For example, why would a car manufacturer opt to to use a 2.0L in line six instead of a 2.0L in line four in a vehicle. Are the benefits of including more cylinders in an engine worth the added complexity?
In: Engineering
Displacement and RPM determine the maximum power output. The explosion in the cylinder can only travel so fast. To optimize that explosion for a desired RPM a certain bore to stroke ratio and stroke length is desired. That determines your ideal cylinder size to meet your desired RPM. You would then add the number of cylinders needed to get your desired power output.
Your specific example is one that generally wouldn’t happen unless the manufacturer needs to spin the engine really fast.
0.5l per cylinder is an almost ideal volume for an Otto cycle engine in a normal vehicle. This is why most 4 cylinder engines are close to 2l total displacement and the best performing 6 cylinders engines are around 3l.
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