Jaguar Land Rover’s new 2.0-litre 300PS Ingenium petrol engine is the most powerful four-cylinder engine that the company has ever produced. Featuring a number of the latest technologies, JLR claims that it ‘delivers exceptional performance, refinement and efficiency’.
The all-aluminium Ingenium petrol engine has now found its way in to the all-aluminium F-Type coupe, expanding the powertrain line-up available in the car and offering options from 300PS four-cylinder up to 575PS V8.
Offered exclusively with rear-wheel drive and a ‘specifically-optimised’ eight-speed quickshift transmission, the four-cylinder enables fuel consumption and CO2 emissions on the European combined cycle of 39.2mpg (7.2-litres/100km) and 163g/km respectively.
“The 300PS Ingenium petrol engine is engineered to deliver a compelling blend of performance, refinement and efficiency,” explains Ron Lee, engineering director of Powertrain, Jaguar Land Rover. “Cutting-edge technologies including electrohydraulic intake valve lift control, integrated exhaust manifold and a twin-scroll turbocharger with ceramic ball bearings make this the most advanced petrol engine we’ve ever produced. Not only is this the most powerful four-cylinder ever offered in a production Jaguar, it also develops the highest specific power and torque ratings of any engine in the F-Type range. It’s a natural fit for a Jaguar sports car.”
Integrated into the cylinder head is a state-of-the-art electrohydraulic valvetrain featuring patented control algorithms developed in-house. This enables fully variable control of intake valve lift for improved efficiency, power and torque throughout the operating range.
Ingenium petrol engines manage load control primarily by the intake valves themselves by varying the amount of lift, and the duration for which they are open. To achieve this, the intake cams no longer operate the valves directly: instead they actuate compact hydraulic pumps via low-friction roller finger followers. The oil pressure generated in these pumps is then used to open and close the intake valves.
Each pump is actuated by a solenoid valve, which by varying the solenoid’s state delivers fully variable valve lift anywhere between 0 and 11mm for ‘optimised’ intake air flow throughout the engine’s full operating range.
The Ingenium unit also has the ability to deliver cycle-by-cycle control of the combustion process, which are combined with phasers on the intake and exhaust cams. Late intake valve opening is used during engine start-up: the combination of low valve lift and short duration provides more precise control of the air flow, especially during cold starts.
At very low speeds and loads, the flexibility of the valvetrain enables the ‘composite mode’ a combination of early intake valve closing and late intake valve opening which delivers enhanced charge motion and therefore more complete and efficient combustion.
At part-load conditions, such as low-speed driving in urban areas or when cruising on the motorway, the valvetrain operates an early intake valve closing strategy combined with a later exhaust valve opening, which delivers optimum efficiency due to the increased expansion ratio. Dual independent cam phasing allows optimal residual gas control with minimal frictional losses. The combination of turbocharging and the highly efficient watercooled charge air cooler means that the charge density remains high, maintaining torque output and ensuring that the engine can always respond immediately to the driver’s demands.
In a first for Jaguar Land Rover, the exhaust manifold is integrated into the cylinder head casting. Coolant flowing through ducts in the manifold reduces warm-up times, reducing fuel consumption and emissions. This also reduces maximum exhaust gas temperatures and therefore the need for enrichment at high load.
The manifold is matched to a twin-scroll turbocharger. For maximum efficiency the duct inside the water-cooled turbine housing is divided in two, with one fed by exhaust gas from cylinders one and three, the other by cylinders two and four.
This arrangement prevents exhaust gas pulsation interference, ensuring that the turbine wheel responds quicker by creating boost pressure near-instantaneously. To ensure the best possible launch performance and transient response while still enabling the engine to develop its high peak power output, the turbocharger features ceramic ball bearings to deliver the lowest possible bearing friction, especially from cold starts.
Internally, the Ingenium engine also features a new 200bar direct injection system. The injectors are centrally-mounted: together with new spray patterns, this configuration helps to minimise fuel impingement on the cylinder walls and the piston crown, improving efficiency and reducing emissions. The inlet ports deliver high levels of charge motion which, together with the enhancements made to the direct injection system, further reduces wall wetting and promotes greater mixing of the fuel and air for more efficient combustion.
JLR states that it designed the Ingenium engines to deliver ‘benchmark low’ levels of friction. Some of the design features onboard the 2.0-liter unit which contribute to this are cylinder bores offset by 12mm to reduce tangential forces acting on the cylinder walls, and needle roller bearings for the twin balancer shafts and camshafts.
The map-controlled oil pump matches flow rate according to engine speed, load and temperature, and the switchable piston cooling jets only spray oil onto the underside of the piston crowns when required, further reducing load on the lubrication system.