A SEMINAR

ON
PIEZOELECTRIC
CONTROLLED HYDRAULIC
ACTUATED
CAMLESS ENGINE

HISTORY
The idea of camless engine had its origin as early as
1899,when designs of variable valve timing surfaced.
Originally, camless engine were developed for use as
a design aide to automotive engine manufacturers .
Later their design have taken on a variety of
forms,from electro pneumatic to electro hydraulic
based on the use of electric solenoid.
There have been a few attempts at developing
production models of camless engine,most notably by
FORD.
The UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA,department of
mechanical engineering was approached in 2000 to
consider the development of camless engine with use
of piezoelectric actuator.

EXISTING TECHNOLOGY
In a conventional engine the camshaft has been the
primary means of controlling the valve actuation and
timimg, and therefore, influencing the overall
performance of the vehicle.
Since the timing of the engine is dependent on the
shape of the cam lobes and the rotational velocity of
the camshaft,engineers must make decisions early in
the automobile development process.
Maximum efficiency and max power require unique
timing characteristics,the cam design must compromise
between the two extremes.

CAMLESS ENGINE
In a camless engine the conventional devices I.e cam,
camshaft,rocker arm,push rod etc are replaced by a
valve actuating device attached to the engine valves.
PIEZOELECTRIC CONTROLLED HYDRAULIC ACTUATOR: Different parts:

HYDRAULIC AMPLIFIER
SPOOL VALVE
PIEZOELECTRIC STACKS
CONTROL SYSTEM

HYDRAULIC AMPLIFIER
The major components that makeup the
camless engine actuator are two bore
plates,one cylinder block and one piston.
The cylinder incorporates two ports namely A
and B through which hydraulic fluid enters or
leaves the cylinder.
The minimum distance between the ports is
10mm.

PISTON-CYLINDER
ARRANGEMENT

HYDRAULIC ACTUATOR AND

MOUNTING BLOCK ASSEMBLY

FEW DESIGN CONSIDERATION

The distance between ports A and B centerlines is
17.5 and distance between the closest edges is
10mm.
The distance between the ports should
accommodate the proper translation with a
reasonably sized piston without covering the port.
The piston surface area with the cylinder should be
small to reduce the friction between the surfaces.
The piston itself must be of reasonable length so
that it maintains its orientation while translating.A
piston that is too short has a greater chance of
tilting slightly and becoming jammed within the
cylinder bore.

SPOOL VALVE
A spool valve is connected to the hydraulic
actuator. The position of the spool valve
determines the flow of fluid into the cylinder.
Hydraulic fluid is pumped through a ball valve
and into the side port of cylinder block.This
connection is directly routed to the P port of
the spool valve.From there, the position of the
spool valve determines where the pressurized
fluid goes.

HYDRAULIC AMPLIFIERSPOOL VALVE UP

HYDRAULIC AMPLIFIERSPOOL VALVE DOWN

PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATOR
A piezoelectric material generates a charge when
it is subjected to an input mechanical stress. In
the converse effect,the elements develops an
output mechanical deformation when an electric
field is applied.
Piezoelectric is selected as the prime material for
actuator for several reasons: These materials have high power density.
These materials response well at high frequency,
Piezoelectric actuators are available in geometries
that are readily integrated in other devices.

 Two piezoelectric stacks are used in case of

PZT actuator.
There stacks are mounted on a hinged lever
arrangement at a point in the ratio of 5:1.
The expansion and contraction of PZT stack
causes up and down movement of lever.
As the expansion of PZT due to application of
electric current is very less it cant move spool
valves directly.Hence 5:1 lever is used to
amplify the displacement.

CONTROL SYSTEM
The control of camless engine system is facilitated
by a series of electrical components that
ultimately supply a variable voltage to
piezoelectric stacks.
From various calculation it was calculated that the
voltage required to actuate stack is 24V DC.
Through various testing a conversion factor is
calculated i.e 1V DC output to 8V AC input.
Based on above conversion, the required input of
192V AC should provide 24V DC output.
The electronic wiring advances from an outlet at
122V AC to a variable output transformer to
create 92V AC.

 This 92V AC is doubled plus a small offset through a

step up transformer to give 192V AC.
The resulting 192V AC supplies the AC to DC converter
in the HV amplifier box.
The converter supplies 24V DC to the splitter/amplifier.
The splitter outputs two voltage signal based on a
separate input voltage wave.One output signal is 0200V DC and other is 200-0V DC.
These two variable DC signals are based on a separate
voltage input supplied by a function generator.

COMPLETE SYSTEM
OVERVIEW AND OPERATION

 In the design the two piezoelectric stacks sit on either side of the
lever fulcrum The expansion of one of the stacks causes the
lever to move.
For example,if the left piezoelectric stack expands,the lever
moves down. Expansion of right PZT stack causes the lever to
move up. The movement of the lever causes the motion of the
spool valve.

The expansion of the PZT stack is generated by the input

voltage from the HV amplifier box.BY this arrangement the two
stacks never expands at the same time.

 The cycling of the expansion from one stack to

the other allows the lever to oscillate up and
down.
The oscillation of spool valve directs the
hydraulic flow path.Based on the spools
position,the fluid can either divert to the top of
the adjacent piston or the bottom.
This pressurization causes the piston to
displace down or up,respectively.
This leads to the opening or closing of engine
valve.

ADVANTAGES
Variable valve timing is achieved by varying the
input voltage signal to the PZT stack.This will
provide tremendous improvement to the next
generation of IC engine.
It provides high power.
Higher fuel efficiency.
Fewer emission.
Main benefit of linear actuator over cam is that the
timing,opening and closing of valve,open length
could be managed by the on board computer while
running the vehicle.
No power is needed from crank shaft to rotate
cam,so all the power developed in crank shaft is
utilized to run the engine.

LIMITATIONS

Biggest limitation is reliability.

Technical challenges have kept camless technology off
the market,such as precisely opening and closing the
valves electronically,packaging the system to fit inside
the engine and developing the software to operate the
valves.
It is costlier than cam mechanism.
With the camless system there is a strong need for the
auto maker to change the architecture of the
engine.which is again very costly and time consuming.
A slight computer glitch or electronics problem can
instantly destroy some engine parts and cause heavy
loss.

THANK YOU
BIBLIOGRAPHY:WIKIPEDIA.COM
GOOGLE.COM

BY:-

PRESENTED

Chitralekha Mishra