The downsizing trend is back! Ford is thinking of an engine with one turbo per cylinder

Downsizing has been the most widely used combustion engine construction technique in recent years, but it is gradually losing ground to other technologies such as electrification. Even so, Ford continues to back downsizing and, in particular, the optimisation of turbocharging.

According to Car and Driver, Ford has designed a new engine concept that uses one turbo per cylinder, a powerplant that would almost completely eliminate the well-known turbolag, the delay in throttle response.

Until now, engines have used three types of turbocharging: sequential, several turbos of different sizes operating at different speeds to cover the widest possible rev range; variable-geometry turbos, which perform the same function as the previous solution; and electric turbochargers, a great solution for reducing turbolag. Now, a fourth option could join these three: using one turbo per cylinder.

This engine would be 20% smaller and 50% cheaper. Jim Clarke, an engineer at Ford, is the architect of this unusual solution, based on a basic principle: the closer the turbines (turbo) are to the cylinder’s valves, the smaller the energy loss and, consequently, the smaller the turbolag. Besides the proximity between the cylinder and the turbine, the size of the turbos also plays an important role in this system: the system’s ‘mini-turbos’ generate less inertia and therefore take less time to spin up. Their size is 20% smaller than that of a single compressor fitted to a three-cylinder engine, while their cost would be half, according to Clarke.

It is worth noting that the Ford engineer has extensive experience in engine manufacturing. Throughout his career, Clarke has led the design of engines such as the V8 and Duratec V6 from Ford, or the V12 engines from Aston Martin.