The K-cycle Engine

[Unknown303]

Was talking with some family last night about engines and what not and he drops the K-cycle bomb on me. Now i'm completely lost trying to find any information on this strange engine invented in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I searched the internet and could find places that mentioned it momentarily but nothing that would go over the concept or have illustrations of this engine.

Does anyone know of this or have any interesting links to sites about this.

[topmade]

Could this be it?

http://www.oldengine.org/members/lozzi/K.htm

[Canada Tom]

Originally posted by Unknown303
Was talking with some family last night about engines and what not and he drops the K-cycle bomb on me. Now i'm completely lost trying to find any information on this strange engine invented in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I searched the internet and could find places that mentioned it momentarily but nothing that would go over the concept or have illustrations of this engine.

Does anyone know of this or have any interesting links to sites about this.

I realize this post reply is 1 1/2 years "late" but I was Googling for K-Cycle engine and Unknown303 came up.

I am familiar with Dr. Christianson from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

I heard him speak in 1984 at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

He merged with someone and then went bankrupt.

Did you ever find anything about it? It is a brilliant engine.

Canada Tom.

[Unknown303]

Nope to this day I've still had a near impossible time tracking down any detailed information regarding the K-Cycle engine.

Its kind of crazy to see this thread revived, maybe we can finally find some information.

Oh my brain!!!
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7117841.html
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7117841.html

[ryanallan]

I would be interested in knowing how it works . . .

[Unknown303]

Oh posted links in my past post.

[badatusrnames]

From a google hit:

The Kristiansen cycle engine, aka the K-Cycle, was developed by a Professor Kristiansen of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I don't remember the exact date of its development, but it was sometime in the early 60's if I remember correctly. It used 6 pistons, 6 cylinders, 1 sparkplug one exhaust port and one intake port. There were no valves. It looked like the barrel of a six shooter used in old westerns.

Each piston moved freely inside its respective cylinder. The cylinders would move around the drive shaft like the bullet holders in a six shooter barrel. Each piston's connecting rod would ride on a rollercoaster like track. The cylinders were attached to the drive shaft to translate the energy of combustion in every one of the cylinders to the rotation of the shaft. As the track moved, the pistons and corresponding connecting rod would move through the intake, compression, spark, drive and exhaust positions. When the fuel combusted, the piston that was at the drive position would push the rest of the pistons through the other stroke positions.

This design resulted in a much longer time for expansion of the combusted fuel thereby increasing the engine's efficiency. When demonstrating this engine, Kristiansen would ask spectators to touch the exhaust port and, to everyone's amazement, the exhaust port ran at a comfortably warm temperature.

The advantage of this engine was its high efficiency - more than 3 to 4 times that of the internal combustion engines of today.

The disadvantage of this engine was the moving parts and the difficulty in lubricating them. The engine would fail frequently due to fatigue and material creep. The centrifugal force on the parts, as one might imagine, was incredible. No one was ever killed from these failures, which was incredibly lucky!

My personal assessment of this engine was that it was a great try, but it is impractical. Maybe someone could revisit the design and come up with a better solution.

http://forums.howwhatwhy.com/showfla...120073&fpart=1

[Unknown303]

Damn and i was just going to post that link. Talk about the crazy things that come out of Canada.

[Proboscis]

theres a wiki look alike site that has diagrams on various engine designs. one from Calgary if I recall.

[Canada Tom]

Originally posted by Unknown303
Nope to this day I've still had a near impossible time tracking down any detailed information regarding the K-Cycle engine.

Its kind of crazy to see this thread revived, maybe we can finally find some information.

Oh my brain!!!
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7117841.html
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7117841.html

Hey, you ARE out there! I checked out those two web sites,

and I believe they are patents for the Mazda Rotory engine.

The K-Cycle uses opposed pistons that form a compression chamber between the piston tops as they move towards each other.

The cylinders are arranged like the bullet revolver in a pistol.

Now, this is where things get really wild, the whole thing spins while the pistons go up and down.

It's very difficult to explain without a diagram.

It's incredibly simple, however, and twice as efficient as a naturally aspirated gasoline engine.

[Proboscis]

we need some animated gifs

[Unknown303]

Yeah my original conversation with my family member he was describing it to me that it was like the mazda wanko but with more compression and expansion chambers. Sounds interesting and it a shame it never really made it anywhere.

[Supa Dexta]

Is he still alive? Shouldn't be hard to track him down, beyond detective style (just don't ruin his life when you find him)

[Unknown303]

K-Cycle Patent PDF

So that's the a PDF of the actual Patent forms. Pretty interesting illustrations.

[badatusrnames]

Sounds interesting, but it sounds like the engine was simply too complex and had reliability issues that were too serious for mainstream use...

[ryanallan]

thats an interesting design.
but ya, seems complex with lots of moving parts.
kinda the opposite of the wankel rotary.

[Canada Tom]

Originally posted by Unknown303
K-Cycle Patent PDF

So that's the a PDF of the actual Patent forms. Pretty interesting illustrations.

So, I opened the PDF above and all 16 pages were blank!
Never had that happen before.
If he were still alive he'd be in his 80's I would think.
Essentially, this engine has a variable radius crankshaft
that allows for more energy usage on the power stroke.
The reason I got "crancked" up about it again is I was
watching Daily Planet the other night and a guy "Ed"
in California has built a cross between the K-Cycle and a
hydro-static drive. It's much smaller with fewer moving parts
some of them a white composite vs. steel.
I'll look again and see if they've posted the clip.

[Canada Tom]

DicoveryChannel.ca drives me crazy, I NEVER find what I'm looking for there! Perhaps I'll send them an email and see if I can't get more info.

[Unknown303]

Do it i need more information!

[Vetmxr]

The K-Cycle was designed by my wife’s uncle Hawken Kristiansen in conjunction with the University of Manitoba, we still have I believe 2 or 3 engines in mothballs capable of working! The K-Cycle can operate on bio fuels and at time of design thru to early 80’s required no emission equipment, had one igniter and as a result of it's variable stroke required no muffler. Typically the K-Cycle develops more H.P. for a third less engine weight and a reduction of fuel consumption of up to 30% when compared to comparable Otto Cycle engines. Fuel consumption of today’s engines has not improved substantially so I see the K-cycle engine as still viable!
The K-cycle would have been an engine of choice today had not Hawken Kristiansen sadly passed away suddenly from a heart attack at the peak of K-Cycles development. Hawken was the driving force behind K-Cycle and he was a very principled man. He would not sell his design his intention was to license companies only to ensure the general public would reap the benefit of his invention. The K-cycle ran successfully in various applications including for several thousand miles in a Ford Mustang and was shown publicly by the then President of Ford Canada who made a presentation on the K-Cycle. The K-Cycle was close to market at the time of Hawkens death.
I am currently acting for the Kristiansen family with regard to promoting and looking for new investors.