W ENGINE

CHAPTER 1
Introduction
The constantly rising demands regarding performance, running comfort and fuel
economy have led to the advancement of existing drive units and the development of new
drive units. The new W8 as well as the W12 engines are representatives of a new engine
generation - the W engines. Large numbers of cylinders were adapted to the extremely
compact dimensions of the engine. In the process, more attention was paid to lightweight
design. With the aim of building even more compact units with a large number of cylinders,
the design features of the V and VR engines were combined to produce the W engines. As
with the V engines, the cylinders are distributed to two banks. In the W engines, these banks
of cylinders are aligned at a V-angle of 72° in relation to one another. When the W engine is
viewed from the front, the cylinder arrangement looks like a double-V. Put the two Vs of the
right and left cylinder banks together, and you get a W. This is how the name "W engine"
came about.

A W engine is a type of reciprocating engine arranged with its cylinders in

a configuration in which the cylinder banks resemble the letter W, in the same way those of
a V engine resemble the letter V.

Three different configurations have been called W engines:

 Three banks of cylinders sharing a common crankshaft, a configuration also known

as broad arrow configuration due to its shape resembling the British government broad
arrow property mark.
 Four banks of cylinders sharing a common crankshaft, also called a 'double-V'
 Two banks of cylinders with two crankshafts.

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CHAPTER 2
The W Principle
The conventional engine types are

(a) The Inline Engine

Inline engines (Fig.2.1) are the earliest development level in engine development. The
cylinders are arranged in-line vertically above the crankshaft. Inline Engines have a single
bank of cylinders which can be arranged at any angle but typically upright or inverted. It is
simple in design. The drawback of these types of engines is that large number of cylinders
result in very long units unsuitable for transverse mounting.

Fig.2.1 Inline 6 cylinder engine block

(b) The V Engine

A V engine (Fig.2.2) is a common configuration for an internal combustion engine.
The cylinders and pistons are aligned in two separate planes or 'banks' so that they appear to
be in a "V" when viewed along the axis of the crankshaft. The V configuration generally
reduces the overall engine length, height and weight compared to an
equivalent inline configuration. To make engines shorter, the cylinders in the V engines are
arranged at an angle of between 60° and 120°, with the centre lines of the cylinders
intersecting with the centre line of the crankshaft. Because of this, the engines are relatively
shorter when compared to inline configuration.
The drawback of these type of engines are that the units are relatively wide, have two
separate cylinder heads, and therefore require a more complex design and a larger engine
compartment volume.

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Fig.2.2 V-6 engine cylinder block

(c) VR Engines
The need for a powerful alternative suitable for transverse mounting for use in lower
mid-range vehicles saw the development of the VR engine (Fig.2.3). Six cylinders are offset
at a V-angle of 15°, are accommodated in a fairly slender and very short engine block. Unlike
previous designs, the engine only has one cylinder head.

Fig.2.3 VR-6 engine cylinder block

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(d) W Engines
The engines of the W family (Fig.2.4) are a combination of two "VR banks" based on
a modular design principle. The cylinders of one bank have an angle of 15° relative to each
other while the two VR banks are arranged at a V-angle of 72°.

Fig.2.4 W-12 engine cylinder block

Fig.2.5 Basic engine configuration

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CHAPTER 3
The Modular Design Principle of the W Engines
Two compact VR engines from the VR series are combined to produce a W engine.
The result is a series of compact petrol engines ranging from the W8 to the W16.
Numerous components of the VR and W series are identical, e.g.:
- Valves, valve springs and valve seat inserts
- Roller rocker fingers
- Valve clearance compensating element

Fig.3.1 Modular design of engine

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CHAPTER 4
Construction

(a)The Crankcase
The crankcase comprises two components: the crankcase upper section (Fig. 4.1) and
the crankcase lower section (Fig.4.2). The upper section contains, among other things, the
cylinders and the upper bearing cover halves of the crankshaft. The crankcase lower section
is designed as a bearing support and carries the lower bearing cover halves.

Fig.4.1 Crankcase upper section Fig.4.2 Crankcase lower section

The "aluminium" crankcase upper section is made of a hypereutectic aluminium-

silicon alloy (AlSi17CuMg). Use of this alloy eliminates the need for additional cylinder
liners or a plasma coating for the purposes of cooling and lubricating the cylinder surfaces as
the material already has sufficient natural strength and thermal stability.
The crankcase lower section is a bearing support with integral bearing seats. The
bearing support is also made of aluminium. It serves as a frame structure for the lower
crankshaft bearing covers. These bearing covers are made of grey cast iron and are also
embedded when the bearing support is cast. They are located on the pressure side of the
crankshaft and give the crankshaft bearing the strength it requires. The bearing support is
attached to the crankcase upper section by 4 bolts per bearing cover.

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(b)The Cylinder Heads

The W engines have two aluminium cylinder heads (Fig. 4.3) with two overhead
camshafts apiece. The injectors are inserted into the cylinder heads.

Fig.4.3 W engine cylinder heads

Each of the cylinder heads in the two W engines has an intake camshaft and an
exhaust camshaft with camshaft adjusters attached to their end faces. Due to the cylinder
arrangement, short and long valves as well as short and long inlet and exhaust ports alternate
with one another.

(c) Connecting rods and Piston

The connecting rods (Fig. 4.4) are made of forged steel. They are of a trapezoidal
construction and are cut during the production process. To ensure better oil exchange, two
grooves are milled in the side faces of the connecting rod lower sections. The connecting rod
pin is lubricated through two inclined bores in the connecting rod head. The bore are
separated by an angle of 61o (30.5o to the vertical axis).

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Fig.4.4 Connecting Rod

The pistons (Fig. 4.5) are made of an aluminium-silicon (Al Si) alloy. The recess in
the piston surface is very shallow as the cylinder head takes up most of the combustion
chamber volume. The inclined piston surface is necessary because of the V-position adopted
by the pistons.

Each piston carries 2 piston rings and an oil taper ring. To drain off the oil which
collects in the scraper ring, small drainage holes lead into the piston ring groove towards the
inside of the piston.

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Fig.4.5 Piston

(d) Crankshaft
The crankshafts used in the W engines are manufactured from forged tempered steel
(Fig. 4.6) . In each case, two connecting rods run between two main bearings.

Fig.4.6 Crankshaft for W-8 Engine

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(e) Valves
The 4 valves in each cylinder (Fig. 4.7) are actuated by low-friction roller rocker
fingers. Valve clearance is compensated by hydraulic support elements.

Fig.4.7 Valve

Due to the cylinder arrangement, short and long valves (Fig. 4.7) as well as short and
long inlet and exhaust ports (Fig. 4.8) alternate with one another.

Fig.4.8 Short and Long valves

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Fig.4.9 Alternate long and short ports

(f) Intake Manifold

Air is supplied through a tapered intake pipe. It is of a four-part design and is made of
an aluminium alloy.

The intake manifold lower section (fig. 4.9) is bolted to the cylinder heads between
the two cylinder banks. The larger intake manifold upper section is mounted to the lower
section. The intake manifold upper section is designed so that the manifolds for bank I and II
can be detached separately. It makes it easier to gain access to the individual ignition coils
and spark plugs, for example.

In the W8 engine, the intake air for both manifolds is guided by a throttle valve
control unit.

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Fig.4.10 Intake manifold for a W-8 engine

(g) Exhaust Manifold

The W8 engine has an exhaust manifold with a permanently assigned catalytic
converter for each cylinder head (Fig. 4.10). A total of four lambda probes are therefore
required for emission control.

Fig.4.11 Exhaust Manifold for a W-8 engine

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CHAPTER 5
History of W Engines
The classical W engine uses three banks of cylinders, all connected to one crankshaft.
One of the first W engines was the Anzani 3-cylinder (Fig. 5.1), built in 1906, to be
used in Anzani motorcycles. It is this W3 engine which also powered the Blériot XI, the
aircraft used by Louis Blériot when, on 25 July 1909, he made the first flight across
the English Channel. Shortly afterward the W3 configuration was changed to a 120°-angle,
three-cylinder radial engine configuration as the original W3 engine's replacement.
The 1917 Napier Lion aircraft engine was an early W12 engine. Lorraine built the
12Ed and 18Ka aero-engines of 450 horsepower (336 kW; 456 PS) and 650 horsepower
(485 kW; 659 PS) in the early 1920s, while Isotta-Fraschini built the 18-cylinder Asso 750
and Asso 1000 of 820 horsepower (611 kW; 831 PS) and 1,100 horsepower (820 kW;
1,115 PS) in the late 1920s. At the same time the 500 horsepower (370 kW) Farman
12We was used by many aircraft; Farman also built a W18.
A three-bank W12 design was also pursued by Audi, which later abandoned the
project. Volkswagen Group built an experimental W18 engine for Bugatti's EB 118 and EB
218 concept cars, but the design was determined to be impractical because of the
irregular firing order required by the three rows of six cylinders.

Fig.5.1 Anzani 3 cylinder engine

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CHAPTER 6
Latest W Engine

The W-16 Engine

Volkswagen Group created the first successful automotive W engine, with the
introduction of its W8 (as a test bed for the W12). The W12 combines two narrow-angle VR6
engine cylinder heads around a single crankshaft for a total of four banks of cylinders. For
this reason, the four-bank configuration is sometimes, and more accurately, referred to as a
"VV" or "WR", to distinguish it from the traditional three-bank "W" design.

A W16 engine (Fig.6.1) is a sixteen cylinder piston internal combustion engine in a

four-bank W configuration. All W16 engines consist of two ‘double-row' banks of eight
cylinders, coupled to a single crankshaft. Volkswagen Group is the only automotive
manufacturer currently producing W16 engines. Volkswagen Group's design is a stretched
form of its W12 engine, which is itself based on technology from its VR6 engine. In the W16,
each side is made up of eight cylinders, but the 'bank' angle is increased to 90 degrees. The
narrow angle of each set of cylinders allows just two overhead camshafts to drive each pair of
banks, so just four are needed in total. For this reason, the engine is sometimes described as a
WR16.

Fig.6.1 W-16 engine produced by Volkswagen Group

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CHAPTER 7
Comparison of W and V engines
When a conventional 8-cylinder V engine (comparable displacement) is compared to
an 8cylinder W engine, the latter particularly stands out due to its compact design and very
small external dimensions.

W8 engine V8 engine

Fig.7.1 Comparison of W-8 and V-8 engines

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Comparing a W8 and a V8 of comparable displacement

W8 V8

Make Volkswagen Toyota

Displacement (cc) 3999 3969

Bore (mm) 84 87.5

Stroke (mm) 90.168 82.5

Max Power kW(BHP) 202(275) 195(261)

Max Torque (Nm) 370 365

Fuel economy (mpg) On VW Passat On Lexus LS400

17.3 19

Cylinder Block Metal Aluminium-Silicon Aluminium

Firing Order 1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2

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CHAPTER 8
Conclusion

W Engine with their successful story created a new era of powerful & efficient
engines with better fuel economy. From 1906 to present there is a constant increase in power
and performance of W engines. Volkswagen is the only car manufacturer in the world,
currently producing W engines. Volkswagen working in this field since 1998 produced many
W engines e.g. W8, W12 and then W16. So as centuries goes on people’s demand for
supercars also increases which led many automobile companies to do research and produce
more powerful engine.

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References
1) W engine - Wikipedia

2) Volkswagen Group www.volkspage.net

Self Study Programme 248 – The W Engine Concept

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