By Rob South, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-963773.mp3
EAST LANSING, MI –
see also VIDEO: Can an engine design turn things around?
Researchers at Michigan State University say they've developed a new engine that could replace traditional internal combustion engines. The Wave Disk Generator has been getting attention for the claim that it could be 3.5 times more fuel efficient than piston-driven engines. With gas prices hovering near $4.00 a gallon, car makers could be looking more seriously at drivetrain alternatives.
Audio:
In his lab at Michigan State University, Associate Professor of Engineering Norbert Muller is demonstrating the engine he hopes will revolutionize power generation. In this test they get the Wave Disk Generator spinning at about 2,000 RPM's.
Muller's design seems simple enough: fuel is injected into the center of the disk where centrifugal force compresses it into chambers fanning out to the edge. A shock-wave creates the ignition and the exhaust shoots out a port on the side, turning the disk. Think of a water wheel, turned on its edge with fire shooting out, instead of water pouring in.
Muller says the design is more efficient, because more fuel is combusted in the compression chambers.
MULLER: Overall, we expect a very efficient engine cycle here, which is the so-called Humphrey cycle were we have the combination of combined combustion and complete expansion which leads us to higher efficiencies, already from the get-go.
He says that makes it about 5% to 10% more efficient. But what could really make the wave disk generator a money saver is its size and simplicity.
MULLER: And, by the way, we have only one rotating part, and if you want to we have no solid part touching another solid part which is obviously much less friction. Friction losses, as we know it from the internal combustion engine the piston engine that we have today that we have plenty of parts in there.
Smaller, more efficient, less expensive it sounds like a car makers dream. Not so fast, according auto analyst Paul Eisenstein. Eisenstein is the publisher of theDetroitbureau.com. He says carmakers are taking fuel efficiency more seriously than ever before. But, he says battery-power and hybrid-electric vehicles with more traditional piston engines are getting the most attention.
EISENSTEIN: We're likely to see some new versions of diesel power train, for example. And even more radical alternatives, there's something called the OPOC or O-P-O-C engine. Which makers are looking at which could increase fuel economy.
But even the "radical" design of the OPOC engine is still based on piston-driven internal combustion. Eisenstein says that's because automakers have a well-established multi-billion dollar manufacturing structure based on piston driven engines.
EISENSTEIN: To tear all those old plants apart and to spend billions more just to save a little bit of money perhaps or build a little better mileage into a vehicle will be a difficult sell.
But Norbert Muller remains confident that this technology will be revolutionary and will make it into the market. He says even if automakers don't embrace the wave disk technology, it has plenty of other uses.
MULLER: It's very light-weight, easy to manufacture and small and this gives it some advantages to allow its use in many places including portable power and even stationary generation. It's also proposed as backup generator for solar and wind and things like this. So, I think the use is almost endless.
Muller hopes to have a prototype big enough to power a car by the end of the year. He says he'd like to see the Wave Disk Generator becomes the standard drivetrain in cars in as little as a decade.
reWorking Michigan
For more on job creation and workforce evolution in Michigan, visit WKAR.org/reworkingmichigan