Interesting new engine design

[W5GA]

I'd love to see this take off!

Despite shifting into higher gear within the consumer's green conscience, hybrid vehicles are still tethered to the gas pump via a fuel-thirsty 100-year-old invention: the internal combustion engine.
However, researchers at Michigan State University have built a prototype gasoline engine that requires no transmission, crankshaft, pistons, valves, fuel compression, cooling systems or fluids. Their so-called Wave Disk Generator could greatly improve the efficiency of gas-electric hybrid automobiles and potentially decrease auto emissions up to 90 percent when compared with conventional combustion engines.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42460541...ce-innovation/

[W3MIV]

Fantastic. Nice to know that some folks in Michigan still know something about autos and engines. Even if the someone is another great American engineer like Werner von Braun. ;)

("Vunce zeh rrrrrrahketz are uph, who cairz vair zey kum down.... zatz nut my department, sess Werner von Braun.")

[NQ6U]

"Vunce zeh rrrrrrahketz are uph, who cairz vair zey kum down.... zatz nut my department, sess Werner von Braun.")

[W4RLR]

Fantastic. Nice to know that some folks in Michigan still know something about autos and engines. Even if the someone is another great American engineer like Werner von Braun. ;)

("Vunce zeh rrrrrrahketz are uph, who cairz vair zey kum down.... zatz nut my department, sess Werner von Braun.")

They love him in Huntsville, Alabama. The venue for the annual Huntsville Hamfest is the downtown Von Braun Center.

[NQ6U]

I wonder how they're getting away with no cooling system. Even at 60% efficiency there's still going to be a significant amount of waste heat.

[KA5PIU]

I wonder how they're getting away with no cooling system. Even at 60% efficiency there's still going to be a significant amount of waste heat.

Hello.

It is something of a misnomer, it is like saying the VW bug has no cooling system.
It is air cooled.

[WØTKX]

Wow, a new fangled rotary design. Marvelous.

There have been experiments with ceramic materials in piston engines that need less or no cooling.

Designed to work at high temps without wear. Maybe they're doing something like that.

[KG4CGC]

Looks like a terrestrial flying saucer for commuters who don't have HSR.

[n2ize]

My preliminary analysis hints that this design is a failure. It is nice in a prototype on the bench but it won't scale.

[KA5PIU]

My preliminary analysis hints that this design is a failure. It is nice in a prototype on the bench but it won't scale.

Hello.

Even if the scale limit were something in the 20 to 30 HP area it would be a useful concept.
A 30 HP gasoline motor running at a constant RPM charging a set of cells in a hybrid automobile will give us highway speeds, 60 MPH sustained on a flat surface in something the size of the smart car.
The greatest effort is in starting from a stand still, something that can be overcome with batteries.