When Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg announced that it would be designing and manufacturing a radically different sort of internal combustion engine without camshafts, the world was understandably a little skeptical.
But now the technology, developed under Koenigsegg sister company and research firm FreeValve AB, has seemed to matured enough to permit full scale production. Something past endeavours into camless engines by everyone from BMW to Renault to Ford have not been able to accomplish.
The technology is being implemented into a petrol engine that the Swedish firm is dubbing QamFree, which has electronically-controlled pneumatic-hydraulic actuators that control valve operation, a process that lets air in out of the combustion chambers and is typically enabled by the rotational camshaft.
By having them electronically actuated, the combustion process - valve duration and lift - can be more precisely controlled. This, in turn, enables the engine to run at higher tolerances, allowing higher efficiency and greater power.
Their first engine that will kick off the QamFree range is a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder that is tuned to produce 171kW and 320Nm of torque, much higher than an equivalent modern petrol motor of comparable displacement without the need for forced induction, all the while being 15 percent more fuel efficient.
And because of the lower component count, which also includes the omission of the throttle body, timing gears and chains, wastegate, and a direct fuel injection system, the QamFree engine is also cheaper to build as well as more compact than a conventional engine.
Chinese automaker Qoros will be the FreeValve’s inaugural customer to use their engines in a full production model. While that car hasn’t been detailed yet, it should land in showrooms within the next two years, setting in motion a possible wider adoption of the camless engine by other manufacturers.
Even more interesting is the prospect of an as-yet announced Koenigsegg supercar powered by an engine using FreeValve’s camless tech, further showing what the upper limits of this technology are.
