The joke goes that, when tasked to remove a thumbtack, a U.S. mechanical engineer will built a bigger crowbar. The American way has allus been too much metal and too much leverage achieving too little.
Norbert Müller and colleagues at Michigan State University in March have successfully demonstrated, to the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, a prototype of an internal combustion engine that still has a sparkplug, but nary a valve, piston or crankshaft.
Its called shock wave generator and its basically a rotor cast with wave-like channels. The lack of moving parts meant Müller could do away with the transmission, cooling system, oil pan and emissions timing.
To quote: "Fuel and air enter through central inlets, and the rotor spins to block their exit through a separate outlet. The sudden build-up of pressure generates a shock wave, compressing the mixture. Then it’s ignited, and as the rotor keeps spinning, the outlet opens again to let the hot gases escape. in further detail."Its basically a small-block jet engine or - if you like - a really cleverly curved crowbar.
Unlike Wankel's heavy-on-juice rotary engines, Müller and colleagues claim their novel engine exploits more of the energy in each unit of fuel, saving 60% compared to current internal combustion engines that basically wastes eight out of every ten litres of fuel by spitting our their energy out of the exhaust undigested.
The shock wave generator engine can also be up to a fifth lighter than most small petrol engines of equal output.Michigan State University now have $2.5 million in grant money which Müller will use to build a 25-kilowatt prototype by December. Mark the date. History is being made as you read.
