This seems like an interesting solution to having more vehicles shut down and restart to save fuel.
Mazda pioneer in starter technology
With SISS, when an engine is shut down, electronic controls ensure that it stops with all four pistons, of a four-cylinder engine, lined up exactly half way between top- and bottom-dead centre.
When the signal to automatically restart is received, a squirt of fuel is injected into one cylinder, via Mazda's DISI direct-injection system, and its spark plug is fired, causing ignition in that cylinder alone that pushes its piston down, rotating the engine slightly backward.
At that point, as other pistons are pushed up into compression, the normal fuel-injection and ignition systems take over, igniting the mixture in those cylinders and starting the engine in the forward direction – without the aid of any electric starter.
Not only that, the system restarts the engine in less time than it takes with an electric starter, according to Mazda, thus making its operation even more seamless – a point subjectively verified by a demonstration drive.
According to tests conducted to Japan's emissions/fuel-consumption testing procedure, SISS reduces consumption by approximately 10 per cent, Mazda says, with virtually no extra cost in hardware, and no additional weight for beefed up starter motors or batteries.
And it opens the door to applying automatic start-stop systems to non-hybrid vehicles, which has huge potential for benefit.
Mazda's SISS (Smart Idle Start System)
Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by koa, Feb 14, 2008.