OT: Interesting new idea, the six-stroke engine Options

[lapuwali]

Crower (of Crower Cams) has just patented a new "six stroke" engine design. The crank turns 3 times for each single cam revolution. The extra two piston strokes are after the normal exhaust stroke, and involve water direct injection into a closed cylinder. This flashes into steam, and produces a second power stroke. The exhaust then opens to vent the steam. Enough heat is drawn off by this steam production that no actual cooling system is required.

It's claimed this can improve fuel economy by as much as 40%.

He's got a single-cylinder spark-ignition prototype working, and is now working on a compression-ignition version.

[LvSteveH]

The trick to this whole thing is to change how you think about "potential energy". We are used to seeing efficency referenced in terms of hydrocarbons, or more specifically how many are unburnt. A low emission vehicle is not necessarily highly efficient. The heat produced by an engine is lost energy, the more heat byproduct, the less efficient it is. All the steam system is doing is capitalizing on that loss. If you want to truly explore the potential energy of a gallon of gas, think nuclear (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/cool_shades.gif)