What types of piston engines are there?
There is a great variation in piston engines, some of them are:
- - Single-cylinder engines
- - Inline engine designs:
- - Straight engine, with all of the cylinders placed in a single row
- - U engine, two separate straight engines with crankshafts linked by a central gear.
- - The square four is a U engine where the two straight engines have two cylinders each.
- - V engine, with two banks of cylinders at an angle, most commonly 60 or 90 degrees.
- - Flat engine (Boxer Engine), two banks of cylinders directly opposite each other on either side of the crankshaft.
- - H engine, two separate flat engines with crankshafts linked by a central gear.
- - W engine. Combination of V and straight, giving 3 banks, or two V’s intertwined giving 4 banks.
- - Opposed piston engine, with multiple crankshafts, an example being:
- - Delta engines, with three banks of cylinders and three crankshafts
- - X engine.
- - Radial designs, including most:
- - Rotary engine designs (Wankel etc.).
