4-VALVE ENGINES

Guided by

Mr. P. D. Sudersanan
Asst prof, mech dept,
Dr. TTIT
 INTRODUCTION
• In automotive engineering, an engine is referred to as multi-valve
when each cylinder has more than two valves. Such designs have
been around since at least 1912 and perhaps earlier.

• Most poppet valve, four-stroke internal combustion engines have at

least two valves per cylinder (Diesel engines with one valve exist.) —
One for intake of air and fuel, and another for exhaust of combustion
products. Adding more valves improves the flow of intake and exhaust
gases, potentially improving combustion efficiency, power, and
performance.

• Many engines were made with two valves per cylinder, but, starting in
the late 80s, a virtual explosion of multi-valve and DOHC engines
came to market. As a result, even the most basic engines today
usually contain four valves per cylinder, though the two valve
configuration is still popular.
 Types of Engines
• External combustion Engines

• Internal combustion Engines

Two stroke Engines
Four stroke Engines
Rotary Engines
 Two stroke Engines
• A two-stroke engine is an internal
combustion engine that completes
the thermodynamic cycle in two
movements of the piston compared to
twice that number for a four-stroke
engine

• This increased efficiency is

accomplished by using the beginning
of the compression stroke and the end
of the combustion stroke to perform
simultaneously the intake and exhaust
(or scavenging) functions

• In this way two-stroke engines often

provide strikingly high specific power
 Four stroke Engines

• 4 stroke engines are typically much larger capacity than 2

stroke engines
• 4 stroke engines typically have valves at the top of the
combustion chamber
• The simplest type has one intake and one exhaust valve
• More complex engines have two of one and one of the other,
or two of each
• The valves are opened and closed by a rotating camshaft at
the top of the engine
• The camshaft is driven by either gear directly from the crank,
or more commonly by a timing belt
• During the intake stroke, the piston moves
downward, drawing a fresh charge of
vaporized fuel/air mixture. The illustrated
engine features a poppet intake valve which
is drawn open by the vacuum produced by
the intake stroke. Some early engines
worked this way; however, most modern
engines incorporate an extra cam/lifter
arrangement as seen on the exhaust valve.
The exhaust valve is held shut by a spring
• As the piston rises, the poppet valve is
forced shut by the increased cylinder
pressure. Flywheel momentum drives the
piston upward, compressing the fuel/air
mixture
• At the top of the compression stroke, the
spark plug fires, igniting the compressed fuel.
As the fuel burns it expands, driving the
piston downward
• At the bottom of the power stroke, the
exhaust valve is opened by the cam/lifter
mechanism. The upward stroke of the piston
drives the exhausted fuel out of the cylinder
 Rotary engines
• The Wankel rotary engine is a fascinating beast
that features a very clever rearrangement of the
four elements of the Otto cycle. It was developed
by Felix Wankel in the 1950s

• In the Wankel, a triangular rotor incorporating a

central ring gear is driven around a fixed pinion
within an oblong chamber
 WORKING OF WANKEL ENGINE

• The fuel/air mixture

is drawn in the
intake port during
this phase of the
rotation
• The mixture is
compressed here
• The mixture burns
here, driving the
rotor around
• And the exhaust is
expelled here
 VALVES
• All four-stroke internal combustion engines employ valves to
control the admittance of fuel and air into the combustion
chamber
• In piston engines, the valves are grouped into 'inlet valves'
which admit the entrance of fuel and air and 'outlet valves'
which allow the exhaust gases to escape
• Each valve opens once per cycle and the ones that are
subject to extreme accelerations are held closed by springs
that are typically opened by rods running on a camshaft
rotating with the engines' crankshaft
• Continuous combustion engines—as well as piston engines
—usually have valves that open and close to admit the fuel
and/or air at the startup and shutdown. Some valves feather
to adjust the flow to control power or engine speed as well
 Valve Classification

• Poppet valve
• Sleeve valve
• Rotary valve
 POPPET VALVE
• A poppet valve is a valve
consisting of a hole, usually round
or oval, and a tapered plug, usually
a disk shape on the end of a shaft
also called a valve stem. The shaft
guides the plug portion by sliding
through a valve guide
• Poppet valves are used in most
piston engines to open and close
the intake and exhaust ports in the
cylinder head
• The valve is usually a flat disk of
metal with a long rod known as the
valve system out one end
• The stem is used to push down on
the valve and open it, with a spring
generally used to close it when the
stem is not being pushed on
Poppet valves in action in top of the
cylinder
Sleeve valve
 SLEEVE VALVE
• The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism
for piston engines
• A sleeve valve takes the form of one or more
machined sleeves. It fits between the piston and
the cylinder wall in the cylinder of an internal
combustion engine where it rotates and/or
slides, ports (holes) in the side of the valve
aligning with the cylinder's inlet and exhaust
ports at the appropriate stages in the engine's
cycle.
 ROTARY VALVE
• A rotary valve is a
type of valve in which
the rotation of a
passage or passages
in a transverse plug
regulates the flow of
liquid or gas through
the attached pipes.
 The common stopcock is the simplest form of
rotary valve. Rotary valves have been applied
in numerous applications, including:

• Changing the pitch of brass instruments

• Controlling the steam and exhaust ports of steam
engines, most notably in the Corliss engine.
• Periodically reversing the flow of air and fuel across
the open hearth furnace.
• Loading sample on chromatography columns.
• Certain types of 2-stroke gasoline engines.
 MULTI-VALVE
• 3-valve engines

• 4-valve engines

• 5-valve engines
3-VALVE ENGINES
• The earliest mass production multi-
valve engines were 3-valves because of
its simple construction - it needs only a
single camshaft to drive both intake
valves and the exhaust valve of each
cylinder.

• Today, there are still a few car cars using this

cheap but inefficient design, such as Fiat
Palio and Mercedes V6 and V8 engines.
 4-valve engines
• A 4-Valve engine is designed
for better performance than a
regular 2-Valve engine
• More power: The 4-valve
provides for a greater intake
and exhaust area resulting in
more power
• More Mileage: 4-valve not only
enhances the performance but
also returns a very good fuel
economy
• More green: Comfortably
meets BSIII regulations
 What is the 4-valve engine?

• An engine that has valves that let the air-fuel

mixture into the combustion chamber to be
burned and then draw out the exhaust gas
after the combustion. A conventional engine
has one intake valve to let in the air-fuel
mixture and one exhaust valve to let out the
exhaust gases. But the 4-valve engine has
two intake and two exhaust valves.
• A typical 2-valve engine has just 1/3
combustion chamber head area covered by
the valves, but a 4-valve head increases that
to more than 50%, hence smoother and
quicker breathing.
• 4-valve design also benefits from a clean and
effective combustion, because the spark plug
can be placed in the middle.
• 4 valves are better to be driven by twin-cam,
one for intake valves and one for exhaust
valves.
• 4-valve type and its shape is designed with the minimum area
necessary for the two intake and two exhaust valves.
• At the same time it is designed with a minimum intake and
exhaust valve angles to realize an optimum combustion
chamber shape.

MERITS:-

• The first merit of 4-valve design is that it allows the spark

plug to be positioned in the center of the combustion
chamber to provide more efficient flame spread and
combustion. In other words, it enables highly efficient
combustion.
• Also, the 4-valve design enables greater overall valve area
than a 2-valve system for more efficient (per unit of area)
intake and exhaust function. This is the second major merit.
 COMPARISION OF 4-VALVES OVER
2-VALVES
• A conventional engine has one intake valve to let in the
air-fuel mixture and one exhaust valve to let out the
exhaust gases. But the 4-valve engine has two intake
and two exhaust valves
• 4-valves is better than two because 4-valves give an
engine steadier low-speed performance and a better
acceleration feeling
• That’s why most race engines and high-performance
engines have four valves.
For example, Yamaha’s YZR-M1 MotoGP race machine
has four valves.
• The name of the game is velocity and turbulence/mixing of the intake charge
at differing engine speeds. At low engine speeds, one intake valve gives
increased velocity, hence better gas mixing and better cylinder filling. If you
open a second intake valve at low engine speed, the velocity drops
dramatically, leaving poor intake filling and a lean intake charge. The result
is engine knock and less torque. On the other hand, at high RPM, breathing
is the name of the game. The valves are open such a short length of time
you need the maximum available intake area. Therefore 2 intake valves
work better at high RPM. All of this is of course subject to the exhaust
system design. A proper extractor exhaust can make a significant difference
on a two valve system and a restrictive exhaust can nullify all the gains of a
4 valve system.

• When you have only 2 valves, the air/fuel mixture entering the cylinder can
be tangential to the circle of the cylinder, giving a high degree of swirl, better
air/fuel mixing and hence better performance at lower revs in an SI engine.
At higher revs, enough turbulence is available to create good mixing, and so
4 valves are better, as they allow greater airflow
This technology is adopted on

•YZF R15 •PULSAR 135cc

5-valve engines
• It is arguable that whether 5 valves per cylinder
helps raising engine efficiency
• 5-valve design doesn’t guarantee covering more
head area than 4-valve
• All existing 5-valve engines have 3 intake valves
and 2 exhaust valves per cylinder
• The Ferrari F355 makes use of this to enhance
high-speed breathing but faster breathing also
harms low-speed torque if no counter measure is
taken. Therefore it is really more suitable to sports
cars
• The advantage of 5-valve engine is still under
question
VALVE TIMING DIAGRAM
 Types of overhead camshaft

Single overhead camshaft (SOHC)

Double overhead camshafts (DOHC)

 SINGLE OVERHEAD
CAMSHAFT (SOHC)
• Single overhead camshaft (SOHC) is a
design in which one camshaft is
placed within the cylinder head
• The SOHC design has less
reciprocating mass than a comparable
pushrod design. This allows for higher
engine speeds, which in turn will
increase power output for a given
torque
• The cam operates the valves directly
or through a rocker arm, as opposed to
overhead valve pushrod engines which
have tappets, long pushrods, and
rocker arms to transfer the movement
of the lobes on the camshaft in the
engine block to the valves in the
cylinder head
• SOHC designs offen reduced
complexity compared to pushrod
designs when used for multi-valve
heads in which each cylinder has more
than two valves
 DOUBLE OVERHEAD
CAMSHAFT(DOHC)
• A double overhead
camshaft valve train
layout is
characterized by two
camshafts located
within the cylinder
head, one operating
the inlet valves and
one operating the
exhaust valve
 CONCLUSION
4-valve facilitate effective breathing and hence complete combustion of fuel can
be achieved

4-valve systems parallely provide complete escape of the productsof combustion

due to which fresh air fuel mixture is completely accomidated

4-valve increases turbulance and hence uniform mixture of air fuel takes and
hence complete combustion is achieved and pre ignition is avoided

4-valve require a complex DOHC mechanism which increases the production cost
but in a long run it is compensated

By employing camless actuating mechanism, 4-valve technology can be adopted

for small engine

Further improvement in 4-valve technology is in process so there is scope for

improvement in technology as well as cost can be reduced
 REFERENCES

• Automotive Engineering by R.P.Gupta

• Automotive Engineering by Kripal singh
• www.google.com
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.howstuffworks.com
• www.answers.com
THANK YOU