VIDEO: Argonne National Lab developing Omnivorous Engine
Click above to watch the video after the break
Gasoline, ethanol, methanol, butanol, natural gas... there are a ton of choices when deciding on what fuel is best suited for automotive use, and each of them offer at least some reason to recommend them over another. Which to choose? Here's a better question: What if you didn't have to choose just one fuel?
That's the goal of the so-called omnivorous engine. Not long ago, Lotus Engineering made headlines at the Geneva Motor Show when it showed off its flex-fuel Omnivore engine concept, and now word comes from the Argonne National Lab that it, too, is working on such a powerplant.
While there are already some engines capable of running on multiple spark ignited fuels, it's not an easy task to get one single powerplant to run with optimal efficiently on such a diverse range of products. In the case of Argonne's Omnivorous Engine, a sophisticated computer keeps track of what's being fed into the engine, and things like valve timing, fuel injection metering and compression ratio can be adjusted on the fly. Click past the break to watch a video introducing the project.
[Source: Green Car Advisor]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 1:14PM (10/21/2009)
Big deal!
This ENGINE will run on almost anything from biofuels to sunlight including the waste heat from any thermal power source and it has FULL torque from ONE RPM and up like an electric MOTOR...
http://www.cyclonepower.com/index.html
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Chris M 8:46PM (10/21/2009)
A very fancy steam engine, but still a steam engine, and with the efficiency limitations of a steam engine.
frankiefrankie 9:25PM (10/21/2009)
The efficencies are not of old steam engines. It is a Rankin cycle with heat regeneration. We all know that 85% of all of our Power comes from very efficent Rankin cycle engines. It is better than a diesel and all fuel. I think you need to go the the site. And it has a better power to weight ratio than diesels.
neptronix 2:17PM (10/21/2009)
I wonder what the practical application is here.
I guess it would be the best engine to have during a zombie apocalypse.
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majortom1981 3:54PM (10/21/2009)
Dont the cars in brazil already do this?
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Chris M 8:42PM (10/21/2009)
Not quite, those can run on various ethanol-gasoline blends, but don't run on diesel or biodiesel.