Achates Opposed Piston Engine F150

[Wandering Sagebrush]

It will be interesting to see what happens with this trial.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/videos/radical-new-engine-makes-a-run-at-reality/?ftag=ACQ-00-10aaa5b&vndid=008c008cc87ed9fc05c2a00070d487ce57

 

[Foy]

That's a very interesting engine design, and a two-stroke at that!

In the 4 weeks I've had it, I have been thoroughly impressed with the power and torque produced by the tiny 2.7 liter V-6 in the 2015 F150 SuperCrew Shortbed 4WD I bought as a daily driver to replace my '01 Ranger. Ford put two turbochargers on it and it produces 325 hp and 375 ft-lbs of torque, with the top of the torque curve coming in at only 2,750 rpm. I saw 22 mpg on the first long highway trip 3 weeks ago and that involved climbing to 4,000' in the Blue Ridge Mountains and about 300 miles of intermountain Interstate driving to see some rocks in Southwestern Virginia. I ran 72 to 77 mph for most all of the Interstate segments of the trip.

I didn't see what the opposed cylinder 2.7 liter produces in the way of hp and twist, but the bottom line is there are some very interesting engine technologies out there today!

Foy

 

[ntsqd]

Their page is now gone, and their successor's page is also gone, but I spent a decade working on the Advanced Propulsion/Ecomotors "opoc" (Opposed piston, opposed cylinder) engine.

The Achates design is nothing new. Junkers made a WWII aircraft engine of that architecture, and Fairbanks-Morse built a ship engine of that architecture (i.e. two crankshafts timed together) even earlier than that.

The opoc had only one crankshaft with 2 long connecting rods for the outer pistons and a short connecting rod for the inner pistons. The father of VW's diesel engine program, Prof. P. Hoffbauer, was the creator of the opoc and I don't think he was the first to try it with one crankshaft.

The basic problem of 2 strokes is not enough burn time (in crankshaft degrees) for best efficiency. I expect this engine to show lots of promise for power and fail to meet the ever tightening emissions requirements. Factor in all of the frictional losses in timing those two cranks together and I just don't see it happening.