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RRExe

X24 engine Rolls-Royce Exe

An X engine is a piston engine comprising twinned V-block engines horizontally opposed to each other. Thus, the cylinders are arranged in four banks, driving a common crankshaft. Viewed head-on, this would appear as an X. X engines were often coupled engines derived from existing powerplants.

This configuration is extremely uncommon, primarily due its weight and complexity as compared to a radial engine. It was more compact (per number of cylinders) than a V-engine, however. Shorter crankshafts relative to a inline or V design also appealed to early 20th century engineers like Henry Ford, given the less developed metallurgical technology of the time.[1]

Most examples of X engines are from the World War II era, and were designed for large military aircraft. The majority of these are X-24s based on existing V-12s. The following are examples of this engine type:

  • Ford, as an X-8 prototype during the 1920s that led the way to the company's eventual Flathead V-8.[2][3]
  • Daimler-Benz DB 604, developed for the Luftwaffe’s Bomber B program. Development suspended.
  • Isotta-Fraschini Zeta R.C. 24/60, developed for the Caproni F6 fighter, but never fully completed before Italy’s surrender in 1943.
  • Rolls-Royce Vulture, based on two Peregrines and the powerplant of the ill-fated Avro Manchester bomber and the Hawker Tornado fighter.
  • Rolls-Royce Exe, an air-cooled sleeve valve prototype engine.
  • Napier Cub, a water-cooled X-16 engine of the 1920s, which powered the prototype Blackburn Cubaroo torpedo bomber.
  • Honda is said to have experimented with an X-32 engine configuration in the 1960s for their Formula One racing efforts, but abandoned the design as being too complex and unreliable.

References[]

Smallwikipedialogo This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at X engine. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons by Attribution License and/or GNU Free Documentation License. Please check page history for when the original article was copied to Wikia


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