Opposed piston engine link

[Stuart]

Just saw Bill Gates tweet this. Apparently it'll run on diesel and may well be the engine that was featured on here before? I couldn't find the link though..

http://mobile.thegatesnotes.com/Topics/ ... rc=Twitter

[manousos]

Quote from Bill Gates’ notes (December 5, 2012):

“That’s why I’m so excited to see research being done on developing bridge technologies that can help us move closer to our goal. A Michigan based company called EcoMotors has a revolutionary new take on an old technology — the internal combustion engine. It’s a high-efficiency design meant to replace the typical engines we use in today’s cars, trucks, agricultural machinery, generators, and marine vehicles.
My friend Vinod Khosla and I have invested in EcoMotors because their technology is primed to make a difference right now. The company is radically simplifying engines, leading to a footprint that is smaller and lighter than a traditional engine, but just as powerful. It still burns gas (or diesel fuel, or CNG), but its unique opposed-piston, opposed cylinder architecture, low friction losses, and modular capability make it much more efficient.”


The EcoMotors OPOC engine is a pair of conventional Junkers-Doxford engines (as in the http://www.pattakon.com/patop/US1679976.gif ) sharing the same crankshaft for the sake of a more vibration free operation (the 2nd order inertia force of the one cylinder counterbalances the 2nd order inertia force of the opposite cylinder).

The lubrication of the OPOC is a big challenge / issue for EcoMotors to solve: a green engine cannot have excessive specific lube consumption; otherwise it limits itself to special applications like helicopters etc.

The build-in asymmetry of the OPOC architecture is another challenge for EcoMotors (the one of the two inner pistons is an exhaust piston, the other is an intake piston; both thrust heavily onto the hot cylinder liner, above the ports; a thick lubricant-oil film is necessary to prevent metal to metal contact, increasing the lube consumption).

The two opposed cylinders is another issue (long engine, complicated and expensive) for applications in motorcycles, small cars, etc.
The FIAT 500 TwinAir (a four stroke twin engine, voted as the best engine of the year 2011) has only one combustion per crank rotation, i.e. as much as a single cylinder two stroke. Does a motorcycle, or a small car, needs more?

Please compare the basic module of the pattakon PatOP engine (at http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonPatOP.htm )



with the basic module of Gates / Khosla / EcoMotors OPOC (in terms of footprint, size, weight, simplicity, multifuel operation, friction losses, vibration-free quality, specific lube consumption etc).


Another “big” issue is the “modular capability” of OPOC, claimed by Bill Gates. It sounds nice, yet it has significant problems in practice, as explained at http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonPatPOC. ... leCapacity


I would like to know the opinion of the forum member about the PatOP di diesel for motorcycles.
What you don’t like in PatOP’s architecture?
What would you propose to be changed?

Thanks
Manousos Pattakos

[Stuart]

I saw the similarity there Manousos but thought I'd better not mix this in with the thread on your engine.
Someone did propose & indeed link to a bike using this style of engine but, while it may well have been practical to farmers, I was guessing it was probably less so to everyday motorcyclists. Looks & styling being important. It would be a harder sell is it was 'too' different, even if it was more efficient.

[zarquon]

This is something that might be interesting ... if it is ever finished.

And we spread the news and talked about it more than two years ago, when some videos about the engine were posted.
http://youtu.be/5Y8QqeuvArE

I don't see something new since then.