The invention relates to a free
piston device and to a method for operating same, comprising a
piston (42) which is arranged such that it can move back and forth along an axis (26). The
piston receptacle (24) comprises or forms a
combustion chamber (50) which is delimited by a wall (32) and which has at least one inlet opening (34, 80, 86, 88, 90) for supplying fresh gas and, at an axial distancetherefrom, at least one outlet opening (36) for discharging
exhaust gas. The free piston device (10) comprises an inflow device (78) for fresh gas, said inflow device having the at least one inlet opening (34, 80, 86, 88, 90) and being designed such that fresh gas flowing into the
combustion chamber (50) is directed towards an inflow region (84), which is axially offset relative to the at least one inlet opening (34, 80, 86, 88, 90) in the direction of the at least one outlet opening (36), in the
combustion chamber (50), said inflow region being arranged off-center relative to the axis (26).