Nice to see cranky old geeks still at it!
MIT researchers are developing a half-sized gasoline engine that performs like its full-sized cousin but offers fuel efficiency approaching that of today’s hybrid engine system–at a far lower cost. The key? Carefully controlled injection of ethanol, an increasingly common biofuel, directly into the engine’s cylinders when there’s a hill to be climbed or a car to be passed.
These small engines could be on the market within five years, and consumers should find them appealing: By spending about an extra $1,000 and adding a couple of gallons of ethanol every few months, they will have an engine that can go as much as 30 percent farther on a gallon of fuel than an ordinary engine. Moreover, the little engine provides high performance without the use of high-octane gasoline.
Given the short fuel-savings payback time–three to four years at present U.S. gasoline prices–the researchers believe that their “ethanol-boosted” turbo engine has real potential for widespread adoption. The impact on U.S. oil consumption could be substantial.
For decades, efforts to improve the efficiency of the conventional spark-ignition (SI) gasoline engine have been stymied by a barrier known as the “knock limit”: Changes that would have made the engine far more efficient would have caused knock–spontaneous combustion that makes a metallic clanging noise and can damage the engine. Now, using sophisticated computer simulations, the MIT team has found a way to use ethanol to suppress spontaneous combustion and essentially remove the knock limit.
But designing an efficient engine isn’t enough. “To actually affect oil consumption, we need to have people want to buy our engine,” said Cohn, “so our work also emphasizes keeping down the added cost and minimizing any inconvenience to the driver.”
Nice to hear from researchers who realize the limitations of the market they confront. Read the details! Sensible enough that I’m surprised they acquired support from an American car manufacturer [Ford].
Cool!!!! It sounds like they are developing an “on demand” octane booster. Very clever! I can hardly wait for the intercooled-turbocharged version of this engine some day.
Any reduction in fuel consumption would have a significant impact on fuel prices. It would be a big switch from increased demand every year.
“Half-sized” gasoline engine?
They’ve been making gas engines as small as 3cc for decades. You mean half of that?
Oh, as it turns out, the SIZE has nothing to do with anything. It’s a system that injects ethanol under high demand…. just like the fighter planes did in WWII. Uh, it detects knocking? Like ever car made since 1995?
Which part of this is new?
We are now approaching the Green Connendrum.
Buying green technology now, and it’s obsolete real soon, with better or cheaper identical performance.
I jumped in right away (with you know what) because I rent a hybrid car through my company. My neighbours, in the same boat as me, have all recently upgraded to monster SUV’s. They never jump into the Green bandwagon because their company pays the bill, including the gas pump bill. Which really irrates me.
The cleverness of this solution, combined with a hybrid car as it will be in five years – stronger electric motor, better batteries in five years, means…
…too bad they didn’t start this line of thinking twenty years ago.
I’d love to get my hands on that polar bear on the left 😉
Ah but by making petrol cheaper (by reducing demand) will actually increase consumption of petrol (‘cus its so cheap)
#3 – My neighbours, in the same boat as me, have all recently upgraded to monster SUV’s. They never jump into the Green bandwagon because their company pays the bill, including the gas pump bill.
Which is why SUVs should be taxed to death.
#5
The consumption of gasoline will rise together with the price no matter what because you’ve got two big economies rising in the east.
#2 “Which part of this is new?”
Did you not read the article, or did you just not understand it?
Sounds very good in principle, however; I would like to be wrong, but I doubt it will ever come to market in a significant way.
Brazil can do things that the USA is impotent in; they have built infrastructure where any consumer can choose between gas or ethanol, plenty of gas stations with ethanol. Doing something like that but on a much smaller scale to support a USA mass market of ethanol controlled injection, seem too challenging for the likes of EXXON/MOBILE … to undertake. Which will come first the infrastructure or the car??? The only way this can happen is if some company can make more profits marketing this then EXXON/MOBILE… .
#2 (and #7 who lack critical thinking skills) Historical Use:
Water injection was evaluated scientifically in the 1930’s by H. Ricardo who demonstrated that one can basically double the power output of an engine using water/methanol. The first widespread use was during WWII on supercharged and turbocharged aircraft. In 1942, the German Luftwaffe increased the horsepower of the Focke-Wulf 190D-9 fighter aircraft from 1776HP to 2240HP using 50/50% water/methanol injection.
There’s no such thing as an “oversized” SUV. This is the correct approach: make USEFUL vehicles more efficient instead of trying to get us to drive 3rd world go-karts.
We weren’t sure what to expect, but I have to say that we loved it! The movie is bright, colorful and FUN! The animation is surprisingly good, and the voice acting top-notch. Usually, movies for younger kids can drag, but this one moved along at a perfect pace, keeping all the kids in the audience enthralled. And I was pleasantly surprised at how FUNNY it was, keeping the adults entertained, too. The filmmakers really did a nice job of making sure all ages can enjoy this.