 gearing ratio to the crankshaft. Arthur Chevrolet was awarded US Patent #1,744,526 for an adapter that could be applied to an existing engine, thus transforming it into an Overhead Valve Engine.

Wright brothers engine 17, 1910

The Wright Brothers built their own airplane engines, and starting in 1906, they used overhead valves, push rods, and rocker arms, for the exhaust valves only, the intake valves being "automatic suction" valves.[6] They even built a V-8 engine with this valve configuration in 1910.[7] In 1949, Oldsmobile introduced the Rocket V8, the first V-8 engine with OHV's to be produced on a wide scale.

General Motors is the world's largest pushrod engine producer, producing I4, V6 and V8 pushrod engines. Most other companies use overhead cams.

Nowadays, automotive use of side-valves has virtually disappeared, and valves are almost all "overhead". However, most are now driven more directly by the overhead camshaft system. Few pushrod-type engines remain in production outside of the United States market. This is in part a result of some countries passing laws to tax engines based on displacement, because displacement is somewhat related to the emissions and fuel efficiency of an automobile. This has given OHC engines a regulatory advantage in those countries, which resulted in few manufacturers wanting to design both OHV and OHC engines.

However, in 2002, Chrysler introduced a new pushrod engine: a 5.7-litre Hemi engine. The new Chrysler Hemi engine presents advanced features such as variable displacement technology and has been a popular option with buyers. The Hemi was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 2003 through 2007. Chrysler also produced the world's first production variable-valve OHV engine with independent intake and exhaust phasing. The system is called CamInCam,[8] and was first used in the 600 horsepower (447 kW) SRT-10 engine for the 2008 Dodge Viper.

Early air-cooled ohv BMW boxer motorcycle engines had long pushrods and a single centrally-mounted camshaft; but the post-1992 BMW R259 "Oilhead" boxer engines had a camshaft in each cylinder head, located between the combustion chamber and the rocker arms. The pushrods were very short, allowing higher rpm and more power. For instance, the BMW R1100S (which had a R259 engine) could achieve an output of 98 hp (73 kW) at 8,400 rpm, with no risk of valve bounce.[9] Since 2013, BMW flat-twin motorcycle engines have had OHC valve actuation.

Advantages

OHV engines have some advantages over OHC engines:

Limitations

Some specific problems that remain with overhead valve (OHV) engines:

1994 Mercedes/Ilmor Indianapolis 500 engine

The Indy 500 race in Indianapolis each year bears some vestige of its original purpose as a proving ground for automobile manufacturers, in that it once gave an advantage in engine displacement to engines based on stock production engines, as distinct from out-and-out racing engines designed from scratch. One factor in identifying production engines from racing engines was the use of pushrods, rather than the overhead camshafts used on most modern racing engines; Mercedes-Benz realized before the 1994 race that they could very carefully tailor a purpose-built racing engine using pushrods to meet the requirements of the Indy rules and take advantage of the 'production based' loophole, but still design it to be a state of the art racing engine in all other ways, without any of the drawbacks of a real production-based engine. They entered this engine in 1994, and because of the higher boost pressure and larger displacement that the "loophole" allowed pushrod engines, dominated the race. After the race, the rules were changed in order to reduce the amount of boost pressure supplied by the turbocharger. This amount was still 13% higher than what was allowed for the OHC engines. The engine was also allowed to retain its considerable displacement advantage. The inability of the engine to produce competitive power output after this change caused it to become obsolete after just the one race. Mercedes-Benz knew this beforehand, deciding that the cost of engine development was worth one win at Indianapolis.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Nice, Karim (2000-12-13). "HowStuffWorks "Camshaft Configurations"". Auto.howstuffworks.com. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  2. http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US563140-0.png
  3. http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=00563140&homeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO1%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526d%3DPALL%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsrchnum.htm%2526r%3D1%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526s1%3D0563,140.PN.%2526OS%3DPN%2F0563,140%2526RS%3DPN%2F0563,140&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page
  4. "Walter L. Marr, Buick's Amazing Engineer", Beverly Rae Kimes and James H. Cox, Racemaker Press, Boston, 2007, p. 14
  5. "The Buick, A Complete History," third ed., 1987, Terry P. Dunham and Lawrence Gustin.
  6. Hobbs, Leonard S. The Wright Brothers' Engines and Their design. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971, p 61, 63.
  7. http://www.wright-brothers.org/Information_Desk/Just_the_Facts/Engines_&_Props/Wright%20Engines.htm
  8. "Automotive Engineering International Online: Powertrain Technology Newsletter". Sae.org. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  9. "First Ride: 1999 BMW R1100S". Motorcycle.com. 20 October 1998. Archived from the original on 30 December 2014.
  10. 1 2 Webster, Larry (May 2004). "The Pushrod Engine Finally Gets its Due". Car and Driver. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
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