CAMLESS ENGINE

By Ayush Banerjee
INTRODUCTION TO CAMLESS ENGINE
OR WHAT IS CAMLESS ENGINE ?

• As the term “camless” suggests, a camless

engine is an engine that does not use
conventional, or any other sort of mechanical
means to regulate the opening and closing of
the valves.

• A camless or free-valve piston engine is an engine

that has poppet valves operated by means of
electromagnetic, hydraulic, or pneumatic[
citation needed] actuators instead of
conventional cams
Camshafts normally have one lobe per valve, with a
fixed valve duration and lift. Although many modern
engines use camshaft phasing, adjusting the lift and
valve duration in a working engine is more difficult.
Some manufacturers use systems with more than one
cam lobe, but this is still a compromise as only a few
profiles can be in operation at once. This is not the case
with the camless engine, where lift and valve timing can
be adjusted freely from valve to valve and from cycle to
cycle. It also allows multiple lift events per cycle and,
indeed, no events per cycle—switching off the cylinder
entirely.
DEVELOPMENT IN CAMLESS
TECHNOLOGY
Camless valve trains have long been investigated by
several companies, including Renault, BMW, Fiat, Valeo, 
General Motors, Ricardo, Lotus Engineering, Ford, Jiangsu
Gongda Power Technologies and Koenigsegg's sister
company FreeValve.
Some of these systems are commercially available,
although not yet in engines in production road vehicles. In
the Spring of 2015, Christian von Koenigsegg told reporters
that the technology pursued by his company is "getting
ready for fruition", but said nothing specific about his
company's timetable
 November 18, 2016
Ängelholm, Sweden
The world’s first FreeValve engine intended for mass
production will be driven on to the Qoros stage at the
Guangzhou Motor Show in November, 2016. The ‘Qamfree’
engine will be powering a Qoros 3 hatchback that has been
modified specifically for the Guangzhou show. The technology
was developed by FreeValve AB, based in Ängelholm, Sweden

Qoros debuted the Qamfree engine with FreeValve

technology in a concept car at the Beijing Motor Show, in
April 2016.
Called ‘Qamfree’ in the Qoros application, FreeValve uses
a pneumatic-hydraulic-electronic actuator to replace the
traditional camshaft-based method of controlling valve
operation in an internal combustion engine. This results is
much more precise and completely customizable control
over valve duration and lift, on both the intake and exhaust
sides.
The comparative FreeValve engine is 20 kilograms
lighter and much more compact, saving 50mm in
height and 70mm in depth, which allows
manufacturers exciting new vehicle design and
packaging options.
“FreeValve technology has taken many years of
testing and refinement but the results are extremely
satisfying” said Urban Carlson, CEO of FreeValve
AB. “This production-intent engine offers Qoros
significant savings in emissions, cost and weight. It
also offers groundbreaking benefits to vehicle owners
in terms of a near 50% increase in both power and
torque, while actually reducing fuel consumption.“
 Christian von Koenigsegg, CEO of Koenigsegg
Automotive AB and Chairman of the Board at
FreeValve AB said “This move closer to mass
production of FreeValve technology is also a first
baby step towards the promise of important reductions
in CO2 emissions. This will be boosted with the
eventual widespread adoption of FreeValve
technology in the automotive industry.”

This new display at Guangzhou marks the first

driveable FreeValve pr ototype engine assembled with
mass production in mind. Qoros will use a fleet of test
engines in conjunction with FreeValve AB to further
refine the technology to suit its own vehicles designs
prior to mass production in an as-yet unnamed vehicle
in the future.
About FreeValve AB
FreeValve AB is a Swedish technology company
and sister company to Koenigsegg Automotive
AB that develops state of the art, next-generation
components and solutions for internal combustion
engines. FreeValve began development of its
technology in 2000 and its sixth generation
actuator technology represents over a decade of
testing and development, both in the lab and on
test vehicles driven in real world conditions.

About Qoros Auto

Established in December 2007 and headquartered in
Changshu, Jiangsu (also its manufacturing base), Qoros
Auto has an initial annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles
and maximum annual capacity of 300,000. With its
operation center in Shanghai, Qoros Auto has
established design centers, technical centers and
engineering R&D centers in both Munich and
Shanghai, which are made up of top designer and
engineer teams from all over the world.
 WORKING OF CAMLESS ENGINE
• Camshafts normally have one lobe per valve, with a fixed valve duration and lift. Although many
modern engines use camshaft phasing, adjusting the lift and valve duration in a working engine is more
difficult. Some manufacturers use systems with more than one cam lobe, but this is still a compromise
as only a few profiles can be in operation at once. This is not the case with the camless engine, where
lift and valve timing can be adjusted freely from valve to valve and from cycle to cycle. It also allows
multiple lift events per cycle and, indeed, no events per cycle—switching off the cylinder entirely.

• the camshaft and replacing it with a

compact actuator above each tappet,
the Freevalve system allows each valve
to be individually controlled.
• They can be lifted as much or as little as the engine
management dictates, for as long or as little as
required, as early or as late in the cycle as required. Or
not at all. And each can act differently from
its neighbour.
• Let’s rewind. Variable valve control has been a dream of engine designers for just ever. For efficient light-load
running you want small openings, but for power you need them to open long and deep. That’s why Honda invented
VTEC and Mitsubishi MIVEC, which switch between two cam profiles to do those two states, but nothing in
between. Most modern engines use twisting cam drive pulleys to open and close the valves earlier or later to help
emissions. BMW Valvetronic varies the opening profile by inserting an extra lever between the cam and the valve.
So, even more flexibly, does Fiat/Alfa’s MultiAir II system, now also licenced to JLR for its Ingenium engine family.
• But they all still have camshafts, and all still have limits. The Freevalve engine doesn’t. “Each valve can be held at a
certain position, or not lifted, or fully opened and held there as well,” says Christian von Koenigsegg. “And
individually of one another. And timing-wise, completely individually too.”

• The valve actuators are little pistons. A measured blast of compressed air against that piston opens the valve
as needed. It’s then either left to fall shut on its spring by releasing the air, or it can be locked open via an oil
reservoir. Then the oil is released through a small hole, damping the valve closure and ensuring the valve
doesn’t hit its seat damagingly hard. There’s also an airway on the other side of the actuator piston that can
hasten closure.
 HOW THE KOENIGSEGG GEMERA'S
600BHP CAMLESS ENGINE WORKS
• One critical part of the Koenigsegg Gemera’s brain-scrambling
powertrain is its ‘Freevalve’ petrol engine. You might have
glossed over it while trying to compute the outputs, and they
way that engine combines with three electric motors to
produce, er, 1700bhp in all. Or in metric, 1.27 Megawatts. Or
the power draw of a couple of hundred houses cooking dinner.

• Christian von Koenigsegg, though, will talk for hours about this
engine. He’s so affectionate about the thing he’s got a nickname
rather than the usual dreary car-business habit of codenames.
This, then, is the Tiny Friendly Giant.
Christian von Koenigsegg, though, will talk for hours about this engine. He’s so affectionate about the thing he’s got a nickname rather
than the usual dreary car-business habit of codenames. This, then, is the Tiny Friendly Giant.
Giant because 600bhp. Tiny because it’s just two litres and three cylinders. Maybe two litres isn’t that tiny in displacement (though CvK’s
cars have mostly had big V8s) but it’s physically very small and easy to package. It has just the three cylinders, and no overhead
camshaft casings, and no camshaft drive on the front.
Because no camshafts at all.
Now you see what a revolutionary engine this is. By doing away with the camshaft and replacing it with a compact actuator above each
tappet, the Freevalve system allows each valve to be individually controlled. They can be lifted as much or as little as the engine
management dictates, for as long or as little as required, as early or as late in the cycle as required. Or not at all. And each can act
differently from its neighbour.
Let’s rewind. Variable valve control has been a dream of engine designers for just ever. For efficient light-load running you want small
openings, but for power you need them to open long and deep. That’s why Honda invented VTEC and Mitsubishi MIVEC, which switch
between two cam profiles to do those two states, but nothing in between. Most modern engines use twisting cam drive pulleys to open
and close the valves earlier or later to help emissions. BMW Valvetronic varies the opening profile by inserting an extra lever between the
cam and the valve. So, even more flexibly, does Fiat/Alfa’s MultiAir II system, now also licenced to JLR for its Ingenium engine family.
But they all still have camshafts, and all still have limits. The Freevalve engine doesn’t. “Each valve can be held at a certain position, or
not lifted, or fully opened and held there as well,” says Christian von Koenigsegg. “And individually of one another. And timing-wise,
completely individually too.”
 ADVANTAGES
• • Each cylinder in the Freevalve has one port for each valve, and they’re actually slightly differently shaped
across the pair. That means that during light-load times when the cylinder is operated with just one valve, the
corresponding port is shaped for ideal tumble and swirl. Together with the faster airflow past a single partially-
opened valve, that all helps improve fuel-air mixing and efficiency when the engine isn’t working hard.
• • On the exhaust side, one port from each cylinder feeds one of the engine’s turbos while the other feeds the
other turbo. At low rpm only one valve from each cylinder opens, sending air through a narrow port that
speeds up the gas flow, helping the first blower to spool up fast. Then the second set of valves comes into
use, feeding the high-power turbo through broader ports and achieving immense output.
• • In a single-turbo test engine, Freevalve has sent one set of ports to bypass the turbo altogether. This means
no need for a wastegate. When pressure rises to the desired level in the turbo, the engine emphasises the
valve that bypasses the blower.
• • Bypassing the turbo also helps get the catalyst rapidly hot from a cold start. That’s critical to emissions
because it’s the time when petrol engines’ exhaust are at by far their most toxic.
• Also for cold start, the engine can run just one cylinder at
higher load, so it warms faster and heats the cat before
the other cylinders are brought into play. It’s also possible
to pump the engine without ignition for a couple of
seconds, heating up the cylinders by compression alone.

• The engine allows for high compression ratio because if

there’s any danger of knocking it can run in the Atkinson
cycle, reducing intake valve opening times to cut the
amount of air in the cylinder during compression. High
compression is good for efficiency. It incidentally allows an
engine to change its map, to be optimised for high-octane
bioethanol as well as for petrol.
• • Early exhaust valve closing recirculates exhaust into a cylinder,
helping to cool the gas. That reduces the NOx that’s normally formed at
high temperatures. Other variably-timed engines do this, but not
so flexibly.
• • By setting the two intake valves out of phase, it’s claimed to be able to
use intake resonance at a wider range of rpm too.
• • Low-rev torque gets a massive potential boost (up to 45 per cent in a
test engine) because the turbo is more available, as well as because
the intake resonance is better. With much more finessed control of
combustion, the system can better control the dynamic compression,
and allow more boost before knock.
• • High-rev maximum power goes up by a similar percentage, because
the valve profile is optimised for that too – even more than the lumpy
cam profile of a race engine.
• • The system also allows for improving economy at light-load occasions
by shutting down individual cylinders by holding the valves closed and
shutting off the fuel supply. (Mind you, that particular feature is
increasingly common in other engines.)
• Those individual valve actuators, four of them per cylinder, are doubtless
extremely expensive. But partially offsetting that expense, a Freevalve
engine saves many other systems. There’s no cam belt or chain. No
camshaft pulley variators. No throttle. No wastegate. No need for
variable-geometry turbo. No need for a pre-cat for cold start. No external
exhaust-gas recirculation system. No expensive direct-injection system;
it’s a cheaper port-injection design. No throttle means an extra dose of
efficiency – a throttle butterfly causes drag on the incoming air, which
wastes energy.
• It’s at first surprising that this amazingly flexible engine appears in the
Gemera, a hybrid. Most hybrids use their electric motors to help a petrol
engine operate in its most efficient rev-and-throttle range. Why use an
engine with a wide rev range in a hybrid?
• The answer is that the Gemera also has Koenigsegg’s Direct Drive
system, effectively a single gear ratio (albeit with a torque converter for
low speeds). So the engine needs to work well across a far wider rpm
range than in any other hybrid.
• Plus it has advantages in engine response, package size, power density, and emissions
when the engine starts after the plug-in hybrid electric range is depleted.
• But there’s yet another reason to use it here. The Gemera acts as a super-high profile
advert for the technology.
• Freevalve is a sister company to the actual Koenigsegg hypercar company. It employs
about 20 people and lives in the same office building as the hypercar factory HQ in
southern Sweden.
• Christian von Koenigsegg is himself the chair and CEO. The Freevalve company’s mission
is to develop and sell the Freevalve technology to other car-companies. Although none is
on the market yet. The idea works for diesels, too, by the way, and it looks like the first
application in larger numbers will be a heavy truck engine.
 THE OVERALL ADVANTAGES
ARE :
1. Each valve independent control for lift timing and duration.
2. For rpm :

3. Weight reduction because of no cylinder head , camshaft , valve timing chain

4. Easily switches cylinders
5. Can eliminate throttle body
6. Increase of rpm , torque, power , efficiency
 EMISSIONS
• Camless engines are able to produce less emissions than their equivalent
camshaft counterparts because they are able to more precisely control the
combustion procedure, allowing for more complete combustion of all
hydrocarbons. The computer is able to sense when not all of the fuel is being
consumed and immediately relax valve timings to supply less fuel to a cylinder.
The ECU can constantly adjust valve timing, height and fuel/air mixtures to
optimize efficiency for a given RPM/torque load. It can sense when there is a
high amount of NOx and SOx (Sulfur oxide) emission and change the timing to
make the exhaust gas hotter or cooler. Since the engine is run electronically and
not mechanically, camless engines can be updated to meet new emission
regulations without mechanical modifications.
 WHAT CAN GO WRONG?

• Why use a combined pneumatic/hydraulic damping spring?

• From the limited amount of technical information that is available, it appears that the combined
pneumatic/hydraulic pressure also controls or determines the height of the valve lift, which implies that
by varying the combined pneumatic/hydraulic pressure, valve lift can be controlled independently of the
valve duration and timing.  
• However, since air pressure varies with both density and temperature, there would have to be a way to
keep at least the temperature of the compressed air constant, in addition to ensuring a reliable source
of compressed air. As experienced technicians, we all know that air compressors in cars are not
reliable, with those that supply air suspension systems with compressed air being a good example.
Moreover, adding two air lines to each valve on say, a V8 engine, and ensuring that all attachment
points are leak proof is adding a layer of complexity and potential unreliability that might well make
maintaining these engines a nightmare.
• Where will the pressurised oil come from?     
• If the damping springs in the valves depend on pressurised engine oil to function properly, what will happen during
start-up, and especially at low ambient temperatures, when there is no pressurised oil available? Delivering cold, high-
viscosity oil to each valve actuator through a network of small-bore lines could take several seconds, which means that
during this time, the valve damping mechanism will not be available, or its effectiveness may be severely reduced.  
• Using increased air pressure alone during this time might be an option, but since the compressibility of atmospheric air
is extremely high, and that it takes time to build pressure, this might cause valve chatter that could cause damage to
the valves and valve seats.
• Moreover, poor maintenance and lack of regular servicing in the real world could cause blockages or restrictions in the
valves’ oil supply circuit(s), which will almost certainly cause rough running, if not misfires, since the valves on an
affected cylinder may not open/close uniformly or completely. Unless the ECU can disable the valve in which the
blockage has occurred, along with the fuel injector on that cylinder, damage to the catalytic converter will almost
certainly result if the misfire is allowed to persist.
• A possible option might be to supply all the valves with oil from two sealed systems that are separate from the engine
lubrication circuit (one for the inlet valves, and one for the exhaust valves), that could be independently pressurised
with a piston, much like how an ABS pump creates pressure in a brake circuit by altering the volume in the circuit. An
added advantage to this would be the fact that since the system is sealed any change in the oil pressure in a given
system would affect all valves in that system equally, thus ensuring that all cylinders respond uniformly when an aspect
of the valve timing is adjusted.  
• How reliable will the valve control solenoids be?
• Since the valves on this engine are controlled by solenoids, it is imperative that all solenoids
react to control inputs equally if this engine is to run smoothly. As we know, no two
components can ever be identical in all respects, and in the case of the valve control
solenoids on this engine, if there are even slight differences in the resistance of the coils of
these solenoids, some valves will open/close sooner, or later than others will. In practice, this
will almost certainly affect the engines’ volumetric efficiency and hence, fuel economy.
• One way to avoid this issue is to use sensing circuits that measure the electrical resistance of
each solenoid individually, and then to use pulse width modulation strategies to ensure that
all solenoids react uniformly. However, how efficient these solenoids will be after several
years’ use remains to be seen. 
• Who will develop the engine management software?
• As a practical matter, the only thing that matches the rotational speed of the crankshaft on the
FreeValve camless engine with the valve timing is a complex piece of computer software, and
how well this software will accomplish this task is largely dependent on who will develop the
production version of it.
• As we all know, glitches, malfunctions, and programming errors are common features of
Chinese-developed engine management software, and if these occur in the ECU’s valve timing
control circuits (as this writer expects they will), camless engines the world over will almost
certainly be disabled, or at best, be put into a limp mode fairly often. Therefore, from the
perspective of the organised car repair industry, it is to be hoped that the production version of
the software is developed outside of China, and that the full programming package will be made
available to the independent repair trade.  
• Conclusion
• While camless technology represents a major advance in internal combustion engine design, it is
several years away from being market-ready, and formidable engineering challenges remain to
be solved. For instance, ensuring that valve oscillations are damped out as efficiently at first start-
up in sub-zero temperatures as they are when the engine is hot may yet turn out to be the most
difficult engineering problem to solve before this engine will be accepted by the buying public.  
• Moreover, consumer resistance to an unknown and largely untested technology may yet force the
developers of camless engine technology to either abandon the technology altogether, or to
simplify their designs to reduce the technology’s over reliance on computer software to function
at all. Nonetheless, if camless engine technology does make it to market in a few years’ time, it
won’t matter how experienced we are as technicians, since this technology will present us with
unique issues, problems, and failures that may require us all to rethink how we approach
automotive diagnostics.