PGO working on rotary valve scooter engine
The good 'ol four stroke internal combustion engine has life left in it. Despite the fact that the world's oil supplies are getting more expensive and harder to extract, the short-term truth is that there's still no cheaper way to power a vehicle than with petroleum. This being the case, engineering work is still being done on the basic design of the engines that power our cars, motorcycles and scooters. Further proof of this truth comes by way of Taiwanese scooter manufacture PGO, which has partnered up with RCV Engine Ltd. of the U.K. The two firms are working on rotary valve technology for scooters. So far, the rotary valve engines have really only made waves in the model aircraft industry, a market that RCV is very active in, but PGO believes the engines in the 125-150cc range could power its scooters.
The technology seems rather elegant and does away with the valvetrain of a four stroke engine, a major source of losses and maintenance. The cylinder, including the combustion chamber, rotates around the piston as it moves through its stroke. Click here for more details on how the technology works. PGO hopes to reduce the costs of engine manufacturing while increasing power and lowering emissions. So far, though, no specific engines have been announced.
[Source: CENS via 2 Stroke Buzz]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
paulwesterberg 6:17PM (10/23/2008)
"truth is that there's still no cheaper way to power a vehicle than with petroleum"
This is entirely, completely false, for $4 in electricity you can go 200 miles in a tesla roadster. The amount you would have to pay to power an electric scooter would be even less, around $1 per 100 miles.
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Perry 6:38PM (10/23/2008)
Paulwesterberg
That is completely true.
But the Tesa roadster's battery costs as much as a honda accord and will only last for five years at the most.
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Snowdog 7:41PM (10/23/2008)
Yes you need to factor battery wear as well.
When you "tank up" the Tesla with $4 of electricy you are burning one of the precious battery cycles.
With probably well under a 1000 cycles and a pack costing at least $20000, that $4 of electricity is dwarfed by $20+ of battery wear.
Not to mention that standard lithiums will also age themselves to death just sitting on a shelf.
All electrics have this issue. Battery+electricity cost more than gas. This is why we have always been waiting on battery breakthroughs.
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Phil L. 10:23PM (10/23/2008)
Valvetrains are a "major" source of maintenance? Since when?
Really, when is the last time you've even *known* of a car that needed a valve job? (Exempt from this question: Owners of vintage British cars)
Yeah, many cars still have cam belts - but a belt every 100K+ miles is hardly "major". Full disclosure: All vehicles in my garage have chain-driven cams. Zero valvetrain maintenance in a combined 400K miles.
The maintenance claim is bogus. Efficiency is another story; they'll have to prove it works in real-life use.
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MikeW 10:21PM (10/26/2008)
Honda, most of their engines do not have hydraulic valve clearance adjustment.
Phil L. 12:29PM (10/27/2008)
MikeW -
Few of my Honda-owning friends pay attention to the valve clearance adjustment portion of their maintenance schedule - yet the engines still seem to run forever. Even then, valve clearance adjustment hardly qualifies as "major" maintenance.
My original point stands: Modern valvetrains are remarkably durable; justifying a replacement by claming they have major maintenance requirements is false.
jon 10:44PM (10/23/2008)
my first reaction was "this is how vespas have done it since the 60s," but no, this is completely different. a rotating cylinder? weird!
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fadetoblack51 9:27AM (10/24/2008)
these guys have been doing rotary valves for a long time. I've been waiting for some one to pick up their technology. coatesengine.com
Herm 3:43AM (10/25/2008)
Tesla's lithium cells will not do 1000 cycles, 300 with care, at most 500, maybe. I dont think a replacement pack will be $20k, much lower I think.. they use common industrial lithium laptop cells. Labor, and the monitoring electronics in the pack may cost more than the cells themselves.
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