More than 100 years later, the evolution of the internal combustion engine continues. This technology that set the world in motion continues to amaze us, even though it is increasingly demanded of it. More efficiency, lower consumption and more performance.
A complex specification that has forced engineers, I don't mean to make “omelets without eggs”, but to squeeze the eggs to the last drop. Now it was the turn of Jim Clarke, one of Ford's incumbents — responsible for the development of the American manufacturer's modular V8 and V6 Duratec engine — to present a solution, in association with Dick Fotsch, another engineer with solid credits in the automotive sector.
What's big news?
One turbo for each cylinder. This solution, still at the prototype stage, uses turbos mounted immediately at the engine's exit to make the most of the energy from the exhaust gas flow. Jim Clarke points out several advantages to this solution. Speaking to Car and Driver he defends that it is possible to practically cancel the turbo-lag, not only due to the proximity of the turbos with the combustion chamber but also due to the smaller dimension of these components.The closer the turbo is to the engine, the more energy is used.
Because turbos are smaller (20% smaller when compared to an equivalent engine with just one turbo) their inertia is also lower, so the additional power delivery happens faster. Another advantage of this setup is that the turbos, despite being only 20% smaller, need 50% less exhaust flow to work.
The practical result is encouraging. More power, better efficiency and lower consumption. It has everything to go right, right? Maybe not…
The problem of this solution
Complexity and costs. Jim Clarke may have found a more effective way to exploit the "eggs" of our hypothetical "omelet", but his solution could prove too expensive and complex.
Instead of a turbo, we now have three or four turbos (depending on the number of cylinders), which could raise production costs to prohibitive values. For now, the solutions presented by most car brands seem to be more viable, namely the partial electrification of combustion engines, using electric motors and 48V semi-hybrid systems. You can find some of these solutions explained in detail here.
Source: Car and Driver