Scuderi Engine Claims Highest Efficiency

The Scuderi Group has recently received quite a bit of publicity about its efforts to develop the Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine – potentially the world’s most efficient internal combustion engine.

The engine achieves its improved performance by separating the functions of the four cycle engine into an intake/compression cylinder and a power/exhaust cylinder.  Gas is compressed in the compression cylinder and transferred to the power cylinder through a gas passage. The gas passage includes a set of valves, which maintain a precharged pressure through all four strokes of the cycle. These two cylinders perform their respective functions once per crankshaft revolution, while typically conventional engines require two revolutions of the crankshaft to perform these functions. As a result, the split-cycle design provides more flexibility in how engines are built. A video showing how the engine works can be found here. 

This flexibility permits the following modifications to the usual engine:

1. the power stroke can be made longer than the compression stroke to over-expand the gas for increased thermal efficiency (the Miller cycle),
2. the compression piston diameter can be made larger than the power piston diameter to supercharge the gas for increased power; and
3. the compression and power cylinders can be independently offset to almost any angle for increased mechanical efficiency.

The unique combination of maintaining a precharged pressure in the gas passage and firing after top dead center in the power cylinder produces several additional advantages. These advantages include:

1. an extremely fast combustion rate,
2. a further increase in thermal efficiency, and
3. a significant reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions

The Scuderi engine is expected to:

• Improve fuel efficiency in today’s gas and diesel engines by almost one third   
• Emit 80 percent less toxic emissions than today’s gas and diesel engines   
• Enhances the performance of hybrid engines 
• Provide significantly more power than a conventional engine
• Be easy to manufacture because it utilizes same components found in today’s engines

The Scuderi Group will unveil the workings of its air-hybrid engine at the world congress of the Society of Automotive Engineers in Detroit early next month.

The Scuderi engine design has undergone rigorous analysis through sophisticated computer modeling at one of the world’s leading independent engineering testing and research facilities – the Southwest Research Institute. Southwest Research is now producing working prototypes of gasoline and diesel versions of the engine.

The group has been successful in attracting investors. To date, Scuderi has raised $8.1 million, mostly from private investors and from a $1.2 million federal grant.

There technology is patented worldwide with four patents issued (three also pending in U.S. and three others pending in 45 countries). They plan to license the technology to qualified engine manufacturers on a worldwide basis.

Resource: The Scuderi Group LLC, West Springfield, MA

Technorati tags: engines, vehicles, energy, technology

The Energy Blog: Scuderi Engine Claims Highest Efficiency

Comments

[Milburne]

Nothing beats the internal combustion engine for power and range. If the Scuderi is more efficient and just as powerful and durable, it will displace conventional engines, even if it costs more up front. Even if fuel cells and electric vehicles work out, there'll always be government and police vehicles running on internal combustion, for the power and range.

[VirtualOptics]

I have also been very impressed with the description of the Massive Yet Tiny engine described at the web site: http://www.angellabsllc.com/

Now this article has me wondering if the Scuderi Splt-cycle could be combined with the MYT to yield even better efficiency.

The second part of the energy conservation equation is the efficiency of the engine converting the energy to work. A carbon-based fuel engine with significantly better efficiency will build a much longer bridge of time to the hydrogen economy.

[Robert Pritchett]

We just added this interview on the update regarding the MYT Engine today.

http://pesn.com/2009/01/13/9501512_MassiveYetTiny_Engine_to_Production/

[Hiawatha]

The trail to this approach started in a Bridgeport garage and is now summarized in thehiawathatriad.org, triadexp.info, and triadblog.info/blog. Could be some good light reading.

[Peter Hill]

Where to start?

Lets start with Patent US7121236 by Mr Salvatore C. Scuderi (B.S., J.D) and Mr David P. Branyon. How to describe this? Well it can be summed up by one word.

CRACKPOT

Yes it's a crackpot crank. Mr Scuderi is supposed to be an Engineer. They can produce a displacement diagram in Fig 15 on sheet 14 and then demonstrate they can produce a Velocity diagram for this cam in Fig 16 on sheet 15. A layman would have left it at the displacement diagram, only an engineer would take the step of producing a velocity diagram. Anyone worthy of the title "Engineer" would then use the same method to obtain Acceleration diagrams. Mr Scuderi and Mr Branyon have for some reason chosen not to.

No matter, the destruction of this device is readily apparent from the Velocity diagram in Fig 16. There are sudden changes in velocity, labeled 254, 255, 257 and 258. These apparently instant changes in velocity require infinite acceleration. Force = mass x acceleration so infinite forces will be produced that hammer the cams guiding the big end pin to bits in a very few revolutions of the crank - possibly while dry cranking. (It will be the fault of the people that made the test engine, law suits will fly or it will demonstrate the huge uncontainable excess of power the engine made)

A brief google for "SVAJ cam mae" gives a good primer on cam design from Western Michigan University and why the work presented in US7121236 is not a viable design.
Fundamental Law of Cam Design
1 The cam function MUST be continuous through the first and second derivatives of displacement across the entire 360° interval
2 The jerk function MUST be finite across the entire 360° interval

Analysis of the REAL thermodynamic cycle that the Scuderi Air Hybrid engine can achieve will show large departures from the ideal Brayton cycle, resulting in losses that render it completely unworkable.

I can only suspect that the staff of The Scuderi Group are well aware of this deficiency or they wouldn't be engaged in the wild and desperate measures seen in US7121236 to extend the duration of the transfer phase to the power cylinder.

[naganna]

no one is beat the internal combustion engine for power and range. If the Scuderi is more efficient and just as powerful and durable, it will displace conventional engines, even if it costs more up front. Even if fuel cells and electric vehicles work out, there'll always be government and police vehicles running on internal combustion, for the power and range. in any engine can passible to reduced emmission

[Gaurav Tiwari]

thanks

[Cheap Generic Drugs]

These two cylinders perform their respective functions once per crankshaft revolution, while typically conventional engines require two revolutions of the crankshaft to perform these functions.

[Cheap Generic Drugs]

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[Engine Additive]

Thanks for the sharing of such information we will pass it on to our readers.This is a great reading.
Thanking you Nice post.

[CGS intake]

Thanks for the great article. I agree that these studies show how we make our cars performance better and help conserve energy.

[CGS Motorsports]

Your engine relies on a balanced mixture of fuel and air for combustion. Currently, your vehicle draws air through the original manufacturer's intake tube and air box, which is typically loaded with a disposable paper air filter. Automakers design your vehicle's intake tube to be the quietest possible unit that can fit in your engine compartment.

[NRG Hubs]

Ways such as saving our energy consumption would be a great factor to reduce our carbon emission. This is good for our environment.