Wave Disk Generator. The future of transportation?

[trof]

I dunno.
What do you engineer types think?



Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have prototyped a potential game-changing, gasoline-burning engine that requires no transmission, crankshaft, pistons, valves, lubricants or cooling systems. The so-called Wave Disk Generator (WDG) could substantially improve the efficiency of hybrid vehicles and potentially decrease CO2 emissions by up to 90 percent compared to conventional internal combustion engines (ICE), says the team at MSU.

The WDG has a rotor with channels that trap and mix oxygen and fuel as it spins. These central inlets are blocked off, building pressure within the chamber. This causes a shock wave that ignites the compressed air and fuel, resulting in energy. The research team claims that the WDG uses 60 percent of its fuel for propulsion, thus significantly reducing the percentage of wasted gas. As a result, the generator is said to be 3.5 times more fuel efficient than a typical ICE.
http://green.autoblog.com/2011/04/08/wave-disk-generator-engine-wave-of-future-video/

[drm604]

1. We see lots of these breakthroughs announced that don't seem to go anywhere.

We'll have to wait and see if anything comes of this one.

[zeemike]

2. They just can't let go of combustion as a source of energy.

I guess because they have so much invested in oil as energy.

[Confusious]

11. It's partially because gas

Has the mass to energy ratio that we can use right now.

[MineralMan]

3. Seals. Sealing the combustion chamber, etc. is the problem

with this and many other such designs. Get back to me on this when that is explained.

[Confusious]

12. Wankel rotary engine. Seals work on that. nt

[MineralMan]

13. Different concept, and they didn't always seal that well.

It was a big issue for a long time.

[Old Codger]

4. Looks A lot

Like a Wankle/Wankel engine


http://www.animatedengines.com/wankel.shtml

First time i saw that was 1955, used in Mazdas now

[leveymg]

5. It is a form of a Wankel crossed with a Volkswagen G-lader compressor. This "wave

disk" stuff is hype, insofar as it suggests some radically different power source. It's basically a gas turbine compressor Wankel cycle IC engine attached to a generator. May work extremely well in a gas-electric hybrid, but not exactly a real technological revolution.

VW G60 G-lader supercharger (circa 1990)(look familiar?):

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Gee, that looks like something that needs to be rebuilt every 30,000 miles or less.

;)

[jimlup]

7. I don't believe Mazda uses the Wankle engine anymore

As I understand it, it was too prone to oil leaks.

[AtheistCrusader]

9. Seals are an issue. But the RX8 is still available. The RX7 was retired.

They got some material from a NASA patent off the space shuttle for their seals, and they still need extremely high levels of maintenence.

This looks to be the last year of the RX8 though, next year they expect to bring back a 2-seat RX7. Same rotary type engine.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. A colleague looked into this recently

Her feedback was that there was a striking lack of technical details available in open literature which she found troubling.

[Nederland]

10. They won a DoE grant in November 2009

The grant was for 2.5 million dollars and at the time they said a "vehicle-size wave disc engine/generator that could be ready in two years". Two years from then is November of this year. I wonder how close they are to delivering what they promised...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/emergingtech/wave-disk-engines-to-make-hybrid-vehicles-cheaper-more-efficient/1887