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| New engine design by Duke engineering | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 4 2014, 12:07 PM (475 Views) | |
| Murf 59 | Sep 4 2014, 12:07 PM Post #1 |
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Hey guys I just saw something that looks pretty cool. Alot better than the endless gear ratio trans we discussed here a few years back. Turns out that trans was snake oil. This one looks like it will work. I would like to get the thoughts of some of our brainier members. You know who you are. Perfessor where are you. I am not sure how to embed this, but here is a link to the topic on the Yahoo news place.http://www.gizmag.com/duke-engines-axial/33631/ |
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| 90 LSI | Sep 4 2014, 12:23 PM Post #2 |
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GeeOh
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Seems to function like the hydraulic swashplate engines on a zero turn mowers; if so its a proven concept. Hard part might be containing combustion pressures at the point where the cylinder slides on the "head." |
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| Silver2K | Sep 4 2014, 12:33 PM Post #3 |
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I hope they succeed. It would be nice to see a new engine type. But Popular Science shows new engine types a few times per year and none of them get any traction. Automotive engines have evolved over many years to meet emissions and reliabilty and horse power. Its hard for a new engine to meet all those requirements. The Wankel was killed off because it could not meet stricter emissions. |
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| Freeman | Sep 4 2014, 12:34 PM Post #4 |
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The Family Man
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How it works. Seems cool to me! |
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| perfesser | Sep 4 2014, 12:40 PM Post #5 |
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner
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90 LSI, that's my impression too. When I was in Deere's Construction Equipment Division, the swash-plate hydrostatic pumps and motors were widely used. This looks like someone has taken one of our pumps and modified it for a different fluid - air + fuel. The technology is solid, and I think their timeline estimates are realistic. From where they are now with a good working prototype, two years to commercialization is just about right once they kick it off (Paul Elio, are you listening?) I have seen other prototype engine concepts with similar configurations, but this one has progressed beyond fancy computer graphics and simulations. I like it. The engine shown is quite long, but I think it would be easy to trim about 8" off the front end when get they to packaging and manufacturability studies. One of these under our hoods would be like substituting a Mazda 12A Wankel for a G10!! Anybody wanna break a transmission?? ![]() A lot of times, a new engine concept or design has many obvious points of superiority over conventional IC reciprocating 4-strokes. The cost to certify one for production, though, no matter how good it is, is in the millions or tens of millions of dollars. The engine companies have enormous plants full of machinery to very efficiently build the engines we have now. These would have to be developed for the new engine (this would take billions of dollars!), as would a supplier base and distribution network. Then you get into technician and service support training. All this before you can ship the first one to see if they'll work. The pressure pushing them to adoption of these new ideas is resisted by enormous amounts of inertia. Making a case to scrap the current designs and convert to something else is extremely difficult. I can't think of a single company that has deep enough pockets to go into production with this. This is why the most significant steps in new engine technology have been evolutionary, not revolutionary. Ecoboost, Skyactiv, Multiair, etc. are all neat technologies, but you can implement any of them on an existing engine line with very little difficulty. Something like this you'd start with a corn field, a limitless check book and a team of earthmovers, and go from there! Two or three years before the first positive cash flow, 8-10 years to break even, 10+ years to profitability IF the public likes it. They can hand-build onesies and twosies for a niche market at tremendous expense, but that's probably as far as this will ever go. Scuderi has a beautiful, sophisticated IC reciprocating engine with great performance advantages and they've been swimming upstream with it for 20 years or so. The company is being run by the second generation of the family because the first generation died off trying to commercialize it. If they can't get more than "expressions of interest" in their product, I hate to say it but this one will probably remain a lab curiosity, too. Edited by perfesser, Sep 4 2014, 01:09 PM.
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| David95237 | Sep 4 2014, 12:51 PM Post #6 |
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I bet that could be made in to a variable displacement engine also. |
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| perfesser | Sep 4 2014, 01:10 PM Post #7 |
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner
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Easily, by varying the angle of the reciprocator to the mainshaft. That would change the stroke length while it's running. That technology is also well established. |
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9:27 AM Jul 11