[Rune]

The OPOC Engine, 100 mpg?

Engine Production Expected To Begin In 2014
$200 Million Deal to Build OPOC Engine Plant

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Z')hongding Power and EcoMotors today announced the closing of a commercial agreement to produce the opoc® engine, a breakthrough technology that has the potential to be the world’s cleanest, most efficient, lightweight, and lowest cost internal combustion engine. One of the largest automotive component conglomerates in China, Zhongding will finance and construct the first opoc® plant in the Anhui Province. The plant represents an investment by Zhongding of over US $200 million and will have a capacity of about 150,000 engines per year – over US $1 billion in revenue potential. High-volume production is expected to begin in 2014.

The opoc® engine technology developed and owned by EcoMotors can deliver the same power level as conventional engines at half the size, a lower cost, and lower emissions. With the potential for 20-50% better fuel economy compared to a state-of-the-art, conventional turbo-diesel engine, EcoMotors’ opoc® engine has the potential to revolutionize the internal combustion engine.

The inaugural opoc® plant has received the full support of key Chinese government bodies, including the Xuangcheng government and Anhui provincial authorities; a second Zhongding production site may be announced at a later date. Zhongding plans to supply opoc® engines to a broad range of customers, including GenSet engines, off-road and commercial vehicles. A key provision of the agreement allocates a portion of the plant’s output to EcoMotors for sale and distribution to its own direct customers.

full article at http://www.ecomotors.com/zhongding-powe ... gine-plant

[Plantagenet]

The Wikipedia article is generally negative about Bourke engines.

It says: "Efficiency 0.25 (lb/h)/hp is claimed - about the same as the best diesel engine,[2] or roughly twice as efficient as the best two strokes. This is equivalent to a thermodynamic efficiency of 55.4%, which is an exceedingly high figure for a small internal combustion engine. In a test witnessed by a third party, the actual fuel consumption was 1.1 hp/(lb/h),[3] or 0.9 (lb/h)/hp, equivalent to a thermodynamic efficiency of about 12.5%, which is typical of a 1920s steam engine.[4]


Wikipedia also says:

The Bourke Engine has some interesting features, but the extravagant claims[9] for its performance are unlikely to be borne out by real tests[citation needed]. Many of the claims are contradictory.[10]
Seal friction from the seal between the air compressor chamber and the crankcase, against the connecting rod, will reduce the efficiency.[11]
Efficiency will be reduced due to pumping losses, as the air charge is compressed and expanded twice but energy is only extracted for power in one of the expansions per piston stroke.[12][13]
Engine weight is likely to be high because it will have to be very strongly built to cope with the high peak pressures seen as a result of the rapid high temperature combustion.[14]
Each piston pair is highly imbalanced as the two pistons move in the same direction at the same time, unlike in a boxer engine.[15] This will limit the speed range and hence the power of the engine, and increase its weight due to the strong construction necessary to react the high forces in the components.[16]
High speed two-stroke engines tend to be inefficient compared with four-strokes because some of the intake charge escapes unburnt with the exhaust.[17]
Use of excess air will reduce the torque available for a given engine size.[18]
Forcing the exhaust out rapidly through small ports will incur a further efficiency loss.[19]
Operating an internal combustion engine in detonation reduces efficiency due to heat lost from the combustion gases being scrubbed against the combustion chamber walls by the shock waves.[20]
Emissions - although some tests have shown low emissions in some circumstances, these were not necessarily at full power. As the scavenge ratio (i.e. engine torque) is increased more HC and CO will be emitted.[21]
Increased dwell time at TDC will allow more heat to be transferred to the cylinder walls, reducing the efficiency.[22]
When running in auto-ignition mode the timing of the start of the burn is controlled by the operating state of the engine, rather than directly as in a spark ignition or diesel engine. As such it may be possible to optimize it for one operating condition, but not for the wide range of torques and speeds that an engine typically sees. The result will be reduced efficiency and higher emissions.[23]
If the efficiency is high, then combustion temperatures must be high, as required by the Carnot cycle, and the air fuel mixture must be lean. High combustion temperatures and lean mixtures cause nitrogen dioxide to be formed.

[Rune]

Wikipedia
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he OPOC engine is an opposed-piston 2-stroke engine. The OPOC is a reciprocating internal combustion engine in which each cylinder has a piston at both ends, and no cylinder head. There are no valves or a cylinder head.[2]

Opposed piston engines have been manufactured using one, two and three crankshafts. However, the first opposed piston engine produced was by the French company Gobron-Brillié in 1900. The engine had one crankshaft and is very similar in concept to the EcoMotors OPOC engine design, except using a camshaft and valves. In 1903 a Gobron-Brillié car powered by the opposed piston engine was the first car ever to reach 100 mph.

The OPOC engine can be moduled with two, or more, engines coupled via an electric clutch between engines. When more power is needed the second engine is clutched in. When clutched out of service there are no friction or pumping losses from the second engine module. This arrangement in city running vehicles could have a small, highly economical engine as the prime engine and when accelerating hard, or pulling heavy loads, the second, or more, engines are clutched into service.[3]

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . I have been reading about this design for quite awhile and will be convinced about its viability when the first does five thousand hours.

Opposed piston engines with no cylinder heads or valve train were in commercial production many years ago. I drove a truck with a three cylinder six piston supercharged two-stroke diesel back in the sixties and while the engines worked they were not noticeably better than conventional engines.

Like all two strokes, including the General Motors "screaming jimmy" they wouldn't hold a truck back on compression and were very easy to over speed descending hills.

Google Commer Knocker or Napier Deltic for more info on this design.

Cheers.

[Rune]

YouTube

The OPOC Engine: How it works.

That is an incredibly small powerplant for the amount of horsepower it puts out.

The video describes the operation. A pre-production turbo-diesel model is shown for use in military vehicles.

Seems like all or most of the bugs are ironed out.

I like the idea that a consumer car could have two of these under the hood - one for low-load, like city driving, the other motor kicks in for higher load requirements.

Can't wait to see the BMW motorcycle version!

[Rune]

Imagine an EcoMotor OPOC Engine running at constant RPM for use in a hybrid car. God, your mileage would just skyrocket!

Less weight, plenty of horsepower, double the efficiency

...and there would be plenty of room for the battery.

200 mpg?

[vision-master]

Chinaman motors? My gwad!

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 't')he EM100 diesel model, which has a cylinder bore size of 100mm and weighs 134 kilogrammes, it is capable of producing 325hp at 3500rpm along with an incredible 900Nm of torque and it will blow up within two weeks time.

[SeaGypsy]

As Scrubby points out above, the lack of compression braking is an issue for heavy transport- probably one which can be overcome with brake upgrades. As a truck driver myself with a lot of truck driver friends, nobody is going to be in a hurry to jump in a truck without engine brakes. Brake failure is pretty common, engine brakes save lives. I'm not an engineer so I can't say how this missing factor can actually be compensated for.

[Rune]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'A')s Scrubby points out above, the lack of compression braking is an issue for heavy transport- probably one which can be overcome with brake upgrades. As a truck driver myself with a lot of truck driver friends, nobody is going to be in a hurry to jump in a truck without engine brakes. Brake failure is pretty common, engine brakes save lives. I'm not an engineer so I can't say how this missing factor can actually be compensated for.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'C')hinaman motors? My gwad!

[SeaGypsy]

Makes sense, hybrid would provide electric braking- avoid retrofitting beefed up brakes to trailers. What do you think of the skeptical points outlined- quoted from wiki Rune?

[Rune]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'M')akes sense, hybrid would provide electric braking- avoid retrofitting beefed up brakes to trailers. What do you think of the skeptical points outlined- quoted from wiki Rune?

[Rune]

Green Car Congress



EADS Innovation Works is presenting a concept helicopter with a diesel-electric hybrid propulsion system at the ILA Berlin Airshow 2010, 8-13 June.

50% more fuel-efficient.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he diesel-electric hybrid concept is one of the projects grouped under the name of eCO2avia by EADS Innovation Works. Highly efficient electrical motors driving the rotors, combined with OPOC (Opposed Piston, Opposed Cylinder) diesel engines (earlier post), reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 50% relative to a conventional twin-turbine powered helicopter.

The main components of this hybrid system are multiple diesel-electric motor-generator units, a pair of high-performance batteries and a power electronics unit controlling the energy flows for best efficiency. The OPOC diesel engines, designed and built by EcoMotors International in the US, offer a fuel economy improvement of up to 30% compared to today’s helicopter turbine engines.

The OPOC engine is a two-stroke turbocharged diesel engine in which the intake and exhaust ports are at opposite ends of the cylinders. As the pistons move, the exhaust slits are open before the intakes and turbochargers blow air through the cylinders to push out the exhaust gas and fill them with clean air. Since the engine needs positive pressure to do this, the turbochargers have electric motors to power them at low rpm when exhaust energy is low.

The pistons are connected to a short crankshaft, located between the two opposed cylinders. The volume formed between the two opposed pistons is the combustion chamber. These design features are the key to an OPOC engine’s power-to-weight ratio being as high as 2 kW/kg.

The OPOC engine’s power output shafts are fitted with advanced, weight-optimized generators delivering electrical current to a power electronics unit, which manages the distribution of the electricity to the electrical motors driving the main rotor and the tail rotor as well as the other user systems on the helicopter.

The speeds of the electric motors driving the rotors can be adjusted individually and controlled for best efficiency. The multiple OPOC engines run at their most fuel-efficient operating point during the cruise phase.

Running on biofuel made from algae (another eCO2avia project), the amount of carbon dioxide released during flight is about equivalent to the amount absorbed by the algae during their growth phase, EADS says. This, the company says, opens up the possibility of carbon-neutral flights.

The engines also emit up to 40% less NOx and very small amounts of sulphur oxides (ca. 10 ppm vs. 600 ppm for normal Jet A1 fuel/kerosene), due to the very low nitrogen and sulphur content of the biofuel compared with fossil fuel.

Several different kinds of combustion engines could be integrated into such a hybrid system, EADS notes.

[Subjectivist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rune', '
')
I first read about this engine here on PO.com years ago. Lately, I have looking at old subjects to see whatever became of them.

Well, the OPOC engine is scheduled to begin production in China in 2014. Seems like everything is beginning production in 2014.

When I first read about EcoMotors OPOC engine, I thought, "Hmmm... this should be a reality in just a few years. It's incredible how long you have to wait for things. Even things that don't seem all that difficult to produce.

Strangely, this sort of design was first invented in the 1920s by Robert Bourke.

[Rune]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rune', '
')
I first read about this engine here on PO.com years ago. Lately, I have looking at old subjects to see whatever became of them.

Well, the OPOC engine is scheduled to begin production in China in 2014. Seems like everything is beginning production in 2014.

When I first read about EcoMotors OPOC engine, I thought, "Hmmm... this should be a reality in just a few years. It's incredible how long you have to wait for things. Even things that don't seem all that difficult to produce.

Strangely, this sort of design was first invented in the 1920s by Robert Bourke.

[rollin]

Looks like a great engineering improvement on some old technology. If it is 50% more efficient than the typical ICE engine it will move the average mpg up to 35 to 40 mpg, a significant change. Would like to see some actual run data and pollution data.

This will pretty much be overtaken by the new technology solar cars. Look up Stella solar car and team Eindhoven. Might be nice to have a small motor-generator OPOC add on for very long range applications and low light running.

[Rune]

Let me break this terrible news to you gently, Rollin...

I'm very sorry, but you're never going to get 375 hp out of solar car.

[Tanada]

Is this the thread you guys are looking for?
topic68812.html

[Rune]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'I')s this the thread you guys are looking for?
topic68812.html