The ultimate hybrid engine swap

[California98Civic]

Things will change in the not-too-distant future, and imagine your engine swap studies then: New engine shakes up auto industry - Technology & science - Innovation - msnbc.com

[Frank Lee]

Sure- where do I buy one? Same place that has Sterling engines on the shelf?

[California98Civic]

Aww, but this isn't a unicorn. It's a genuine invention, which I'm sure will be brought to market ASAP...

[Ryland]

Has anyone looked up the patents on this thing? so far I haven't seen one working or even a clear image of how it works.
It sounds simple enough that someone with a machine shop should be able to build one and test it, altho because of patents they would not be able to sell it on the open market.

[lowglider]

I sure hope they get the thing going, but I have doubts on their grasp of reality, at least when it comes to numbers. For instance:

"Researchers estimate the new model could shave almost 1,000 pounds off a car's weight currently taken up by conventional engine systems."

Are they serious, 1000 pounds? A 4.4l V8 that I know of weighs 350lbs...

And sure standard car engines have "15% efficiency in average", but nowadays cars have start & stop features and diesels achieve around 40% efficiency on optimum loads.

And this is still a prototype and must prove itself a gazillion times in the real world before we may have it in our cars.
A microturbine application (think LincVolt) with some exhaust heat recovery can practically match all of these claims and it is doable today.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by lowglider

"Researchers estimate the new model could shave almost 1,000 pounds off a car's weight currently taken up by conventional engine systems."

Are they serious, 1000 pounds? A 4.4l V8 that I know of weighs 350lbs...

1000 pounds is a lot, but if you can drastically reduce engine weight, size, and fuel consumption, you also get significant side benefits.
The car's structure can be smaller, thus lighter. Just look at the relative size of the hood / engine compartment on most cars.
It doesn't have to carry a heavy engine, making the structure lighter again.
This in turn means a lighter suspension.
It'd only need a small fuel tank, more weight being shed.


Big powerful engine options come at a cost - not just to those who buy them, but also to the folks who buy the more moderate version of a given model that are still engineered and built to handle the more powerful, heavier engines.