Invented and patented by Bruce Crower of Crower Cams. Still developing it, but engine does not need a radiator. Has an eye on commercial truck diesels. Interesting
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/FREE/302270007/1023/THISWEEKSISSUE
Quote from: H3Jim on August 01, 2008, 07:52:06 AM
Invented and patented by Bruce Crower of Crower Cams. Still developing it, but engine does not need a radiator. Has an eye on commercial truck diesels. Interesting
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/FREE/302270007/1023/THISWEEKSISSUE
Not really such a new idea. I used to own a 1910 engine that was an eight cycle and it used nothing for cooling except for the fins on the exterior of the cylinder shell. These engines were widely used in the mid-west for pumping water. Very low hp but it worked great.
Richard
Interesting - I don't know whether this idea is new or not (very few ideas are), but it is certainly the case that there are already dozens and dozens of perfectly viable operating configurations for internal combustion engines out there; many people assume the Otto cycle is 'the only way it can be done' because that is the configuration that everyone is familiar with. The Otto cycle type caught on because it was the most straightforward compromise between power, economy, manufacturing cost, emissions etc etc at the time, but already most hybrid vehicles are using Atkinson cycle rather than Otto cycle engines, and it is natural that other variations will get used more and more in the future as technology, legislation, fuel costs and so on change.
On a slightly different topic, I have always been a huge fan of hot air engines, which used to be used in huge numbers for everything from pumping water to dentist's drills - hot air engines have to be big to produce any useful amount of power, but they are ultra safe (no high pressures or flamable liquids etc) and incredibly cheap to run as they can run on any kind of fuel as long as it burns. One of these days I'm going to build a Ryder-Ericssen engine and use it to power my house and my electric car.
Jeremy
Along with the aforementioned engines, check out the Miller Cycle Engine, ( http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question132.htm ), and the Stirling Cycle Engine, ( http://auto.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine1.htm ), the Quasiturbine Engine, ( http://auto.howstuffworks.com/quasiturbine.htm )
Seems like I remember a 1937 Franklin automobile with either a six or eight cylinder engine that was air cooled. Anybody have any information about that?
Richard
All Franklins were air cooled, see this interesting Wikipedia link on them
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_(automobile)
Wasn't the Franklin engine a license from Deutz?
Not sure, but the few I've seen looked like anold Deutz A/C engine.
DF
30
Quote from: DrivingMissLazy on August 01, 2008, 10:00:19 AM
Seems like I remember a 1937 Franklin automobile with either a six or eight cylinder engine that was air cooled. Anybody have any information about that?
Richard
I don't know what Bruce is up to but you don't have a press day before you have dyno'd your new wonder engine and have some data...other than 'I can hold my hand on it'.
I am curious as to why a man with his resources hasn't dyno'ed it & you would think he could have easily checked the emmissions by now.
I think there may definitely be some benefit, but the fact that he hasn't collected isn't sharing hard data causes doubt on my part.
Surely he didn't build his 'empire' without hard data to fall back on . . .
Quote from: kyle4501 on August 01, 2008, 12:00:56 PM
I am curious as to why a man with his resources hasn't dyno'ed it & you would think he could have easily checked the emmissions by now.
I think there may definitely be some benefit, but the fact that he hasn't collected isn't sharing hard data causes doubt on my part.
Surely he didn't build his 'empire' without hard data to fall back on . . .
I think it simply means that he is still working it out. The man is a genious with engines and home shop kind of guy. He likely knows just from the sound and feel that it isn't generating the power he wants it to. That is why he is still refining the cams and other design issues. When he's ready, I'm sure he will put it on a dyno and check it out. For now he is a retired engine builder having fun in his shop.
Quote from: HighTechRedneck on August 01, 2008, 03:01:15 PM
He likely knows just from the sound and feel that it isn't generating the power he wants it to. That is why he is still refining the cams and other design issues. When he's ready, I'm sure he will put it on a dyno and check it out. For now he is a retired engine builder having fun in his shop.
I know he is good, but, I can't imagine he is good enough to remember all the data from what he tried over a year ago without writing some of it down.
Especially when exhaust analysis is so easy. Heck, a low power dynamometer is easy to set up too. . . . Lots easier than re-inventing the internal combustion engine. ;)
It smells more of clever marketing to get free national advertising. . . .