I was at the show yesterday and marveled at these engines in person. I think the Scuderi shows a lot of promise with the "air hybrid" concept and overall simplicity and packaging. Storing energy in compressed air is pretty cool.
The Vengeance was actually co-developed by a cousin of a friend of mine and is darn impressive as well.
Id really like to see both working in action.
Ideas like these show that the IC engine will live on well into the future.
I don't understand how the vengeance can be a replacement for the reciprocating piston engine. The problem I see here is the cam driven sliding vanes. If it's cam driven, wouldn't the forces on the wall be huge if there is even a little mismatch? Or are they not showing an internal spring? Or perhaps this is why they will be rich and I will not be.
@philibuster: It's not a cam, it's a cam channel. Roller bearings are captured in the channel, guiding the path of the vanes and allowing precise control of their movement. You can see what I'm talking about in this image:
The brass colored insert in the center of the assembly is the anodized aluminum guide channel. They're inventing new bits, so the nomenclature isn't quite clear.
@elwood: Do a little research. It's Chrysler's cam-in-cam technology which enables these "ancient" pushrod engines to have variable calve timing. The new Viper engine also has this bit of technology.
If the vengeance works anywhere close to the way they say it will, umm yeah, small cars going VERY fast should be very easy. And yay for a rotary style motor with the potential to be reliable!
@elwood: The seals are an improvement on the material currently in use on the Renesis rotary, and the precision of the vane control is better as well. Considering those motors are fairly durable and operate at five times the RPMs of this engine, I'd say yes, they'll be durable.
@leavethegun-takethecannoli: Seal life and durability would be my guess. If there shit was as great as they say it is, Caterpillar would be out of business in the large-scale generator market.
@leavethegun-takethecannoli: Improved? Yes. Can they be improved enough to work in a production-ready engine that's going to have to work at the rated output nearly 100% of the time as a generator? I don't know.
But for years companies like Caterpillar and Cummins have built large diesel engines for the power generation and shipping markets, and if this engine was really that competitive in terms of cost, reliability, and efficiency, they'd have way more investors throwing money at them.
@leavethegun-takethecannoli, elwood: They just got it together recently. I suspect there are several things to iron out, but their design holds a lot of promise.
@elwood: They just finished the engine, this is its debut and judging by the number of people constantly in their booth, I suspect they'll have more interested investors after this evening.
I shall now fart in your general direction - propelling me across the finish line in the lead. Powered by Heinz. I got yer KERS right here! (grabs ass with both hands)
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The Vengeance was actually co-developed by a cousin of a friend of mine and is darn impressive as well.
Id really like to see both working in action.
Ideas like these show that the IC engine will live on well into the future.
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[jalopnik.com]
The brass colored insert in the center of the assembly is the anodized aluminum guide channel. They're inventing new bits, so the nomenclature isn't quite clear.
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That Lexus V6 could use some turbos too.
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So is "Vengeance it!" going to replace the 'busa meme now that we've been exposed to this beast?
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And frankly, I just don't see it happening.
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HAH!
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Wait, that Lexus has a catalytic convertor, man what's with all this 'safe sex' stuff?
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There is a law or something.
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But for years companies like Caterpillar and Cummins have built large diesel engines for the power generation and shipping markets, and if this engine was really that competitive in terms of cost, reliability, and efficiency, they'd have way more investors throwing money at them.
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