Freevalve has developed cam-less valvetrains since early 2000's and applied different versions of the technology on various engines and vehicles for over ten years. Two rolling demonstrators were presented in public in 2016. Since then Freevalve has been working on the commercialization of its technology with key customers in several market segments. The significant fuel savings achieved with the demonstrators presented 2016 is what has caught the interest from motor media and generated most of the publicity around Freevalve's pneumatic valve-train. It is however the conceptual change of engine design freedom as well as operational freedom that makes most of the difference for the engine design departments and makes the biggest contribution at the bottom line. A Freevalve valve-train system can replace several auxiliary functions such as throttle, EGR and wastegate. It can also support functions and operational modes which are more complex to realize; such as seamless cycle switch to various degree of Miller, or Atkinson, do other stroking than 4-stroke, operate realistic Divided Exhaust Period (DEP) and provide full freedom for any cylinder deactivation scheme. Continuous adjustment of the intake stroke does also allow higher geometric compression ratio, which has been successfully applied in existing projects. This in turn paves the way for efficient multi-fuel operation on various renewables. With a complete solid mechanical de-coupling of the valvetrain to both the engine block and any mechanical driver, the design freedom increases substantially, which is even further enhanced by the compact measures of the valve actuators. Examples of this freedom will be demonstrated with its implications on the engine's auxiliary component design while the Freevalve valve-train operates several of the mentioned functions.
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