Engine configuration is an engineering term for the layout of the major components of an internal combustion engine. These components include cylinders, pistons, crankshaft or crankshafts and camshaft or camshafts. Engineering is the application of scientific and mathematical principles to develop economical solutions to technical problems, creating products, facilities, and structures that are useful to people. ... A colorized automobile engine The internal combustion engine is a heat engine in which the burning of a fuel occurs in a confined space called a combustion chamber. ... A piston and cylinder from a steam engine A cylinder in an internal combustion engine is the space within which a piston travels. ... piston + connecting rod Components of a typical, four stroke cycle, DOHC piston engine. ... Crankshaft, pistons, and flywheel Continental engine marine crankshafts, 1942 For the comic strip about an old, curmudgeonly bus driver, see Crankshaft (comic strip). ... Double overhead cams control the opening and closing of a cylinders valves The camshaft is an apparatus used in piston engines to operate poppet valves. ...

For many automobile engines, the term block is interchangeable with engine in this context, for example V block and V engine can often be used interchangeably in American English. This is because the most common forms are all based on a combined engine block and crank case that are milled from a single piece of cast metal. The locations of the major components are largely determined by the shape of this one component. Karl Benzs Velo model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race An automobile is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ... A V engine is a common configuration for an internal combustion engine in which the pistons are aligned so that, if viewed along the line of the crankshaft, they appear to be in a V. Usually, two opposing pistons share one crank on the crankshaft. ... English language spread in the United States. ... An engine block is the main part of an internal combustion engine. ... The term milled coinage, also known as machine-struck coinage, is used to describe coins which are produced by some form of machine, rather than by manually hammering coin blanks between two dies (hammered coinage) or casting coins from dies. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The standard names for some configurations are historic, arbitrary, or both, with some overlap. For example, the cylinder banks of a 180° V engine do not in any way form a V, but it is regarded as a V engine because of its crankshaft and big end configuration, which result in performance characteristics similar to a V engine. But it is also considered a flat engine because of its shape. On the other hand, some V-twin engines which have none of the typical V engine crankshaft design features and consequent performance characteristics are also regarded as V engines, purely because of their shape. Similarly, the Volkswagen VR6 engine is a hybrid of the V engine and the straight engine, and can not be definitively labeled as either. The names W engine and rotary engine have each been used for several unconnected designs. The H-4 and H-6 engines produced by Subaru are not H engines at all, but boxer engines. A flat engine is an internal combustion engine with its pistons parallel to the ground. ... Crankshaft, pistons, and flywheel Continental engine marine crankshafts, 1942 For the comic strip about an old, curmudgeonly bus driver, see Crankshaft (comic strip). ... Piston and connecting rod from an automobile engine, showing the big end bearing at the bottom. ... A flat engine is an internal combustion engine with its pistons parallel to the ground. ... Honda 90° V-twin A V-twin is a two cylinder internal combustion engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration. ... The VR6 engine is a configuration developed by the Volkswagen Group. ... A V engine is a common configuration for an internal combustion engine in which the pistons are aligned so that, if viewed along the line of the crankshaft, they appear to be in a V. Usually, two opposing pistons share one crank on the crankshaft. ... Usually found in 4 and 6 cylinder configurations, the straight engine (often designed as inline engine) is an internal-combustion engine with all cylinders aligned in one row, with no or only minimal offset. ... The W engine is an engine configuration in which the cylinder banks resemble the letter W in the same way a V engine resembles the letter V. There have been three entirely different implementations of this concept: one with three banks of cylinders, one with four and one with two... Rotary engine can have several meanings: For the rotating piston engine used in some World War I aircraft, see rotary engine. ... H4 can mean: For the histone, see H4 (histone) For the 18th century chronometer, see John Harrison. ... The Hughes H-6 is a family of light utility and assault helicopters of the United States Army. ... Subaru (In katakana: スバル), a Japanese car company, is the automobile division of Fuji Heavy Industries Co. ... An H engine (or H-block) is an engine configuration in which the cylinders are aligned so that if viewed from the front appear to be in a horizontal letter H. An H engine can be viewed as two flat engines, one atop the other. ... Diagram of the opposing pistons in a boxer engine A flat engine or boxer engine or horizontally opposed engine is a type of engine where the pistons lie horizontally opposed, with pairs of cylinders on the left and the right, as opposed to most modern engines where all pistons are...

Categorisation by piston motion

Engine types include:

• Single cylinder engines
• Inline engine designs:
  • Straight engine, with all of the pistons are placed in a single row. ur gay
  • V engine, with two banks of cylinders at an angle, most commonly 60 or 90 degrees.
  • Flat engine, two banks of cylinders directly opposite each other on either side of the crankshaft.
  • H engine, two crankshafts.
  • W engine. Can be both 3 banks and 4 banks.
  • Square engine.
  • Opposed piston engine, with multiple crankshafts, an example being:
    • Delta engines, with three banks of cylinders and three crankshafts
  • U engine, two separate straight engines with crankshafts linked by a central gear.
  • X engine.

• Radial designs, including most:
  • Rotary engine designs.

• Pistonless rotary engines, notably:
  • Wankel engine.

A single cylinder engine, colloquially known as a one-lunger, is an engine configuration consisting of just one cylinder. ... An inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with cylinders aligned in one or several rows. ... Usually found in 4 and 6 cylinder configurations, the straight engine (often designed as inline engine) is an internal-combustion engine with all cylinders aligned in one row, with no or only minimal offset. ... A V engine is a common configuration for an internal combustion engine in which the pistons are aligned so that, if viewed along the line of the crankshaft, they appear to be in a V. Usually, two opposing pistons share one crank on the crankshaft. ... A flat engine is an internal combustion engine with its pistons parallel to the ground. ... An H engine (or H-block) is an engine configuration in which the cylinders are aligned so that if viewed from the front appear to be in a horizontal letter H. An H engine can be viewed as two flat engines, one atop the other. ... The W engine is an engine configuration in which the cylinder banks resemble the letter W in the same way a V engine resembles the letter V. There have been three entirely different implementations of this concept: one with three banks of cylinders, one with four and one with two... The square engine is an engine configuration used on some 4-cylinder motorcycles like the Ariel Square Four. ... Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston diesel engines on the submarine USS Pampanito. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: not an article, just links to pictures If you disagree with its speedy deletion, please explain why on its talk page or at Wikipedia:Speedy deletions. ... A U engine is a piston engine made up of two separate straight engine engines (complete with separate crankshafts) joined by gears. ... An X engine is a piston engine comprising twinned vee-block engines horizontally-opposed to each other. ... Radial engine of a biplane. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A rotary engine is an internal combustion engine that does not use pistons in the way a reciprocating engine does, but instead uses one or more rotors, sometimes called rotary pistons. ... First Wankel Engine NSU KKM 57P Autovision und Forum, Germany Wankel Engine in Deutsches Museum Munich, Germany The Wankel rotary engine is a type of internal combustion engine, invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, which uses a rotor instead of reciprocating pistons. ...

Other categorisations

The majority of four stroke engines have poppet valves although some aircraft engines had sleeve valves. Valves may be located in the cylinder block (side valves) or in the cylinder head (overhead valves). Modern engines are invariably of the latter design. There may be two, three or four valves per cylinder. ie exhaust and inlet valves.

Poppet valves are opened by means of a camshaft which revolves at half the crankshaft speed. This can be either chain, gear or toothed belt driven from the crankshaft and can be located in the crankcase (where it may serve one or more bank of cylinders) or in the cylinder head. There may be one or two camshafts in a cylinder head. If the camshaft is located in the crankcase, a valve train of pushrods and rockers will be required to operate overhead valves. With the side valve arrangement, the valve stems rested on the camshaft. This is a very simple mechanical arrangement but the gas flows within the cylinder head with the side valve arrangement is very poor. If the camshaft(s) is/are located in the cylinder head, the valvetrain will be shorter, no pushrods being required. Some single camshaft designs, still have a rocker. This facilates adustment of mechanical clearances. If there are two camshafts in the cylinder head, (DOHC, double overhead cam)the cams normally bear directly on to the valve stems. This is the usual arrangment for a four-valves-per-cylinder design. This latter arrangement is the most inertia free, allows the most unimpeded gas flows in the engine and is the usual arrengement for high performance automobile engines. It also permits the spark plug to be located in the centre of the cylinder head, which promotes better combustion characteristics. Very large engines eg marine engines can have either extra camshafts or extra lobes on the camshaft to enable the engine to run in either direction. A pushrod or overhead valve (OHV) type piston engine places the camshaft below the pistons and uses pushrods or rods to actuate lifters or tappets above the cylinder head to actuate the valves. ...