Heres a vid with the owner/founder of Koenigsegg on the future of internal combustion engines. I love everything about what they create and truly have some of the greatest engineers in automotive technology.
[ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bch5B23_pu0&NR=1&feature=endscreen”]The Future of the Internal Combustion Engine - Inside Koenigsegg - YouTube[/ame]
Crazy
The ability to open and close the valves as more of a switch (open, stay open and then close) must have huge benefits compared to a valve with a cam (closed, 10% open, 20% open 30% etc to fully open for only a miniscule amount of time then beginning to close.)
Plus the ability to keep valves closed under braking and collect compressed air created and use that air for power or forced induction sounds awesome.
i had same idea the day i took a spyder imagine paintball gun apart when i was young. this tech is alot older. even than that day i thought of it.
cool video tho and its cool that the design is put to use in a actual performance car manufacture.
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=185522
http://www.google.com/patents/US5579732
this patant says 1990 ^ for Electronic valve actuators
If I recall, F1 engines or some other big race engines use solenoids to open/close the valves. Hence revving to 17k+.
i think they use pneumatic valve actuation. not spring operated valves
http://scarbsf1.com/valves.html
but they do have cams. they use the air to shut the valve quicker and open it faster. still use a cam. just without a srping.
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6216
also some new regulations in f1. alot of the cars dont have the great tech anymore. they call them “naked” f1 cars. they even have a rev limit now.