Smart valve-train technology could breathe new life into internal combustion engine

Major leaps in mature technologies are relatively rare occurrences. And there are few more mature technologies in widespread use than the internal combustion engine, where gains in efficiency and performance tend to be incremental rather than earth-shattering.

But now a small automotive consultancy in Leamington Spa claims to have bucked this trend with the development of an innovative digital valve-train system that it says could ultimately improve a petrol engine’s fuel economy and reduce its emissions by as much as 20 per cent.

Camcon’s Intelligent Valve Actuation (IVA) technology, which has been under development for the past six years and has now completed rigorous dynamometer and road trials effectively digitises one of the last remaining analogue systems on a combustion engine by replacing the camshaft with valves that are opened and closed by a set of digitally controlled motors. The firm’s Chief Operating Officer Mark Gostick, who runs the company with CEO and engine veteran Roger Stone, told The Engineer that the “unprecedented” level of control the technology brings to valve timing, lift and period could breathe new life into the IC engine.