The end of the combustion engine as we know it?

[Grant]

Is this the end of the internal combustion engine as we know it?

Mind blowing.

[bashbarnard]

Looks good but I don't think it will ever become mainstream. Think of the price of price of parts when they go wrong. The joint at the end of the conrod would wear faster too I reckon with the uj design. Great idea though and nice to see a running prototype. Might be the next big race thing.

[Grant]

Would that not outweigh the huge reduction in other wearing parts and consumables?

No cambelt to change, less spark plugs, no valves or seals to wear.

It could all add up (CBA to do the maths :p )

[bashbarnard]

I agree with you there . although ports have been proven to burnout and crack over milage. Ie two strokes use ports.

---

I still think for a low milage high output engine though it has great capabilities

[John1.4]

if people stopped trying to re-design the internal combustion engine and actually put that amount of work into alternatives, we'd be alot further towards close-to-zero-emissions transport, if it works leave it alone

[Grant]

You could say the same about cars. Cars work. Leave them alone.



It's all about inhibition. If people never did these things, the world would never technologically advance

[Seb_Ryan]

Simular to a wankel engine just with pistons..

[Tom]

Very cool, would like to see a dyno graph!

[swampy]

Simular to a wankel engine just with pistons..

Wankel are the way forward
Lol

Mind you the plugs for them are a bit funky

[RetroPug]

if people stopped trying to re-design the internal combustion engine and actually put that amount of work into alternatives, we'd be alot further towards close-to-zero-emissions transport, if it works leave it alone

The engine in your car is the result of significantly more than 100 years of continued innovation and design work on ICEs.
Petrol engines worked 100 years ago but they were very, very shit.

[bigcheez2k3]

I prefer this video

[John1.4]

The engine in your car is the result of significantly more than 100 years of continued innovation and design work on ICEs.
Petrol engines worked 100 years ago but they were very, very shit.

you make a good point but it's not the one i'm trying to make, i wasn't saying innovation isn't good, but at this point in time, the people developing newer kinds of engines have to come to terms with the fact that ICE's are a dead-end, and that no amount of 'ooh i can reduce the friction here and make it more efficient there' will get round the fact that oil will run out probably in our lifetime, and that the public will have to make a change to reflect this.
to a certain extent i think that some of the newer technologies like hydrogen aren't taken seriously because companies are still trying to 'innovate' on ICE's, and it'll be too hard to abandon oil

[tigerstyle]

Petrol engines worked 100 years ago but they were very, very shit.

You can't say that, massively different technologies available, if you wanted to you could compare a tiny fiesta engine today to an F1 cars engine, they are still an eon apart, doesn't make one shit however.

Oil running out in our lifetime? I was told it was going to run out in 15 years 20 years ago...

[Kezzieboy]

Never mind the oil running out, the effects of global working are of Dar greater concern, and will happen in our lifetime (well, maybe not cullys).

It's alot like a wankel in principle, so is going to have the same sealing and fuel economy issues, I imagine.

[Danny2009]

Where's the turbo?

[RetroPug]

Petrol engines worked 100 years ago but they were very, very shit.

You can't say that, massively different technologies available, if you wanted to you could compare a tiny fiesta engine today to an F1 cars engine, they are still an eon apart, doesn't make one shit however.

Oil running out in our lifetime? I was told it was going to run out in 15 years 20 years ago...

By any measure I can think of, combustion engines from circa 1914 are all terrible by today's standards, and I am very confident in saying this.

you make a good point but it's not the one i'm trying to make, i wasn't saying innovation isn't good, but at this point in time, the people developing newer kinds of engines have to come to terms with the fact that ICE's are a dead-end, and that no amount of 'ooh i can reduce the friction here and make it more efficient there' will get round the fact that oil will run out probably in our lifetime, and that the public will have to make a change to reflect this.
to a certain extent i think that some of the newer technologies like hydrogen aren't taken seriously because companies are still trying to 'innovate' on ICE's, and it'll be too hard to abandon oil

Except in the mean time people are still buying cars with ICEs and expect a better vehicle when they buy a new car. Those technologies are potetially the future but they are not ready for market yet.

Innovation in most fields is driven by market demand. I agree with you in principle but the reason people don't just abandon improvements in ICE engines currently is because people are still buying them and completely viable alternatives are not quite on the market yet.

[r3k1355]

They were pretty light on facts and figures.
It 'can' produce similar power to a 6 cylinder, it's about 30% lighter.

If you're going to produce something so radical and different it's gotta be a shit-load better than that.

[Ben Jay]

Yeah I don't get what they mean by it can produce the same as a 6 cylinder when it has 5? That isn't much different! I wanted to see how much it would rev to but the video only showed it at idle.

[Dave]

I work in the oil and gas industry in oz. the amount of wells that are being drilled around here, no chance of oil running out in 15-20 years. It may seem like it but that just drives demand/prices there's not a chance in hell of it going in 15 years.

[C.A.R.]

I work in the oil and gas industry in oz. the amount of wells that are being drilled around here, no chance of oil running out in 15-20 years. It may seem like it but that just drives demand/prices there's not a chance in hell of it going in 15 years.

This.
There's a f*ckton of oil out there.

Don't really see what you're gaining on this design (aside from the omission of a cambelt of course) that bearing is going to be under considerable stress and how the f*ck do the cylinders produce a good seal when they're rotating like that?

Also what about the balancing of an engine like that? In my head, having the weight off-set like that is going to work like a giant lady-pleasurer?

[Kezzieboy]

Yeah, but we'll have to stop using oil before it runs out, otherwise the environment is utterly f*cked. Plus, most of the reserves they're relying on lasting for ages are in places which drilling would be an environmental disaster (like the Arctic). We're already doing tragic things with the Oil Sands in Canada!

[Dave]

There's so many more though - you have no idea how many wells have been tapped and drilled out here recently it's Rediculous. The regulations that slow down the use of oil or the refinement of efficiency to use less just takes ages to get in place. The oil and gas business is booming, and will be for at least the next 50 years. The environment wont be f*cked, but we will stop using as much due to supply of it in the next 30 or so years but it will just go up in price.

[Kezzieboy]

The environment WILL be f*cked, I'll find the report when I'm on my computer, but the latest predictions of significant climate change and rising sea levels at the current rate of consumption are WELL within our lifetimes.

[Grant]

Just to add fuel to the fire; and this is my opinion, not fact


Why would you believe what you read in the news? It's the government telling you what they want you to hear. How many Billions of pounds are generated every year from the whole 'oh f*cking hell its global warming killing us all' campaigns and the consequential market. From people investing in new cars ("more efficient") to solar panels and home insulation.

It's partly what has helped this country out of the recession. All the associated businesses seeing Boom's in profits, and I would bet my bottom dollar, politicians are either on the board, or major share holders in said businesses.


And yes I'm a cynical twat

[lolsteve]

Stop using concrete, that one material alone accounts for 5% of the global co2 emissions more than the aviation industry.

[Kezzieboy]

Just to add fuel to the fire; and this is my opinion, not fact


Why would you believe what you read in the news? It's the government telling you what they want you to hear. How many Billions of pounds are generated every year from the whole 'oh f*cking hell its global warming killing us all' campaigns and the consequential market. From people investing in new cars ("more efficient") to solar panels and home insulation.

It's partly what has helped this country out of the recession. All the associated businesses seeing Boom's in profits, and I would bet my bottom dollar, politicians are either on the board, or major share holders in said businesses.


And yes I'm a cynical twat

Really, you're denying global warming? Really though?

The information on climate change doesn't come from the govt, it comes from the scientific community. The fact that people know about it at all says a lot, as the oil companies basically run the global economy (and with it, most of global politics), and would really rather keep it under wraps. They lobby against every attempt to legislate against excessive use of fossil fuels, and our government have stuck with the likes of BP more than they have adopted renewables. Did someone say Iraq?

EDIT: Not the story I was thinking of, but it sums it up pretty well:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26810559

[Grant]

You look at the climatic shift in the earths environment, since the ice age, 2.6 million years ago. What does it do? It peaks and troughs.

We are exiting a 'cold period' and entering a 'hot period'. Average temperatures have been on the rise for centuries.

Granted, the use of fossil fuels has largely increased, but has it caused the increase in global temperature? In my opinion, no. Just bad timing.

[C.A.R.]

I'm with Grant on this one. Yes, we need to be more responsible with the raw materials we are using, but through design and technology we are inventing more environmentally-friendly ways of proud in most things - look at those 3D printed houses in china!

But something dawned on me yesterday thinking about this and the thread title - how is that new design not still an internal combustion engine?

[Grant]

Not the end of the internal combustion engine; just more the end of it as we know it

[Kezzieboy]

You look at the climatic shift in the earths environment, since the ice age, 2.6 million years ago. What does it do? It peaks and troughs.

We are exiting a 'cold period' and entering a 'hot period'. Average temperatures have been on the rise for centuries.

Granted, the use of fossil fuels has largely increased, but has it caused the increase in global temperature? In my opinion, no. Just bad timing.

It has been PROVEN by the scientific community that the increasing global temperatures are being caused by human generated carbon emissions? I genuinely thought that everyone had accepted this by now! The rate of climate change is NOT in line with the 'natural' changes observed historically. Even if it is, then that's even worse, as we can't evolve as quickly as it's changing. By 2050 sea levels will have risen significantly and the global climate will have changed significantly, marking the end of various ecosystems and creating massive issues with food supplies all over the world.

It genuinely stuns me that some people still haven't accepted the wealth of research showing that the climate change in the last century has been stimulated by the industrial revolution and the massive increase carbon emissions it has generated.

The automotive industry is ahead of the game, Euro 5 emissions regulations are incredibly stringent, but these changes need to be targeted at power generation and heavy industry, especially in the developing world if we're to avoid absolute catastrophe.