air-hybrid engine

[rh71]

http://www.scuderigroup.com/index.html

watch the vid.

 

[PottedMeat]

...looks like all they did was integrate a turbocharger and air compressor using half the pistons in a regular engine?

A normal engine + turbocharger seems simpler.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

that sales video made me feel like i was watching my company's safety, etc. videos.

so, that thing is a 4 cylinder, 2 stroke diesel. i want to like it, but i've been lied to before...

edit:
decent batteries and a turbine would kick this thing's ass.

 

[GoatMonkey]

It's interesting. Sort of like direct injection for air.

There are 2 cylinders with each handling 2 of the 4 cycles.

Air gets pulled into the first cylinder the same way a regular engine does. Then it does the compression stroke, but the valve that would be the exhaust valve opens and forces the compressed air into a storage chamber. At the same time the 2nd cylinder has reached the top of its stroke, where it has just finished pushing out the exhaust and the compressed air from the storage chamber is dumped into the cylinder and I guess fuel is sprayed in at the same time. Then it's all ignited for the power stroke. At the same time, the other cylinder should have just completed another intake stroke, and the explosion from the second cylinder's power stroke pushes it up to start compression again.

I'm not so sure that they will achieve quite the efficiency they're talking about, but it's an interesting idea. It looks like a 4 cylinder version of this would have just as many power strokes as a conventional 4 cylinder to me. But the power strokes are localized to only 2 of the cylinders.

It would be more interesting to me if the compression were being done by something like a twin-screw supercharger and just doing something like direct air injection with direct fuel injection just after it in a regular engine.