| Kharkiv model V-2 | |
| Configuration: | V-12 |
| Fueltype: | Diesel |
The Kharkiv model V-2 (Russian: В-2) was a Soviet diesel tank V-12 engine, the V angle at 60°, with dual overhead camshafts per bank, four valves per cylinder opened by bucket-style followers and direct fuel injection, features found on modern high-performance diesel engines. Designed at the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory by Konstantin Chelpan and his team, it is found in the BT-7M (BT-8), T-34, KV, IS and IS-10 (T-10) tanks, and by extension, the vehicles based on them, such as the SU-85 and SU-100 tank destroyers based on the T-34 and the ISU-122 and ISU-152 self-propelled guns based on the IS-2. Throughout its production life, output ranged from roughly 450-700 hp.
The V-2 was in development from 1931 until 1939 by the design team of the diesel department of the Kharkiv Locomotive Works, first under the leadership of Konstantin Chelpan, who was arrested in 1938. Work was passed down to his deputy for project work, Yakov Efimovich Vikhman, and Ivan Yakovlevich Trashutin, his deputy for experimental and production work, who completed development of the engine in 1939.
Serial production for the V-2 begun on September 1, 1939. The Red Army adopted the V-2 engine in the same year in three modifications: the V-2 (500 hp), the V-2K (600 hp) for the KV line of tanks and the V-2V (375 hp).[1]
Near the end of the 20th century, the V-2 was fitted with more modern modifications by the chief designer of the head design bureau for the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, Vladimir Ivanovich Butov.
The engine was made of aluminium with a closed water-cooling system. It included a water jacket of the cylinder blocks, radiators, a water pump, a centrifugal fan, a T-valve with steam and air valves, and piping. The cooling system capacity was 90–95 liters. The radiators were connected to the surrounding air via an air valve. The T-valve, leading to both radiators, was designed for filling the cooling system with coolant.
Before the 2nd World War, it was produced only at Engine Plant No. 75 (a branch of the Kharkov Locomotive Plant), the contractors were KhTZ, Chelyabinsk and Kirov (Leningrad) plants.
After the start of the war, it was produced at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant and in Sverdlovsk at Plant No. 76. In October 1941, Plant No. 75 was evacuated to Chelyabinsk to the ChTZ site. The Kirov plant also moved there. All of them were united into a huge Tankograd. This plant became the main manufacturer of the V-2 during the war (about 50 thousand engines, including engines produced in Kharkov). Later, in 1942, production of the V-2 was also mastered at plant No. 77 in Barnaul .
As of 2022, production of modifications of the V-2 engine continues at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, Barnaultransmash and the Ural Diesel Engine Plant.