Posted on 08/09/2017 2:45:14 PM PDT by Red Badger
A new car engine will eventually come on the scene. This week's car watching sites have reacted to Tuesday's announcement from Mazda with interest. At a time when the total focus appears to be on electric cars as our driving future, Mazda is ushering in a type of car engine that they call Skyactiv-X.
The Hiroshima, Japan-datelined Tuesday announcement from Mazda said it is introducing the world's "first commercial gasoline engine to use compression ignition."
Reuters quoted what Mazda R&D head Kiyoshi Fujiwara told reporters. "We think it is an imperative and fundamental job for us to pursue the ideal internal combustion engine." He said, yes, electrification was necessary but "the internal combustion engine should come first."
Mazda's company release elaborated that this was a commercial gasoline engine using compression ignition, where the fuel-air mixture ignites spontaneously when compressed by the piston.
Mazda's combustion method is tagged Spark Controlled Compression Ignition.
Jalopnik said "Mazda's powertrain team has brewed up a fancy new engine that, like a diesel, uses compression to activate the combustion process." David Tracy in Jalopnik explored what their Spark Controlled Compression Ignition is all about. Tracy said, "it's a homogenous charge compression ignition engine sometimes, but it seamlessly changes over to a regular spark-ignition engine under certain engine operating conditions.
The Mazda release said the method overcomes two issues that impeded commercialization of compression ignition gasoline engines: "maximizing the zone in which compression ignition is possible and achieving a seamless transition between compression ignition and spark ignition."
The company said that compression ignition enabled "a super lean burn" (condition in which the ratio of gasoline to air is reduced to a level that would not ignite in a spark-ignition engine) that improved engine efficiency up to 20 to 30 percent over the current Skyactiv-G.
Autoweek's Jay Ramey similarly said reliable operation of these engines had eluded automakers until now.
Ramey wrote that "A homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) gasoline engine has been something of a holy grail for internal combustion engineers for decades."
Interestingly, Mazda's design will use spark plugs to achieve ignition under conditions such as low temperatures. CNET's Andrew Krok: "The engine will function like a traditional gas engine at low revs, using spark plugs to ignite the air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber. At higher revs, though, the plugs will deactivate and the gas will ignite under piston compression alone."
Top Gear's Craig Jamieson also commented that "developing plugs that can sit idle, then work, for instance, is a massive engineering challenge on its own."
Reports said that the new engine 'SkyActiv-X' will debut in 2019.
Absolutely!
And BTW, my last model before I became a ‘teenager’ and was more interested in the opposite sex, was an Avenger..............
Mazda has always been at the cutting edge of technorrogy.........Usually with disastrous results............
When I was a young man, I had an old car that kept running after turning off the ignition ........
And the last.......................
a 66 Dodge Dart slant 6 would as well if you let carbon build up from bad rings and cheap gas........................
Or their Miller Cycle 6...............
Dad used to pour water down the carb while it was running to break up the carbon. It was crazy how much stuff flew out of the exhaust pipe.
The Wankel was ahead of its time. The rotor seals wore out quickly and gave it a bad name. Maybe this time Mazda will get it right............................
Are you familiar with the hot-bulb engines?
http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/understanding-the-hot-bulb-engine.htm
http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/hansen.htm
Yep, and these worked on the same principle as the Mann but with a remote bulb. The Mann had a ball shaped bulb cast into the center of the piston which was ported. This would heat up after running a bit and work similar to the hot bulb system to run cleaner after it was warmed up. And I can’t remember for sure but I think it also had a slightly lower compression ratio than a normal diesel similar to the Hot bulb engine.
Thank you for sharing that, the evolution of machinery fascinates me.
The RX7 is a hold-over, if I remember correctly...
I remember when Mazda hit the market. I was pretty young, maybe 8 or 9? Their commercials made a big deal that Mazda did NOT use piston engines. (boing! boing! boing! vs. hmmmmmmmm...)
Over the years, and dealing with (and eventually fixing) inherent problems in the Wankel, they went to reciprocating engines in most of their fleet, and only kept the rotary for the RX7. I don’t think the RX7 was available at first...
I had a 3 on the tree, it was so bad at times I had to stall it in gear just to stop it, and then sit there for a couple of seconds with my foot on the brake to make sure.
I screwed up, it is not Mann, it is MAN with one n. Rudolf Diesel worked at this facility also in developing his engine. But one of the designs had a bulb pocket in the center of the piston. I am still trying to find a picture of this piston design for you.
Had a ‘67 Pontiac that had the same thing...............
not going to disagree with you. Hydrogen engines now have a big niche market in ware house loaders. Likely will remain there until there’s an efficient way to crack hydrogen out of water. —which may be a looong time. That said, I’ve actually seen a couple lab reports of new catalysts that will do just that. We’ll see.
As I mentioned anything significant from hydrogen cars is likely a decade away—unlike electric cars—whose volumes will skyrocket in three years.
More bleeding edge than leading edge. Like the Wanker engine....
Don’t disagree that hydrogen is speculative currently. But there is big money behind it in japan and germany. Both countries have vowed to get off the internal combustion engine—officially because of CO2, unofficially because they don’t have any oil.
Currently in the US hydrogen vehicles enjoy a niche market in warehouses around the country where they move everything around.
imho hydrogen based vehicles won’t take off until its convenient to crack hydrogen out of water. That may take a looong time.
That said I have seen some experiments lately that suggest such is possible. I won’t hold my breath.
http://bigthink.com/robby-berman/researchers-announce-breakthrough-in-separating-hydrogen-from-h2o
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/05/09/980790/0/en/HyperSolar-Announces-Breakthrough-Catalyst-Needed-for-Splitting-Water-to-Produce-Low-Cost-Renewable-Hydrogen.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170515150734.htm
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