Flat-four engine

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ULPower UL360iS aircraft piston engine

A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine or boxer engine,

piston engine
with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, each pair of opposed pistons moves inwards and outwards at the same time.

A boxer-four engine has perfect primary and secondary balance, however, the two cylinder heads means the design is more expensive to produce than a

Piper Cherokee, while many ultralight and LSA planes use versions of the Rotax 912
.

Design

Boxer-four animation

In a flat-four engine, each pair of opposing

centre of gravity, and a short engine length. Flat-four engine have successfully used air cooling, although air-cooled engines are noisier and have a lower power output than an equivalent engine with liquid cooling. In light aircraft, where lightness is of primary importance, air-cooling has traditionally been common.[2]

The downsides of boxer-four engines (compared with inline-four engines) are their extra width, the increased costs associated with having two cylinder heads instead of one, and the long exhaust manifold required to achieve evenly spaced exhaust pulses.[3] Due to these factors, straight-four engines are more common in cars than are flat-four engines, and V6 engines are often used where larger displacements are required.[4]

Engine balance

The equal and opposing forces generated in a boxer-four engine result in perfect

secondary balance (unlike the unbalanced vertical forces produced by inline-four engines). Boxer-four engines are therefore better suited to displacements above 2.0 L (122 cu in), since they do not require balance shafts
to reduce the secondary vibration.

In a boxer engine, each cylinder is slightly offset from its opposing pair due to the distance between the crankpin journals. This offset gives rise to a slight rocking couple,[5]: 27  but any resulting vibration is normally insufficient to require balance shafts.

As with all four-stroke engines of four cylinders or fewer, the lack of overlap in the

power strokes results in a pulsating delivery of torque to the flywheel, causing a torsional vibration along the crankshaft axis.[6] Such vibration, if excessive, may be minimised using a harmonic damper
.

Exhaust manifold

The typical firing order for a boxer-four engine is for the left bank of cylinders to ignite one after another, followed by the right bank of cylinders (or vice versa), with the firing interval evenly spaced at 180 degrees. Traditionally, the exhausts from the two cylinders on each bank were merged, with the resulting uneven exhaust pulses causing a characteristic "flat-four burble" exhaust sound.

The other common exhaust configuration (such as used by Subaru since the mid-2000s) is to pair the cylinders with a firing interval offset of 360 degrees, in order to optimise the exhaust pulses.[7][8][9] This configuration requires long exhaust manifolds, in order to pair the cylinders on opposite banks, and results in a less distinctive exhaust sound.

Use in automobiles

1900–1935

1904 Wilson-Pilcher water-cooled engine

In 1900, the first flat-four engine was produced by

Benz & Cie, based on Benz's 1897 "contra" flat-twin engine.[citation needed
] This engine was used in Benz racing cars, produced 20 hp (15 kW), had a displacement of 5.4 L (330 cu in) and was designed by Georg Diehl.

London company Wilson-Pilcher released its first car in 1901, which was powered by a flat-four engine. This engine was mounted longitudinally in the chassis, water-cooled, produced 9 hp (7 kW) and had a displacement of 2.4 L (146 cu in). Unusually for its day, the bore and stroke were equal, with each being 95 mm (3.7 in).

In 1902 the Buffum automobile was equipped with opposed four cylinder engines that were rated at 16 horsepower. Herbert H. Buffum produced an American Automobile called the Buffum in Abington, Massachusetts from 1903 to 1907.[10]

Having previously produced flat-twin engines, the 1926 Tatra 30 was the Czech company's first model powered by a flat-four engine. Tatra produced various flat-four engined model through the 1920s and 1930s.

1936–1999

Porsche 550 Spyder
air-cooled engine

The 1936

Tatra T97 pioneered the rear-engined, air-cooled flat-four, backbone chassis layout (later used by the Volkswagen Beetle), and at the same time, though unrelated, came the Steyr 50 from Austria, sporting a front boxer 4 engine with rear wheel drive. Also in 1936, English company Jowett expanded its model range from flat-twin engines to also include flat-four engines. Production of Jowett flat-four engines continued until 1954, when the Jowett Javelin saloon and Jowett Jupiter
sports models ended production.

The longest production flat-four engine is the Volkswagen air-cooled engine, which was produced from 1938 until 2006 and was most famously used in the rear-engined 1938–2003 Volkswagen Beetle and 1950–1983 Volkswagen Transporter.[11] This air-cooled engine was designed by Porsche and was also used in the 1948–1965 Porsche 356, 1953–1956 Porsche 550, 1965–1969 Porsche 912 and 1969–1976 Porsche 914. In 1984, to comply with exhaust emissions regulations a water-cooled version called the Volkswagen Wasserboxer engine was introduced in the Volkswagen Transporter (T3)

During the 1960s and 1970s, several manufacturers produced flat-four engines including the air-cooled

Alfa Romeo flat-four engine, the water-cooled Lancia flat-four engine and the water-cooled Subaru EA engine
.

Two important engines designed during this period, but never saw the light of day in series production, were the Morris 800cc side valve engine by Alec Issigonis in 1947 originally destined for the Morris Minor, and the Ferguson 2.2 litre SOHC engine by Claude Hill in 1966 as part of the R5 vehicle research project.

2000–present

2012–present Subaru FA water-cooled engine

By 2000, most manufacturers had replaced flat-four engines with inline-four engines. A notable exception is Subaru, with the water-cooled

all-wheel drive was a factor in retaining the flat-four engine, since the shorter length of this engine assists in fitting the all-wheel drive components into the chassis.[12] Although it is more expensive than an inline-four engine, the flat-four engine allows Subaru to build an all-wheel drive vehicle at little extra cost from two-wheel drive.[12]

In 2012, a naturally aspirated version of the Subaru FA engine was used in the Toyota 86 (also called the "Subaru BRZ" and "Scion FR-S") rear-wheel drive sports coupe.[13] This engine is water-cooled, has gasoline direct injection, produces 147 kW (197 hp) and has a displacement of 2.0 L (122 cu in).

The 2016

Porsche Boxster/Cayman (982) mid-engined sports cars downsized from a naturally aspirated flat-six engine to a turbocharged flat-four engine, Porsche's first flat-four since the mid-1970s. This engine is produced in displacements of 2.0–2.5 L (122–153 cu in) and produces up to 365 hp (272 kW).[14] Several reviewers criticised the Boxster/Cayman for an uninspiring engine sound.[15][16][17]

Use in motorcycles

See also: Motorcycle engine
Honda GL1000

Most motorcycles with four-cylinder engines use a straight-four engine layout, however, several flat-four engine engines have been used in shaft drive motorcycles:

Use in aircraft

ULPower UL260i aircraft engine

Continental Motors and Franklin Engine Company
.

For radio-controlled aircraft, flat-four engines with displacements of 40–50 cc (2.4–3.1 cu in) are produced by companies such as O.S. Engines.

A notable recent flat-four aero-engine is the

ohv valve-gear)[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ The so-called "boxer" configuration appears somewhat like boxing competitors punching their gloves together before a fight
  2. ^ Established manufacturers of such air-cooled aero-engines include Lycoming and Continental.
  3. ISBN 978-0-7506-8037-0
    .
  4. ^ Engine article [1]
  5. ISBN 0-7513-0206-6
    .
  6. ^ Thomson. Vibration Theory and Applications. p. 190. Dynamics of reciprocating forces. Prentice Hall Inc., USA, 1965.
  7. ^ Announcement on Legacy exhaust in Japanese: "Fuji Heavy Industries, Press Information". 2003-05-23. Archived from the original on 2016-05-15. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  8. ^ Announcement on Forester exhaust in Japanese: "Fuji Heavy Industries, News Release". 2005-01-27. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  9. ^ Announcement on Impreza exhaust in Japanese: "Fuji Heavy Industries, News Release". 2007-06-05. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  10. ^ "The Buffum Automobile". Farber and Associates. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  11. ^ "The engine that Benz built still survives". The Globe and Mail. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  12. ^ a b Stepler, Richard (September 1994). "Preview Drive: Three Ways to Get a Grip". Popular Science. 245 (3): 44. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
  13. ^ Bonk, Aaron (2013-02-07) (2013-02-07). "How Boxer Engines Work, And Why You Should Care About Subaru's New FA20". Archived from the original on 2014-02-27. Retrieved 8 January 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "Performance: The new 718 Boxster". Porsche. 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  15. ^ "2019 Porsche 718 Cayman". www.caranddriver.com. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  16. ^ "Porsche 718 Cayman review – The entry-level Porsche punches above its weight". www.evo.co.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  17. ^ "2017 Porsche 718 Cayman First Drive Review: Performance Trumps Sound". www.motortrend.com. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  18. ^ Julian Marsh (2000-06-10). "BFG and MF motorcycles". Citroenet.org.uk. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  19. ^ Julian Marsh. "GS & GSA boxer engine". Citroenet.org.uk. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  20. flat-six D-Motor LF39
  21. ^ Note: A low-revving engine is eminently suitable to drive a propeller, which is typically most effective at about 2,000 rpm. If a valve in a side-valve engine should stick open, it cannot hit the piston and cause engine failure; the engine will continue with just that cylinder inoperative. This is an important safety feature for aero-engines.
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