New "Shockwave" Engine Design Solves Energy Crisis

[Corohan]

Because this is a website about games.. mostly.

 

[PatrickXD]

Assuming that it works at all?

Reduces petrol consumption by 90%? IE, 10 times more efficient than what we have now?

According to this article, current engines are only 15% efficient...doesn't this mean that this engine is 150% effective? Um...

No, it reduces consupmtion by 90%. This means that however much was used is now reduced to 1/10th. Think of it not as how much is wasted, just how much is put out versus the fuel put in. In this way we see that the previous 10 units of petrol for 1 unit of power is now reduced to 1 unit of petrol per 1 unit of power.

OT: I certainly hope that this reaches the streets, however I doubt we could be so lucky.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

oh wow, a hundred year old invention, what will they think of next.

 

[Veylon]

20 to 1 it gets bought by OPEC or a major car company and never sees the light of day

The hell with what they think. If these things are any good, the Chinese will crank them out no matter how many patents get violated. And then sell them to us.

 

[Hgame]

$4 gas? you people are lucky, here in the U.K. its £1.30-£1.40 a litre, which, factoring in exchange rates, comes out at approximately $8-$9 per gallon.

OT: this could be great, but it still wont solve the oil crisis. It's still going to run out.

 

[Danpascooch]

Ok, that's pretty cool. Why hasn't this idea been come up with before - I mean, where are the car companies' research funds going?! If it works well enough, it could be pretty sweet, and might even make alternative fuels easier to deploy - hydrogen, for example.

This doesn't make any sense... how do they direct the force of the ignited gas to only one direction? Wouldn't the explosion provide an equal torque clockwise and counterclockwise thus keeping the turning stationary?

No, the curves in the channels create vectored emissions. Think of how a wind-turbine works, or a water turbine. Similar idea.

I'm not a mechanical engineer, but I suppose it's possible that a drive shaft could also be attached to this engine to eventually transfer the energy to the wheels of a car. What's not clear is whether this shockwave engine will produce enough torque to start a heavy car moving from 0 mph, but hopefully the reduced weight of the vehicle would make that possible.

It's about powering hybrid vehicles - the idea being you use it as a generator (he says 25kW, apparently suitable for a utility or goods vehicle though I'm not sure of that) to burn your fuel more efficiently than a traditional engine does, for the purposes of generating electricity that would then be used to drive the electric motors that actually make the vehicle go. Not as a direct driver of the wheels itself. I think an aspect of this system is that it generates little torque - problematic if you're trying to shift a heavy vehicle, but fine for spinning magnets in coils!

But a wind turbine is hit by wind perpendicularly to the turbine, from what I read in the article it sounds like this ignites gas while it's sitting between two of the raised ridges.

 

[Danpascooch]

This doesn't make any sense... how do they direct the force of the ignited gas to only one direction? Wouldn't the explosion provide an equal torque clockwise and counterclockwise thus keeping the turning stationary?

In addition, where is the compression of the fuel-air occurring? Spark/glow plug?

Implementation in 3 years? Try 10-20.

I wouldn't write it off yet, I'm sure it does in fact work, I just think the Escapist article didn't explain it properly

 

[John Stalvern]

If that 90 percent figure is true then this is a very significant development.

 

[Jamous]

Very cool. Just out of interest, why has nobody done it before, I mean, with the huge push to waste less energy it just seems to make sense... :S

Because "Secretly" these big companies don't want to make it, because that would mean the oil companies blahblahblah wouldn't make as much money etc...BLAHBLAHBLAH ya know what I mean? The rich people want to stay rich.

Yeeeeah I get your point.

 

[GeorgW]

Smart idea, hopefully it will be put to use sometime this century!

20 to 1 it gets bought by OPEC or a major car company and never sees the light of day

I won't take that bet!

 

[Korey Von Doom]

Gee I wonder how long it will take before the oil companies buy him out

 

[BabySinclair]

20 to 1 it gets bought by OPEC or a major car company and never sees the light of day

Because obviously car companies would have no motivation to sell cars that use 90% less fuel than their competitors, and it's not like opec nations wouldn't mind cutting production to maintain current prices and have their oil reserves last 10 times longer.

It depends on its efficiency with how long it goes without sufficient wear to impede its use. If the new engine lasts too long the car companies won't let it out. They make money every time an engine needs new parts. It's a secondary source of revenue. Either the customer will buy the parts to get it repaired or flat out buy a new car. In both cases the company makes more money. They don't want you to keep the same car for 15-20 years. If it has problems which drives you to buy a new one after 7 they are very happy. The new engines they are rolling out that last longer were invented decades ago but only coming out now because they have too. Combustion wears the engine and the more inefficient the better in their opinion. That said, if it lasts only as long as a regular engine then they will fight for it assuming it can be made inexpensively.

 

[DazBurger]

Of course he has a German accent... As any real American scientist...

 

[draythefingerless]

As do you then, bub. The article makes nothing of implying it will solve the crisis. It is, however, saying that its going to help get hybrid cars more efficient, and with the higher price of gas, that means a lot.

As for alternative energies, that isn't just solar or wind, its a broad term used to describe anything besides the use of current coal and oil methods. But hey, if we can't use oil, and alternative energy is a joke, I guess we could run off your inflated ego and sense of worth, that should buy us a few years at least.

Or nuclear, or fusion when they get it to work, or Geothermal, etc, etc. Or we could pedantically argue with someone who already agrees that the engine is a fine idea, but dislikes fantastic claims like the one IN THE TITLE OF THIS ARGUMENT. Tada!

HA! Fusion....you actually believe there is any sort of future in that...thats cute.

Anyway,

Nice engine, one problem. Oil spending is worst in countries that wont get this. India, China, Africa, South America. Their industries and their transports are unneficient. Its not only the western society that is spending the most gas. This engine is fine, but like all new ideas, it only reaches a percentage of what it needs to reach. Unless you mass sell it in EVERY car out there, everywhere you can....its going to have a small impact.

Any impact is good thou.

 

[Wicky_42]

Ok, that's pretty cool. Why hasn't this idea been come up with before - I mean, where are the car companies' research funds going?! If it works well enough, it could be pretty sweet, and might even make alternative fuels easier to deploy - hydrogen, for example.

This doesn't make any sense... how do they direct the force of the ignited gas to only one direction? Wouldn't the explosion provide an equal torque clockwise and counterclockwise thus keeping the turning stationary?

No, the curves in the channels create vectored emissions. Think of how a wind-turbine works, or a water turbine. Similar idea.

But a wind turbine is hit by wind perpendicularly to the turbine, from what I read in the article it sounds like this ignites gas while it's sitting between two of the raised ridges.

No, the gas is in the centre of a spiral of channels, so its expansion out through the parallel spirals generates angular motion.

 

[Danpascooch]

Ok, that's pretty cool. Why hasn't this idea been come up with before - I mean, where are the car companies' research funds going?! If it works well enough, it could be pretty sweet, and might even make alternative fuels easier to deploy - hydrogen, for example.

This doesn't make any sense... how do they direct the force of the ignited gas to only one direction? Wouldn't the explosion provide an equal torque clockwise and counterclockwise thus keeping the turning stationary?

No, the curves in the channels create vectored emissions. Think of how a wind-turbine works, or a water turbine. Similar idea.

But a wind turbine is hit by wind perpendicularly to the turbine, from what I read in the article it sounds like this ignites gas while it's sitting between two of the raised ridges.

No, the gas is in the centre of a spiral of channels, so its expansion out through the parallel spirals generates angular motion.

So you're saying the expansion forces it to hit the turbine perpendicularly at a high speed? That actually makes a lot of sense, I'm sure pistons waste a lot of energy by traveling in two different directions, so this might really be a major breakthrough.

 

[Plurralbles]

it seems so crazy obvious.

 

[thedeathscythe]

I'm sorry, but I'm getting more annoyed about every little invention that 'solves the X crisis' while still using oil.

No people, recycling or Shockwaving isn't saving the world, its just not screwing it up as fast. End of!

They said it solved the energy crisis, not the environment crisis. As in, he's talking about gasoline usage, we only have a finite amount and we consume it much faster than it takes to renew, so by the huge amount this reduces the usage of gas, it will help solve energy crisis. Not once did it say anything about helping the environment, and saving the world. Those are two completely different battles.

OT: I wonder when these will be taken on. Solar powered cars got bought by the oil industry so that no one could make them, hopefully he doesn't sell this to them.

 

[Numachuka]

Why did I see the word 'engine' and automatically think of something you base a game off of and not what you use to power a car?

Because this is a video game site.

 

[The Wooster]

Man, does that thing look awesome. It looks like some kind of badass magic summon shield.

"Oh yeah my car runs on unleaded and HELIOS, GOD OF THE SUN!"

BRUM!