V engine
Encyclopedia
A V engine, or Vee engine is a common configuration
Engine configuration
Engine configuration is an engineering term for the layout of the major components of a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine. These components are the cylinders and crankshafts in particular but also, sometimes, the camshaft....

 for an internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...

. The cylinders
Cylinder (engine)
A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...

 and piston
Piston
A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from...

s are aligned, in two separate planes or 'banks', so that they appear to be in a "V" when viewed along the axis of the crankshaft
Crankshaft
The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...

. The Vee configuration generally reduces the overall engine length, height and weight compared to an equivalent inline
Straight engine
Usually found in four- and six-cylinder configurations, the straight engine, or inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with all cylinders aligned in one row, with no offset...

 configuration.

In 1896, Karl Benz
Karl Benz
Karl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...

 patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

ed his design for the first internal combustion engine with horizontally opposed pistons. Usually, each pair of corresponding pistons from each bank of cylinders
Cylinder bank
Internal combustion piston engines are usually arranged so that the cylinders are in lines parallel to the crankshaft. Where they are in a single line, this is referred to as an inline or straight engine....

 share one crank pin
Crank pin
In a reciprocating engine, the crankpins, also known as crank journals are the journals of the big end bearings, at the ends of the connecting rods opposite to the pistons....

 on the crankshaft, either by master/slave rods or by two ordinary connecting rod
Connecting rod
In a reciprocating piston engine, the connecting rod or conrod connects the piston to the crank or crankshaft. Together with the crank, they form a simple mechanism that converts linear motion into rotating motion....

s side by side. Some authorities even regard this as a distinguishing feature of a true Vee engine, and for example divide flat engine
Flat engine
A flat engine is an internal combustion engine with multiple pistons that move in a horizontal plane. Typically, the layout has cylinders arranged in two banks on either side of a single crankshaft and is sometimes known as the boxer, or horizontally opposed engine. The concept was patented in 1896...

s into boxer engines which do not share crank pins in this way, and 180° engines which do. On the other hand, some important V-twin engine designs have two-pin cranks. However, in Germany, these engines are all identified as boxermotors.

Various cylinder bank angles of Vee are used in different engines; depending on the number of cylinders, there may be angles that work better than others for stability. Very narrow angles of Vee combine some of the advantages of the Vee engine and the straight engine
Straight engine
Usually found in four- and six-cylinder configurations, the straight engine, or inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with all cylinders aligned in one row, with no offset...

 (primarily in the form of compactness) as well as disadvantages; the concept is an old one pioneered by Lancia
Lancia
Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Some modern Lancias are seen as presenting a more...

, but recently reworked by Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturing group. , Volkswagen was ranked as the world’s third largest motor vehicle manufacturer and Europe's largest....

.

Some Vee configurations are well-balanced
Engine balance
Engine balance is the design, construction and tuning of an engine to run smoothly. Improving engine balance reduces vibration and other stresses and can improve the overall performance, efficiency, cost of ownership and reliability of the engine, as well as reducing the stress on other machinery...

 and smooth, while others are less smoothly running than their equivalent straight counterparts. With an optimal angle, V16s
V16 engine
A V16 engine is a V engine with 16 cylinders. Engines of this number of cylinders are uncommon in automotive use.A V16 engine is perfectly balanced regardless of the V angle without requiring counter-rotating balancing shafts which are necessary to balance Straight-4 and odd number of cylinder...

 have even firing order
Firing order
The firing order is the sequence of power delivery of each cylinder in a multi-cylinder reciprocating engine.This is achieved by sparking of the spark plugs in a gasoline engine in the correct order, or by the sequence of fuel injection in a Diesel engine...

 and exceptional balance. The V10
V10 engine
A V10 engine is a V engine with 10 cylinders in two banks of five with a distinct exhaust note.- Mechanics :The V10 is essentially the result of mating two even-firing straight-5 engines together. The straight-5 engine shows first and second order rocking motion...

 and crossplane
Crossplane
The crossplane or cross-plane is a crankshaft design for V8 engines with a 90° angle between the cylinder banks.The crossplane crankshaft has four crankpins, each offset at 90° from the adjacent crankpins...

 V8 engine
V8 engine
A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....

 can be balanced with counterweights on the crankshaft. V12s
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....

, being in effect two straight-6
Straight-6
The straight-six engine or inline-six engine is a six-cylinder internal combustion engine with all six cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase...

 engines married together, always have even firing and exceptional balance regardless of angle. Others, such as the V2
V-twin
A V-twin engine is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration.- Crankshaft configuration :Most V-twin engines have a single crankpin, which is shared by both connecting rods...

, V4
V4 engine
A V4 engine is a V form engine with four cylinders and three main bearings.-Automobile use:Lancia produced several narrow-angle V4 engines from the 1920s through 1960s for cars like the Lambda, Augusta, Artena, Aprilia, Ardea, Appia, and Fulvia....

, V6
V6 engine
A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at either a right angle or an acute angle to each other, with all six pistons driving a common crankshaft...

, flatplane V8, and V10, show increased vibration and generally require balance shaft
Balance shaft
In piston engine engineering, a balance shaft is an eccentric weighted shaft which offsets vibrations in engine designs that are not inherently balanced...

s.

Certain types of Vee engine have been built as inverted engines, most commonly for aircraft. Advantages include better visibility in a single-engined airplane, and lower centre of gravity. Examples include World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 German Daimler-Benz DB 601
Daimler-Benz DB 601
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Mankau, Heinz and Peter Petrick. Messerschmitt Bf 110, Me 210, Me 410. Raumfahrt, Germany: Aviatic Verlag, 2001. ISBN 3-92550-562-8.* Neil Gregor Daimler-Benz in the Third Reich. Yale University Press, 1998-External links:...

 and Jumo
Jumo
Jumo is a social network service and website launched on November 30, 2010, to index charities so that people can find and evaluate them. Jumo was founded by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. On August 17, 2011 he announced Jumo was merging with the GOOD organization, providing a social engagement...

 engines.

It is common practice for Vee engines to be described with "V#" notation, where # is how many cylinders it has:
  • V-twin
    V-twin
    A V-twin engine is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration.- Crankshaft configuration :Most V-twin engines have a single crankpin, which is shared by both connecting rods...

  • V3
    V3 engine
    The V3 engine is a V engine with three cylinders. A V engine with the usual two banks, one bank contains two cylinders, the other only one. A rare configuration, it has only been used for two-stroke racing motorcycles.The first example was by DKW in the 1960s....

  • V4
    V4 engine
    A V4 engine is a V form engine with four cylinders and three main bearings.-Automobile use:Lancia produced several narrow-angle V4 engines from the 1920s through 1960s for cars like the Lambda, Augusta, Artena, Aprilia, Ardea, Appia, and Fulvia....

  • V5
    V5 engine
    The V5 engine is a V form engine with five cylinders.- Volkswagen :Volkswagen introduced the first V5 engine, though this engine is not a true twin-bank V engine, but rather a VR5, or staggered bank straight-5 engine, and therefore not a true V5. It does not have one cylinder bank with 2 cylinders...

  • V6
    V6 engine
    A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at either a right angle or an acute angle to each other, with all six pistons driving a common crankshaft...

  • V8
    V8 engine
    A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....

  • V10
    V10 engine
    A V10 engine is a V engine with 10 cylinders in two banks of five with a distinct exhaust note.- Mechanics :The V10 is essentially the result of mating two even-firing straight-5 engines together. The straight-5 engine shows first and second order rocking motion...

  • V12
    V12 engine
    A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....

  • V14
    V14 engine
    A V14 engine is a V engine with 14 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of seven cylinders. A relatively uncommon cylinder configuration, the V14 layout has been used on large medium-speed diesel engines used for power generation and marine propulsion.- Marine use :MAN B&W offers V14...

  • V16
    V16 engine
    A V16 engine is a V engine with 16 cylinders. Engines of this number of cylinders are uncommon in automotive use.A V16 engine is perfectly balanced regardless of the V angle without requiring counter-rotating balancing shafts which are necessary to balance Straight-4 and odd number of cylinder...

  • V18
    V18 engine
    A V18 engine is a V engine with 18 cylinders. A rare configuration not used in automobiles, large V18 diesel engines have seen limited use in mining, electricity generation, rail transport, and marine propulsion.- Examples of V18 engines :...

  • V20
    V20 engine
    A V20 engine is a V engine with 20 cylinders.Engines of this number of cylinders are not common in automobiles, but this configuration is used in some large diesel engines....

  • V24
    V24 engine
    A V24 engine is a V engine with 24 cylinders, suitable only for very large trucks or locomotives.A very large V24, the AS.6, engine was built by Fiat in the early 1930s as a powerplant for the competition aeroplane Macchi M.C.72...


See also

  • Straight engine
    Straight engine
    Usually found in four- and six-cylinder configurations, the straight engine, or inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with all cylinders aligned in one row, with no offset...

  • Flat engine
    Flat engine
    A flat engine is an internal combustion engine with multiple pistons that move in a horizontal plane. Typically, the layout has cylinders arranged in two banks on either side of a single crankshaft and is sometimes known as the boxer, or horizontally opposed engine. The concept was patented in 1896...

  • U engine
    U engine
    A U engine is a piston engine made up of two separate straight engines joined by gears or chains. It is similar to the H engine which couples two flat engines...

  • H engine
    H engine
    An H engine is an engine configuration in which the cylinders are aligned so that if viewed from the front, they appear to be in a vertical or horizontal letter H....

  • W engine
    W engine
    A W engine is a type of reciprocating engine arranged with its cylinders in a configuration in which the cylinder banks resemble the letter W, in the same way those of a V engine resemble the letter V....

  • X engine
    X engine
    An X engine is a piston engine comprising twinned V-block engines horizontally opposed to each other. Thus, the cylinders are arranged in four banks, driving a common crankshaft. Viewed head-on, this would appear as an X...

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