Smaller/larger engines on the fly. Supercar levels of performance on an tastefully twisty back road and family diesel economy levels around town?
Through manipulating the stroke of each cylinder, making an engine’s displacement vary from higher to lower or vice versa is possible. Of course, some clever engineering and simple trail and error would be required to ensure that it won’t break down every few trips.
A recent find within the filings of Japan’s patent office database reveals that Honda is working on just such an engine, with each cylinder allowed to vary its displacement (some cylinders more than others) depending on situational requirements for fuel economy or power output.
Currently, intelligent cylinder deactivation works in a somewhat similar manner. If a 4.0-litre V8 engine would shut down half of its cylinder banks, then it is essentially working as 2.0-litre four cylinder with the approximate fuel economy to match.
But Honda’s possible implementation works differently. First of all, it proposes the use of just three firing cylinders with every one of them firing at all times. No complete deactivations here. The Japanese automaker’s filings detail how the idea could also work with larger, more cylinder-abundant engines – inline fours and V6s etc.
The most obvious reasoning behind the effort to design and manufacture such a radically different type of engine is to assume that fuel economy gains without a drop in performance was the main motive. The potential does seem huge, supercar levels of performance on a tastefully twisty back road and family diesel economy levels around town.
Honda’s filings have not revealed their intentions or level of commitment, but it’s also important to note that there’s also a good chance that the engine will not even make it past the development stage despite the patent filing.
