Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Cylinder head
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
== Number of cylinder heads == A piston engine typically has one cylinder head per [[Engine_configuration#Multiple_cylinder_banks|bank of cylinders]]. Most modern engines with a [[straight engine|"straight" (inline) layout]] today use a single cylinder head that serves all the cylinders. Engines with a [[V engine|"V" layout]] or [[flat engine|"flat" layout]] typically use two cylinder heads (one for each [[cylinder bank]]), however a small number of 'narrow-angle' V engines (such as the Volkswagen [[VR5 engine|VR5]] and [[VR6 engine|VR6]] engines) use a single cylinder head spanning the two banks. Most [[radial engine]]s have one head for each cylinder, although this is usually of the [[monobloc engine#Cylinder head|monobloc]] form wherein the head is made as an integral part of the cylinder. This is also common for motorcycles, and such head/cylinder components are referred to as ''barrels''. Some engines, particularly medium- and large-capacity [[diesel engine]]s built for industrial, marine, power generation, and heavy traction purposes (large trucks, [[locomotive]]s, [[heavy equipment]], etc.) have individual cylinder heads for each cylinder. This reduces repair costs as a single failed head on a single cylinder can be changed instead of a larger, much more expensive unit fitting all the cylinders. Such a design also allows engine manufacturers to easily produce a 'family' of engines of different layouts and/or cylinder numbers without requiring new cylinder head designs.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)