Abstract

Scotch yoke is an inversion of double slider crank chain. The scotch yoke mechanism
can be used in an engine to convert the reciprocating motion of piston into the rotary motion of
the crankshaft. The engine thus build is called as a Scotch Yoke Technology Engine or simply a
‘SYTech Engine’.
Added to their cost effectiveness and simplicity, the SYTech engines have many
advantages. Their width can be kept small. The short engine block and low engine height
provide the greatest freedom for the design of drag efficient bonnet styling and effective crust
zones, even in small vehicles. The absence of unbalanced inertia forces and moments with
SYTech engines reduces the need for expensive measures to reduce cabin noise and vibrations.
SYTech engines run more quietly and smoothly for mainly three reasons: firstly, the
engines are perfectly balanced with no free inertia forces or moments, secondly, the mechanical
piston noise is very low and finally, the peak to peak variation of the output torque are much
lower under all important operating conditions.
NOx is the exhaust gas component, which is most difficult to reduce. The sinusoidal
motion of SYTech engine piston can provide up to 30% NOx reduction with no increase in
specific fuel consumption.
SYTech crank mechanism can be applied to diesel and S.I., two stroke and four stroke
engines.
The SYTech Engine is tested in ‘dynamometer durability test’ by Collins Motor
Corporation (CMC), Melbourne, Australia. The engine is also tested in the Australian concept
family car ‘aXcessaustralia II’ during many kilometers of road running under day-to-day traffic
conditions.

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The Scotch Yoke Mechanism:
The Scotch Yoke mechanism is an inversion of the Double slider crank chain. It can be
used for converting reciprocating motion into rotary motion. Figure 1 shows the schematic
arrangement of the mechanism.

Link3
Link2

Link1
1

Link 4 (Frame)

Fig.1 Schematic arrangement of Scotch yoke mechanism

Here, link 1 is fixed. When the link 4 (slider) reciprocates, link 2 (crank ) rotates about
B as centre.
This principle is used in an I.C. engine to convert reciprocating motion of the piston into
rotary motion of the crank. The engine is called as a scotch Yoke Technology engine or a
‘SYTech engine.’

CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF SYTECH ENGINES:

A SYTech crank mechanism replaces the arrangement of connecting roods, gudgeon pins
and pistons in conventional engines with a rigid assembly of two pistons and two connecting
rods and a bearing block (figure 2).

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 Fig.2 Fundamental components of SYTech engine mechanism

The crankpin rotates within the bearing block, which slides up and down between the
parallel surfaces formed by the bases of the two connecting rods. The crankshaft is conventional.
The piston and connecting rod assembly oscillates along the cylinder axis in a simple harmonic
or sinusoidal motion. Hence, the bearing block mounted on the crankpin traverses a circular
path around the crankshaft axis causing rotation of the crankshaft.
The bearing surfaces between the bearing block and the base of the connecting rod are
called as ‘linear slider bearings’. They operate like a combination of a hydrodynamic and a
hydrostatic bearing. The bearings are highly loaded only at times of high relative bearing speeds
(0,180, 360, 5400 crank angle). The load equals zero or is very low during the times, when the
relative motion slows down and changes direction (90, 270, 450, 630 0). Under the low speed
condition, the bearing act like hydrostatic bearings with decreasing bearing clearance, but
increasing load carrying capability. At high sliding speed, an oil wedge builds up causing the
hydrodynamic action of the bearing. As figure 3 shows, the horizontally opposed cylinder
layout ensures that the load on each linear bearing is negative for 50% of the engines operating
cycle. Negative forces open up the bearing clearance, supporting the supply of new oil into the
gap between bearing plates.

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 Fig.3 The linear bearing load and relative sliding speed at 5000 rpm
All moving components in the SYTech crank arrangement conduct either a rotational or a
perfectly sinusoidal linear motion. Hence, inertia forces of a higher order do not exist for a
symmetrical crank layout, the first order, inertia forces balance each other. For engines with
four and more cylinders, the horizontal distance between the cranks causes an inertial moment
around the vertical axis of the engine. Because this moment is of first order, it can be perfectly
balanced by balance weights, which rotate only with engine speed. Only the balance shaft,
which turns in the direction opposite to the engine revolution, has to exist physically as a
separate shaft. The balance weights rotating with the crankshaft can be directly attached to it
(figure 4)

Fig.4 Perfect balance with only one balance shaft

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SIMPLE HARMONIC PISTON MOTION:
The difference in piston motion of conventional and of SYTech engines can be described
by the following equation for piston position, speed and acceleration.

Piston position, speed and acceleration for the conventional and the SYTech engines are
identical in their first order term, which is the only term for sinusoidal piston motion. The

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higher order parts of the equations describe the more complicated motion in conventional
engines.
Figure 5 shows the different piston positions for the point of time when the combustion
has been completed. At this time, when most of the chemical energy contained in the fuel
mixture has been converted into gas pressure and temperature, the piston of the engine with
sinusoidal piston motion is, at 6000 rpm, still located 1.5 mm closer to TDC than the piston with
a conventional crank mechanism. At 1000 rpm, the difference is nearly 1mm. this means that
the conventional piston has already done more than 20% of it’s travel with less than the
theoretically available gas pressure action upon it.

Fig.5 Piston position as a function of time after TDC at 1000 and 6000 rpm
With the exception of TDC and BDC, the combustion chamber volume with sinusoidal
piston motion is smaller than the volume with a normal crankshaft and connecting rod for any
given crank angle during the whole expansion stroke. The difference in combustion chamber
volume between both crank mechanisms is shown in figure 6.

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 Fig.6 Difference in combustion chamber volume between normal and sinusoidal piston
motion
Assuming identical cylinder pressure at each piston position, which means identical
IMEP, for both engine types, the pressure curves as a function of crank position are shown in
figure 7.

Fig.7 Cylinder pressure for identical IMEP

From the figure it is clear that the peak pressure is lower in SYTech engines, but the
pressure during most of the expansion strake is higher, resulting in a higher torques output and
less peak stresses in the pistons, usually, for the same torque output, the SYTech engine needs
less fuel.

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VALVE TIMING:
The piston of an engine with sinusoidal piston motion is at every crank angle located
closer to the TDC position than the piston of a conventional engine. Only exactly at TDC and
BDC is this difference zero. The acceleration shows the biggest differences at the extreme
positions, while the differences in piston position and speed between sinusoidal and normal
piston motion are largest at around 90 0 crank angle. Therefore, valve events close to the extreme
positions are not significantly influenced by the type of crank mechanism. The differences are,
however, relatively large for the events of inlet valve closure and exhaust valve opening, which
take place further away from the extreme positions. Table 1 shows these differences for the
examples of a SYTech engine and an equivalent conventional engine. The ratio of connecting rod
length to crank radius for the conventional comparison engine is 3.49.

Table 1: Valve timing and piston motion

IVC:600 ABCD IVO:20 BTDC
EVO:500 BBDC EVC:160 ATDC
2500 Piston position Piston speed Piston accel.
rpm mm m/s m/s2
SYTech/Conventional SYTech/Conventional SYTech/Conventional
IVO -0.02/ -0.03 0.34/ 0.44 2570/ 3300
IVC -56.25/ -60.34 8.50/ 7.24 -1290/ -1650
EVO -61.60/ -64.80 -7.52/ -6.10 -1650/ -1770
EVC -1.45/ -1.86 -2.71/ -3.45 2470/ 3100

Identical geometrical compression and expansion ratios for an engine achieved when the
inlet valve closes and the exhaust valve opens at the same piston position, not at the same crank
angel. Table 2 shows the shift of the valve event angles for identical piston positions, for
example of a SYTech engine.

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 Table 2: Valve timing for identical geometrical compression and expansion ratios for
normal and for sinusoidal piston motion
Valve timing Piston position(below Valve timing
(conventional TDC) (SYTech engine)
engine) (both engine types)
IVO 20 before TDC 0.03 mm 20 before TDC
IVC 600 after BDC 60.34 mm 520 after BDC
EVO 500 before BDC 64.80 mm 430 before BDC
EVC 160 after TDC 1.86 mm 180 after TDC

A significant change is only required for the closing angle of the inlet valve and the
opening angle of the exhaust valve. The inlet valve of a SYTech engine has to close earlier, the
exhaust valve to open later

IGNITION / INJECTION TIMING:

The ignition angle or, in the case of Diesel engines, the injection timing needs
adjustment too. This is especially important at high engine speeds, when the ignition delay
requires an earlier angle for the best efficiency. If the start of the combustion is not retarded for
the sinusoidal piston motion, a higher cylinder pressure peak would occur than in a conventional
engine, because more chemical energy is converted close to the top position of the piston.

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ADVANTAGES TO APPLY A SYTECH CRANK MECHANISM:
There are several areas, where SYTech engines are superior to engines with conventional
crank mechanisms –
1. Inertia forces and moments –
Sinusoidal piston motion means sinusoidal piston speed and acceleration. As
shown in figure 8, the maximum deceleration at TDC, in the 2.2-liter SYTech engine is
around 20% lower than that in the equivalent displacement conventional engine.

Fig.8 Piston acceleration VS crank angle at 6000 rpm

From figure it is clear that conventional engines are designed to withstand very
high inertia forces around TDC with the inertia forces at BDC being much lower. In
SYTech engines, the peaks are equal at TDC and BDC. In a conventional engine with a
piston plus gudgeon pin mass of 0.5 kg, the application of sinusoidal piston motion
would reduce the peak inertia force between piston and connecting rod by more than
2000 N at 6000 rpm. The inertia forces created by the oscillating piston and connecting
rod components in an engine with sinusoidal piston motion also have a simple harmonic
form. In engines of conventional design balancing the inertia forces is always a
compromise with a few exceptions. First order influences in multicylinder engines are
usually balanced. In more sophisticated and expensive engines, second order force,
which at 6000 rpm can exceed 8000 N (fig. 9) are balanced by two balance shafts. Fourth
and higher order forces, which are still in the range of 150 to 2000 N at high engine
speeds, are usually neglected.

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 Fig.9 Inertia forces VS crank angle
In SYTech engines, a single balance shaft, running only at engine speed, can be
used to eliminate all free inertia forces and moments, 50% of the inertia force created by
the piston and connecting rod oscillation is balanced by counter weights on the
crankshaft, arranged opposite to crankpin. The other 50% is balanced by weights on the
balance shaft. Thus, the use of single balance shaft instead of two as in conventional
engines, reduce mechanical losses and noise in SYTech engines.

2. Improved Engine Torque Uniformity -

Even in perfectly balanced engines, inertia influences and the intermittent
combusting cycles cause the engine torque to be delivered with a high degree of non-
unifomity. Torque peaks occur with the firing stroke, negative peaks with the
compression stroke of each cylinder. But the arrangement in SYTech engines with two
opposing pistons being rigidly connected to each other causes the output torque to be
more uniform under all important operating conditions.

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 Fig.10 Variations in torque at part load and full load
At part load, the example in figure 10 shows that the peak to peak variations of
the engine torque are reduced by 170 Nm or 44% in the SYTech engine, while at the
same speed of 3000rpm under full load conditions, the reduction is 228 Nm at 37%. The
more uniform development of the produced torques puts less stress onto all components
of the drive train and can reduce gear rattle in the transmission. Also, it leads to a more
uniform engine speed, which has the positive side effect, that all auxiliaries are exposed
to less engine speed variations during each revolution and a harmonic balancer in the
crankshaft pulley might not be necessary to protect the belts and auxiliary components
from torsional vibrations of the crankshaft.

3. Noise and vibration -

The engine is one of the main sources of noise and vibration both within and
outside the cabin of a motor vehicle. Engine noise originates mainly from free inertia
forces and moments and their harmonics and from higher frequency combustion and
mechanical impact noise. It is transmitted into the cabin of the vehicle by air, the vehicle
structure and other components. Resonances and interferences then determine the
general noise level at low frequencies. The second order cabin noise level is often used
as a measure for the acoustical quality of a vehicle, because it is especially in 4-cylinder
cars, predominant and representative for the overall noise impression. Figure 11 shows
this noise level during ‘wide open throttle’ accelerations for cars with conventional
engines and for a car with a SYTech engine.

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 Fig.11 cabin noise during WOT accelerations in second gear

The SYTech engine showed the lowest noise level over the whole engine speed
range.
Vibration test results measured on an engine dynamometer with acceleration
sensors mounted on the generator bracket of the conventional and the SYTech engine
demonstrate the smooth operation of the SYTech engine (figure 12). The reduction in
vibration amplitudes is significant at all speeds and over the whole load range.
Acceleration m/ss

Acceleration m/ss

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Fig.12 Crankcase vibrations of SYTech and conventional engine

SYTech engines run more quietly and smoothly for mainly three reasons: firstly,
the engines are perfectly balanced with no free inertia forces or moments, secondly, the

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 mechanical piston noise is very low and finally, the peak to peak variations of the output
torque are much lower under all important operating conditions.
4. Fuel Consumption and Emissions –
Combustion simulations for Diesel as well as S.I. engines indicated that the
sinusoidal piston motion of SYTech engines has a positive influence on the level of NOx
emissions. For the comparison of the SYTech and the conventional engine, the ignition
timing was adjusted in two different ways as shown in figure 13.

Fig.13 Test results for CMC422 SYTech engine and equivalent conventional
engine
For the ‘low bsfc’ condition, a reduction in specific fuel consumption occurs over
the whole range with about the same NOx emissions under low loads and a considerable
NOx reduction at higher part load. With the setting to ‘Low NOx’ emissions levels an
average of 30% reduction of NOx emissions could be achieved. This reduction is due to
a longer well time around TDC of the pistons of SYTech engine resulting in more time
being available for the combustion.
For HC and Co, the direct influence of the type of piston motion on the emission
levels has not yet been clearly established. If a difference exists the longer dwell time
should lead to a more complete combustion, thus HC as well as co levels will show small
reductions.

5. Mechanical efficiency –

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 SYTech engines require fewer bearings than conventional engines. The additional
linear bearings are compensated by the reduced number of main and big end bearings
and by the elimination of gudgeon pins. This leads to lower overall frictional losses.
The lower piston side forces cause less friction between pistons and cylinders, which
further reduces mechanical losses of the engine. Thus, the mechanical efficiency of
SYTech engine is greater than that of a conventional engine as shown in figure 14.

Fig.14 Mechanical engine efficiency

6. Engine Size –
With their horizontally opposed cylinder layout, SYTech engines have the low
height of conventional engines. More than 150 mm height difference can be achieved for
a 2 litre engine. Also, the connecting rods of SYTech engines are rigidly connected to the
pistons and do not move vertical to the piston motion. They can therefore be designed
very short without any increase in piston side force, which occurs with shorter
connecting rods in conventional engines. With shorter connecting rods, the engine width
is reduced approximately by 62 mm. The savings in engine heights and width allow a
much lower hood line with potential advantages on the drag coefficient.

7. Manufacturing costs –

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 Figure 15 shows the percentage of total manufacturing costs of different engine
components for a conventional and a SYTech engine. From the figure, it is clear that the
manufacturing cost of a SYTech engine is less than that of a conventional engine. This is
because the higher production cost of the SYTech connecting rods is offset by savings
from a reduced number of main and big end bearings, the elimination of gudgeon pins
and simplest crankcase and crankshaft designs.

Fig.15 Manufacturing cost difference between a conventional and SYTech engine

8. Safety –
With the application of SYTech engines, a variety of safety advantages are
achieved in ranged to ‘active’ safety, which helps to prevent accidents to happen, and in
regard to ‘passive’ safety, which helps to protect the passengers of motor vehicles in case
an accident does happen.
Active safety:
The low centre of gravity of SYTech engines, which is situated close to the level
of the crankshaft above the road, reduces the roll moment during cornering and makes
driving through sharp bends safer.

Passive safety:

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 The short and flat engine allows the design of larger crush zones even in very
small vehicles. Because the engine is so flat, it can slide under the passenger cabin in
case of a frontal impact.

THE SYTECH ENGINE IN THE NEW AXCESSAUSTRALIA HYBRID CAR:

The Australian concept car 'aXcessaustralia II' is a serial hybrid car of the so-called 'New
Generation Hybrids'. Its internal combustion engine drives an electrical power generator. The
wheels are driven by the electrical traction motor only, which receives its energy from a
combination of batteries, capacitors and the electrical power generator. In a drive train, which
consists of a combustion engine, a generator, a traction motor, two different systems for
electrical energy storage and the necessary electronics to apply the most fuel efficient power
strategy, all components require an extremely high degree of weight optimization to avoid
offsetting the fuel savings achieved with the system by an increased overall vehicle weight.
They also need to be extremely efficient in themselves.
SYTech engine contributes its share of weight savings by being lighter than comparable
conventional combustion engines and by allowing further secondary weight savings in other
vehicle components. All SYTech engines are perfectly balanced and therefore require much less
effort to isolate the vehicle cabin from engine originated noise and vibrations. The output torque
is more uniform under all important operating conditions allowing a lighter drive train than
required for conventional piston engines. The small size of SYTech engines makes them
especially suitable for the more complex packaging requirements in a hybrid car. The low
weight of the engine itself and the lower mass of components and material required to meet the
NVH requirements help to overcome the inherent weight disadvantage of a complex hybrid
system.

APPLICATIONS OF SYTECH ENGINE:

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 SYTech engines can be used instead of conventional engines in most applications. The
compact layout makes them suitable for very small city cars, where the provision of a sufficient
crush zone is a problem, and for hybrid cars, where the overall size of the electrical components
and of the combustion engine is even more critical. The smoothness of Scotch Yoke engines
makes them applicable in the luxury car segment, where the advantages in NVH are important
and in high performance cars the superior power density allows to package engines with more
cylinders or higher capacity into the available space. The very good NVH levels allow the
design of larger than usual capacity 4 cylinder engines, which would be especially interesting for
vans and similar vehicles, where less noise dampening measures are applied to keep costs down.
The reduced engine width and the much lower engine vibrations together with a low weight
make the CMC Scotch Yoke engine an ideal motor for motorbikes. The small cross section, low
weight and low vibrations of CMC’s Scotch Yoke engines are important for small piston engine
aircraft and also for small boats. Mobile power generators and combined engine/compressor
designs are further applications, where the compact SYTech engines with their reduced
vibrations and NOx emissions and their improved efficiency can make an important difference.

Conclusion

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 SYTech engines are smaller, lighter and less noisy. They do not require as much effort
and expense for vibration and noise control and emit less NO x than conventional engines. Their
mechanical efficiency is better, especially at high engine speeds, and they enable a reduction in
vehicle manufacturing costs.

References

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1. Dr.Hans. G. Rosenkranz, “ Simple harmonic piston motion of CMCR’s SYTech engines,
influence on design operation”, 10th International Pacific Conference on Automotive
Technology, Melbourne, May 1999.
2. Dr.Hans. G. Rosenkranz, “What’s different in SYTech engines?”, CMC Research house,
Melbourne, April 2000.
3. Dr.Hans. G. Rosenkranz, “Why change to CMC Scotch Yoke engine
technology?”,Melbourne, September 1998
4. Richard P. Gabler, Harry C. Watson, “Experimental investigation of the CMC Scotch Yoke
engine linear bearing lubrication system”, SAE Paper 971393, November 1999
5. Websites:
1. www.greenengtech.com
2. www.cmcpower.com
3. www.conceptengine.tripod.com

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