Potential of a Mechanical Fully-Variable Valve Train. Results of Simulated and Actual Engine Operation for the New UniValve System

The mechanical fully variable valve lift system UniValve represents one of the new technical solutions for a throttle free load control for combustion engines. The load control is achieved by the variation of the valve lift and the simultaneous variation of the opening and closing time. The design of the system has as result a simple layout with a valve train component assembly that leads to a compact integration into conventional cylinder heads. In addition to the first results presented at the SAE Congress 2004 this paper provides the results of the fired engine and the valve train operation on the component test bench. Furthermore the potentials of the throttle free load control with the UniValve system in comparison to a conventional throttle engine operation with the same engine type are pointed out. Perspectives for the application in an four cylinder engine are given.