OPOC Engine Could Deliver About 45% Greater Fuel Efficiency in a Heavy truck applicantions

[Bill USA]

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/03/ecomotors-20100310.html

Green Car Congress

10 March 2010

EcoMotors International, a Khosla-funded startup working to commercialize an opoc (opposed-piston, opposed-cylinder) engine family (earlier post), showcased its EM100 (100mm cylinder bore) base module implementation at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Washington DC last week.

With a two-module application configured at the appropriate power level (to deliver a combined 480 hp), the opoc unit could deliver about 45% better fuel efficiency compared to a conventional heavy-duty diesel engine in a Class 8 truck, the company suggests, while delivering emissions at the US Tier 2 Bin 5 level (the 50-state level in the US for diesel light duty vehicles).

The opoc engine operates on the 2-cycle principle, generating one power stroke per crank revolution per cylinder. Each module consists of two opposing cylinders per module, with a crankshaft between them; each cylinder has two pistons moving in opposite directions. This design configuration eliminates the cylinder-head and valvetrain components of conventional engines, offering a more efficient, compact and simple core engine structure, the company says. The power density is more than 1 hp per pound of engine weight. The fully balanced opoc engine can be run on any liquid fuel.

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Ecomotors is also developing a smaller version of the opoc, the EM65 (65mm bore diameter), with 75 hp per module, and targeted for light duty vehicle gasoline and flex-fuel applications.

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Could?

Throw the damn thing on a dyno, and let's see.

[madokie]

2. What makes you think they haven't

You reckon they're just pulling the numbers they say out of their asses?
Do you not like change or anything new, like a new concept on an ICE maybe

[AtheistCrusader]

4. If it can do it on the dyno, without 'cheating', then 'could' is a misnomer.

The correct word would be 'does'.

I've seen too many damn hoaxes of this nature, so yes, I'm jaded. There's plenty of private venture capital to get this sort of thing to the 'look, it works, go play with it, independent investigators' stage.

I don't think, at this point, with all these bullshit claims from various ICE 'revolutionary concept' con artists, to assume something like this might not be what it claims, until it can PROVE, in a real test, that it does what they say it does.

Basically, 'could' is a weasel word for 'doesn't'.

The Scuderi split cycle compression engine was 'on a dyno' in 2009, yet nothing. Despite the group getting north of 70 million in venture capital, where is it? It isn't exotic technology or materials. Just an exotic approach to arranging everything. If it works, where is it?

[madokie]

6. I've been reading about this particular engine for quite some time now

Popular science, popular mechanic, one or the other as I read both and what they're saying here in this article is along the same lines as what they said there. I'm not saying this is the holy grail of ice but who knows it very well could be.

The scuderi is one I hadn't heard of until now so I googled it to see what it is you're referring too. The problem I have is with your ready to write it off because of something that someone else has done, not so much on the merits of the story.

Who knows the scuderi may very well be in the figuring out how to manufacture it such as the manufacturing plant, capital etc. Some things take a long time to get to market

[AtheistCrusader]

7. There aren't even production demo's.

So, an engine like the wankel Rotary engine that Mazda used, actually took exotic materials. The cylinder seals pretty much came straight out of the space shuttle. That's a barrier between prototype and production. I get that. Yet, it was overcome in relatively short order.

The Scuderi has nearly 100 million invested in it. And nada. Zip to show for it. For less than a million, you could purchase all the cutting edge equipment you need to produce that motor on a small scale. There's nothing exotic about it at all, it's just a novel arrangement of existing parts. Hell, the design is based upon production engines available right now. It just about HAS to be a scam at this point. It's pretty easy to do some demos and even abuse Popular Mechanics/Sci to troll for investment capital, which goes to pay the scuderi family's salaries.

Now, that's just the Scuderi's. I don't know how much the engine in the OP has had invested in it. Probably not nearly as much as the split cycle engine. But again, very little 'novel' technology in this design. Not much to it, to produce it. Minifacturing and manufacturing has advanced to the point you can torque this crap out in a big hurry, and it's just, apparently not there.

When they get to the stage that they can put a prototype in a crate, send it to an entity like MIT, have them put fuel in it, and throw it on the dyno, then I will believe it's real. Until then it's vaporware, and quite possibly a scam.

Meanwhile, mainstream auto manufacturers have managed to get 'classic' ICE lineage engines to get us 30-40-50mpg and beyond. The sorts of mileage that the scuderi folks used to claim in 2004 and earlier their engine could deliver, are rolling out of showrooms right now.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Interesting; an opposing cylinder diesel engine was in common use in British locomotives

in the 60s and 70s, the Deltic. In that, the cylinders formed a triangle, with 3 crankshafts, one at each apex. It was also used in small naval ships. It had a very good power-to-weight ratio, as this new design has. It may be notable that the Wikipedia Deltic article says the engines were high maintenance.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Reminds me of the classic VW “boxer” engine

Of course, the VW was a 4 stroke gasoline engine…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_engine#Boxer_engines

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. It's a lot different to that

a 'flat 4' is just a V-4 with the cylinders set at 180 degrees. That has implications for balance and vibration, but not really for efficiency. The thing about this is 2 pistons sharing a cylinder, with no cylinder head (and being 2 cycle, not 4).

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. It appears I wasn’t far off the mark

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/05/fev_developing_.html

FEV Developing Efficient Two-Stroke Diesel Engine

17 May 2005

FEV Engine Technology is working on a new, two-stroke, light-weight, high-efficiency diesel concept engine that also promises to address the emissions issues associated with two-stroke designs. The approach could support a family of engines applied either as standalone engines in vehicles, as power sources for APUs, or as powerful and efficient engines in a hybrid configuration.

The OPOC (opposed-piston, opposed-cylinder) engine combines two engine designs pre-dating World War II: an opposed-piston, two-crankshaft diesel aircraft engine developed by Hugo Junkers and the opposed-cylinder boxer engine developed by Ferdinand Porsche. …

http://news.inventhelp.com/Articles/Automotive/Inventions/power-density-opoc-12535.aspx

EcoMotors Engine Offers Fuel Economy With Better Design - and No Compromise in Power or Performance

Published: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 3:37 PM EST
Author: Ann Delphus

"Power density is the Holy Grail of engine design." That is the mantra of Professor Peter Hofbauer, the chairman and chief technical officer of EcoMotors International. Power density increases when there is more power with less weight. Professor Hofbauer's new opposed-piston opposed-cylinder (opoc) two-stroke engine has unprecedented power density: according to a company spokesman, this breakthrough engine design is 50 percent lighter, is half the size, and is at least 15 percent more efficient in the diesel version now under development. (It can use gasoline, ethanol, diesel – any liquid fuel.) However, EcoMotor's most powerful model to date achieves fuel economy that is 45 percent better than the current, state-of-the-art conventional turbo diesel engines.

Because the opoc(TM) has fewer components (13 versus 40 in an inline-4), it is less expensive to manufacture. Because it is a redesigned standard engine needing no new infrastructure, it can revitalize American manufacturing. Indeed, an EcoMotors handout proclaims, "that means real jobs, real soon."

The opoc(TM) has been in development for eight years, supported by public and private research funding. http://www.ecomotors.com/prof-peter-hofbauer">Professor Hofbauer, a 20-year veteran of Volkswagen, is the founder of EcoMotors, a three-year-old company in suburban Detroit. http://www.ecomotors.com/videos/introduction-ecomotors-prof-peter-hofbauer">On video, he explains that the opoc(TM) engine is a hybrid of the boxer engine – the type of flat engine in VW Beetles – and the famous Junkers (pronounced "yoonkers") diesel aircraft engines.

To appreciate the dynamics of its operation, please view http://www.ecomotors.com/">EcoMotor's animation.

…