International Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.

229−235 (2014) Copyright © 2014 KSAE/ 076−06

DOI 10.1007/s12239−014−0024−8 pISSN 1229−9138/ eISSN 1976−3832

FREE PISTON ENGINE GENERATOR: TECHNOLOGY REVIEW AND

AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION WITH HYDROGEN FUEL

Y. WOO and Y. J. LEE*

Department of Energy Efficiency, KIER, 152 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-343, Korea

(Received 26 October 2013; Revised 5 November 2013; Accepted 31 December 2013)

ABSTRACT−Free piston engine generators which utilize a free piston engine and a linear generator are under investigation
by a number of research groups around the world. Free piston engines give power output in a more efficient way when
compared to conventional crankshaft engines, because the former do not have a crank mechanism which brings about
additional mechanical loss. However, for the reliable and stable operation of the free piston engine generators, it is required
to have a viable control system to address the uncertainty of piston motion. In this paper, most of the successful free piston
engine generator developments were reviewed and a recent experimental result on a prototype free piston system was also
presented with regard to engine performance with different mixture preparation strategies.

KEY WORDS : Free piston engine, Generator, Hydrogen, Two-stroke engine, Scavenging efficiency, Port-valve overlap

NOMENCLATURE the single cylinder engine to push the piston back and allow
the device to operate consecutively. A two-stroke engine is
ATDC : after the top dead center usually used because it requires a power stroke once per
BDC : bottom dead center each stroke. This is especially used for the dual cylinder
HCCI : homogeneous charge compression ignition type engine without a bouncing system. Implementation of
IMEP : indicated mean effective pressure appropriate power electronics may allow the use of the electric
IVO : intake valve opening generator in motoring mode to start the engine and control the
NOx : nitric oxcides piston (Mikalsen and Roskilly, 2007; Lee et al., 2010).
SOI : start of fuel injection There are a few advantages in the free piston concept over
TDC : top dead center the conventional crank engine such as low friction loss,
VVA : variable valve actuation inherently variable compression ratio, efficient transient
operation, short piston residence at TDC, and cost savings
1. INTRODUCTION (Csaba and Nigel, 2005; Goldsborough and Blarigan, 1999,
2003).
A free piston engine directly utilizes reciprocating piston The structural simplicity allows the free piston engine to
motion, which is unlike the conventional crankshaft have a higher power density because it requires fewer
engines that converting it into a rotary motion with a slider- moving parts, which lead to less weight and space.
crank mechanism. The piston motion is determined only by Moreover, the friction loss is lower and the piston has no
the pressure difference developed at both ends of the side forces, which are induced by the crank mechanism.
piston. The piston is not restricted by any mechanical Though the larger part of the friction losses are attributed to
linkages and exhibits a different stroke at every movement, the piston assembly, approximately 20 percent of the
which consists of variable compression ratios by nature. friction is still responsible for the crankshaft at 1500 rpm
The free piston engine generator consists of a free piston which is observed as approximately 25 Hz in the free
engine coupled to a linear electric generator. The main piston engine (Woo et al., 2009).
operation principle is to minimize the transformation of the The free piston configuration allows the stroke length or
chemical energy of the fuel into mechanical energy and compression ratio to vary almost instantaneously cycle-by-
then into electricity. For the combustion chamber in the cycle and enables the optimization of the compression ratio
free piston engine, both the single and dual cylinder types with different fuels or different operation conditions. Thus,
have been reported. A bounce chamber may be applied in a variety of alternative fuels can be applied to the engine
without major hardware modifications (Goldsborough and
Blarigan, 2003; Mikalsen and Roskilly, 2007).
*Corresponding author. e-mail: yjl@[Link] In addition, the free piston engine offers some inherent

229
230 Y. WOO and Y. J. LEE

efficiency and cold start emissions benefits during engine

startup. Its small mechanical inertia and ability to achieve
its target speed almost on the first piston stroke and, against
a lower friction, make startup transients comparatively
short and more efficient (Brusstar et al., 2005).
Goldsborough et al. stated that with the same stroke and
piston frequency, there are a few differences between the
piston motions from a free piston engine and a crankshaft
driven engine. As shown in Figure 2, the free piston spends
less time at TDC (Top dead center) relative to the
crankshaft-driven piston. This shorter residence time at
TDC for the free piston could be advantageous in terms of
heat transfer losses and NOx formation because shorter
exposure to a higher temperature environment is desirable Figure 1. Sandia free piston engine generator research
(Goldsborough and Blarigan, 1999). prototype.
However, the lack of a crank mechanism creates the
following disadvantages as well: the control system
including the piston position pickup has to be more power output through the DOE (Department of Energy)
complicated than in the conventional engines, the funded project. The engine employs a homogeneous charge
compression ratio is indefinite and depends on the pressure compression ignition (HCCI) and is aimed to operate on a
balance at both ends of the piston in each stroke, and the variety of hydrogen-containing fuels. Test results from a
varying piston position at every stroke requires a different compression–expansion machine showed a nearly constant
control strategy to determine when to inject fuel or to ignite volume combustion with hydrogen, bio-gas, and ammonia
the mixture apart from a sophisticated scavenging process. at equivalence ratios of approximately 0.3.
In a two stroke engine, the gas exchange process or The target efficiency is 50% overall considering 56%
charge preparation is inferior to a four stroke engine engine thermal efficiency and 96% generator efficiency.
because both the exhaust and the intake take place at the The Sandia research team states that operation on lean
same time; this causes both charges to mix up and results in mixtures with low mean effective pressures is possible
lower efficiency, loss of some fuel without burning and without efficiency penalties because of the low frictional
charge dilution in the scavenging process. Without losses in the free piston engine.
sufficient scavenging, charge strength gets lower and leads In 2008, the twin cylinder engine configuration changed
to low heat release and increased cyclic variation at part into the opposed piston type to utilize the self-balance
load condition. On the other hand, at high load condition, a effect, which occurs when the two pistons act together
large amount of fuel is rarely trapped within the cylinder while the combustion occurs in between them. Currently,
effectively without losing it along with the exhaust charge. the research team is looking into the prototype to assess
Thus, it is strongly required to obtain high scavenging piston synchronization, thermal response, and compression
efficiency and to minimize unburned fuel loss for the ratio control. They have plans to perform combustion
mixture preparation in the free piston engine. experiments and measure the indicated thermal efficiency
The free piston engine generator was first developed and emissions at various compression ratios and equivalence
around 1930, and the technology is still currently being ratios with hydrogen and, resources permitting, natural gas
explored by a number of research groups worldwide as an
alternative to conventional engine generators. This study
reviews the history of the free piston engine generators and
investigates the potential of free piston engines as an
alternative to conventional technology. This study is the
result of an extensive background study on the subject and
will be followed up by the recent development of a
prototype engine generator from the Korea Institute of
Energy Research.

2. REPORTED FREE PISTON ENGINE

GENERATORS APPLICATIONS
Figure 2. Free piston engine generator from the West
2.1. Sandia National Laboratories Virginia University (1. Cylinder, 2. Piston, 3. Con-rod, 4.
Van Blarigan previously presented the design of a dual Injector, 5. Intake port, 6. Exhaust Port, 7. Motoring coil, 8.
cylinder free piston engine generator with 40 kw electric Linear alternator, 9. Frame, 10. Spark plug, 11. Throttle).
 FREE PISTON ENGINE GENERATOR: TECHNOLOGY REVIEW AND AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION 231

(DOE/EE-0872, 2012).

2.2. West Virginia University

Researchers at West Virginia University describe the
development of a spark ignited dual piston engine
generator. They have thoroughly documented their work
and findings in a number of publications, which concern
linear alternator design, design and operation of the Figure 3. Free piston energy converter from Innas.
combustion engine and analysis of the combined system.
An engine prototype is reported to have achieved 316 W
power output at 23.1 Hz, with 36.5 mm bore and 50 mm France, and England. The final targets of the program are a
maximum stroke. High cycle-to-cycle variations were 25 kW power output, 0.6 kW/kg in energy density, and the
reported, particularly at low loads. Euro V emission level. The prototype engine energy
This group of researchers has been the most successful converter which is a twin cylinder two stroke diesel engine
within academia regarding free piston engine generator with 1 liter for each chamber was investigated to achieve
research. They are one of very few that have reported the HCCI combustion to obtain 46% of the fuel-to-electricity
successful development of a running prototype (see figure efficiency.
2). More recentrly, they aims to develop a 10 kW direct
injection compression ignition free piston engine for a 2.5. Pempek Systems Pty. Ltd.
hybrid vehicle (Clark et al., 1998; Atkinson et al., 1999; Pempek Systems Pty. Ltd., an Australian company, is one
Shoukry et al., 2002). of the research leaders for this field. The conceptual target
of their free piston engine generator is a series type hybrid
2.3. KTH vehicle which runs as fast as 160 km/h, requires only 5.4
A research group from the Royal Institute of Technology sec for zero to 100 km/h in acceleration, and is equipped
(KTH) in Sweden, has published a number of articles with a brake recovery system. For their target, they
evaluating different electrical machine possibilities for a designed a 25 kW free piston engine generator which
free piston engine generator. They state that the permanent shows 50% engine thermal efficiency and higher than 93%
magnet, transverse-flux machine is the most promising of the generator efficiency.
candidate for the generator. In addition, they also FP3, their third prototype engine generator, has a unique
developed a dynamic free piston model and used it for the structure in which the engine is incorporated into the linear
comparative study on the electric power pulsation and generator so that the magnet mover has two parts radially
proposed different generator force profiles to suppress the that act as a piston with its inner part and compressor with
pulsation. Regarding the free piston engine start-up issue, its outer part at each end. Moreover, the mover acts as an
they optimized the amplitude of the generator force to intake air compressor with its outer part while its inner part
minimize energy consumption (Hansson, 2006). compresses the charge within the combustion chamber.
The compressed air passes to the other cylinder through its
2.4. Innas B.V. specially designed gas passages in the mover cavity which
The Dutch company innas B.V. is among the research is shown in Figure 4 (Carter et al., 2003).
leaders in free piston technology today. They have They succeeded to run the engine with definite piston
developed a single piston, diesel powered, hydraulic free movements which is controlled with the aid of the
piston engine, which is intended to be as an alternative to motoring mode operation of the generator. However, at the
the conventional engine and hydraulic pump systems used moment, the unique structure has a critical issue which is
in off-highway vehicles since 1987. They claim that the sealing problem through the clearance between the
reduced exhaust emissions and lower fuel consumption can mover and stator.
be achieved with the engine because of the mechanically
less complex design and high operational flexibility. 2.6. FEV Engine Technology
The Innas free piston engine has a 17 kw power output A German company, FEV Engine Technology, analyzed
and indicated efficiencies of approximately 50% are several power packs for hybrid powertrains and concluded
reported . The construction of the engine is shown in figure that both supercapacitors and free piston engines with a
3 and utilizes a complex hydraulic control system. Fuel linear generator can be a future candidate for an alternative
consumption is reported to be approximately 20% lower to fuel cells in terms of efficiency and cost benefits. They
than a conventional engine-pump unit, and at low loads, it developed a conceptual design for a free piston engine
is even 50% lower (Vael et al., 2000). generator in which electrically controlled poppet valves
Innas was also involved in a free piston engine generator were incorporated to form uni-flow scavenging in the two
project, under a European Union program that involved stroke direct injection compression ignition engine. They
eight industries and universities from Sweden, Netherland, also investigated the engine performance prediction with
232 Y. WOO and Y. J. LEE

drastically decreases with low mixture strength to give high

cyclic variations at part loads and it is not easy to trap large
amount of fuel within the cylinder without sacrificing the
unburned fuel. As a result, it is quite crucial to lead high
scavenging efficiency and keep fuel from going out without
burning to obtain a high thermal efficiency in the two stroke
free piston engines.
In this study, a new prototype free piston engine was
developed to have so-called reverse uni-flow scavenging
Figure 4. Cross-section view of the FP3 from Pempek from previously loop or uni-flow scavenging. In addition,
Systems. the mover weight is significantly reduced by utilizing
strengthened materials and the vibration of the system was
also improved by applying slide engine mounting. After the
engine was constructed, the performance and combustion
characteristics were evaluated to have a high efficiency and
operational stability.

3.1. Experimental Setup and Method

All the experiments were conducted with the prototype test
engine generator incorporated with the electronic control
unit, data acquisition system, motoring circuit device, and
load bank. Figure 6 shows the photograph of the test engine
system.
The test engine is a two stroke spark ignition engine
Figure 5. Free piston engine and generator from FEV. fueled with hydrogen that is injected into the intake port. It
comprises two combustion chambers and a generator
installed in the middle of the cylinders. Each combustion
the effect on the design parameters (Brusstar et al., 2005). chamber contains an exhaust port at the bottom of the
chamber and an intake valve in the head which is electro-
3. AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION

Even though there have been several suggestions for free

piston configurations in the referred literature, many of
them are only for the computational approaches prior to the
demonstration or just for the introduction of their own
prototypes which are far from the completion of stable
operation. This is because there are still many technical
difficulties and this makes the goal for the stable and more
efficient free piston engine combustion nearly unattainable.
For an free piston engine generator system to be
commercially available, it is essential to show a high
efficiency and stable operation apart from the low cost
benefit. In this study, a prototype of a free piston engine Figure 6. Prototype test free piston engine generator from
and a linear generator were tested to evaluate the KIER.
performance to obtain higher efficiency and lower
emissions than the conventional generation systems.
In a free piston engine, two stoke engines are usually
applied because it is required to have piston power in every
stroke to have consecutive linear piston motion. The
formation of a combustible mixture is more complicated
and difficult to have sufficient strength in two stroke
engines than in four stroke engines. The scavenging
process is not as efficient as the gas exchange process
which comprises intake and exhaust process separately in
the four stroke engines. If the scavenging efficiency is not
reserved to have sufficiently high value, the heat release Figure 7. Schematic of the free piston engine generator.
 FREE PISTON ENGINE GENERATOR: TECHNOLOGY REVIEW AND AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION 233

Table 1. Specifications of the test engine.

Bore (mm) 77
Stroke (mm) 85
Displacement (cc) 395.8 × 2
Compression ratio 9.796
Intake valve open timing (mm ATDC) 78/85/92
Exhaust port open timing (mm ATDC) 75
Fuel injection timing (mm ATDC) 70/82
Mass of mover (kg) 8.91
Figure 8. Abnormal combustion phenomena.

hydraulically controlled. The two pistons are directly

connected to both ends of the rotor, with the mover magnet
inside the cylindrical generator which has five poles in the
rotor and nine coils in the stator.
As the combustion occurs in the two cylinders one after
another, the magnets moves back and forth passing the
stator coils which generate electricity. During the start of
the engine, the generator motors the engine and controls
the positions of the mover. The specifications of the test
engine are given in Table 1. Figure 9. Proposed mixture preparation strategy.
An absolute position encoder is connected in the rotor
and generates signals to detect the exact piston position for
the engine control. The engine control signals are subsequent combustion of the other cylinder of the engine
synchronized with the piston encoder to inject the fuel and at the same time. Moreover, a free piston engine does not
ignite the fuel-air mixture at the right piston position. have any mechanism to preserve inertial energy to continue
The test conditions are given in Table 2 including fuel the piston motion such as a flywheel in a conventional
injection timing (SOI; Start of injection) and intake valve rotational engine. Thus, it is an operational difficulty that a
open timing (IVO). The fuel injection timing and intake single misfire from one of the cylinders could be a cause of
valve opening were carefully chosen with respect to the the critical loss of piston movement resulting in the engine
exhaust port open time and the cylinder pressure was stopping. Figure 8 shows an example of an abnormal
acquired every 0.1 ms and utilized to obtain the cycle combustion encountered during a test (Woo et al., 2009).
analysis. The open time of the intake valve is set after the To overcome the risk of misfire and draw out high
exhaust valve opening which is mechanically fixed in order efficiency from the test engine, the intake valve and fuel
to keep the fresh mixture from so-called backfiring that is injection timing was carefully chosen as suggested in
burning of the combustible mixture without entering the Figure 9. This figure describes two main approaches: all
cylinder. the burned gas should sufficiently be expelled, and at the
same time, all the fuel should be trapped without losing it
3.2. Mixture Preparation Strategy through the exhaust port. To reach this goal, the port-valve
The indefinite piston movement of a free piston engine overlap needs to be minimized and the fuel is induced into
significantly affects both the compression process and the the cylinder as late as possible. This would lead to another
advantage because axial fuel stratification along the
Table 2. Test conditions (unit: mm ATDC). cylinder would arise and help the flame to propagate fast
CASE SOI IVO even with low charge strength, resulting from an inadequate
stroke or inefficient scavenging.
I 78
II 70 85 3.3. Results and Discussion
The test free piston engine was operated at a frequency of
III 92
approximately 25 Hz, and the pressure volume diagram
IV 78 and indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) are given in
V 82 85 Figure 10 under the several test conditions (Woo et al.,
2012).
VI 92 In cases I to III, which correspond to relatively early fuel
234 Y. WOO and Y. J. LEE

was also successfully operated at approximately 25 Hz

under different fuel injection timings and intake valve
opening conditions and the following results were
concluded:
(1) The scavenging process was improved with a uni-flow
implementation from the intake valve to the exhaust
port compared with the previous loop scavenging and
the test engine generator was operated at a frequency of
approximately 25 Hz.
(2) The key scavenging strategy is that the overall gas
exchange relies on the opening of the intake valve with
respect to the fuel injection timing, while the open
overlap period of the exhaust port and intake valve
must be kept from being enlarged excessively. The case
in which the fuel is injected before the exhaust port
opens and then the intake valve opens at BDC shows
the best power output of above 13 MPa of IMEP.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT–This research was performed under

the financial support of MSIP and HERC through the 21st
Century Frontier Research Program and the authors would like to
thank for the opportunity.
Figure 10. P-V diagrams and IMEP with different mixture
preparation strategies.
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