Shane Tecklenburg works on some pretty cool stuff, and this right here is no exception. His friends at Devize engines have put something together here that is a 4 cylinder engine, with 8 pistons, and that’s not even the most interesting part. Watch this video where Shane introduces the engine and gets it up and running. This is going to be a fun one to watch.
Video Description:
A new design from Devize Engines, we attempt to start and run for the first time ever their “Barrell” Engine. The brainchild of Matt Jackson combined with the Engineering expertise of Dimitrios Dardalis (PhD), s an Axial 4 cylinder 2 stroke with 8 opposing pistons.
The reciprocating motion is transferred into rotary motion via piston extenders which have rollers connected to either side of a Cam Plate.
The engine is controlled by one of our Custom Firmware MoTeC M142 Direct Injection Engine Management Systems. It features both DI and Port Injection. Cylinder deactivation, electronic Supercharger bypass, two speed Supercharger control, Drive By Wire Throttle and eventually will have a Turbocharger added to the mix.
Axial engines have been around for a while; their main problem is the equivalent of a crankshaft tends to wear very quickly. They’re common on torpedo application, where having it blow up after a few minutes of run time is a feature instead of a bug. Haven’t seen this combined with opposed pistons before, but I don’t see that fixing the wear issues.
Back in the day, they were called wobble plate engines. And yes used in torpedoes running auto fuel (contains both fuel and reactant). GM used the design for their AC compressors in the 60s and early 70s. Also I believe opposed piston diesel was used in submarines as it made the engines more compact. Skip stroke was used in VERY old engines, most notably for powering oil well pumps. By not firing on every “compression” stroke (valved to not intake/compress) they were more efficient.
This one seems like the guy was trying to make the most complicated design possible. Fun project for someone with nothing better to do.
You are thinking of the 10 cylinder dial crank, opposed poston Fairbanks Morse 2 stroke which was used in doesel electric subs, some locomotives, anf also as an auxiliary emergency generator on Essex class aircraft carriers. These engines were reasonably efficient, because one piston uncovered the intake ports and the other one uncovered the exhaust ports. This improved efficiency and durability because one end of the cylinders was always cool and the other end was always hot. There were no valves or camshafts in them, so very few moving parts.
Bourse engine
Great motor but it is not in production and unknown when it will be produced. Will the average person be able to buy one and up grade an older pickup truck? Why so much hipe when nothing available.
The Napier Deltic was opposed piston in a triangle layout….used in Navy PBR’s in Vietnam…and British Locomotives, Hitler tried to develop this motor for long range bombers to attack New York direct from Berlin….very compact and light weight concept.
Also used on Mine Sweepers in the 70’s 80’s and 90″s. Basically the same Deltic diesel as used on the BR Locomotives.
Look at Achates power in CA. Already have an opposed piston gasoline or diesel compression ignition engine. They have been road testing them in class 8 and in a F150 for years. This one is a research project.
The aluminum flex hose did it for me,
The chieftain tank had a 6 cyl -2 stroke – opposed piston configuration with a rootes blower , multi fuel engine
On a larger scale, there were Doxford marine engines. I sailed with one on a tanker. Fascinating machinery even though I wasn’t an engineer.
We had knocker engines in our commer trucks ran on diesel with a super charger we’re originally designed for aviation
This is like the Dyna cam engine. Designed to be an aircraft engine, last I checked the design was owned by John Deer.