A W engine is a type of piston engine where three or four cylinder banks use the same crankshaft, resembling the letter W when viewed from the front. [1] [2] [3]
W engines with three banks of cylinders are also called "broad arrow" engines, due to their shape resembling the British government broad arrow property mark. [1] [4]
W engines are less common than V engines. Compared with a V engine, a W engine is typically shorter and wider.
One of the first W engines was the Anzani 3-cylinder, built in 1906, to be used in Anzani motorcycles. It is this W3 engine which also powered the 1909 Blériot XI, the first airplane to fly across the English Channel. [5]
The Feuling W3 is a 2.5 L (153 cu in) motorcycle engine that was built by an aftermarket parts company in the United States in the early 2000s. [6] Like radial aircraft engines it has a master connecting rod and two slave rods connected to the pistons. [7]
The Rumpler Tropfenwagen had a Siemens and Halske-built [8] 2,580 cc (157 cu in) overhead valve W6 engine, with three banks of paired cylinders, all working on a common crankshaft. [8] [9]
The sole W8 engine to reach production is the Volkswagen Group W8 engine automotive engine, which used a four-bank design and was produced from 2001-2004.[ citation needed ]
W12 engines with three banks of four cylinders were used by several aircraft engines from 1917 until the 1930s. A three-bank W12 design was also used unsuccessfully by the Life F1 team in the 1990 Formula One season, failing to qualify at every race.[ citation needed ]
Although less commonly used in automobiles than V12 engines, a W12 petrol engine has been produced by Volkswagen Group since 2001. This four-bank engine—based on two VR6 engines with a common crankshaft—has been used in various cars sold under the Audi, Bentley and Volkswagen brands.[ citation needed ]
W16 engines are rarely produced, with the notable exception of the Volkswagen Group 8.0 WR16 engine that has been used since 2005. The W16 type of engine can also be found in the Bugatti Veyron, Chiron, Divo and their related models. [10]
The W18 layout is rarely used, with the only production examples being several aircraft during the 1920s and 1930s, and CRM Motori SpA marine engines.
The Allison V-3420, manufactured by the Allison Engine Company, is an example of a W24 engine.[ citation needed ]
The Chrysler A57 multibank, essentially five 250.6 cu in (4.1 L) Chrysler flathead engines driving one output shaft through a gear train, saw action during World War II. Developed in 1941, it would be used inside variants of the M3 Lee and M4 Sherman tanks, all deployed on the Western Front. [11] The A57 is the only example of a five-bank W configuration. [ citation needed ]
A V6 engine is a six-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is called a "star engine" in some other languages.
A V16 engine is a sixteen-cylinder piston engine where two banks of eight cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V16 engines are less common than engines with fewer cylinders, such as V8 and V12 engines. Each bank of a V16 engine can be thought of as a straight-eight, a design that can be inherently balanced. Most V16 engines have a 45° bank angle.
The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized.
A W12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where either three banks of four cylinders, or four banks of three cylinders are arranged in a W configuration around a common crankshaft.
A W18 engine is an eighteen-cylinder piston engine with three banks of six cylinders in a W configuration.
A W8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine with four banks of two cylinders each, arranged in a W configuration.
The VR6 engine is a 6-cylinder engine configuration developed by VW. The name VR6 comes from the combination of German words “Verkürzt” and “Reihenmotor” meaning “shortened inline engine”. It was developed specifically for transverse engine installations and FWD vehicles. The VR6 is a highly compact engine, thanks to the narrower angle of 10.5 to 15-degrees between cylinder banks, as opposed to the traditional V6 angles ranging from 45 to 90-degrees. The compact design is cheaper to manufacture, since only one cylinder head is required for all 6 cylinders, much like a traditional inline-6 engine.
A W16 engine is a sixteen-cylinder piston engine with four banks of four cylinders in a W configuration.
A U engine is a piston engine made up of two separate straight engines placed side-by-side and coupled to a shared output shaft. When viewed from the front, the engine block resembles the letter "U".
A wasted spark system is a type of ignition system used in some four-stroke cycle internal combustion engines. In a wasted spark system, the spark plugs fire in pairs, with one plug in a cylinder on its compression stroke and the other plug in a cylinder on its exhaust stroke. The extra spark during the exhaust stroke has no effect and is thus "wasted". This design halves the number of components necessary in a typical ignition system, while the extra spark, against much reduced dielectric resistance, barely impacts the lifespan of modern ignition components. In a typical engine, it requires only about 2–3 kV to fire the cylinder on its exhaust stroke. The remaining coil energy is available to fire the spark plug in the cylinder on its compression stroke.
A V5 engine is a five-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The Chrysler A57 Multibank is a 30-cylinder 1,253 cu in (20.5 L) engine that was created in 1941 as America entered World War II. It consists of five banks of inline-6 cylinder engines.
In aviation, an inline engine is a reciprocating engine with banks of cylinders, one behind another, rather than rows of cylinders, with each bank having any number of cylinders, although more than six is uncommon. The major reciprocating-engine alternative configuration is the radial engine, where the cylinders are placed in a circular or "star" arrangement.
The V3 engine is a V engine with two cylinders in one bank and one cylinder in the other bank. It is a rare configuration, which has been mostly used in two-stroke engines for motorcycles competing in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.
The B5 version of the Volkswagen Passat, based on the Volkswagen Group B5 platform, was launched in 1997 in North America and Europe as well as during March 1998 in Australia.
The Bugatti W16 engine is a quad-turbocharged, W16 engine, under their high-performance luxury sports car marque Bugatti, since 2005.
Volkswagen Group have produced a number of W12 internal combustion piston engines for their Volkswagen, Audi, and Bentley marques, since 2001.
The W, or broad arrow engine, has three rows of cylinders of which the central row is vertical with the other two rows forming equal angles with the vertical.
W engine is similar to a V engine but with three banks of cylinders. The two V angles are usually equal.
W-engine Same as V-engine except with three banks of cylinders on the same crankshaft.