New engine sends shock waves through auto industry - 3.5 times more efficient than typical ICE

[Bill USA]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42460541/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/


...researchers at Michigan State University have built a prototype gasoline engine that requires no transmission, crankshaft, pistons, valves, fuel compression, cooling systems or fluids. Their so-called Wave Disk Generator could greatly improve the efficiency of gas-electric hybrid automobiles and potentially decrease auto emissions up to 90 percent when compared with conventional combustion engines.

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[panader0]

1. Watch the patents get bought by big oil and shelved.

[gateley]

3. +1 nt

[jberryhill]

4. Right.... Because every other country in the world is in on the plan

The Chinese love importing oil, for example. As do the Brazilians and many others.

[Kablooie]

19. Hope Toyota jumps in and grabs it before they do.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Didn't Michigan State go up on mail fraud some years ago?? n/t

[gateley]

5. A friend of mine has developed a car that gets 100mph and has

received lots of press -- if you find stuff like this interesting, here's the site:

http://www.wikispeed.com/

It's going to be the featured car at this year's Earth Day gathering at Paine Field in Everett, WA. Last year it was Tesla.

If you're in the area and want to go, he and the team will be there on the 22nd -- maybe throughout the weekend, but that's the day I'm going. :7

[madrchsod]

6. it will never be practical in an automobile.

[ThomCat]

9. Why not?

[madrchsod]

11. try driving a car with out a gear box plus...

it will cost to much to produce.

[A Simple Game]

12. It appears to be primarily for hybrids.

The lack of a gearbox wouldn't be a problem.

It looks pretty simple so the cost could be less than for a conventional engine.

[madokie]

14. Have you seen the video of this?

I watched it a couple weeks ago, someone here posted it, I looked to see if I could find it in my out box where I forwarded it to my friend but had no luck, anyway the dude doing the talking came across as a shyster more than anything, to me anyway. Showing pictures of one thing and holding something entirely different in fact what he was holding looked like a turbine blade where the part they showed in the still pictures looked like something totally different. I came away thinking only a fool would buy anything these folks has to sell. Maybe that just my okie upbringing coming through where it either works or it doesn't with not two ways about it coming through though.
continue believing this new 'breakthrough' at your own risk is all I will say.

[ThomCat]

13. In a current car, you couldn't drive without a gear box.

If they already have plans or mock-ups for new car designs that don't need a gear box, then I'd wait to see the designs before I say it's impossible.

A whole lot of people said new technology was impossible who looked like fools a few years later.

As for the cost. Why would it cost too much? It seems to me that it would cost much less to produce once they got past the initial start-up costs. Many fewer parts and moving pieces means much less production time and expense and fewer vendors needed at every stage. Smaller supply chains. Less raw material needed, and less engineering and working and tooling of components. Fewer and smaller assembly lines needed to make each finished product overall.

If this really does work, I don't see where you predict the greater cost coming in.

[Bill USA]

18. here's some more on this engine (cost 30% less than current ICE)

http://news.msu.edu/story/7036/

The project has the potential to increase automotive fuel efficiency by five times compared to internal combustion engine cars on the road today while reducing costs by 30 percent. About the size of a large cooking pot, the novel, hyper-efficient engine could replace current engine/generator technologies for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

The award will allow a team of MSU engineers and scientists, led by Norbert Mueller, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, to begin working toward producing a vehicle-size engine/generator known as a wave disk generator during the next two years – building on existing modeling, analysis and lab experimentation they have already completed. The WDG uses a turbo combustion “shock wave” technique to efficiently convert gaseous (compressed natural gas or hydrogen) or liquid fuel sources to electrical power.

Other researchers on the team include Patrick Kwon, professor, mechanical engineering; Tonghun Lee, assistant professor, mechanical engineering; Fang Peng, professor, electrical and computer engineering; Elias Strangas, associate professor, electrical and computer engineering; and Indrek Wichman, professor, mechanical engineering.
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Some more with some background on wave disc engines:


http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/10/michigan-state-university-receives-25m-arpae-award-to-build-wave-disc-enginegenerator-for-series-hyb.html">Michigan State University Receives $2.5M ARPA-E Award to Build Wave Disc Engine/Generator for Series Hybrid Applications - Green Car Congress


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The Wave Disc Engine. The wave disc engine is a new implementation of wave rotor technology (also called Pressure Wave Machines or Pressure Exchangers). Wave rotors are unsteady-flow devices that utilize shock waves to transfer energy directly between a high-energy fluid to a low-energy fluid, thereby increasing both temperature and pressure of the low-energy fluid. Wave rotor technology has shown a significant potential for performance improvement of thermodynamic cycles.


Hyprex pressure wave charger. Source: Swissauto Wenko. http://bioage.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4fbe53ef0120a6431bbc970b-150wi

Wave rotor technology has been explored since 1906, although its first significant application was in 1940 by Brown Boveri Company (BBC, today ABB) which used it as a high pressure stage for a gas turbine locomotive engine. In 1986, Mazda introduced the Mazda 626 Cappela model, which had a 2-liter diesel engine equipped with a Comprex wave rotor (from BBC) used as a supercharger. Mazda produced 150,000 Comprex diesel cars. Other car manufacturers including Opel, Mercedes, Peugeot and Ferrari used the Comprex. Swissauto Wenko AG of Switzerland produces a modern version of the Comprex—the Hyprex—designed for small gasoline engines.
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[wtmusic]

7. They've built the engine, have they. Where the f*ck is it?

These announcements are worthless pleas for funding until they're demonstrated.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. You can not bury the science

If you patent it, it has to be fully documented as well.

[madokie]

10. After watching that video a few days ago

methinks someone is full of it

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. The professional literature is remarkably silent on this one

which is a bit strange according to a colleague who is deep into it.

[bhikkhu]

15. 50 years too late, and still less efficient than electric

I expect to see electric take market share every year, but I'd be surprised if any new ICE technology is worth adopting. Smaller engines would be the best way to make an impact there.

[Festivito]

17. It's a lightweight engine made to run an electrical generator

The idea is to cheaply run a generator at probably a single speed or one that reacts well with ramping up to speed in combination with a generator.

Questions are:
How long will it run before breaking down.
How long will it last sitting in an unused car.
How much extra weight of a generator will possibly weigh more than just a regular ICE.