We denote V12 an internal combustion engine having 12 cylinders arranged in V . Depending on the opening angle, the V is more or less pronounced.
History
In the navy
The very first V12 engine was developed in 1904 by engineer M Dörwald, of German origin, who lived in England. Its primary use was the navy, before it was intended to replace London draft horses.
This 90 ° angle engine was 18.3 liters and developed 150 horsepower (110 kW ) for a total weight of 430 kg .
In aviation
The V12 engines then appeared in the field of aviation . They were built in very large quantities to equip fighter planes of the Second World War .
The Treaty of Versailles , signed in 1919, prohibits German industries from pursuing any activity in the military and aeronautical fields. This is a severe setback for the young company BMW , which has just proved once again its mastery of experimental engines, with a flight record attitude of 9,760 meters. The BMW VI was a liquid-cooled V12 aircraft engine built in Germany in the 1920s. It was one of the most important German aircraft engines in the years before the Second World War. First twelve-cylinder built by Bayerische Motorenwerke AG, derived from the BMW IVsix-cylinder in line, by the union of two engine blocks, sharing the same crankshaft, positioned at 60 °. Series production began in 1926 after registration. By 1930, 1,000 BMW VI engines had already been delivered, and Germany was again allowed to build military aircraft. This sudden extra demand has resulted in rapidly increasing production. In 1933, the BMW VI was used for the first tests of BMW on direct fuel injection.
The BMW VI was built until 1938 in different versions reaching at least 9,200 units produced, fundamentally contributing to the resumption of German air transport between the two world wars. The BMW VI was chosen for many long-distance record flights, including the first crossing of the East-West Atlantic in 1930 and a world tour in 1932, made by Wolfgang von Gronau on a Dornier Wal powered open seaplane. by two BMW VI engines . Thanks to its internationally recognized reliability, it was produced under license in Japan , by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and in the Soviet Unionunder the names (respectively) of Kawasaki Ha-9 and Mikulin M-17 . Unusually used for the BMW VI , it was the engine of the Schienenzeppelin , high-speed experimental train designed and developed in 1929 by the German aeronautical engineer Franz Kruckenberg. The name “schienenzeppelin” literally “Rail Zeppelin” in German, is due to its similarity to the German dirigible airship of the early xx th century.
In the automobile
In 1917, the BMW Brutus is assembling a huge airplane engine on a car chassis 1 . Since a few years BMW is interested in the automobile and the firm thus decides to create a race car destined for the big competitions but also to the records. The Brutus is equipped with the “BMW 6”, a V8 engine of 45 842 cm 3 which then equips the aircraft Dornier , Arado , Heinkel , Focke-Wulf and Tupolev . The top of the engine is made to arrive at the “round” figure of 47,000 cm 3 ; the huge V12 is powered by two Zenith 60 DCL carburettors and develops 750 horsepower at 1,600 / 1,700 rpm
Using the V12
V12 engines were used first in aviation and then in the automobile.
Uses of V12 on current models
Model Mark Power
(in ch)
760i BMW 544
812 Superfast Ferrari 800
Aventador Lamborghini 700 to 740
Centenario LP770-4 Lamborghini 770
Challenger Dodge 825
Dawn Rolls Royce 570
DB11 Aston Martin 608
Fast S Aston Martin 576
Ghost Rolls Royce 570
Huayra Pagani 764
M760Li xDrive BMW 610
Phantom Drophead Coupé Rolls Royce 460
Q7 V12 6L Biturbo Audi 500
Quick Aston Martin 477
S600 Mercedes-Benz 530
S600 Maybach Mercedes-Benz 530
S65 AMG Mercedes-Benz 630
Vanquish Aston Martin 576
Vulcan Aston Martin 820
Wraith Rolls Royce 632
Zonda R Pagani 750
Opening angle
The standard opening angle of a V12 engine is 60 ° or a multiple of 60 ° (120 °, 180 °) allowing a perfect cyclic regularity: combustion every 60 degrees of crankshaft rotation. When it is built with such an angle, it is the only engine architecture, with that of the six-cylinder in line , to be naturally balanced (cancellation of the forces of the first and second order).