New Car Engine Sends Shock Waves Through Auto Industry

A new rotary? Hopefully it will amount to something once it's actually in something. So far it looks like it only runs in their computer!

 

Quit dwaddling, ......let's see a prototype under the hood of a car!

 

why are we STILL 'working' on combustion! Sheesh, burning crap is so old-school. wind me up some electrons and then you have the future. electric. we're just spinning our wheels, literally, at this whole ignition, explosion, move a piston (or rotor, whatever), move a bit, repeat. the elegance of electric propolsion should trump ALL ICE types. Sadly, we cannot evolve.

 

Nor can we repeal the laws of physics, or develop an efficient battery!

 

I liked this line

The entire engine system in a compact sized car doesn't weigh 1000 lbs and the system the guy is proposing is a one speed 30 hp engine.ound:

 

nope, but we can continue driving toward the cliff in our ice vehicles. yay!

 

These will be great in electric power plants to produce electricity to manufacture and crank out billions of solar panels.

 

That's about all that's needed to run my Prius at 75 MPH on flat and level ground!

 

They're very efficient at converting, but energy density needs to improve.

watch video in link of this engr. director giving talk at UC Berkeley. It's very technical

 

Baby steps . . . we're evolving, but it's out of necessity. Toxic explosive fuel supply gets short ... cost goes up ... more folks take more baby steps. Will enough people be willing to dump the pump all together? I 'beleaf' so.

:thumb:
Hey! That aint no hat rack

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people dont realize how long and hard road is from prototype to finished product...

 

You are from South Dakota, yes? Isn't there a natgas boom going on in the Great Plains right now? I'm sure that the Michigan State engine could run natgas too.

The ICE is a really inefficient means of providing propulsion, compared to all the other ones, which in reality are, much worse. The main problems with the ICE are pollution and global warming gasses. ICE engines can run on natgas which has considerably less carbon than gasoline. They can also use hydrogen but we all know about the difficulties of obtaining and storing it.

Electric cars are great - I love driving them on the links. But for long distance travel, the ICE is the way.

 

finman, you need to think about business and customer satisfaction -

The best transportation solutions will win with customers - the most affordable, efficient, usable and available.

Many engineers and researchers are earnestly working on vehicle electrification, really. At research labs all over the country, the world, UC Davis, Argonne, EPRI, every major university. Even my Alma Mater San Jose State Competes in the Hybrid challenge for engineering students. Engineers have been writing in tech journals for years on electric vehicles, drivetrains, control systems, you name it. You have no idea how many people want it to be the most viable mobility solution. And there is work on many solutions, biodiesel, hydrogen, hybrid cars, trucks, buses, etc...

Tap into this SAE site Society of Automotive Engineers now has a separate site for vehicle electrification. It used to be a part of SAE site, but it is big enough for its own site now. SAE is the American professional society for transportation engineering -

www.evsae.org

Electric vehicle 'power' source is the traction battery. but they still have major 'issues'. They are - quite expensive, allow a limited range vs. conventional, and take hours to charge back up. Whoever solved those issues this year would be one of if not the greatest inventor ever.

Design, patent and volume produce 400 lb vehicle specific traction batteries that will power a 3,000 lb car as well as an ICE car for 300 miles and take 10 minutes to charge up on 240V , 30 A circuit, costs $5,000, lasts 5,000 charging cycles / 10 years/150,000 miles, and is very safe and reliable, and whose materials are available for many decades...

Then you could crank up electric vehicles to the max. The AC motors and electronics are good to go, it's the batteries, on-board power source needed.

Some people can and are willing to purchase and use an battery electric car. Many cannot afford it, not can they 'afford' to plug in (park on street, etc...).

Don't worry, we will solve our mobility problems. One of the biggest problems to help solve is the developing countries, mainly China and India who will be purchasing more and more cars. Their populations are bigger than US.

Lastly, if you want to be the most green, ride a bicycle or walk when you can.

 

You are asking 7 kWatts (240*30) to fully charge a larger than 60 kwatt-hour (200 optimistic watt-hours per mile * 300 miles) battery in 10 minutes (that's only a little over 1 kWatt-Hour of energy)? Sorry, but magic is not allowed in an invention.

The charging circuit needs to supply almost 100 kwatt-hours of energy so 480 volt (three phase commercial power) at 60 amps (about 30 kwatts) still takes over 3 hours to fully charge such a battery. You're off by a factor of about 100.

An electric vehicle is not really practical for cross country trips without a range extender (20 kwatt Honda generator in the trunk) Try to stay reasonably practical in your requirements.

JeffD

 

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, there are idealists out there wishing for what I spec'd, and might have a tough time understanding why it can't be done.

In fact, at the GreenDriveExpo in Richmond last Fall, there was a person in audience asking Chelsea Sexton, things like 'I want an electric car that can go 300 miles and charge up really fast, cost not much more than conventional, when can we get that? Otherwise, I'm not very interested'.

 

Sadly, until a car like this is available, folks will stick with their SUV's etc.
It's not that unreasonable of a request for a car. If I could find that car, even I would buy it, whoever makes it!
We are still taking baby steps when it comes to the Dream Car!

 

I pretty much get the idea of a battery electric car - it is an additional car in the stable that contains a Level II charger. It will suffice most days for many people.

I found out yesterday on Wiki that Leaf cost well over $40k USD in Japan, Europe and elsewhere. US gets the cheaper price because Nissan really wants to push it here with the EV Project. So, the Leaf is still a quite expensive car. Wiki says the battery might cost $18k now, but cost could halve in some years. We're getting there, but costs must come down while capability goes up. It's doable and being worked on.

 

Faster, faster, must work faster!

 

The prospects of a "new" means of motive power is very exciting and interesting. Perhaps, what is needed is a "Manhattan Project" type approach, where the best minds are gathered and work against a time limit.

The conventional gasoline(and diesel) engine has served us well for a lot of years. When fuel was inexpensive, plentiful, and before environmental concerns, it was the most practical, reliable, least expensive power device to manufacture, that, depending on configuration, could propel an airplane, train, truck, ship, race car, or a econo vehicle. It could crank pumps, turn generators, and power hydraulic systems. Over the years, many configurations have been tried, but only the rotary engine has enjoyed much success.

Electric power is great until you consider the, how-to, generate the electricity. Certainly there are areas where solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, tides are possible and profitable. But these means are not universally available all over the country. Fusion held so much promise ... until recently. Who known now. There are vast areas in the southwest where solar power is virtually unlimited. But getting the energy to parts of the country that consume the energy has been problematic.

I asked a good friend (an Electrical Engineer) about electrical generation. Without any hesitance, he answered "cold Fusion." I am thinking of that "Manhattan Project" approach again.

I hope I am in error, but the US population seems for more interested in social issues, than spending the enormous amount of money necessary to develop new energy sources ... save and except PC contributors, most of which are right on the "cutting edge" of imaginative solutions, and technological innovation.