Fiat's UNIAIR technology
 

Fiat’s latest revelation in engine design, UNIAIR, is undergoing fine-tuning at the Fiat Research Centre in preparation for commercialisation in 2007.

A red Alfa Romeo 147 2.0, complete with UNIAIR livery, has been used extensively as a test vehicle for this project ever since it was first previewed at the 63rd Barcelona Motorshow in April 2003, where awards were handed out for the best technological innovations in the automotive field.

During this event, Centro Ricerche Fiat obtained one of the EUCAR prizes for their Alfa Romeo 147 UNIAIR prototype. The project led by Centro Ricerche Fiat has also been contributed to by Daimler Chrysler, PSA, and Magnetti Marelli.

The UNIAIR system will eventually feature on all Fiat Group automotive engines, due to be fitted across the entire range between 2007 and 2008. Early rumours suggested that the Alfa Romeo 148 would receive UNIAIR in October 2006, although this date is now considered as highly
improbable.

Patented by engineers Maira Massimiliano and Richard Francesco from Centro Ricerche Fiat, the UNIAIR system is the result of more than 10 years of extensive research and development. The innovative concept uses an electronically controlled hydraulic system to allow for variable operation of the inlet valves.

Traditional internal combustion engines use a butterfly throttle valve to mechanically control the volume of air that enters the engine.

As the operating cycles of each cylinder are out of phase, the induction phases occur at different times. As a result uneven quantities of air are sucked into the various cylinders. The UNIAIR project was based upon resolving this problem.

A red Alfa Romeo 147 2.0, complete with UNIAIR livery, has been used extensively as a test vehicle for this project .

Reliability and life time of future Fiat group engines is also set to improve from an already good base, with new development technology in the areas of stress, vibration and temperature analysis.


UNIAIR uses an electronically controlled hydraulic system to allow for variable operation of the inlet valves.


In order to solve the problem, the inlet ports of the engines are fitted with air-feed flow sensors, which allow for the divergence of air flow between the different cylinders to be measured. This valuable data is subsequently filtered for the most significant values, and used as an input to control a hydraulic system for actuating the inlet valves, with the aim of obtaining an equal air-flow for each cylinder. CRF also had the option to develop an electromagnetic system, although the fact that such a system would not be compatible with diesel engines rendered it futile.

Extensive fluid dynamic analyses have been used to maximize the volumetric efficiency and performance of the UNIAIR engines. The higher volumetric efficiency of the engines, has direct and encouraging results on the reduction of fuel consumption, sound levels, and in particular with the diesel engines, emissions.

Reliability and life time of future Fiat group engines is also set to improve from an already good base, with new development technology in the areas of stress, vibration and temperature analysis. In addition, the robust electro hydraulic approach implemented by Fiat for the UNIAIR system has an intrinsic fail safe nature.

The results of the ten year project are stunning, with power output increasing by 10-15% on average, whilst fuel consumption drops by 8 to 10%. The latter improvement is mainly due to the elimination of the conventional butterfly throttle valve, a component that severely reduces the ability for air flow to be optimized. Consequently, UNIAIR technology allows for Euro 5 emissions standards to be met, and contributes to reducing the environmental foot print of modern day motoring.

One of the first engines to receive the UNIAIR treatment will be the 1.6 litre JTS engine, fitted to the Alfa Romeo 148. With UNIAIR technology, the 1.6 litre unit is expected to boast an output of 150 bhp. UNIAIR engines are also characterised by impressive low-end torque.

Diesel engines fitted with the technology bear the MULTIAIR tag, and will also exude impressive power outputs per litre, and ultra-low consumption figures.

On the high performance side of the range, Alfa Romeo have been developing a 3.2 litre twin-turbo V6 UNIAIR JTS, with a power output of approximately 400 bhp. In this application, the benefits of the UNIAIR system are clearly evident, with the air-flow of the engine being far more substantial, and influential. The first application of UNIAIR for the Ferrari range of cars is expected to be with the 6.0 V12 direct injection engine, with an impressive 630 bhp.

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From italiaspeed.com

cool technology, thanks for the diagrams too. btw is this a recent article, or old? curious since they talk about a 630bhp 6 litre V12... sounds like the enzo engine (tho the enzo does have more power than that)
what is that second diagram really showing btw? stress?

so what does this technology do? :oops:

in short it seems that its basically a system to precisely control the amount of air allowed into each cylinder. apparently from the diagram it does that by controlling the amount of individual valve lift in each cylinder (this is just a guess on my part though, since nothing seems to say specifically how it works)

It's new. And yeah, the second diagram is showing stress.

The 6.0 V12 could be the Maranello's replacement engine.

Very awesome tech. I wonder if Fiat will be selling this tech to other companies, because if the power gains and fuel consumption reduction are as significant as stated, I'm sure dozens of other companies will be biting at thier heels to get their hands on that.

This is very likely...But as far as I know the 400bhp 3.2l JTB will not initially have the UniAir..The UniAir version is set to come later and will be even more powerful.
Anyway, it is a hell of a cutting egde technology.

Yeah, UNIAIR will only come in around 2007.

So it's a bit like BMW's Valvetronic, but going even a few steps further by controlling each cylinder individually and controlling the interferences between the different cylinders.

the maranello replacement is going to have a 6 litre V12? damn talk about stepping up the performance

yea when I first read about it BMW came to mind with the individual butterfly valves per cylinder. looking at the diagrams though, it almost seems that this is essentially a very controllable iteration of variable valve lift. in a performance car this could be a viable substitute for the variable valve timing and lift camshaft technologies used by other manufacturers. If this can be effectively applied to exhaust valves as well, and has a failsafe nature like they mentioned, this could be a huge jump in automotive technology. that is just the way I see it though :D

yeah, that would be intense. tho when you look at it, it does make sense.

550 -> 575 -> 600

logical progression! :wink:

yeah I guess the displacement change kinda makes sense, but look at the hp numbers
480 -> 540 -> 630

first jump is only 60 hp, but from 575 to the new one is 90...!

How is this different from BMW's valvetronic? They have been using throttle-less induction for quite a while.

If we're talking about a maranello your figures are not that accurate as the 575 has 515hp so the leap is even bigger.