Electric Valves

[oldE]

Janus,

It is certainly possible. Don't discount, however, the great loads on such a valve system having to open and close through magnetic induction, reversing the direction of the device dozens of times each second, in perfect time. How big does your solenoid have to get to give you the speed & control you need. For the cost of the rare earth magnets to get the job done and possible ceramics to keep the valve weight down, you can machine and harden a lot of camshafts.
It is possible we are at a cross over point between two technologies. We won't see electro valves in production for a few years yet, until some engineer finds a way to make them faster and cheaper.
Les

[legion]

So...where can I get a Coates cylinder head for my 951?

[IROC]

F1 engines don't use air pressure to actuate the valves - they have conventional camshafts. What they do have is air cylinders that effectively act as the valve springs. I don't think current metallurgy can come up with a spring to withstand those rpms without float, etc.

Someone years ago tried using electric solenoids to operate the valves, but their response time sucked. You only have to envision the speed and rate at which valves are opening and closing in our engines to see that this would take one heck of a solenoid valve to do it electrically.

The fact remains that the conventional way of operating valves seems to work just fine.

Mike

[1967 R50/2]

Originally posted by legion
So...where can I get a Coates cylinder head for my 951?

Try contacting Coates! That sounds like an intersting project. maybe they'd be interested.

[Dixie]

Computer controlled electric valves have been bantered about for at least a decade or two.

And don't worry about loads placed on poppet valves. Think of what could be done with individually controlled rotary, or even reed, valves. Heck you don't even need a throttle-body if you add direct injection.

[Bill Verburg]

BMW had an experimental engine w/ electronically controlled valves. It didn't need a starter because the valves and injection could be sequenced in such a manner as to start it.

48vdc just like our boats

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by oldE
Also, I think it was Ford which put a head on a 4 cylinder Ranger a few years ago, in which the valves were actuated by electric solenoids. That gives you infinitely variable valve timing, but the problems with the prototype centered around accelerating the valves fast enough to get the cylinders filled and emptied on time. With big enough magnets/colis, you could do it.
Variable valve timing has developed pretty well with mechanical means, so there aren't too many applications for the electro-route, but...
The best spin off from this technology is the ability to eliminate the starter motor. The computer just checks which cylinder has passed TDC, squirts in some gas (with its high pressure direct injection), closes the valves on that one and gives it a spark. Voila! Who needs a starter?
Les

HA! I remember the Ford Ranger article in Popular Mechanics back in the 80s! Funny the stuff you hold on to eh? If I remember correctly, it had a low redline, was noisy and took a lot of juice from the alternator.

[tdatk]

Heres a diesel truck that did Pikes Peak in a camless NASA derived engine here