Friday, September 19, 2008 - 11:06 am, by: Scott Casey(V8soarer_1991)
engines combining both 2- and 4-stroke functions
A revolutionary new engine concept developed by a consortium led by Ricardo offers an attractive alternative to conventional spark ignited combustion. By combining the benefits of two- and four-stroke combustion, the 2/4SIGHT engine presents the prospect of 27 per cent fuel savings over current engine technology.
(Some engine management companies are really struggling to keep up with the engine technology that is coming out lately)
Friday, September 19, 2008 - 03:24 pm, by: Benjamin Burgess(Jampac)
Autospeed does tend to talk up a lot. I would take what is said with a grain of salt. Just to show a few examples of engines with huge potential that never really happened,
Friday, September 19, 2008 - 08:49 pm, by: Mike Triggs(Mikeandimah)
Benjamin Burgess wrote on Friday, September 19, 2008 - 03:24 pm:
Autospeed does tend to talk •••• up a lot. I would take what is said with a grain of salt. Just to show a few examples of engines with huge potential that never really happened,
I read the story and it semed as if it had come straight from the developers or a third party, not Austospeed itself.
I find these stories fascinating, personally
I heard about the BMW steamer ages ago, perhaps it's still under development? It seems logical to extract energy from waste heat.
Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 05:00 pm, by: Evan Kaio(Knave)
Benjamin Burgess wrote on Friday, September 19, 2008 - 03:24 pm:
Whats really funny is a lot of these ideas, especially the run your car on water ••••• all seem to pop up when petrol prices hit new highs.
Yeah have to agree with that but, you gotta remember is, that some of these guys doing water/ hydrogen stuff are just ordinary blokes like us, and they've spent a lot of hours building, testing, going back to the drawing board and starting again, and no one is paying them to do it. Sounds like a hobby, doesn't it. I reckon it will happen one day
Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 08:34 pm, by: Mike Triggs(Mikeandimah)
I'm not sure if anyone has misunderstood the BMW story, but they're not talking about splitting the water into H2 and O2, they're using waste heat to run a small steam engine which would utilise waste heat which otherwise goes out the exhaust. I seem to remember reading that 15kW could be added.
Monday, September 22, 2008 - 09:21 am, by: Benjamin Burgess(Jampac)
That's right it has a water vapour phase. These are all top ideas, don't get me wrong. However would they last 100,000kms, 200,0000kms, 300,000kms... Would you drive a car that had an engine that required a rebuild every 20,000-50,000kms? The first rotaries that came out in the 70's lasted about this long on average.
Reliability is a very big thing. Current Otto cycle, crank driven piston engine is very reliable and relatively cheap to manufacture and warrant.
Mike Triggs Goo Roo Western Australia 3.0GT G-Pack
Monday, September 22, 2008 - 01:02 pm, by: Mike Triggs(Mikeandimah)
I don't think BMW are considering getting out of Otto cycle engines anytime soon, Benjamin What BMW are doing is utilising heat which normally disappears out the tailpipe, and supplementary to the power from the engine. As a small bonus, the steam engine would also be part of the engine's cooling system, so radiators and water pumps would be smaller, so saving weight, frontal area for aerodynamics, and a small amount of power from water pump.
A well built small steam engine should last the life of the main engine. I would imagine the system would be sealed, with maybe a top up of pure water at each oil change interval.
Saturday, September 27, 2008 - 02:07 pm, by: Mike Triggs(Mikeandimah)
Turbos extract waste exhaust kinetic energy, not heat. Heat is actually the enemy of turbos, so utilising the heat (into a steam energy) would be beneficial for the turbo, too.