Rotating Cylinder Valve (RCV) engine unveiled

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Rotating Cylinder Valve (RCV) engine unveiled

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February 2, 2006 UK-based RCV Engines is best known globally for its range of model aircraft engines but the unveiling yesterday of a prototype 125cc Rotating Cylinder Valve (RCV) scooter engine could put it on the map in a far more significant way. The RCV engine is ideally suited to sub-250cc applications such as motorcycles, scooters and power tools where it offers 100PS/litre performance and manufacturing costs akin to those of a two-stroke, with the emission levels and fuel consumption of a four-stroke. International demand for small motorcycle engines is massive with the Chinese, Indian and Indonesian markets accounting for 22 million small capacity engines annually – traditionally, these have been two-stroke engines but with the advent of exhaust emission regulations the bulk of production is now represented by larger, more expensive and less powerful 4-strokes. The RCV engine offers a particularly attractive solution for this large and growing market sector and also has application in chain saws, leaf blowers, strimmers and the emerging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market. Better still, RCV engines run well on alternative fuels such as kerosene and bio-fuels and significant further potential remains for this engine concept in areas such as variable valve timing, variable compression ratio and supercharging which could improve already impressive performance to new heights.

RCV Engines Ltd was formed with the objective of developing and exploiting its patented Rotating Cylinder Valve (RCV) engine technology. Based at its well-equipped R&D centre and manufacturing facility at Wimborne, UK, the company has already proven this new concept on a range of production model aircraft engines and other small engine applications. Current projects range in size up to a 125cc engine which has been developed for Taiwanese company Motive Power Industry (MPI).

Commenting the announcement of the new 125cc RCV engine which the company has developed for MPI, RCV Engines Ltd managing director, Eric Hill said:

"RCV technology is a highly significant innovation which aims to pave the way for a new generation of small, premium performance, more fuel-efficient and low emissions engines across a range of application sectors. Working with our development partners and licensees throughout the world, we aim to bring this technology to market in the form of advanced new products which enable consumers to benefit from its inherent advantages."

How the RCV engine concept works

The ability of a reciprocating internal combustion engine to empty and fill its cylinder efficiently is fundamental to its successful operation. The RCV engine shares the same induction, compression, power and exhaust strokes as found in a conventional four-stroke engine, but its principal difference lies in the manner in which intake air and exhaust gases are respectively induced into and expelled from the cylinder. In a conventional engine gasses enter and leave the cylinder via poppet valves in the cylinder head which are operated via a mechanical valve train. While most of the major components of an RCV engine are identical to those of a conventional four stroke, the principal difference lies in the cylinder. This is mounted on bearings and rotates at exactly half of the crankshaft rotational speed and is driven from the crankshaft either via a gear train or toothed belt drive system similar to those used on other automotive engines. A single large cross-sectional area port and combustion chamber is combined within the cylinder, the entrance to which forms the rotating cylindrical valve together with the openings of the external intake and exhaust ports.

While the large valve area offered by this configuration is similar to that of the high performance sleeve-valve aircraft engines of previous decades, RCV technology overcomes the durability and cost limitations of its forerunners and offers a simple to manufacture, high performance and low emissions alternative to the conventional two- and four-stroke engine.

RCV Engines Ltd is actively pursuing development programmes with a number of clients, aiming to bring the advantages of its rotating cylinder valve engine technology to a wide range of consumer products powered by small internal combustion engines. The company’s strategy is in particular focused on the development of products of up to 250cc capacity in two market sectors: small motorcycles and scooters, and ‘forest and garden’ power tools such as chain saws and strimmers.

Despite the comparatively small size and low cost of individual products, the market for handheld forest and garden products is significant due to its sheer scale. In the United States alone, over 1.5 million leaf blowers, nearly three million chainsaws and six million strimmers/brushcutters were sold in 2004. In this growing and highly cost-driven market, roughly two thirds of deliveries are represented by consumer products and the balance, by heavy-duty equipment for the commercial market.

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