Actually a steel piston allows the pin bore to sit higher in the piston allowing for either a longer rod (therefore lower side loads) or a shorter deck. The other advantage is that the skirt overall size can be reduced, further decreasing friction. The contact patch is arguably easier to optimize.glenntws wrote:The U-shaped crank Pins increase the bearing area which in turn makes the cranktrain safer for higher loads. Also, the oil naturally gets pushed more outwards in higher rpms which Supports the lubrication in the complete bearing area.wuzak wrote:Can I ask, why U-shaped crank pins?glenntws wrote:Like I said before, I think there is no way that they use forked rods. However, since this rumor goes around again and again, I think I found a solution which (I think atleast) is comparable to the one from Honda.
Was about two hours of work in Inventor. Nothing perfect, just made up fast and simple models. Two little simulations give a safety factor of 1.4 at 350bar peak cylinder pressure. I'm sure that, if this model would get perfectionated, they could really have two banks without cylinder offset without using these forked rods no one wants
The view from top:
http://fs5.directupload.net/images/170216/3ccxz42y.jpg
The crankshaft with U-shaped crankpins:
http://fs5.directupload.net/images/170216/54sejwhb.jpg
Also, I'm right now working on a little model of the cylinder head which implements the idea I gave yesterday with the combustion priciple. Maybe I can also realize some little CFD-Simulations, which could give a further hint how things look like in reality.
In your analysis, did you include piston and rod accelerations, which must be significant at 10,000rpm+?
My first thought is that arrangement would induce a side load on the piston to compensate for the moment caused by having the support (the bearing) offset from the load (combustion forces and piston loads).
Accelerations are not included, but I think they are not a big Problem. What I do think, is that the side load on the piston is fairly high at these rpms, so i think that a lower side support would be necessary (like you find it in many street vehicles).
Then again, it's pretty sure that Honda (like all other manufacutrers) uses steel as a material for the piston. From my experience, I would go for steel at everything higher than 20MPa Peak cylinder pressure. Using steel also dramatically increases the possible side load. I will make some screenshots of the simulations later.
That being said, i doubt all manufacturers use steel pistons.