Per Sune Evaldsson Gillbrand (23 March 1934 – 30 November 2016) was a Swedish automobile engineer. Born in

Tidaholm Tidaholm () is a locality and the seat of Tidaholm Municipality in Västergötland Province within Västra Götaland County, Sweden. The city consists of 520 square kilometers, or a little more than 200 square miles. It is located on the Tidan Rive ...

, Gillbrand is best known for his contribution to the development of several engines for

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

, and in particular their turbocharged engines. After graduating from the Tekniska gymnasiet i Göteborg (Technical High School of Gothenburg), Gillbrand started working for

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

in 1956, initially as a test engineer in Skövde and later as an engine development engineer in Gothenburg. Saab, Sweden's other major car manufacturer, was in need of 4-stroke engine expertise as they phased out the 2-stroke engines used in their earliest models. They recruited Gillbrand, along with Olle Granlund, another colleague from Volvo, in 1964. Gillbrand's first assignment for Saab was the final test of the

Ford Taunus V4 engine The Ford Taunus V4 engine is a 60° V4 piston engine with one balance shaft, introduced by Ford Motor Company in Germany in 1962. The German V4 was built in the Cologne plant and powered the Ford Taunus and German versions of the Consul, Capri, an ...

in the Saab 96. He was then involved in adapting the

Triumph slant-four engine The Triumph slant-four is an inline four-cylinder petrol car engine developed by the Triumph Motor Company. It first appeared in 1968 in the Saab 99. The first Triumph model to use the engine did not appear until 1972. With an original capaci ...

for the Saab 99. This engine was later replaced by the

Saab B engine The Saab B engine is an inline four-cylinder car petrol engine developed by Saab Automobile. A redesign of the Triumph slant-four engine, the B engine displaced 2.0 L and first appeared in 1972. The B engine was used in the Saab 99 and 9 ...

, an updated version of the Triumph unit manufactured at Saab-Scania in Södertälje. In 1970 Gillbrand became manager of Saab-Scania's engine laboratory in Södertälje, where he was in charge when Saab became the first car manufacturer to use small turbochargers in gasoline engines, along with technologies such as the wastegate found in most modern turbocharged engines today. For his work on

forced induction In an internal combustion engine, forced induction is where turbocharging or supercharging is used to increase the density of the intake air. Engines without forced induction are classified as naturally aspirated. Operating principle Overvi ...

engines, Gillbrand earned the nickname Turbopelle (Turbo-Geek). Gillbrand is the inventor of the

Automatic Performance Control Automatic Performance Control (APC) was the first engine knock and boost control system. The APC was invented by Per Gillbrand at the Swedish car maker SAAB. SAAB introduced it on the turbo charged Saab H engines in 1982, and the APC was fitted ...

system. He was awarded a Gold Medal from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences for his research work in 1988, and in 1992 he received the title of Honorary Doctor of Technology from Chalmers University in Gothenburg. Another of Gillbrand's inventions is the Electronically Controlled Variable Compression engine that he built in the late 1990s. Later renamed the

Saab Variable Compression engine The Saab Variable Compression engine was a development project of Saab Automobile, for which it won an award both in 2000 and 2001. In a normal internal combustion engine, because cylinder bore diameter, piston stroke length and combustion chamb ...

(SVC), it was presented at the 2000 Geneva Motor Show. General Motors (GM), Saab's owner at the time, did not approve further development of the SVC engine. This technology is today in development by car manufacturers such as Nissan, Infiniti and Porsche more than 20 years after Gillbrand originated the idea. In 2006 Gillbrand was made an honorary member of the Svenska Volvo P1800-klubben (Volvo P1800 Club of Sweden) for his contributions to development of the

Volvo B18 engine The B18 is a 1.8 L inline four cylinder automobile engine produced by Volvo from 1961 through 1968. A larger 2.0 L derivative called the B20 debuted in 1969. Despite being a pushrod design, the engines can rev to 6,500 rpm. They ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillbrand, Per 1934 births 2016 deaths Swedish engineers People from Tidaholm Municipality