Scuderi takes efficiency to new level

Footage of the new and innovative Scuderi engine actually running on its own can be seen at www.scuderigroup.com. The engine is a huge departure from the existing Otto cycle that has been the mainstay of the internal combustion engine for the past 130 years.

It almost sounds too good to be true but the manufacturers are claiming their revolutionary Scuderi Cycle technology will double fuel mileage and produce just a fraction of the pollutants currently belched out by cars today.

The video is a two-minute clip showing the normally aspirated 1000cc petrol prototype engine in operation seemingly proving the idea of firing after top dead centre does in fact work.

Massachusetts engineer and inventor Carmelo Scuderi started tinkering with the fundamentals of the internal combustion engine when he retired in the mid-1990s.

The result was a radical new design that could make engines for lawn mowers to diesel locomotives lighter, far more efficient, and a whole lot easier on the environment.

After patenting the first design concepts, Scuderi unfortunately died in 2002 but his dream didn't end there. Five of his children now work at the company and are determined to bring the prototype to the market.

Scuderi's new idea splits the idea of a central single cylinder doing the entire intake, compression, power and exhaust stroke work. His design was to have two cylinders linked together. In the first cylinder, air is compressed and then forced into the second cylinder where the fuel is added and the mixture is ignited. It's in this chamber that Scuderi again moves away from convention. Bucking a trend that goes back to before Henry Ford's day, ignition takes place after top dead centre when the piston is beginning its downward stroke.

The idea of a split-cycle engine has been around for ages, but none have ever matched the efficiency of traditional engines. Scuderi believed he could solve the problem by pumping highly pressurised air from the compression cylinder into the combustion chamber, and then allowing the fuel and air to ignite when the head of the piston was already moving away from the top of the combustion cylinder.

The split-cycle design divides the four strokes of a standard engine over a paired combination of one (intake/compression) cylinder and one (power/exhaust) cylinder.

These two cylinders perform their respective functions once per crankshaft revolution. This produces a highly efficient and clean-burning combustion process. When firing after top dead center, combustion starts between 11 and 15 degrees after top dead centre and ends 23 degrees after ignition. This results in a higher average combustion cylinder temperature but a lower peak temperature than conventional engines.

Because of the continuous high-pressure air flowing through the crossover passage and the injection of fuel late in the combustion process, the engine exhibits a high resistance to knock.

The fuel system is a custom-designed system by Bosch. By using a high-pressure, direct-injection type fuel injector and a uniquely designed crossover passage, the possibility that fuel can become trapped in the crossover passage is prevented.

The engine's unique valve train design uses pneumatic, fully variable valves to control engine load, enabling higher efficiency operation at part-load demand.

Patented valve and seat designs enable extremely high-speed opening and smooth closing of the

high-speed crossover valves. A unique lash device provides automatic adjustment to prevent wear and damage to the outwardly opening crossover valves.

The Scuderi Engine utilises internally generated air to run the intake and exhaust valves, and pneumatic springs for the high-speed crossover valves.

The Scuderi engine will be not only more powerful than conventional engines; it will also be cooler. That means it will spew out far fewer pollutants than today's engines do. After seven years of development not including the five years of design by Scuderi senior, the company now holds 200 worldwide patents for the technology encased in the engine.

No doubt there will be some naysayers out there who don't believe this type of technology will get off the ground. However, I'm holding quiet until I see one in a car powering down the motorway. The idea seems sound enough though.

All I'll say is I hear lots of talk about hydrogen-powered cars these days - yet to see one on a public road though.

Lots of chat, think tanks and unsubstantiated claims so far, but no one has told me where and when I can buy one. But there are still a lot of believers.