As a work of art, solenoid engines are an impressive display of electromagnetics in action. There is limited practical use for them though, so usually they are relegated to that realm and remain display pieces. This one from [Emiel] certainly looks like a work of art, too. It has eight solenoids, mimicking the look and internal workings of a traditional V8.
There’s a lot that has to go on to coordinate this many cylinders. Like an internal combustion engine, it takes precise timing in order to make sure that the “pistons” trigger in the correct order without interfering with each other through the shared driveshaft. For that, [Emiel] built two different circuit boards, one to control the firing of each solenoid and another to give positional feedback for the shaft. That’s all put inside a CNC-machined engine block, complete with custom-built connecting rods and shafts.
If you think this looks familiar, it’s because [Emiel] has become somewhat of an expert in the solenoid engine realm. He started off with a how-to for a single piston engine, then stepped it up with a V4 design after that. That leaves us wondering how many pistons the next design will have. Perhaps a solenoid version of the Volkswagen W12?
This is a cool project, thanks for sharing.
I like that he felt comfortable doing it in his native tongue and let the translation do the work for him. I quiet like that approach. The language shouldn’t get in the way of the presentation.
small but important detail (imho): the captions are not youtube generated or translated. theyre “user supplied” in some form.
you can tell because the options are “Off, Dutch, English, Auto-translate” so either he or one of his viewers went through the video and wrote down all the text with timecodes.
Where is the power stated??
I conceived of a radial solenoid engine as a child. Glad to see it’s a real thing.
A stepper is not far off that really.
If by “not far off” you mean “it uses electromagnetism to rotate” then you’re not that far off.
Awesome, but no surprise, V8 engines always out perform 4 cylinder. They’ve been saying this for years… no replacement for displacement!
Number of cylinders does not equal displacement. And I have had a V4 that easily outperformed a V8 of equal displacement that I also had. Engineering decisions make the difference, not the number of cylinders or the displacement.
That being said, Larger displacement can give you a more powerful platform to start with, but the cylinder arrangement can have a greater impact than the actual number of cylinders.
A greater number of cylinders can give you smoother power delivery, at the cost of more difficulty in balancing.
Well if V4’s can surpass V8’s then you should prove it on the race track, there will be plenty of people who’d like to see such innovation.
Porsche 919 hybrid. Drove pretty quick ;)
I’ll best you minus one cylinder and present: the Koenigsegg Gemera.
Features a two liter, three cylinder engine producing 600 hp.
“There ain’t no substitute for cubic inches”
Yes there is, Yank. Clever European engineering.
The only replacement for cubic inches is rectangular dollars.
Why can’t I get that in my Prius?
Did you try giving it 3 bars of boost?
My stock 2019 VW GTI with 4 cylinders hits almost the exact same quarter mile, 13.9s, as my dads 1997 Z28 Camaro with a V8 when it was stock. The cars have almost the exact same curb weight. Taking inflation into account, he paid about $18k more than I did as well for the same performance.
They weren’t exactly fireballs through the 80s and 90s, some really embarrassing 80s ones with less power than my minivan in about the same weight. They stuck the Z28 badge on something with only 145HP in ’83 I think.
There’s a reason that Offenhauser engines are no longer used in the Indianapolis 500. For the same displacement, a 4 cylinder engine has a longer flame path from spark plug to the farthest edge of the cylinder than an 8 cylinder engine does. That means the trade-offs needed to prevent detonation are more disadvantageous. If a longer stroke is used to increase the volume per cylinder, maximum RPMs must be decreased and airflow through the valves is below optimum.
The Beast of Turin must have been built on the same philosophy. 28L in 4 cyclinders. Wasn’t a success, though
This motor is wired up like a 4 cylinder. He has two solenoids turning on together. What would really help is putting properly fitted oilite bushings in the crank end of the connecting rods rather than the sloppy fit they have.
And the “shocking amount of power” mentioned in the title is…? Maybe it’s mentioned in the video, but using it in the title should put it to the text, too. Or maybe it’s just a pun, but still resulting into a misleading title.
That was a play on words. Shocking, as in electricity can shock you. It’s lame, but HaD is known for it. They need those juicy clicks.
Yeah, not impressive at all. Watch it on YT and be unimpressed.
Hang on, didn’t it attain a speed record?
Super goed project, leerlingen kunnen op die manier beter de werking van een motor begrijpen. Wel een hele klus om de planen te tekenen en om de cnc te kunnen aansturen. 👍👍👍👍👍.
Ik bedoel plannen
Eddie currents must be huge in those brass cylinders.
He should be banned from hackaday immediately!!!! Just listen to what he says in the video at 9:57… XD
Best of all, it sounds like a V8 engine.
Specifically, it sounds like a Detroit Diesel 8V93 two-cycle diesel, the magnificent “Silver 93”.
For those that wonder why, it’s because the way he wired it, each cylinder is “firing” on every revolution, just like a two-cycle IC engine.
I think you mean 8V92.
VAG W12 is not as interesting as VAG R5. :)
“Shocking amount of power”… describes engine… doesn’t reveal power levels. Bad journalism!
Always cover who, what, where, when, why & how.
Oh never put in the title a question you don’t answer.
it would be interesting to compare the power efficiency of this V8 configuration with a horizontally opposed scotch yoked 8 coil design.