LiquidPiston Closes $1.25M Venture Seed Round; Funding to Develop HEHC-Cycle Engine

www.greencarcongress.com ^ | 07/27/2007 | Staff

[Red Badger]

The Liquid Piston engine. A) full housing. B) Transparent housing showing principle components.

LiquidPiston, developers of a new engine architecture they claim will achieve 50% fuel efficiency (compared to the ~30% of existing engines) and drastically reduce pollutant emissions (earlier post), closed a $1.25 million seed investment round with Adams Capital Management and Northwater Capital.

The architecture is based on a “High-Efficiency Hybrid Cycle” (HEHC) thermodynamic cycle, which borrows elements from Otto, Diesel, Atkinson and Rankin cycles. The HEHC cycle can be implemented in a variety of ways; LiquidPiston is developing an implementation that uses a separate rotary compressor, two isolated combustion chambers, and a separate rotary expander. Hehc The HEHC cycle. Click to enlarge.

In the HEHC cycle (diagram at right), air (with no fuel) is compressed to a high ratio (> 18) in a compressor cylinder of the engine. The air is directed into an isolated combustion chamber. Fuel is injected into the combustion chamber and auto ignites. Combustion occurs under truly isochoric conditions and is allowed to complete until all fuel is fully combusted. The combustion products expand into an expander cylinder, which has larger volume than the intake volume. A small amount of water (an optional component) may be used in the system. Water may facilitate the cooling, lubricating, and sealing of combustion chamber and pistons.

Earlier this year, the company announced a $70,000 Phase I grant from the Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The father-son team led by immigrant physicist Nikolay and his son Alexander Shkolnik, a graduate student in MIT’s department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, will use this latest $1.25 million seed round of venture capital to build and test a working prototype.

Aside from significant improvements in fuel efficiency, LiquidPiston’s approach to ICE design has the potential to result in a substantially higher power-to-weight ratio, fewer moving parts leading to higher reliability and lower maintenance costs, and significantly lower emissions. The company expects to demonstrate a working prototype in the next 18 to 24 months.

The potential of this technology is tremendous, and the interest we are seeing from both the public and private sectors is very encouraging. With this latest round of investment, LiquidPiston is on its way to achieving its goal of revolutionizing the $250 billion market for internal combustion engines. —Dr. Ed Crow, retired senior vice president of Pratt & Whitney and an advisor to LiquidPiston

[Red Badger]

Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.......

If you want on or off the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me........

This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days......

[Red Badger]

KnOcK!!!.....

[battlegearboat]

[zencat]

Definitely different principle, but it sort of has a Wankel look going on in the interior.

[Red Badger]

As long as it doesn’t have pushrods, I don’t care........

[r9etb]

If nothing else, it’s obvious that this press release wasn’t written by a professional....

[Red Badger]

If they could afford a professional they wouldn’t need the $1.25 Mil.....

[zencat]

Anyone remember the new engine design where the pistons go around in a circle type track? The pistons travel 360 degrees connected to a central crank instead of up and down within the cylinder wall. Along the way, it would pickup the intake, air/fuel, combust, and flush the exhaust.

Not sure about the efficiency (although I believe it was high), but they got some crazy HP out of small CCs.

[NVDave]

Welllllll..... let’s remember that Wankel designs have their own problems — namely, apex seals.

[jeddavis]

There's at least one other engine out there which is more interesting than this.

[KarlInOhio]

Anyone remember the new engine design where the pistons go around in a circle type track? The pistons travel 360 degrees connected to a central crank instead of up and down within the cylinder wall. Along the way, it would pickup the intake, air/fuel, combust, and flush the exhaust.

Are you talking about the Wankel engine? It was originally made back in the 1950s.

[bmwcyle]

Apex seals were fixes years ago.

[zencat]

No, no. This thing used what looked almost like normal pistons, but they traveled in a closed 360 degree circular track which was the combustion chamber. Somewhat like the Wankel, it functioned thru the engine cycles as it went around the track.

[mission9]

Yes I remember, the subject of a few Popular Mechanics articles, and was touted as an alternative aircraft engine.

[zencat]

That’s it!

[Red Badger]

There are no apex seals on this design. The combustion chamber is in the little tubes on each side.........

[mission9]

It kind of reminded me of the cartridge cylinder in a six shooter.

[KarlInOhio]

The RandCam Direct Charge engine?

[Bon mots]

In venture capital terms, $1.25 million is nothing.

[Red Badger]

I know, so they must have some spare bucks in Switzerland somewhere..........