Penza inventor Alexander Gorshkov proposed an innovative modification to the internal combustion engine piston. In the new design, the plates are monolithically connected to the piston crown and are perpendicular to it.

Each has a hole that serves as a plain bearing for the piston pin. At the same time, the ends of the plates reach the cylinder walls and absorb lateral forces from the connecting rod.

The upper connecting rod head no longer functions as a conventional bearing for the pin: it is immovably connected to it, for example, by an interference fit. This allows the head to be shortened, and the pin itself can be made significantly shorter than the cylinder diameter.

According to the author's concept, this yields several effects simultaneously. The mass of the piston, pin, and upper connecting rod head is reduced, the mechanism's sensitivity to misalignment decreases, and heat from the central part of the crown gains additional paths to the cylinder. A shorter heat dissipation path from the pin's friction zone is also specifically provided.

The invention is also aimed at compact engines for UAVs with long flight times and hybrid vehicles.

Earlier, Gorshkov also presented an unusual 8-cylinder isobaric engine with a star-shaped layout weighing about 4 kg with a flat cam mechanism instead of a crankshaft.