Totally new petrol engine set to upset auto industry apple cart

[tyred]

NSU struggled with the tip seals on the Wankel engine and it eventually led to the company being swallowed up by VAG. Mazda overcame that problem but the Wankel engine was always horribly inefficient no matter who made it.

 

[benb]

NSU struggled with the tip seals on the Wankel engine and it eventually led to the company being swallowed up by VAG. Mazda overcame that problem but the Wankel engine was always horribly inefficient no matter who made it.

Not the first thing to be swallowed up by a VAG, right?

Sorry, I'll be off.

 

[Brains]

And how exactly can the oil companies make sure it never gets off the ground?

And before you say they will "ask their mates in the auto industry to bury the idea", the car companies and the oil industry are in a marriage of convenience, as soon as one can increase their profits by reducing their dependence on the other they won't hesitate.

Look up the story of the Toyota Rav4 EV.

Basically a very sucessful electric powered Rav 4 produced by Toyota in the late 1990's.
Unfortunatly Toyota did not own the patient of the battery design.

Chevron then spent a lot of money and bought the patient on the batteries and immidatly ceased production.

So no more electric vehicles and Chevron will not permit production of the batteries.
Chevron also bought up as many of the old RAV 4 EV's as they could lay their hands on and scrapped them, thereby creating a shortage of spares

Bottom line is if someone invents an engine that uses almost zero fossil fuel the Oil companies will be forced to pay whaetever it takes to buy up the patient and ensure it never sees the light of day. Even if the cost was greater than the European Government debt they would have to do it.

 

[subaqua]

Patent "brains"

 

[Over The Hill]

Look up the story of the Toyota Rav4 EV.

Basically a very sucessful electric powered Rav 4 produced by Toyota in the late 1990's.
Unfortunatly Toyota did not own the patient of the battery design.

Chevron then spent a lot of money and bought the patient on the batteries and immidatly ceased production.

So no more electric vehicles and Chevron will not permit production of the batteries.
Chevron also bought up as many of the old RAV 4 EV's as they could lay their hands on and scrapped them, thereby creating a shortage of spares

Bottom line is if someone invents an engine that uses almost zero fossil fuel the Oil companies will be forced to pay whaetever it takes to buy up the patient and ensure it never sees the light of day. Even if the cost was greater than the European Government debt they would have to do it.

Or they would see a life boat from their sinking ship.

But hey we are running away a bit here. These are all claims from the bod trying to get funding.

Lets see it working and being fuel efficient first.

 

[subaqua]

Or they would see a life boat from their sinking ship.

But hey we are running away a bit here. These are all claims from the bod trying to get funding.

Lets see it working and being fuel efficient first.

Exactly.

Several ( not all) are investing heavily in alternative energies. not to patent technology and lock it away but to provide themselves with a future income.

the recent rises over the last weeks have shown that people will still by oil based fuels whatever the cost so if a highly efficient engine comes along the fuel companies will put prices up to compensate - supply and demand.

if domestic use fuel i.e. personal car fuel went to £10 a litre by the end of the year peoplewould still buy it.

me I am weaning myself off oil dependency where i can.

 

[Piemaster]

Not the first time the internal combustion engine has been re-invented. Like this one most of them don't progress beyond a computer simulation as things like lubrication and emissions get in the way.

 

[Davidc]

When I see the report which says it has been scaled up to 100kW output, can be efficiently mass produced, has a suitable torque and power characteristic for the job (ie hybrid transmission) then I'll take notice.

I'm not sure the oil companies would try to kill it. This is 20 years on from the 1990s and the fossil fuel providers might see it as a way of taking some of the pressure off them.

In practice this engine still emits CO2 and is still therefore a menace to the environment. We need to stop emitting the stuff not just reduce emissions. Fat chance.

 

[Night Train]

From my knowledge and experience I would suggest that if that engine works at all it would he high speed but very low torque and not a lot of use for moving a car.

It might be ok for running a generator though.

 

[Bman]

Exactly.

Several ( not all) are investing heavily in alternative energies. not to patent technology and lock it away but to provide themselves with a future income.

the recent rises over the last weeks have shown that people will still by oil based fuels whatever the cost so if a highly efficient engine comes along the fuel companies will put prices up to compensate - supply and demand.

if domestic use fuel i.e. personal car fuel went to £10 a litre by the end of the year peoplewould still buy it.

me I am weaning myself off oil dependency where i can.

No its not. Thats price fixing.

 

[661-Pete]

We never stop emitting CO[sub]2[/sub]. Not those of us who breathe, at any rate. And we're always going to be dependent on transport of some sort, mostly derived from fossil fuel. If these engines use less fuel they will consequently generate less CO[sub]2[/sub]. So worth considering.

I wonder what happened to the Stirling Engine? Far closer to the Carnot cycle ideal than the Otto or Diesel cycles, at any rate. But expensive to manufacture.

 

[subaqua]

No its not. Thats price fixing.

whatever

 

[Davidc]

We never stop emitting CO[sub]2[/sub]. Not those of us who breathe, at any rate. And we're always going to be dependent on transport of some sort, mostly derived from fossil fuel. If these engines use less fuel they will consequently generate less CO[sub]2[/sub]. So worth considering.

I wonder what happened to the Stirling Engine? Far closer to the Carnot cycle ideal than the Otto or Diesel cycles, at any rate. But expensive to manufacture.

CO2 emitted from biological respiration is not generally considered. It's part of the natural carbon cycle and is self neutralising. Food carbon is fixed from the air by photosynthesis and goes back there. There is some 'carbon emission' from human respiration and humans' pets respiration. That is because there is fossil fuel used in food production, but it's trivial compared to transport and power generation.

The CO2 that's of concern is the excess generated from burning fossil fuels and from release from mineral sources (such as the CO2 produced in cement production and use).

I don't think more efficient engines are likely to do much. In the end humans are going to be killed off or at least massively reduced by the consequences of their ignoring their knowledge of what they're doing, and that will stop the greenhouse gas emissions much more effectively than any engine.

 

[mr_hippo]

Bottom line is if someone invents an engine that uses almost zero fossil fuel the Oil companies will be forced to pay whaetever it takes to buy up the patient and ensure it never sees the light of day.

There's a story about a Wjdnes man who invented a similar engine in the 1950s. According to the story, he was paid millions by the oil companies for the rights. There's possibly similar tales from other parts of the globe.

 

[Globalti]

You might be interested in this reply from my bro in Detroit:

It's actually nothing new. What he has is basically a re-packaged turbine impeller from a large turbocharger. It is encased so that it encompasses the thermal expansion process of an ignited fuel. Turbines have a very high power to weight ratio. He stated 25kW from his. A typical car needs about 70kW to 120kW and an SUV up to 300kW. He says it will work in a series HEV system...and it will only work in that architecture because to make any car go, 25kW is not enough. Therefore the vehicle has to be configured just like a Chevvy Volt where the turbine or engine is running at constant speed (at maximum thermal efficiency) to drive a generator that charges the batteries. Then an eleccy motor drives an electric CVT which powers the wheels. Regen braking is a must, and the vehicle will need top-up charging overnight too. It's all about energy balance...drive cycle demands versus energy in and energy stored. The advantage of his turbine is that it is small for 25kW....so in a series HEV it packages nicely. But, there is no series HEV out there using a full-sized combustion engine anyway, so his claim is far from unique. The Chevvy Volt uses a little 3 cylinder 1.1liter turbo petrol engine which runs at a constant speed at its point of max thermal efficiency.




.....there ya go!