Increasing Engine Torque

In a gasoline engine, the force exerted by the piston acts on the crankpin of the crankshaft via a connecting rod. Whenever the piston is at top dead center (TDC) or bottom dead center (BDC), no torque is generated because the piston force acts exclusively on the crankshaft bearings. Even shortly after TDC and shortly before BDC, very little torque is generated because the angle between the connecting rod and the radius of the crankshaft journal is either very acute or very large.

Another characteristic of internal combustion engines is that the piston stroke is determined by the crankshaft journal, thereby limiting the size of the cylinder bore.

We have overcome these design limitations of a piston engine with a crankshaft by modifying the lever ratios for torque generation and, instead of a conventional half-crankshaft rotation during the power stroke, significantly reducing the angular displacement.

A prototype was built that allows the torque to be measured statically at any crankshaft position. This makes it possible to clearly demonstrate how the design works.

A single-cylinder engine was equipped with this invention and will be tested on an engine test bench.

The advantages of increased torque are obvious, since higher torque correspondingly increases the power of the internal combustion engine.

Of course, the first thought is of a competitive advantage in motorsports. This advantage can also be effectively applied in production engine manufacturing, as it allows for a reduction in displacement and/or the number of cylinders while maintaining the same power output, resulting in significant fuel savings. It would also be conceivable to maintain the number of cylinders and the displacement, and simply reduce the RPM to achieve the same power output.
The issue of power loss in hydrogen-powered engines can also be mitigated in this way, as efficiency can be doubled!

The patent was filed and published in February 2024.

German Patent Application Publication:

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/de/detail.jsf?docId=WO2025158168&_cid=P11-MDT58Q-18572-1

Test report on torque measurement with torque boost (blue) and, for comparison, a conventional reciprocating piston engine (red)