Page 38 Christophorus 333
Premiere: The Technology of the New 911
Direct Fuel Injection
Stronger and More Efficient
The new-generation 911 engine makes it possible: environmental compatibility
is combined with driving pleasure. Fuel consumption and emissions have been
reduced, and at the same time output and torque have been given a boost. The new
engines are equipped with direct fuel injection.
The engine of the new 911 is lighter, more compact, and at
the same time more powerful and more fuel-efficient
Actually, the specification assigned to the engineers was a con-
tradiction. “We needed to increase output and reduce fuel con-
sumption,” says Martin Kerkau, general manager of vehicle in-
tegration and engine application at Porsche. The result: the
all-new engines in the new 911 reduce fuel consumption by near-
ly eight percent in the S version. With Porsche’s double-clutch
transmission (Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe, or PDK), the
savings are further increased to nearly 13 percent, with emis-
By
sions cut accordingly. At the same time, the 911 Carrera has over
Klaus-Eckhard Jost
20 hp more output; the 911 Carrera S has an additional 30 hp.
Illustrations by
“This is really a new sports-car generation,” announced Porsche
Porsche AG Production Director Michael Macht at the presentation of the
911. Thanks to its innovative technology, the new 911 already
meets the Euro 5 Environmental Guidelines, which don’t go into
effect until September 2009, for both the Carrera 3.6-liter engine
(345 hp /254 kW) and the Carrera S 3.8-liter engine (385
hp /283 kW).
Porsche has achieved this extremely difficult two-part harmo-
ny of more output and reduced fuel consumption thanks in
large part to direct fuel injection. The injector, an electric valve
with a nozzle, is the key. It sits directly at the cylinder head and
sprays the gasoline into the combustion chamber with the aid
of a high-pressure pump, at a pressure of between 40 and 120
bar (580–1,740 PSI). That ensures that the mixture is sprayed
more finely and can thus better mix with the intake air. Since
temperatures in the cylinder are reduced by the direct fuel injec-
tion, it is now possible to press more air into the combustion
chamber than was the case in the past. That allows a higher
compression ratio—now 12.5 : 1 compared to 11.3 : 1 before—
An injector at the cylinder head sprays
the gasoline into the combustion chamber with
the aid of a high-pressure pump at a pressure
of between 40 and 120 bar; the mixture is sprayed
more finely and can thus mix better with the air
1. Injection nozzle
2. Combustion chamber
3. Spark plug
3
Christophorus 333 Page 39
with reduced risk of of knocking. Fuel consumption is thereby
reduced, and with it CO2 emissions. Moreover, the more com-
bustible mixture and improved after-burning cause the cata-
lytic converter to reach its operating temperature more quickly,
thereby reducing emissions.
Fuel consumption in the 911 Carrera has dropped by 6.4 per-
cent, to 10.3 liters per 100 kilometers (22.8 mpg), and in the 911
Carrera S by 7.8 percent, to 10.6 liters (22.2 mpg). For CO2
emissions, that means: 230 g/km (13 oz./mile) for the 911 Car-
rera, 240 g/km (13.7 oz./mile) for the Carrera S. These environ-
mental results improve the overall balance sheet by yet another
15 percent. Of course, the increased performance also boosts the
acceleration performance, both longitudinally and laterally. Ac-
cordingly, an electronically regulated oil pump was needed to
provide sufficient lubrication for this high-performance athlete.
It has four oil suction pumps, one in each corner of the oil pan.
Eleven years after the six-cylinder boxer engine was converted
from air-cooling to water-cooling, the heart of the 911 has now
once again been completely redesigned. The number of compo-
nents in the engine has dropped by 40 percent. Neither the crank-
shaft nor the camshafts have separate bearing housings in the
new engine. And because the engine is ten millimeters (0.4 in.)
shorter, it can be installed exactly ten millimeters lower. The en-
gine has also dropped about five kilograms (11 lbs.) of weight.
So the 911’s new engine concept also shows that what looks like
a contradiction at first glance can be reconciled after all—with
innovative solutions. B
1
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Premiere: The Technology of the New 911

The driver feels the need to shift gears. Definitely. And yet… victory at the Supercup on the Nürburgring. Its greatest success

Porsche Double-Clutch Transmission we’re moving along at 80 km/h (50 mph) with barely 1,400
rpm—and next to that, it says “seven.” Seventh gear? At this
speed? Completely impossible! But the boxer in the rear is
A Pioneering Achievement rumbling contentedly, with no shaking at all. And even after a
firm step on the gas, the new 911 cruises along as if it were
rolling on tracks. With no lurch to reveal the change of gears,
the vehicle accelerates, the tachometer jumps to 5,500 rpm,
The new 911 Carrera models will feature the Porsche double-clutch transmission, By
and the digital display now switches to “two.”
Klaus-Eckhard Jost
PDK, marking its first use in the company’s road cars. Porsche introduced PDK
to racing over 20 years ago and is regarded as a pioneer of this technology. The new Illustrations by
A shift from seventh into second gear? No problem for the op-
transmission generates extraordinary performance while maintaining shifting Porsche AG tional double-clutch transmission (Porsche-Doppelkupplungs-
getriebe, or PDK) in the new 911. It performs better than its
ease—and reducing fuel consumption.
predecessor and also reduces CO2 emissions by 15.2 percent.
“We have cherry-picked the best from each system—torque
converter automatic and manual transmission,” says Thomas
Casper, chief of Basic Transmission / Drivetrain Development.
A superlative-class technology package: The Porsche PDK
dual-clutch transmission improves performance while reducing
The new 911 thus offers both the driving comfort of a torque
fuel consumption converter automatic transmission—shifting with no interrup-
tion of traction and automatic starting—and the dynamics of a
sequential racing gearbox, with great efficiency and high flexi-
bility. The trick is that PDK not only takes care of the transmis-
sion of power; it also does some of the thinking. The electron-
ics, constantly fed with precise information from four distance
sensors, two pressure sensors, and two engine-speed sensors,
choose in advance the gear that the driver next needs. “The
probability that the transmission is looking for the right gear
is 90 percent,” says Casper. And even if the driver should break
1 10
3 11 off acceleration at short notice, the choice of another gear takes
9 only two-tenths of a second.
5 Plus” position, the new dual-clutch transmission switches from
1 4 7 8
6 Actually, this transmission principle, which makes shifting pos-
sible by means of two clutches with no interruption of traction
and no breaks between gears, was developed by Porsche 25
years ago for motorsports. As early as 1983, the racing depart-
2
ment built this transmission system into the 956 long-distance
2 12 racing car. The next year, its successor, the 962, won its first
was the victory at the World Championship race in Monza in
1986. But by comparison with the current model, this was a
test version. “The hydraulics, the electronics, and the steering
elements were not yet far enough along to allow for the appro-
priate comfort,” says Casper.
The double-clutch transmission has actually two transmis-
sions in one casing. One takes care of first, third, fifth, seventh,
and reverse, while the other handles second, fourth, and sixth
gears. A common input shaft drives both partial transmis-
sions. From clutch number one, a hollow shaft runs to the re-
spective part of the transmission. From clutch number two, it’s
a solid shaft. All gear wheels are permanently in rotation, but
they turn freely; a slide sleeve then provides the linkage to the
power transmission.
In tuning the gear speeds, the Porsche developers oriented
themselves toward the old Tiptronic S. The first gear is almost
identical; sixth in PDK corresponds to fifth in Tiptronic S. And
then there’s also a seventh “cruising gear”—with the engine
speed cut by about 30 percent, compared with the Tiptronic S.
At 100 km/h (62 mph), the engine turns at 1,750 rpm with the
PDK, compared with 2,450 rpm at the same vehicle speed with
the Tiptronic S. And that’s better for the environment as well.
Moreover, thanks to the most modern electronics, the transmis-
sion can be individually adapted— with three variations. “Nor-
mal” is designed for both fuel savings and convenience. “Sports”
mode raises shift points for sharper performance. In the “Sports
one gear to the other so quickly that the digital display can hard-
ly keep up. The ultimate in driving pleasure, however, is
“Launch Control.” It lets you pull off starts like those of the fac-
tory drivers at Le Mans: step on the brake, then full throttle, then
foot off the brake. And the 911 shoots forward without a slip
and with no interruption of traction. B

15
14
A common input shaft drives both partial transmissions; a slide
13 sleeve provides the linkage to the power. The diagrams show the
closed linkage in first (left) and fourth gears

1. Wet clutches First gear Fourth gear

2. Separate oil spaces
3. Oil pump

Partial Transmission 2
4. Fourth gear
5. Sixth gear
6. Second gear
Engine Engine
Partial Transmission 1
7. Reverse gear
8. First gear 12. Main shaft Rear axle Rear axle
9. Third gear 13. Parking lock
10. Seventh gear 14. Constant
11. Fifth gear 15. Pinion shaft