Engine-makers queue to use Orbital system

The Orbital Engine Company, founded by West Australian inventor Ralph Sarich in the early 1970s, isn't making orbital engines any more - but it is achieving worldwide success with engine technology.

So much so that engine-makers are beating a path to Orbital's door. Orbital has influenced internal-combustion design to the point where its technology is in use worldwide.

Under new European Union regulations, no European manufacturer can use two-stroke engines in motorbikes, step-throughs and scooters that don't include Orbital technology.

China, the world's leading manufacturer of two-wheel petrol-fueled vehicles, is adopting Orbital technology.

Russia is looking at building a two-stroke passenger car that will rely on Orbital technology. A two-stroke factory costs 30 per cent less to build than one making four-cylinder engines.

In the four-, six-, eight-, 10- and 12-cylinder world, Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi are all designing Orbital technology into their next-generation engines.

In the marine engine world. Mercury of America and Tohatsu of Japan use Orbital technology and both companies have won awards for doing so.

What engine-manufactures are after is Orbital's direct-injection system, proven in many environments to save up to 50 per cent of fuel and to cut exhaust emissions by 80 per cent.

Environmentalists see these gains are something of a magic double - saving fuel while keeping the air that we breathe cleaner.

"We love emission controls," said David Shawcross, Orbital's engineering marketing manager.

The world's increasing awareness that petol is running out is also a benefit for Orbital.

Improved fuel injection was always at the heart of the original and revolutionary orbital engine envisioned by founder Sarich. But the emphasis today is more evolutionary.

"Direct fuel injection is basically the next movement in internal-combustion engines - orbital is not," said David Southam, the company's investor relations manager.

Orbital's skills today are mainly in association with clients for whom it builds one-off demonstration engines or single-cylinders.