Six-stroke engine

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The term six-stroke engine has been applied to a number of alternative internal combustion
engine designs that attempt to improve on traditional two-stroke and four-strokeengines. Claimed
advantages may include increased fuel efficiency, reduced mechanical complexity and/or
reduced emissions. These engines can be divided into two groups based on the number of pistons
that contribute to the six strokes.
In the single-piston designs, the engine captures the heat lost from the four-stroke Otto
cycle or Diesel cycle and uses it to drive an additional power and exhaust stroke of the piston in the
same cylinder in an attempt to improve fuel-efficiency and/or assist with engine cooling. The pistons
in this type of six-stroke engine go up and down three times for each injection of fuel. These designs
use either steam or air as the working fluid for the additional power stroke.[1]
The designs in which the six strokes are determined by the interactions between two pistons are
more diverse. The pistons may be opposed in a single cylinder or may reside in separate cylinders.
Usually one cylinder makes two strokes while the other makes four strokes giving six piston
movements per cycle. The second piston may be used to replace the valve mechanism of a
conventional engine, which may reduce mechanical complexity and enable an
increased compression ratio by eliminating hotspots that would otherwise limit compression. The
second piston may also be used to increase the expansion ratio, decoupling it from the compression
ratio. Increasing the expansion ratio in this way can increase thermodynamic efficiency in a similar
manner to the Miller or Atkinson cycle.
Single-piston designs[edit]
These designs use a single piston per cylinder, like a conventional two- or four-
stroke engine. A secondary, non-detonating fluid is injected into the chamber, and
the leftover heat from combustion causes it to expand for a second power stroke
followed by a second exhaust stroke.
Griffin six-stroke engine[edit]

The Kerr engine at the Anson Engine Museum

In 1883, the Bath-based engineer Samuel Griffin was an established maker of steam
and gas engines. He wished to produce an internal combustion engine, but without
paying the licensing costs of the Otto patents. His solution was to develop a "patent
slide valve" and a single-acting six-stroke engine using it. By 1886, Scottish steam
locomotive maker Dick, Kerr & Co. saw a future in large oil engines and licensed the
Griffin patents. These were double-acting, tandem engines and sold under the name
"Kilmarnock".[2] A major market for the Griffin engine was in electricity generation,
where they developed a reputation for happily running light for long periods, then
suddenly being able to take up a large demand for power. Their large heavy
construction didn't suit them to mobile use, but they were capable of burning heavier
and cheaper grades of oil. The key principle of the "Griffin Simplex" was a heated
exhaust-jacketed external vapouriser, into which the fuel was sprayed. The
temperature was held around 550 °F (288 °C), sufficient to physically vapourise the
oil but not to break it down chemically. This fractional distillation supported the use
of heavy oil fuels, the unusable tars and asphalts separating out in the
vapouriser. Hot-bulb ignitionwas used, which Griffin termed the "catathermic igniter",
a small isolated cavity connected to the combustion chamber. The spray injector had
an adjustable inner nozzle for the air supply, surrounded by an annular casing for
the oil, both oil and air entering at 20 psi (140 kPa) pressure, and being regulated by
a governor.[3][4] Griffin went out of business in 1923. Only two known examples of a
Griffin six-stroke engine survive. One is in the Anson Engine Museum. The other
was built in 1885 and for some years was in the Birmingham Museum of Science
and Technology, but in 2007 it returned to Bath and the Museum of Bath at Work.[5]
Dyer six-stroke engine[edit]
Leonard Dyer invented a six-stroke internal combustion water-injection engine in
1915, very similar to Crower's design (see below). A dozen more similar patents
have been issued since.
Dyer's six-stroke engine features:

 No cooling system required

 Improves a typical engine’s fuel consumption
 Requires a supply of pure water to act as the medium for the second power
stroke.
 Extracts the additional power from the expansion of steam.
Bajulaz six-stroke engine[edit]
The Bajulaz six-stroke engine is similar to a regular combustion engine in design.
There are, however, modifications to the cylinder head, with two supplementary
fixed-capacity chambers: a combustion chamber and an air-preheating chamber
above each cylinder. The combustion chamber receives a charge of heated air from
the cylinder; the injection of fuel begins an isochoric (constant-volume) burn, which
increases the thermal efficiency compared to a burn in the cylinder. The high
pressure achieved is then released into the cylinder to work the power or expansion
stroke. Meanwhile, a second chamber, which blankets the combustion chamber, has
its air content heated to a high degree by heat passing through the cylinder wall.
This heated and pressurized air is then used to power an additional stroke of the
piston.
The claimed advantages of the engine include reduction in fuel consumption by at
least 40%, two expansion strokes in six strokes, multi-fuel usage capability, and a
dramatic reduction in pollution.[6]
The Bajulaz six-stroke engine was invented in 1989 by Roger Bajulaz of the Bajulaz
S.A. company, based in Geneva, Switzerland; it has U.S. Patent 4,809,511 and U.S.
Patent 4,513,568.
The Bajulaz six-stroke engine features claimed are:

 Reduction in fuel consumption by at least 40%

 Two expansion (work) strokes in six strokes
 Multifuel, including liquefied petroleum gas
 Dramatic reduction in air pollution
 Costs comparable to those of a four-stroke engine
Velozeta six-stroke engine[edit]
In a Velozeta engine, fresh air is injected into the cylinder during the exhaust stroke,
which expands by heat and therefore forces the piston down for an additional stroke.
The valve overlaps have been removed, and the two additional strokes using air
injection provide for better gas scavenging. The engine seems to show 40%
reduction in fuel consumption and dramatic reduction in air pollution. [7] Its Power-to-
weight ratio is slightly less than that of a four-stroke gasoline engine.[7] The engine
can run on a variety of fuels, ranging from gasoline and diesel fuel to LPG. An
altered engine shows a 65% reduction in carbon monoxide pollution when compared
with the four-stroke engine from which it was developed.[7]The engine was developed
in 2005 by a team of mechanical engineering students, Mr. U Krishnaraj, Mr. Boby
Sebastian, Mr. Arun Nair and Mr. Aaron Joseph George of the College of
Engineering, Trivandrum.
NIYKADO six-stroke engine[edit]
This engine was designed, developed and patented by Chanayil Cleetus Anil,
of Kochi, India, in 2012.[8] He holds Indian patent number IN252642, granted by
IPIndia on May 25, 2012. The name of the engine is taken from the name of his
company, NIYKADO Motors. The engine underwent a preliminary round of full-
throttle tests at the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune.[8] The
inventor claims this engine "is 23 per cent more fuel efficient compared to a standard
four-stroke engine"[8] and that it is "very low on pollution".[8]
Crower six-stroke engine[edit]
In a six-stroke engine prototyped in the United States by Bruce Crower, water is
injected into the cylinder after the exhaust stroke and is instantly turned to steam,
which expands and forces the piston down for an additional power stroke. Thus,
waste heat that requires an air or water cooling system to discharge in most engines
is captured and put to use driving the piston.[1] Crower estimated that his design
would reduce fuel consumption by 40% by generating the same power output at a
lower rotational speed. The weight associated with a cooling system could be
eliminated, but that would be balanced by a need for a water tank in addition to the
normal fuel tank.
The Crower six-stroke engine was an experimental design that attracted media
attention in 2006 because of an interview given by the 75-year-
old American inventor, who has applied for a patent on his design.[1] That patent
application was subsequently abandoned.[9]