Analysis of the kinematic scheme of an aircraft piston W-shaped engine with trailer connecting rods

This article presents the analysis and results of analytical, calculation, and design solutions for the development of piston engines for aircraft (tractors, automobiles, etc.). The authors propose an original design of a W-shaped engine with trailer connecting rods and made a comparative analysis of design features. The main feature of the W-shaped engine design is a significant reduction in length, and, consequently, the length of the crankshaft. As known, the manufacturing of internal combustion engine crankshafts is a long, complex, and expensive procedure requiring a number operations for its mechanical and heat treatment. An important aspect of crankshaft design is the calculation of mechanical tension, torsional vibrations, and the hydraulic performance evaluation of the main and connecting rod bearing, including engine balancing as a whole. At the end of the article the operating schemes of the engine section are presented (the section consists of four pistons, two main and two connecting rods bearing kinematically connected to one crankpin). The design differences from the classical schemes of crank-connecting mechanism (CCM) allow us to design the W-shaped engine in accordance with the technical requirements. For example, maximum power can be achieved by using variant “A”, with an increase in the power and heat stress of the parts of the cylinder-piston group (CPG), when the section is organized according to variants “B” or “C”, the loading of CCM parts is increased, but the loading of CPG parts is reduced. Considering that a W-shaped engine with trailed connecting rods has a same piston stroke in main and side cylinders and the workflow pattern in each cylinder is identical and is moved at the crankshaft rotation angle - which allows the engine to be designed according to variants above - the performance characteristics of such an engine are significantly expanded due to electronic control. The authors consider continuation of the work in the implementation of a full set of calculation studies taking into account the design features of the engine with a W-shaped design of CCM.