REPORT: Koenigsegg developing pneumatic engine technology and hydraulic hybrid powertrains
Saab 9-X Air concept - Click above for high-res image gallery
Ever since Koenigsegg emerged as the chosen buyer for fellow Swedish automaker Saab, rumors of a number of eco-friendly automobiles from the two automakers have been making the rounds. In addition to a production version of Koenigsegg's electric Quant concept from this year's Geneva Motor Show, we've also heard that Saab is hard at work developing a hybrid version of its latest 9-5 sedan.
In an interview with Auto Motor & Sport, Christian Von Koenigsegg has revealed that both the automaker that bears his name and the recently-purchased Saab are both working on pneumatic valve technology from Cargines that could potentially offer a fuel savings of 20 to 30 percent. Further, Koenigsegg believes combining that system with a hydraulic hybrid powertrain could potentially result in a 90-percent reduction in total energy consumption and allow the automaker to build a performance-minded hybrid automobile.
Gallery: Saab 9-X Air
[Source: Auto Motor & Sport]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gorr 8:28PM (9/11/2009)
Im pretty sure that hydraulic drivetrain for a car is a good thing, easilly over 100 mpg with the same size and performance of a regular gm, ford or honda of 26 mpg. Im hoping on that put on sale on ebay with 2000$ transportation fee or maybe they can ship it in my town to a used car saleman 1 mile from my home, even if they fit this drivetrain in a used car, i will go see it for sure.
I think that pneumatic valves is a good thing too.
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Nick 12:24AM (9/12/2009)
How does hydraulic engine tech work? How is it better than ICE?
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gorr 9:21AM (9/12/2009)
Nick, Hydraulic engines works with a pressurized hydraulic tank that store pressure made by an ice engine but the ice instead of spinning constantly even on deceleration and idle is actionning a hydraulic fluid pump directly without a crankshaft but push directly the hydraulic fluis into the tank. This is very very efficient with a lot of power too contrary to batteries or prius or any actual green car on the market. As manufacturers perfectly know that this is good, they speculated on this technology and many more technology and have decided to not use it to cash more money from constricted, basched, taxed, put on hold forever car buyers. One guy in the x-prize contest, valentin technology, was proposing this technology but was not back-up by the x-prize organizers that look to promote green cars and was not back-up by any car manufacturers nor the scientists, nor by any business that receive actually subsidies to study, conceive, organize and commercialize a green car.
The efficiency is 130 mpg with a simple one cylinder diesel engine that push directly hydraulic fluid with his piston without an inneficient crankshaft sold actually on every models from ford, gm, chrsler, honda, toyota, nissan, mazda, daihachu, scion, infinity, lexus, suzuki, caterpillar, freightliner, mercedes, bmw, audi, volvo, porsche, ferrari, bentley, etc. This was swear many years ago by gm( the organizer in cheif or the car carte to not appear on any market on the world. That's why there is not a single hydraulic car in the world, it was , like hydrogen, discovered by the car manufacturers and tractor-trailor truck builder that this is better and it was decided to be out-lawed unofficially. That's what i said to postpone any car expenditure toward petrol resellers( gm, honda, toyota, ford, etc)
Chris M 11:47PM (9/12/2009)
Gorr, that isn't the only way to make a "hydraulic hybrid", Koenigsegg could use a regular IC engine and have it coupled to a hydraulic pump/motor and hydraulic accumulator in a manner similar to gas/electric hybrids.
Besides, the Hydraulic Hybrid system you're describing has already been patented by Valentin, so Koenigsegg can't use it unless they make an agreement with Valentin and pay royalties. Mind you, I suspect Valentin would be very eager to work with a successful auto company.
drvad0r 1:13AM (9/12/2009)
It is cheaper and easier to maintain. Also, unlike ICE the energy being used is the roughly the same amount put out by the engine and momentum from the rest of the drivetrain. It is truely an eco-friendly fuel saving solution that has been already in use with the new UPS delivery for years. The only major hurdle is making it dynamic enough to handle for a more performance related situation.
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Nateb123 1:52AM (9/12/2009)
What in the hell are you people talking about? Hydraulic hybrids still have ICEs, they just don't have heavy batteries or electric motors like gas/electric hybrids. They just store energy by pressurizing fluid which is lighter, safer and more efficient. They don't replace engines altogether...I can't believe I even had to explain that. Do you people think cars run on fairy dust and rainbows?
Anyways, the whole point of this article is about pneumatic valves which are the revolutionary part. By perfectly controlling valve timing you can effectively run the perfect camshaft for each cylinder for every load at every RPM for any amount of air and fuel. Depending on the type of car (or perhaps mode the car is in), this means you get the most fuel economy, torque or power possible for a given head setup.
Basically, with a good, balanced head on an inline-4 you can have a very sporty engine that also beats the pants off a Prius for fuel economy in the city and even more so on the highway. This also opens up a lot of trick things you can do with managing the timing of charges for each cylinder which can create even better power or efficiency. Put variable intake runners on this and I'll buy two.
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drvad0r 10:41AM (9/12/2009)
My bad, for some odd reason thought the acronym had something to do with Inner Combustion and Electric powered vehicles. Sure, there are some examples of completely hydraulic pressure or air powered vehicles but they are still prototypes or concepts that don't perform so well.
It still seems strange to me that not many manufacturers, besides certain subcontractors, and especially truck ones are jumping onto this concept. I thought I read an article once in a few years back where the author was playing around with the concept of an advanced variable valve setup and how it could be highly beneficial.
cain2003 10:05PM (9/12/2009)
Yes... Wait no fairy dust!
Chris M 12:12AM (9/13/2009)
Actually, the energy is stored in a "hydraulic accumulator", a tank with an air bladder inside that is compressed when hydraulic fluid is pumped in. This can be simple and reliable, able to withstand millions of cycles, but the downside is that compressing the air causes unavoidable thermodynamic energy losses, greater energy losses than occur with batteries. Worse is that the energy density is much lower than for batteries, meaning it would either store much less energy, or would have to be much larger and heavier to store the same amount of energy!
Hydraulic hybrids are best suited to vehicles subject to a lot of very short start and stop runs, like a typical garbage truck does during garbage pickup runs, where very high cycle counts and reliability is needed, but not much energy storage. It really isn't a good choice for high performance automobiles.
Nick 12:53PM (9/12/2009)
Ok - from reading your answers, I have more questions:
1) You say it's using pressurized hydraulic fluid.....but hydraulic fluid CAN'T be compressed!
2)A regular ICE-only car loses about 20% of its energy through friction (gears, transmission etc..). Eliminating these mechanical losses would thus only make it 20% more efficient........remember...most of the energy is lost as heat during the combustion, and this system does not even address that.
SO, the claim of 90% reduction seems like a fairytale to me. (20% would ge good already!)
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Chris M 12:02AM (9/13/2009)
Hydraulic fluid can indeed be "pressurized", that is, have increased pressure. It doesn't have to be "compressed" to reduced volume to increase the pressure. Now to store hydraulic energy, they use a large tank with an air bladder inside, when the pressurized hydraulic fluid moves into the tank, it compressed the air bladder, thus storing the energy for later use.
The energy savings doesn't come from "reduced friction" as hydraulic systems also have frictional losses similar to a mechanical transmission, but from the ability to recover and use some of the energy that would normally be lost to braking.
And to answer your question below: Depending on the hydraulic hybrid design, it might or might not need any gearing. Some hydraulic pumps and motors can use variable displacement to vary speed and torque, enabling it to act as a variable speed transmission. Hydraulic transmissions are sometimes used in farm and road construction equipment for their smooth reliable variable speed operation.
Nick 12:54PM (9/12/2009)
And besides, doesn't this system need gears too?
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Chris M 12:15AM (9/13/2009)
My first thought on reading that headline is that they had somehow fallen for the "air car" craze. But reading the details clarified that it is a pneumatic valve actuation system for a conventional internal combustion engine.
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Matt234 7:06AM (9/13/2009)
Pretty nifty stuff. SAAB has also worked on variable cylinder volume in the past (http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/press/000318.html). For their next trick they will build an ICE that automatically sprouts two more cylinders if you hook up a trailer.
jimgee 12:22PM (9/13/2009)
Exciting - I'm glade to hear the news.
1. I am a fan of the hydraulic hybrid systems. (No Battery manufacturing or disposal of the chemicals) + Better recovery of energy when stopping.
2. Add the pneumatic valve timing to a turbocharged ICE for better performance and great economy.
3. I have a Saab 9-3 with turbo 2.0 ICE and 5 speed auto. At this time I am driving about 30,000 miles/year in the hills of Pennsylvania and average 36/mpg on the highway. Some trips have been over 40 mpg.
Cant wait to see what they come out with.
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Ingo 8:07PM (9/14/2009)
Accumulators are used differently in a car than batteries. They are significantly larger in size and weight, but can be charged and discharged much faster - like (electric) Ultra-capacitors. The fast charging means, the entire braking energy can be absorbed (pumped back) into the accumulator when braking from e.g. 60mph to a stop. For the purpose of reaching highest efficiency, the hydraulic motor(s) should have high peak power (e.g. 800 hp for 3 seconds) to absorb all the braking energy. This concept also simplifies the drive train since no friction brakes are required.
When driving at 35 mph (constant speed) a medium size car needs only about 6-8 hp (1% of the installed power). The mileage of a hydraulic hybrid will drop under these conditions because of the decreasing efficiency of the hydraulic motors. The variable displacement of the motors - one of its strength - allows to bridge most of the span, but 1% of maximum power is still low for good efficiency.
The efficiency of a good insulated accumulator is 95% to 97%, about the same as a batterie (without the loss of the power electronics).
In a hydraulic hybrid, the combustion engine and car can operate independent from each other. The engine needs only to pump the average consumed energy into the accumulator and can be relatively small (30-40 hp). When charging, the engine can run at its best point of efficiency - high power and low speed (e.g. 85% hp, 2000 rpm). It would be designed for these conditions only and becomes simple and efficient. The fuel consumption can be half of that when compared with a conventional engine of a car operating under the same conditions. (EPA Cycle) The engine is turned off when the accumulator is charged.
The energy stored in the accumulaltor is practically twice as much as absorbed during braking. This is sufficient to drive about two to three miles, but is only a fraction of a slow charging battery needed in an electrically driven car (40-100 miles). Therefore, size and weight of the accumulator would be about the same or less. The intensity of energy supply from the accumulator and the high power of the hydraulic motors result automatically in excellent driving dynamics.
Hydraulic drives have typically gears to reduce the rpm. Generally, the gears improve the efficiency, weight and cost, and are not shiftable.
Hydraulic hybrids can adopt to all driving conditions very well, using only a small, but very fast energy storage device. A large, but slow reacting device (battery) would not be able to provide comparable benefits. All other hydraulic drive train components are noticeably smaller and lighter. The combustion engine would weigh about half and the hydraulic motors less than 1/10 of electric motors.
The overall savings in weight and size can be significant, so are the savings through the recuperation of the entire braking energy - about 1/3 in city driving and nearly 20% overall. The reduction in fuel consumption of the engine are state of the art, but can't be utilized because of the limitation of current drivetrains.
Together, the improvements result in a significant increase in mileage and reduction in emissions. 100 mpg for a conventional car with a hydraulic system are realistic.
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