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Engine balance refers to how the inertial forces produced by moving parts in an internal combustion engine or steam engine are neutralised with counterweights and balance shafts, to prevent unpleasant and potentially damaging vibration. The strongest inertial forces occur at crankshaft speed (first-order forces) and balance is mandatory, while ...
Balance shafts are used in piston engines to reduce vibration by cancelling out unbalanced dynamic forces. The counter balance shafts have eccentric weights and rotate in the opposite direction to each other, which generates a net vertical force. The balance shaft was invented and patented by British engineer Frederick W. Lanchester in 1907.
The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balance, resulting in fewer vibrations than other designs of six or fewer cylinders.
The flywheel may also perform a part of the balancing of the system and so by itself be out of balance, although most engines will use a neutral balance for the flywheel, enabling it to be balanced in a separate operation. The flywheel is also used as a mounting for the clutch or a torque converter in most automotive applications.
A boxer-style flat-six engine is able to have perfect primary and secondary balance.As in other six-cylinder engines, the overlapping of the power strokes of the different cylinders (with a firing interval of 120 degrees in a four-stroke engine) reduces the pulsating of the power delivery relative to that of similar engines with fewer cylinders.
The straight-eight engine or inline-eight engine (often abbreviated as I8) is an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine with all eight cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase. The type has been produced in side-valve , IOE , overhead-valve , sleeve-valve , and overhead-cam configurations.
An imperfect primary balance is created in a 270 degree straight-twin engine, due to a combination of free force and rocking couple; a balance shaft is often used to compensate for this. The secondary balance of a 270 degree engine is perfect; however, the configuration does result in an unbalanced rocking couple.
The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, each pair of opposed pistons moves inwards and outwards at the same time. A boxer-four engine has perfect primary and secondary balance, however, the two cylinder heads means the design is more expensive to produce than a straight-four engine. There is a minor, secondary ...