In the search for ever lower engine friction, it is surely a wonder that the rolling element bearing hasn't featured very highly in recent years. So while ball or roller bearing technology is commonly seen in many engine ancillaries - for example, pumps, starter motors/generators, timing belt tensioners, rocker arms and now even turbochargers - the largest source of rotation friction, that of the crank and camshaft, have largely been avoided. I know two-stroke engines have, and continue...
I don't know about you but when I was young, my written command of the English language was, shall we say, a bit lacking. "Needs to pay more attention to his spelling," was the end-of-year comment by one of my English teachers. But despite my best efforts - or possibly because of them - a future in the engineering professions seemed to beckon. I mention this because to me the best invention over the past 20 years or so has been the autocorrect option in wordprocessing software...
The use of plasma-sprayed coatings has been slow to proliferate; the technique isn't very new, and the range of coatings is immense. Whereas other coating methods can be limited - by solubility of metal salts in electrolytes, for example - plasma coatings are generally limited only by the availability of material in the correct form and the ability of the coating material to be melted. There are a number of sprayed coating methods, distinguished not only by the particular method of...
The matter of how to positively locate the two halves of a conventional split con rod together is one to which there doesn't appear to be a single solution that everyone has adopted. In terms of production cars, the approach of using a controlled fracture is now very popular, and is being applied to stronger grades of material. Traditionally, racing rods have had their mating caps located by either the use of small dowel pins, or by ring dowels. To accurately and repeatably locate the...
Yamaha is the only company running an I4 in the MotoGP series, a layout to which it has been loyal since the inception of the current four-stroke formula; all the other engines are now V4s. Having the cylinders in a vee, rather than in a line, allows the crankshaft to be shorter and stiffer, with fewer main bearings, and the engine to be narrower. This is, however, perhaps not such a great advantage. The reasoning can be found in the width of the human knee. Complete with protective...