Qoros, a budding Chinese automaker, has recently teamed up with Koenigsegg in its demonstration of a camless engine. Instead of utilizing a conventional camshaft to control an engine’s valves, the QamFree motor utilizes electro-hydraulic-pneumatic actuators to give accurate control over each valve for more power and a 12 to 17 percent enhancement in fuel economy.
In most engines, the rotating lobes of the camshaft push rockets that open the valves and enable valve springs to shut them. Unluckily, this process entails a phase where the valves are partially open or shut, which suggests the system does not always operate at ideal efficiency.
Instead of continuing to use this technology, which Koenigsegg compares to “playing a piano with both hands tied to the opposite ends of a broomstick,” the QamFree engine enables greater control over the engine’s intake and exhaust valves thanks to electro-hydraulic-pneumatic actuators.
The engine has reportedly been developed along with FreeValve AB, one of Koenigsegg’s sister companies. FreeValve claims that the technology cuts fuel consumption by 12 to 17 percent when compared to a modern, direct injection engine with variable cams.
Qoros also notes that the QamFree engine enables the company to save more power from a more compact package, which must suggest punchy performance from engines that meet the increasingly stringent Euro and Beijing emissions standards.
However, the company did not disclose any details about the engine’s release or production date, though Qoros says it might be seen in future models. To date, the engine remains a concept.
