Free radical ignition in piston engines at last

Jets that defy normal classification

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Bruno Ogorelec
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Free radical ignition in piston engines at last

Post by Bruno Ogorelec » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:13 pm

Guys, it is finally with us -- after at least a decade, but more probably two or three, of research and development, pulsejet-style ignition seems to be ready for use in piston engines.

Look at this article: http://www.gizmag.com/go/4695/

In the same online magazine, there is also an announcement of a Mercedes engine with similar technology -- they call it 'Diesotto', as it marries the Otto cycle and the Diesel cycle by the grace of 'auto-ignition', which is essentially the same thing that keeps pulsejets igniting 200+ times a second.

Took them a long time to perfect. I know that Russians played with it for a long time, but abandoned it. Also, Honda tinkered with the concept for ages. All of a sudden it's ready from at least two companies.

metiz
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Re: Free radical ignition in piston engines at last

Post by metiz » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:21 pm

Ha! took them long enough indeed. It's actually a pretty simple concept...
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Bruno Ogorelec
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Re: Free radical ignition in piston engines at last

Post by Bruno Ogorelec » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:53 pm

metiz wrote:Ha! took them long enough indeed. It's actually a pretty simple concept...
Very simple on paper (and in a pulsejet) but in practice it obviously doesn't work as simply as that. I guess the four separate 'strokes' aspirate the engine so well that all traces of free radicals are removed. You can see that the Sonex engine provides a kind of 'shelter' for the 'old charge' to survive from one cycle to the next and reignite the fresh charge. I don't know what Mercedes does in its DiesOtto to preserve the free radicals.

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