The future is rotary.........allegedly!

[rustynuts]

I came across this today at work in an engineering magazine:http://www.liquidpiston.com/newsdesc/nid/33.htmlA new type of rotary engine with 75% thermal efficiency achieved by constant volume combustion followed by over-expansion. It is so efficient that it needs no cooling system or silencers and has an output comparable to a diesel engine ten times its size. I'm off now to find my calendar to check that it's not April the 1st.

[johnbirchjar]

Sounds to good to be true,but they are wrong about truckers leaving there engines "ticking over" to keep the cab warm of a night,30odd years ago perhaps,now they have seperate heating system that works a bit like a blow lamp,(but very sophisticated)some have a seperate tank that uses red(agricultural)diesel, others use the white diesel from the main tank,I can't(of course)speak for the trucks in the good old U.S ofA ,but I should immagine that they have kept pace with us on this side of the pond ,J.B.

[johnbirchjar]

And as afterthought,I remember operating a Leibher 360o excavator in the mid-1970s,powered by a Magirus Deutz air cooled engine that had a very similar cab heating system,and that was all those years ago ,(just thought youd like to know that )rgds,J.B.

[bodgerbloke52]

Trucks over here in the good ol US have enjoyed diesel fired cab heaters for yonks. Some are German made, some US. At $4 a gallon no truckers leave his engines running. Cab air is supplied by the engine driven compressor. Refers have a dedicated diesel engine and compressor mounted high up on front of the container.Roger

[gripper]

I don't see any of these engines fitted to anything in their blurb, or did I just not look hard enough?

[johnbirchjar]

Lucky old U.S. truckers with diesel at $4 a gallon thats almost half of what we pay here in the U.K.(I think I'm right in saying that our diesel is the most expensive in europe)If this new rotary is all it's cracked up to be the aplications are endless,J.B.

[bodgerbloke52]

Generally speaking motor fuel here have always been 1/3 of Europe prices per gal. But the last three years the gap has closed up to approx 1/2. However remember that our gallon is 20% less than Imperial.In England couple of months ago I was paying 1.50 queens heads per liter. That translates to about $9.25 per US gallon. However the rental KIA covered 58 mpg over the 1300 miles. We are not allowed to buy such a car here as the oil companies want such fuel economy like a hole in the head.Roger