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The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which
internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...
s are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorized by the number of rotors present. Gas turbine engines are often categorized into turbojets, turbofans, turboprops and turboshafts.


Piston engines

Piston engines are usually designed with the cylinders in lines parallel to the crankshaft. It is called a straight engine (or 'inline engine') when the cylinders arranged in a single line. Where the cylinders are arranged in two or more lines (such as in V engines or flat engines), each line of cylinders is referred to as a 'cylinder bank'. The angle between cylinder banks is called the 'bank angle'. Engines with multiple banks are shorter than straight engines and can be designed to cancel out the unbalanced forces from each bank, in order to reduce the
vibration Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum—or random, su ...
. Most engines with four or less cylinders use a straight engine layout, and most engines with eight cylinders or more use a
V engine A V engine, sometimes called a Vee engine, is a common configuration for internal combustion engines. It consists of two cylinder banks—usually with the same number of cylinders in each bank—connected to a common crankshaft. These cylinder ...
layout. However, there are various exceptions to this, such as the straight-eight engines used by various luxury cars from 1919-1954,
V4 engine A V4 engine is a four-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The V4 engine is less common compared to straight-four engines. However, V4 engines have been used in automobiles ...
s used by some marine outboard motors,
V-twin A V-twin engine, also called a V2 engine, is a two-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Although widely associated with motorcycles (installed either transversely or longi ...
and
flat-twin A flat-twin engine is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine with the cylinders on opposite sides of the crankshaft. The most common type of flat-twin engine is the boxer-twin engine, where both pistons move inwards and outwards at the same ti ...
engines used by motorcycles and flat-four engines used by various cars.


Single cylinder bank

Straight engines (also known as "inline engines") have all cylinders aligned in one row along the crankshaft with no offset. When a straight engine is mounted at an angle, it is sometimes called a "slant engine". Types of straight engines include: *
Single cylinder A single-cylinder engine, sometimes called a thumper, is a piston engine with one cylinder. This engine is often used for motorcycles, motor scooters, go-karts, all-terrain vehicles, radio-controlled vehicles, portable tools and garden machinery ...
* Straight-2, also known as "parallel twin" *
Straight-3 A straight-three engine (also called an inline-triple or inline-three) is a three-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. Less common than straight-four engines, straight-three engines have noneth ...
, also known as "inline-triple" * Straight-4, the most common engine for cars *
Straight-5 The straight-five engine (also referred to as an inline-five engine; abbreviated I5 or L5) is a piston engine with five cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankshaft. Although less common than straight-four engines and straight-six eng ...
* Straight-6 *
Straight-8 The straight-eight engine (also referred to as an inline-eight engine; abbreviated I8 or L8) is a piston engine with eight cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. The number of cylinders and perfect primary and secondary eng ...


Multiple cylinder banks


V engines

V engine A V engine, sometimes called a Vee engine, is a common configuration for internal combustion engines. It consists of two cylinder banks—usually with the same number of cylinders in each bank—connected to a common crankshaft. These cylinder ...
s (also known as "Vee engines") have the cylinders aligned in two separate planes or 'banks', so that they appear to be in a "V" when viewed along the axis of the crankshaft. Types of V engines include: * V2, commonly called "V-twin" * V3 * V4 * V6 * V8 * V10 *
V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to: Aircraft * Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter * Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft * Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project * Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...
* V14 * V16 * V18 VR5 and
VR6 VR6 engines are V6 piston engines with a narrow angle between the cylinder banks and a single cylinder head covering both banks of cylinders. Volkswagen Group introduced the first VR6 engine in 1991 and VR6 engines currently remain in producti ...
engines use a narrow V angle and a single cylinder head.


Flat engines

Flat engines (also known as "horizontally-opposed" or "boxer" engines) have the cylinders arranged in two banks on either side of a single crankshaft. Types of flat engines include: * Flat-two, commonly called "flat-twin" *
Flat-four A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, ...
*
Flat-six A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed cy ...
* Flat-eight * Flat-twelve


W engines

W engines have the cylinders in a configuration in which the cylinder banks resemble the letter W, in the same way those of a V engine resemble the letter V. Types of W engines include: * W8 * W12 * W16


Other layouts

Radial engine 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 ...
s have cylinders mounted radially around a central crankcase.
Rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...
s have a similar configuration, except that the crankshaft is fixed and the cylinders rotate around it. (This is different from the
Wankel engine The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. ...
configuration described below.) Radial and rotary engine designs were widely used in early aircraft engines.
U engine A U engine is a piston engine made up of two separate straight engines (complete with separate crankshafts) placed side-by-side and coupled to a shared output shaft. When viewed from the front, the engine block resembles the letter "U". Although ...
s consist of two separate straight engines (complete with separate crankshafts) joined by gears or chains. Most U engines have four cylinders (i.e. two straight-two engines combined), such as square four engines and tandem twin engines. Similar to U engines,
H engine An H engine is a piston engine comprising two separate flat engines (complete with separate crankshafts), most often geared to a common output shaft. The name "H engine" is due to the engine blocks resembling a letter "H" when viewed from the fro ...
s consist of two separate flat engines joined by gears or chains. H engines have been produced with between 4 and 24 cylinders. An opposed-piston engine is similar to a flat engine in that pairs of pistons are co-axial but rather than sharing a crankshaft, instead share a single combustion chamber per pair of pistons. The crankshaft configuration varies amongst opposed-engine designs. One layout has a flat/boxer engine at its center and adds an additional opposed-piston to each end so there are two pistons per cylinder on each side. An
X engine An X engine is a piston engine with four banks of cylinders around a common crankshaft, such that the cylinders form an "X" shape when viewed from front-on. The advantage of an X engine is that it is shorter than a V engine of the same number o ...
is essentially two V engines joined by a common crankshaft. A majority of these were existing V-12 engines converted into an X-24 configuration. The Swashplate engine with the K-Cycle engine is where pairs of pistons are in an opposed configuration sharing a cylinder and combustion chamber. A Delta engine has three (or its multiple) cylinders having opposing pistons, aligned in three separate planes or 'banks', so that they appear to be in a Δ when viewed along the axis of the main-shaft. An example of this type of layout is the
Napier Deltic The Napier Deltic engine is a British opposed-piston valveless, supercharged uniflow scavenged, two-stroke diesel engine used in marine and locomotive applications, designed and produced by D. Napier & Son. Unusually, the cylinders were disp ...
.


Wankel (rotary) engines

Wankel engine The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. ...
s (sometimes called 'rotary engines') can be classified based on the number of rotors present. Most production Wankel engines have two rotors, however engines with one, three and four rotors have also been produced. Wankel engines can also be classified based on whether they are naturally aspirated or turbocharged. Most Wankel engines are fueled by petrol, however prototype engines running on diesel and hydrogen have been trialed.


Gas turbine engines

Gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...
engines— mostly used for aircraft— are usually separated into the following categories: *
Turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...
, gasses travel through a propelling nozzle *
Turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanic ...
, gasses travel through a ducted fan *
Turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
, gasses travel through an unducted propeller, usually with variable pitch *
Turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust ...
, a gas turbine optimised for producing mechanical torque instead of thrust


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Configuration, Engine Internal combustion engine