Five-stroke Internal Combustion Engine - yesterday, today and tomorrow

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 421; no. 4; pp. 42058 - 42070
• Main Author: Noga, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.09.2018
• Subjects: Energy recovery; Engine cylinders; Engines; Exhaust gases; Internal combustion engines; Spark ignition; Superchargers
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/421/4/042058

The article presents an overview of nowadays and historical internal combustion engines, in which additional expansion of exhaust gases in a separate cylinder was used, presently often called five-stroke engines. This operation is oriented towards maximizing the energy recovery of exhaust gases in order to increase the efficiency of an engine. Engines of this type developed at the end of the 19th century by constructors such as Gottlieb Daimler, Nicolaus Otto, Rudolf Diesel or Fernand Forest did not fully meet the hopes placed in them and the concept of additional expansion of exhaust gases was abandoned at that time. This returned in a turbocharged version at the beginning of the 21st century with engines constructed with the participation of Gerhard Schmitz. A similar engine was also built with a substantial contribution of the author of the article in 2011-2013 at the Cracow University of Technology on the basis of the existing four-cylinder spark-ignition engine. The article presents the advantages and disadvantages of a five-stroke engine and the main differences between modern solutions. The directions of development of this type of design and potential areas of its practical application were also presented.