The perfect engine would weigh nothing, develop infinite hp at any RPM and use no fuel.
I think motorcycle engines are well suited to FSAE. They weigh very little, produce good hp and have a gearbox built into the engine block.
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The perfect engine would weigh nothing, develop infinite hp at any RPM and use no fuel.
I think motorcycle engines are well suited to FSAE. They weigh very little, produce good hp and have a gearbox built into the engine block.
I agree with imajerk. The biggest challenge in FSAE is not building an engine that will make a million hp it is putting the power to the ground and making the car handel properly. The Honda F4i is the perfect motor if you ask me. Reliable, easy to modify and easy to find. As far as the V8 by UWW...good idea but you need the engine to run in order to power the car. Still...props on a good design.
~Soroosh
If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God?
Blaisé Pascal (1623-62)
Just to clarify I am a little unfamiliar with the term pulsing. Does that refer to the pulse generated by the power or combustion stroke?
Just curious engines really aren't my thing YET
Thanks Mike
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think pulsing is a byproduct of the intake strokes and the restrictor plate. The idea is that the restrictor plate can't bring in the amount of air at the same rate that the pistons draw into the cylinders. This generally occurs on engines with fewer cylinders because each gulp of air is larger than engines with more cylinders. I think this is one of the things Western Washington was going for with their V8, take smaller bites and allow the intake to keep up.
There may be more things involved such as harmonics and flow paths, but that's what I understand so far.
My idea of the perfect FSAE engine is a 600cc V6 attached with a transaxle and active differential. The whole thing would be used as a stressed member. The V6 part of it would help with restrictor plate pulsing problems and possibly flow restrictions because of lower RPM's. The transaxle part would allow for a differential that needs no adjustment.
Just a thought.
We got a few of these in at the shop yesterday. I thought some of you might like to see them.
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We're going to try to pull one apart soon. I know that they are not exactly leagal for FSAE but we have a few ideas.
James Waltman
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/
Vehicle Research Institute at
Western Washington University
i'd go with a single cylinder air cooled engine in the 500cc range - use a programmable FI computer for it and you're good to go
aluminum block, head, lightweight everything else
it might make 10 less hp than the current crop of N/A F4i motors, but it would be around half the weight when you take into account the intake, exhaust etc.
couple it to a 5 speed sequential transaxle and lay both on their sides for super low CG
Vehicle electronics leader
www.ucalgary.ca/fsae
i kinda wanted to play with a small DOHC v-twin and see if the torque it develops is better in a small car like the forumla car.
on the rotary subject, i believe Suzuki had a bike with a rotary engine back in the 70's or 80's...it was a very small production bike, but it was a smaller motor i imagine.
~Adam
Sorry the link went down on the pictures - here they are again.
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Close Up
Other Side
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James Waltman
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/
Vehicle Research Institute at
Western Washington University
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>...do you think we could finally get the air to go supersonic through the restrictor ...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
uh ... choke flow?
once it reaches sonic you have reached the limit. The only way to get more air in is to increase the inlet pressure. If only the endurance course had longer straights we could use a ram air setup.
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