Design, Control, Assembly and Testing of a Camless Valve System

Internal combustion engine valve train systems have limitations, especially when engines work at different speeds. Automotive manufacturers have developed various designs and technologies to control the timing and how long the intake and exhaust valves should remain open. The design presented in this paper, developed in Canada at McMaster University, implements a camless setup that uses pneumatic actuators to allow the valve timing to remain optimal across a wide range of speeds and loads. A microcontroller that reads crankshaft position controls fast-switching pneumatic valves and air cylinders, enabling the valves to open and close at precise times. The designed camless valve system has been implemented on a single-cylinder four-stroke spark-ignition engine.