The Balance of a V12 Engine

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When it comes to engine design, one of the most significant advantages of a V12 engine is its inherent balance. This balance is a result of having two inline six cylinders joined together, creating a common crankshaft with identical pistons and connecting rods. As I mentioned in my previous video on balancing an inline six cylinder engine, the V12 configuration provides perfect balance, which is a crucial factor in ensuring smooth power delivery.

The Benefit of More Power Strokes per Revolution

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One of the key benefits of a V12 engine is that it has more power strokes per revolution of the crankshaft than an inline six cylinder. This means that the engine produces smoother power delivery, as the pistons are able to move in a more linear and predictable manner. The increased number of power strokes also allows for better fuel efficiency and lower emissions.

Using Smaller Pistons

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To illustrate this point, let's consider an example where I have both an inline six cylinder and a V12 engine, both with 6 liters of displacement. However, instead of keeping the same bore and stroke, I'm going to use smaller pistons in the V12 engine. In this case, the first cylinder has a diameter of 10.84 centimeters, while the second cylinder (in the V12 configuration) has a diameter of 8.6 centimeters.

Calculating Piston Speed

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To demonstrate the effect of using smaller pistons on piston speed, I'll calculate the volume of each cylinder using the formula: volume = πr^2h, where r is half the diameter (d/2) and h is equivalent to d (the same as the bore). For the inline six cylinder, the volume is calculated as π(d1)^3 / 4, where d1 is 10.84 centimeters. In contrast, the V12 engine has a smaller piston, with a diameter of 8.6 centimeters.

Using this formula, I can calculate the average piston speed for each engine by multiplying the stroke (which remains constant) by the number of revolutions per second (RPS). For the inline six cylinder, the average piston speed is calculated as: 2 x 10.84 cm x 6000 RPM / 60 seconds = 21.16 meters per second. In contrast, for the V12 engine with smaller pistons, the average piston speed is: 2 x 8.6 cm x 6000 RPM / 60 seconds = 17.2 meters per second.

The Effect of Increased Piston Speed on Engine Revving

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As you can see, the piston in the V12 engine travels at a slower speed than the piston in the inline six cylinder, even when both engines are running at the same RPM (6000). However, this has an interesting effect. Because the pistons in the V12 engine travel more slowly, it's possible to increase the RPM of the engine without exceeding the maximum allowed piston speed.

This means that by using smaller pistons, you can increase the revving potential of your engine, making it ideal for applications where high performance is required. This is one of the key advantages of a V12 engine design, and it's a benefit that's not available to inline six cylinder engines.

Advantages of a V12 Engine

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So what are the other advantages of a V12 engine? One of the most significant benefits is its inherent balance. With two inline six cylinders joined together, there's no need for counterweight on the crankshaft, and the engine is free from revving issues that can plague engines with uneven power delivery.

Another advantage is the ability to use small pistons or high displacement to create big power. This makes V12 engines highly versatile and adaptable to different applications. The cost of a V12 engine is also relatively high due to its complex design, but this comes at the expense of reduced maintenance costs in the long run.

However, there are some disadvantages to consider. The increased complexity of a V12 engine means that it's more difficult to maintain and repair, which can be a drawback for some owners. Additionally, the size and weight of a V12 engine make them more challenging to handle and transport.

Conclusion

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In conclusion, the V12 engine design offers several advantages over inline six cylinder engines, including inherent balance, smoother power delivery, and increased revving potential. By using smaller pistons or high displacement, you can create big power with these massive V12 engines. While there are some disadvantages to consider, such as increased complexity and cost, the benefits of a V12 engine make it an attractive choice for those who value performance and reliability above all else.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome in this video i'm going to be talking about v12 engines now these are some of the smoothest running engines out there used by companies such as ferrari lamborghini and the other exotics out there so let's just talk a little bit about how this engine works and some of the advantages and disadvantages now the orientation of the v and a v12 engine can be at any angle because an inline six cylinder engine is inherently balanced and a v12 is simply two inline six cylinders mated together to a common crankshaft so let's talk about the firing interval now calculating that we have four times that's the number of strokes times 180 degrees divided by the number of cylinders that gives us a fire every 60 degrees of the crankshaft rotation so very smooth power delivery you're going to have two times as many power strokes per revolution of the crankshaft as an inline six cylinder so two times the overlap and that's just gonna give you a very smooth power delivery so let's look at a v12 engine layout this is from a ferrari uh they like to get a little clever with their numbering system so they go one through six on the left and then seven through twelve down from the back towards the front so the firing interval one seven five eleven three nine six twelve two eight four ten and you'll notice that goes back and forth each time so that gives it that smoothness and keeps an even exhaust pulse on both sides now one thing i want to talk about in this video rather than going into balancing which i've already done in my inline six cylinder video basically the balance of a v12 engine is uh pretty much perfect and the benefit it has over an inline six cylinder is that has more power strokes per revolution of the crankshaft so better smoother power delivery so what i want to about of using smaller pistons so in is talk this example i can have an inline six cylinder which is going to be a six liter engine or a six liter v12 engine and to keep things simple i'm gonna make both of these square cylinder bores so both the bore and the stroke are the exact same now we're going to be spinning these two at 6000 rpm and we're going to kind of look at the difference of the piston speed of these two engines to kind of prove a point of how using smaller displacement cylinders can be beneficial so we know how to calculate the volume of a cylinder volume equals pi r squared h now in this case r is uh one half d and h is equivalent to d of this cylinder so d being the diameter of the cylinder since the bore and the stroke are the same so we can say this is equal to pi times d over two squared times d or pi d cubed over four now we know that the first cylinder has six cylinders and six liters so each cylinder is going to be one uh one liter so one thousand centimeters cubed equals pi d cubed over four we know that d1 equals 10.84 centimeters so the stroke of cylinder with the 6 liter in line 6 is 10.84 centimeters now what's the stroke of the smaller uh cylinder which is in the v12 so 12 cylinders 6 liters divide that out you get 500 centimeters cubed per cylinder set that equal to pi d square or pi d cubed over four and d2 which is the diameter of the second one or the height of the second one forward stroke is 8.6 centimeters so as you can see it's smaller than here now the reason why we did that math is to calculate the average piston speed of each of these and by calculating the average piston speed basically there's a limitation on engines of this so your piston can only move so fast and if you've watched my video on average piston speeds i get a little bit more into detail on that so average piston speed equals two times the stroke times the revolutions per second so for our engine one the average piston speed will equal two times point one zero eight four meters times six thousand divided by sixty that gives us a average piston speed of twenty one point six eight meters per second for our engine number two two times .086 meters times 6000 divided by 60 equals 17.2 meters per second so as you can see the piston and the v12 engine both have the same cylinder uh dimensions relative as far as they're both square both the bore and stroke are the same however obviously the pistons in the v12 are smaller and because of that the pistons will travel slower and because they travel slower that means you can rev them to a higher rpm so if you were to increase the second engine cylinder to 7 500 rpm its average piston speed would be 21.5 which is still beneath this one even when this one's traveling at 6000 rpm so basically what i'm saying is by using smaller pistons you can increase the limitation of how fast you can rev your engine so that's one of the benefits of these v12 engines is you can make them fairly high revving if you want to now you can do the same thing with other engines and simply just decrease the stroke but then you're going to be decreasing the displacement so that's why i kind of did this back-to-back comparison of you know one engine versus another engine based on the layout alone so advantages of a v12 engine well it's two inline six cylinders made into a common crate so it's inherently balanced and because you've got more power strokes it's going to be smoother power delivery than an inline six cylinder so that's the next one smooth power delivery you've got a ton of overlap between the pistons so plenty of smoothness in the engine less counterweight on the crankshaft means it's free of revving that's just because it's balanced and also you can use small pistons or have high displacement or a combination of the two and create big power with these massive v12 engines now the disadvantages cost of course it's going to be expensive think of all the moving parts now speaking of moving parts that leads to complexity and also the size and weight of this engine are going to be disadvantages now if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below thanks for watchinghello everyone and welcome in this video i'm going to be talking about v12 engines now these are some of the smoothest running engines out there used by companies such as ferrari lamborghini and the other exotics out there so let's just talk a little bit about how this engine works and some of the advantages and disadvantages now the orientation of the v and a v12 engine can be at any angle because an inline six cylinder engine is inherently balanced and a v12 is simply two inline six cylinders mated together to a common crankshaft so let's talk about the firing interval now calculating that we have four times that's the number of strokes times 180 degrees divided by the number of cylinders that gives us a fire every 60 degrees of the crankshaft rotation so very smooth power delivery you're going to have two times as many power strokes per revolution of the crankshaft as an inline six cylinder so two times the overlap and that's just gonna give you a very smooth power delivery so let's look at a v12 engine layout this is from a ferrari uh they like to get a little clever with their numbering system so they go one through six on the left and then seven through twelve down from the back towards the front so the firing interval one seven five eleven three nine six twelve two eight four ten and you'll notice that goes back and forth each time so that gives it that smoothness and keeps an even exhaust pulse on both sides now one thing i want to talk about in this video rather than going into balancing which i've already done in my inline six cylinder video basically the balance of a v12 engine is uh pretty much perfect and the benefit it has over an inline six cylinder is that has more power strokes per revolution of the crankshaft so better smoother power delivery so what i want to about of using smaller pistons so in is talk this example i can have an inline six cylinder which is going to be a six liter engine or a six liter v12 engine and to keep things simple i'm gonna make both of these square cylinder bores so both the bore and the stroke are the exact same now we're going to be spinning these two at 6000 rpm and we're going to kind of look at the difference of the piston speed of these two engines to kind of prove a point of how using smaller displacement cylinders can be beneficial so we know how to calculate the volume of a cylinder volume equals pi r squared h now in this case r is uh one half d and h is equivalent to d of this cylinder so d being the diameter of the cylinder since the bore and the stroke are the same so we can say this is equal to pi times d over two squared times d or pi d cubed over four now we know that the first cylinder has six cylinders and six liters so each cylinder is going to be one uh one liter so one thousand centimeters cubed equals pi d cubed over four we know that d1 equals 10.84 centimeters so the stroke of cylinder with the 6 liter in line 6 is 10.84 centimeters now what's the stroke of the smaller uh cylinder which is in the v12 so 12 cylinders 6 liters divide that out you get 500 centimeters cubed per cylinder set that equal to pi d square or pi d cubed over four and d2 which is the diameter of the second one or the height of the second one forward stroke is 8.6 centimeters so as you can see it's smaller than here now the reason why we did that math is to calculate the average piston speed of each of these and by calculating the average piston speed basically there's a limitation on engines of this so your piston can only move so fast and if you've watched my video on average piston speeds i get a little bit more into detail on that so average piston speed equals two times the stroke times the revolutions per second so for our engine one the average piston speed will equal two times point one zero eight four meters times six thousand divided by sixty that gives us a average piston speed of twenty one point six eight meters per second for our engine number two two times .086 meters times 6000 divided by 60 equals 17.2 meters per second so as you can see the piston and the v12 engine both have the same cylinder uh dimensions relative as far as they're both square both the bore and stroke are the same however obviously the pistons in the v12 are smaller and because of that the pistons will travel slower and because they travel slower that means you can rev them to a higher rpm so if you were to increase the second engine cylinder to 7 500 rpm its average piston speed would be 21.5 which is still beneath this one even when this one's traveling at 6000 rpm so basically what i'm saying is by using smaller pistons you can increase the limitation of how fast you can rev your engine so that's one of the benefits of these v12 engines is you can make them fairly high revving if you want to now you can do the same thing with other engines and simply just decrease the stroke but then you're going to be decreasing the displacement so that's why i kind of did this back-to-back comparison of you know one engine versus another engine based on the layout alone so advantages of a v12 engine well it's two inline six cylinders made into a common crate so it's inherently balanced and because you've got more power strokes it's going to be smoother power delivery than an inline six cylinder so that's the next one smooth power delivery you've got a ton of overlap between the pistons so plenty of smoothness in the engine less counterweight on the crankshaft means it's free of revving that's just because it's balanced and also you can use small pistons or have high displacement or a combination of the two and create big power with these massive v12 engines now the disadvantages cost of course it's going to be expensive think of all the moving parts now speaking of moving parts that leads to complexity and also the size and weight of this engine are going to be disadvantages now if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below thanks for watching\n"