New Car Engine Sends Shock Waves Through Auto Industry

we get the cheap cars, they get the cheap pharma. seems like a reasonable tradeoff.

 

So far, all we've heard about this new & improved engine seems to be "hype." Remember how the Sterling, Wankel, et. al. was supposed to revolutionize the auto industry? Kind of reminds me of the Popular Science magazine covers, promising a helicopter in every garage, etc.

 

Until a working model is tested outside the inventor's lab,
I'd say this invention is creating only schlock waves.

 

I agree. The claims seem outrageous with nothing to support them. After 2 years of doing the same dance and showing no progress, he should have at least refined his dance moves.

The Sterling and the Wanker engines had the advantage of there being working prototypes long before they were proposed for cars. In the case of the Sterling, it was in production as a stationary engine in the 19th century and modern versions are still in use in mostly stationary applications.

 

Just another wankel type combustion engine using non-renewable resource. For me, a 1,000 pound decrease and only 3 percent gain is not worth the investment effort. Sounds like the department chair is looking to publish to maintain his/her tenure, as I can't really see this impacting the auto industry in the near future.

As others have said, show us some thinking outside the engine block!

 

That's a common misunderstanding, there is nothing Wankelish about it except that it's round.

The 1000 lb decrease is a meaningless cherry picked number. The entire powertrain in a compact or midsized car weighs less than 1000 lb so unless the inventors engine has a considerable negative weight, it's a bogus claim.

 

You're right: nothing wankel about it. I only use the term as a play on the "rotary" engine reference in the news article.

 

I have not read too much about "shock waves" rippling through the industry. Any wave action seen?

 

If they can make this actually work, it could mean we could get passenger cars with amazing fuel economy, very low emissions and weighs 800-1,000 pounds less than current model cars. Let's see how long before Toyota and/or Honda jumps on this idea.

 

If the wave disc engine had been invented anywhere but Michigan, I would say that it stands a good chance of seeing itself to market. But the pencil pushers in Detroit are probably thinking: "not enough pieces to fall apart and require replacement"...

After all, one of the most simple methods for an automatic transmission is a computer controlled manual transmission, yet most cars still use that annoy hydromatic clutch designed in the 1930s, even in though it sucks up 20% of your fuel...

When it comes to innovations, Ford said it best: you can have any colour in the rainbow, as long as it's black.

 

While a computer-controlled manual transmission sounds like a good idea, implementing it has not worked very well--even Ferrari, one of the few companies that actually did this--noted the poor quality of the automatic shifts. That's why everyone has jumped on the dual-clutch transmission bandwagon--shifts are WAY smoother, and the change between gears is amazingly fast.