An exhaust valve includes a stem extending to a valve end. The valve end includes a pressure relief apparatus. An engine assembly includes a casing defining a cylinder bore, a combustion chamber and an exhaust passage. The combustion chamber is disposed between the exhaust passage and the cylinder bore. The engine assembly also includes a piston movable in the cylinder bore. The engine assembly further includes an exhaust valve movable between a first position blocking fluid communication through the exhaust passage and a second position allowing fluid communication through the exhaust passage. The exhaust valve includes a pressure relief apparatus configured to allow fluid communication through the exhaust valve from the cylinder bore to the exhaust passage when the exhaust valve is in the first position and a predetermined pressure threshold occurs in the cylinder bore between the exhaust valve and the piston.

Provided are a heat-resistant member provided with a heat-shielding coating suitable for stable manufacturing and excellent in heat-insulating, thermoresponsive and distortion accommodating properties, and a method for manufacturing the same. The heat-shielding coating includes a metallic portion formed of agglomerates of a plurality of metal particles, and inorganic compound particles dispersed in the metallic portion. The metal particles are diffusion-bonded each other, and the metallic portion and a base material of the heat-resistant member are diffusion-bonded each other. The manufacturing method includes the steps of depositing mixed particles of the metal particles and the inorganic compound particles on a surface of the base material in a film shape; resistance-heating the mixed particles by current-passing while pressurized in a thickness direction; diffusion-bonding the metal particles each other; and the metallic portion and the base material each other.

A shaft assembly for a powertrain includes a shaft having a cavity extending at least partially from a first axial end to a second axial end of the shaft and opening at at least one of the first axial end and the second axial end. For example, the shaft may be a balance shaft, a camshaft, or a transmission shaft. A first core plug is disposed in the cavity. The shaft and the core plug may be the same material, or may be different materials. The shaft may have a first density, first cross-sectional area, or first area modulus, and the core plug may have a different second density, second cross sectional area, or second area modulus which may be less than the first density, the first cross-sectional area, or the first area modulus.

A composite vehicle shaft assembly includes a body formed from a first material having a first end, a second end, and an intermediate portion extending therebetween. The intermediate portion defines an axis of rotation and includes an outer surface and an inner surface defining a cavity. At least one core plug formed from a second material is disposed in the cavity.

A moment-cancelling, four-stroke engine is disclosed. The engine includes a first cylinder having a first piston and a second cylinder having a second piston, a first crankshaft operably connected to the first piston and a second crankshaft operably connected to the second piston. The first crankshaft rotates in a first direction and the second crankshaft rotates in a second direction that is opposite the first direction to cancel the moments applied to the engine and reduce engine vibration.

A joining device for joining components on a shaft, e.g., for joining camshaft components on a camshaft tube, is disclosed. The joining device includes a joining device body composed of a material with a heat expansion coefficient that is lower than 10.0 μm/m° C. The heat expansion coefficient of the joining device is smaller than that of the components and/or the shaft.

A valve system/method suitable for an internal combustion engine (ICE), compressor pump, vacuum pump, and/or reciprocating mechanical device is disclosed. The system/method is optimized for construction of a two-stroke ICE. The rudimentary system incorporates an intake engine block cover (IEC) and exhaust engine block cover (EEC) that enclose an intake rotary valve disc (IVD) and exhaust rotary valve disc (EVD) that control intake/exhaust flow through a respective intake rotary valve port (IVP) and an exhaust rotary valve port (EVP) into and out of a combustion cylinder that provides power to a piston and crankshaft. An intake multi-staged valve (IMV) and exhaust multi-staged valve (EMV) provide intake and exhaust flow control for the IVD/IVP and EVD/EVP. An enhanced system may include a variety of intake/exhaust port seals (IPS/EPS), forced induction/discharge (FIN), centrifugal advance (CAD), and/or cooling channel spool (ICS/ECS).

A poppet valve includes: a valve body comprising a valve stem body, a valve head body with a valve combustion face, and a valve fillet body interconnecting the valve stem body and the valve head body. The valve fillet body surface has an increased thermal resistance compared to the valve combustion face.

A sliding member includes a base substrate and a coating layer formed on the base substrate. The coating layer includes an inorganic part derived from at least one type of inorganic particles selected from the group consisting of iron base alloy particles, cobalt base alloy particles, chromium base alloy particles, nickel base alloy particles, molybdenum base alloy particles, and ceramic particles, and a metal part derived from at least one type of metal particles selected from the group consisting of iron base alloy particles other than listed in the above group, copper particles, and copper alloy particles. The inorganic part is bonded to another inorganic part and/or the metal part via interfaces therebetween, and the metal part is bonded to another metal part and/or the inorganic part via interfaces therebetween. The sliding member includes an interface layer including at least one of a diffusion layer and an intermetallic compound layer on at least one part of an interface between the base substrate and the coating layer or interfaces between the inorganic part and the metal part, the inorganic parts, and the metal parts. The interface layer has a thickness of equal to or less than 2 μm.

A split-cycle engine includes: a first cylinder housing a first piston, wherein the first piston performs an intake stroke and a compression stroke, but does not perform an exhaust stroke; a second cylinder housing a second piston, wherein the second piston performs an expansion stroke and an exhaust stroke, but does not perform an intake stroke; and a valve chamber housing a valve, the valve comprising an internal chamber that selectively fluidly couples to the first and second cylinders, wherein the valve and internal chamber move within the valve chamber and relative to the first and second cylinders.