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detonation engine
what's really needed is a complete redesign of the IC engine. it's basically a refined steam engine. the weak part is the crank mechanism for converting linear to rotary motion. this is how steam locomotive wheels are driven. a mechanism like this cannot transmit large forces because of the constant reversals of motion. this is why detonation has to be avoided at all costs.
but this must be nonsense, because clearly detonation unleashes forces much higher than conventional combustion. these forces will destroy a conventional crank-operated engine, but will deliver tremendous torque in an engine designed to harness the power of detonation.
enter the Bourke engine. this engine was designed in the 1930s specifically as a detonation engine. it has only two moving parts (the piston assembly and the drive shaft). it has no poppet valves, just using ports in the cylinder walls, has a compression ratio of 50:1, can rev to 20,000 rpm with a straight-line power curve, has a specific hp twice the best formula one engine with half the specific fuel consumption, the exhaust is cool to the touch since all the energy is extracted from the fuel, requires little or no cooling system, achieves complete combustion at low temps so there are no oxides of nitrogen, so no catalytic converter required, can burn any low-octane fuel (kerosene, diesel, vegetable oils), ethanol, methanol, etc.
it's the engine we've all been looking for. so if anybody wants to put up a $100k or so, we'll build a working prototype.
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