Autocar reports that Audi is working on a new four-cylinder engine that features a bank of inline pistons sitting offset and parallel to the crankshaft rather than directly above it.
A patent drawing of the proposed design has been discovered that depicts its unusual design, with pistons attached to connecting rods via rocker arms that are fitted with counterbalancing weights.
According to the patent filing, “damping free inertia forces” are created, which should reduce the vibration of the inline four cylinder to the level of a six or eight cylinder engine. Autocar speculates that lobes could be added to the crankshaft that would allow the motor operate using variable compression ratios, something that would be an excellent step in development of ever more efficient internal combustion engines.
Audi and its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, are no strangers to novel engine layouts, having featured inline 5 cylinder, narrow angle V6, W12 cylinder, and even W16 engines in their cars over the years.
I'm sure it will be quite some time before this new engine design ever makes it into the market, but Audi is set to launch a new motor next year that uses electrically-driven turbochargers to reduce lag and increase performance.
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