ARRANGEMENT OF CYLINDERS

There are many types of cylinders arrangement based on the usage and
requirements of power. There may be single to multiple cylinders in an IC
engine.

There are several types of cylinder engine but the most important ones are
given below.

SINGLE CYLINDER ENGINES

IN LINE CYLINDER ENGINES

V CYLINDER ENGINES

W CYLINDER ENGINES

RADIAL CYLINDER ENGINE

OPPOSED PISTON OPPOSED CYLINDER ENGINE

SINGLE CYLINDER ENGINES

DESCRIPTION
They are most simple and basic type of cylinders which are used
in IC engines. The main defect in this type of machines is that they are
prone to mechanical vibrations which are controlled by one way or the
other. The cooling system is much simpler and easy to handle in single
cylinder system. In single cylinder engines the rotating mass is greater as
compared to others .The engines provide relatively less changes in
acceleration and changes in speeds of automobiles is very sudden.
USES
They are mostly used in motorcycles of daily life usage.

Dirt bikes and early marine machines also used single cylinder engines

Go karts and almost all types of rickshaws use them.

They are also used in radio controlled models.

Lawn movers also use them.

EDGES OVER OTHER TYPES OF ARRANGMENT

It is the easiest one to be manufactured.

It can be easily cooled and cleaning.

It can deliver maximum power within a given envelope.

It has less weight.

DISADVANTAGES
It can only be used when less power is required.

No further advancement is possible in these type of cylinders because

they are the building block for all types of other cylinder engines.

DIAGRAM
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Guinness Book of World Records has
announced that the world’s largest single cylinder engine for a motorcycle
is the 2000cc engine that was made by an old aged engineer Franz Langer of
Germany who mounted into an old NSU Consul motorcycle frame.

IN LINER CYLINDER ENGINES

DESCRIPTION
It is an assembly of cylinders which are in a straight line on the
crank case .They may contain four six or more then that according to the
requirement. They may be vertical or inclined. All the cylinders move the
same crankshaft. They also cause less mechanical vibration s because of
secondary imbalance but still they are widely acceptable for economical
manufacturers of automobiles. Both methods of cooling can be applied for
engines using these cylinders.

USES
They are the most commonly used engines in economical cars.

The inline engines with more cylinders are also used in trucks and other heavy
automobiles.

Some new technology motorcycles like YAMAHA R1 made in 2009 uses inline
cylinder.

Until 1986 they were also used in racing cars.

Some buses and trains also use this arrangement of cylinders.

EDGES OVER OTHER ENGINES

The orientation can be vertical or inclined in this type of engines.

These types of engines can be used for powerful and both less powerful
automobile engines.

It has a perfect primary balance but they are not in perfect secondary
balance.

The inline engines are much smoother then the single, double or triple
cylinder engines.

DISADVANTAGES
The automobiles using this type of cylinders in engines have high fronts.

The vibrations in these types of engines become very difficult to control

when used in large engines for high power.
DIAGRAM

V CYLINDER ENGINES
DESCRIPTION
It consists of two rows of cylinders which are separated from one another
at an angle which varies between 60 to 90.This type of arrangement uses a
single crankshaft and has two cylinder heads. The engines which have v
cylinders become more compact .It is known as v type arrangement
because it‘s configuration forms the letter v. Different angles are used for
different numbers of cylinders in order to provide more stability to the
engines.

USES

They are used in different motorcycles for example HONDA MVX250F.

They were also used by Germany in aircrafts during the World War 2.
Different degrees are used for different purposes in motorcycles. The
90degree V angle acts as a counterweight to provide primary balance to the
engine, but the firing is very less. Angles are directly proportional to
mechanical balance.

EDGES OVER OTHER ENGINES

The engines using these cylinders can be made low in height.

They provide smooth operation for the working of engines.

These types of engines require only air cooling instead of water cooling.

DISADVANTAGES
The engines using these cylinders mostly require balancing shafts.

These engines require double camshafts then inline cylinder arrangements.

DIAGRAM
W CYLINDER ENGINES
DESCRIPTION
It is also a configuration of internal combustion engine in which
the arrangement of cylinders resemble the alphabet “W “of English
language. It has three main types one with four banks of cylinders, other
with three bank of cylinders and the last one with two banks on two
crankshafts.

USES
YAMAHA YZR500 is an example of w cylinder arrangement in motorbikes.

The WRIGHT brothers also used this engine for their first flight.

Aero engines like W12 were also made from this type of arrangement in
1917.

Volkswagen made their own buggatti in 2006 using four bank w type
cylinder arrangement for engine.

EDGES OVER OTHER ENGINES

They can be of multiple arrangement as per required.

They contain more number of cylinders but are much compact.

These types of engines do not require balancing shafts.

DISADVANTAGES
The angles between the cylinders cannot be changer up to a greater extent
as in V type cylinders.

They require even much more fuel then V type cylinder engines.

DIAGRAM
RADIAL TYPE CYLINDERS ENGINES
DESCRIPTION
These types of engines are called radial type cylinders because
their configuration of cylinders is like different radiuses around a central
point located from each other at a same angle which is crankshaft. The
pistons are connected to the crankshaft through a rod assembly which
mostly has one master rod and connecting rods as required by the number
of pistons. Radial cylinder engines have mostly one row of cylinders but for
more power multiple rows of cylinders are also used.

USES

B-25 and B-17 bombers used this engine.

Ship based aircrafts were also made from these engines.

They are also used in turbines.

SU-29 and S-17 fighter planes also use these cylinder arrangement engines.

EDGES OVER OTHER ENGINES

The radial engines are air cooled instead of fluid cooled.

They had an increased power to weight ratio.

The reliability of such engines is much greater.

DISADVANTAGES
They had a larger frontal area.

They can be used only for higher power generation.

DIAGRAM

OPPOSED PISTON OPPOSED CYLINDER ENGINE

DESCRIPTION

It is that type of engine in which the cylinder is on ends without

a cylinder head and the two pistons use the single cylinder for their
movement. These types of engines mostly use two crankshafts but the
engines of this type can also use single crankshaft or triple crankshafts. If
multiple crankshafts are used then they are geared together to one
another. They look similar to the flat engines but mechanically they are
very different from each other.

USES

They were used in locomotive trains about half a century ago.

Fast patrol boats use these engines.

T-80, T 80-UD and Pakistani made AL-KHALID tanks also use these engines.

Some armoured fighting vehicles like FV-430 also uses these types of
engines.

Many submarines also use these engines which also include nuclear
submarines.

EDGE OVER OTHER ENGINES

Scavenging is much easier in these type of engines.

They don’t use crankshafts.

They have to work less against gravity.

DISADVANTAGE

The positions of valves and spark ignition make them inefficient.

DIAGRAM