And if it *is* wind-powered, if the tech is owned by a Republican contributor, the business will be audited and shut down.
Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 06/16/2010 8:37:09 AM PDT by epithermal
Transonic Combustion, a startup based in Camarillo, CA, has developed a fuel-injection system it says can improve the efficiency of gasoline engines by more than 50 percent. A test vehicle equipped with the technology gets 64 miles per gallon in highway driving, which is far better than more costly gas-electric hybrids, such as the Prius, which gets 48 miles per gallon on the highway.
(Excerpt) Read more at technologyreview.com ...
Ultrasonic fuel injectors?
I wonder how large the IF is?
I’m not an engineer, but this looks FAR cheaper than the cost of hybrid battery/gas cars and ultimately much less polluting as well, especially given the impact of disposing of all those batteries when they die.
An australian company was experimenting with this in the mid 90s. They atomized fuels using sounds, and even ionized the intake air before mixture.
A few steps away from sound-pulse based solid state valves too. But for a valvetrain, check out the US company AURA. They have also got a few R&D projects out and about in the field.
Doesn’t matter if it’s hype or not. There’s always a catch.
Explains why the sound clickity clack and chitty chitty bang bang makes my truck get 14 mpg.
The Claim: "steady cruising speed of 50 miles per hour, the test car gets 98 miles per gallon." is a little disingenuous, though, I think. People will read "The car gets 98 mpg". I could buy that once it reaches a "cruising speed" that its mileage would be good - any car will get good mileage at a constant speed, especially under controlled conditions.
I'd like to know what the mileage is in accelerating to 50mph. And also in a stop-start environment.
Air-operated valves are already used in F1 engines, and it’s about time they arrived in road cars. Those or rotary valves can get rid of a massive amount of frictional loss inside the engine, which in turn can allow engines to be smaller and more efficient. They also allow far higher RPMs, which again allows for more responsive engines with smaller displacements.
Pressure and heating have been done before with >some< success.
The catalyst remark makes me skeptical. And then there's the "test" vechicle. 64 mpg compared to what? What did the vehicle get BEFORE they worked their magic. A control for comparison numbers would be nice.
For now I'm sticking with my cow magnets.
prisoner6
And if it *is* wind-powered, if the tech is owned by a Republican contributor, the business will be audited and shut down.
I am also familiar with the spherical rotary valve systems of Coates Engineering. Interesting stuff.
And how long it takes to get there.
Valvetrain friction is the main source of horsepower loss in the engine. It’s something like 30% of the engine’s total capability. Less loss means more of that can go to driving the wheels, and therefore engines can be smaller, and thus more efficient.
There’s alot of room for efficiency improvement in IC engines so this may be plausible. On the other hand, a Prius that gets 48 MPG? Not the way Al Gore’s son drives his.
Did they test this with 100 per cent gas or with ethanol blends?
On the highway "Canyonero" easily gets 22-23 mpg. Of course I set the cruise to 55-60mph, sit back and relax in the leather seats and enjoy right wing radio in air conditioned comfort, hehehehe!
Lord I love that vehicle!
prisoner6
Yep, and I bet if you somehow discounted the gas it took you to get up to 55-60 (like this article did), you'd be much higher than that. :-)
Nothin' wrong with having a comfortable vehicle. I'll take my Ford Escape over a Toyota Pious, every day of the week.
First of all, if this is new technology, it’s going to cost more, so it will be just like the “more costly gas-electric hybrids” until it reaches general use.
Second of all, the inefficiency of the gas-electric hybrid is the gas engine. If you put one of these efficient gas engines in a gas-electric hybrid, it will also improve it’s gas mileage.
On the other hand, the true efficiency of the gas-electric hybrid is based on the relative efficiency of electric storage and retrieval vs gas engine variable efficiency. The gas-electric runs the gas engine at it’s peak efficiency all the time (mostly), tapping extra power to store in batteries, and using it when more power is needed.
Running the gas engine at 30% efficiency all the time, vs a standard cars average 20% efficiency, is what makes gas-electrics “more efficient”.
As you increase engine efficiency, you will reach the point where the electric battery storage retrieval losses become a deciding factor, and the gas-electric hybrid will no longer beat the gas-only propulsion.
Still it would be much cheaper than a hybrid drivetrain.
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