A camless engine; myth or science? As automotive technology progresses, the interest in alternative solutions rises accordingly. A camless engine, a sort of taboo technology, has always generated interest amongst car enthusiasts. Yet, nobody seems to act upon it, a simple discussion suffices. That is why we have taken it upon ourselves to further this concept as part of our mechanical engineering project.


As part of our mechanical engineering degree here at Concordia University in Montreal, one must complete a capstone project; a final project so to speak that we must pass in order to obtain our degree. We have decided to document and blog the progress as we move forward, showing all steps, tribulations, successes and designs we have in reference to developing and building our camless engine.

Seeing as the semester has just started, it is all theoretical at the time being but those who decide to follow the build will get a good basis of understanding as to how it will all work.

The primary objective of our project is to replicate a four cycle spark ignition and valve train events using a computer controlled actuator system that utilizes a simulated crankshaft position sensor input.


In short, we are hoping to eliminate the need for an actuating system that connects to the block of the engine; independent. Rather than relying on the engine to rotate the camshaft through a timing belt or timing chain, which times the spark, fuel, air and exhaust cycles mechanically, we are hoping to design a system that is independent that uses electrical inputs instead.

The goal is to implement this into a carbureted engine, which will then be converted to electronic fuel injection (EFI) at a later date but this is a daunting task and initially we want to simulate that the concept works. Our supervisor told us to limit our scope for the project, until we are definitive we can implement it, at which case we will expand to physical modelling.


Why a camless engine?

As a car enthusiast, we've heard of one or various forms of variable valve timing such as VTEC, VANOS, MIVEC, AVCS, VVTI, S-VT...etc. Essentially, what all these acronyms reference is a form of variable valve timing, denoted by the "V". If so many automakers implement this system into their vehicles, there is an obvious advantage to having this technology. That benefit is created by the camshaft advancing the timing of the valves or shifting to a separate camshaft at a predetermined RPM. For the most part, this change in head revolution allows the engine to perform at a higher level, essentially by receiving more fuel and air. This is all at the expense of fuel economy, as the engine gains performance.


There is a downside to all this. As there are many moving parts involved when such an event occurs, each engine is typically limited to one or two different timing parameters from this shift in valve timing. This means that a compromise must be made so that the new timing adjustment works well along the entire rev range where it occurs.

As an example, for a given VVT system the normal camshaft may operate from 0-5000 RPM and the VVT system engages at 5000-7000 RPM. The normal camshaft has to work through a substantial rev range and through many different engine parameters, as does the VVT system.


With a camless engine, a system can be created that varies for every single engine revolution, something the aforementioned engine cannot do. For example, at 500 RPM an exhaust valve opens for 80ms, at 501 RPM a camless engine design can allow the exhaust valve to open for 81ms and the to continue increasing accordingly. Additionally, it can be applicable for any one of the valves within a cylinder head. It is also possible to make it learn a drivers habits, much like a fuel map in modern cars.

One of the main areas of research is the reduction of pumping losses in an engine. The pumping losses are very high at low throttle and low losses at wide open throttle (WOT). With a cammed engine, if you are coasting down the road with zero throttle, the drivetrain will experience huge inefficiencies. If we were to open both valves simultaneously when the accelerator is not being depressed, we can save energy. Additionally, it may be possible to rid the car of the throttle body completely, by controlling the intake valve timing and lift. Since the vacuum pressure of the engine is essentially controlled by the valve system, controlling the intake valve lift and timing can be used to control the air and fuel flow to the engine. It is substantially more difficult than it sounds to implement, however; a concept always seems promising.


Perhaps at a later date, I will include an entire blog post solely dedicated to the strategies of opening and closing the intake and exhaust valves.

What is required?

First off, we will need actuators, be it pneumatic, hydraulic, or electric; all have their benefits and drawbacks. Our project will be using electric solenoids, due to cost constraints and due to the fact that our professor has in depth knowledge regarding solenoid actuators.


Yes I know, Koenigsegg uses pneumatic; well we're not Koenigsegg, we don't have their research budget, we don't have a whole company to design a valve for us. If they would like to donate us some valves, we may reconsider this option (please?), however, as it stands, our professor is encouraging us to use solenoids, as it also reduce complexity.


I don't think I mentioned this yet, but we have to have our project working by February 2015. Time is a huge limit to us. But back to requirements.

We need a microcontroller, for this we chose an Arduino mega 2560. Now before all the Atmel/PIC, and whatever other microcontroller elitists complain, listen to this. The Arduino uses and Atmega 2560, which we were planning to use anyways, it already is soldered to a PCB (have you tried to solder a 100 pin microcontroller?), therefore we do not have to make a PCB (printed circuit board), and it has a built in programmer. Finally; it was $15, when our budget is $750, everything counts. /end rant


We need an engine, which is a 6.5HP OHV engine, from Princess Auto; which was donated to us from one of our teammates.

We will need to find linear position sensors to measure where the valves actually are; these are to test the validity of our project.


That is just for what is our primary objective, to get this installed on an engine, we need, pressure sensors, Crank position sensor, just to test and validate the operation of a carbureted engine.

IF we have time to do the fuel injection, we need, injectors, O2 sensors, MAF (mass air flow) sensors.


All of this has to be designed and retrofitted to an engine that has never heard the world "injector".

This is the basic list of essential items, there is definitely more items required.


Where do we start?

First, we need an Engine


And then we need to take the engine apart to find our most important part; that we are going to throw out.

It's in here somewhere.


Found it


And some other things


That Chinese engine quality.

The engine is so bare when the camshaft and governor are removed, there's way too much room in there; too bad the budget doesn't cover a new crank case.


And now onto what we have to work with


Basically this is the area where we need to mount our solenoids, which is actually quite small. The distance between the valves is less than 2 inches, so and solenoid we use has to be less than 1 inch in diameter. Or else we need to some mechanism to actuate the valves, which will then reduce efficiency.

Team hard at work modeling the engine


That's it for this post, we're actually quite a bit ahead from this post, as we took the engine apart three weeks ago, but you guys will have to live in the past for now, and we will try to catch you up with our current progress.

Please give us your honest opinion about the blog, do you want it to be more technical? less? Do you want to know more about the paperwork side?(I'm going to go with no...) Or anything else.