Pinnacle claims engine will offer reduction in fuel usage
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Silicon Valley-based Pinnacle Engines plans to commercialise a new engine that it claims will enable significant reductions in fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions without increasing vehicle cost.
Pinnacle also announced it has raised $13.5m (£8.3m) in venture funding from NEA, Bessemer Venture Partners and Infield Capital.
The engine is based on a four-stroke, spark-ignited (SI), opposed-piston, sleeve-valve architecture that uses the so-called Cleeves Cycle developed by founder and chief technical officer Monty Cleeves. It operates on the Otto cycle (constant volume combustion) or Diesel cycle (constant pressure combustion) depending on operating conditions.
Additional efficiency improvements will be realised through incorporation of variable valve timing, direct injection, turbocharging and Pinnacle’s own variable compression ratio mechanism.
The company is in the process of commercialising its technology through a joint development and licensing agreement with an Asian vehicle OEM. Production is slated to commence in the first quarter of 2013. Further developments, including plans for expansion into the global automotive market, will be revealed later this year.
’By 2016, more than 200 million combustion engines will be manufactured globally. Pinnacle technology could make them considerably more efficient while dramatically reducing the costs required to achieve those efficiencies,’ said Ron Hoge, Pinnacle’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 6 Apr 2011 5:33 pm
The engine may be more efficient but there would be more difficulty combining the separate drive trains from separate cranks.
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Manousos Pattakos | 8 Apr 2011 1:26 pm
If Pinnacle borrows the two side crankshafts of Achates (to eliminate the thrust loads from the piston skirt onto the cylinder wall), it may not solve the problems altogether but will reduce the cooling and lubrication needs, because the pistons will no longer thrust onto the sleeve-valve-liner and therefore the friction heat will decrease and the oiling of the rings will be easier.
Besides, the sleeve valves are no longer squeezed between the piston skirt and the cylinder wall.
In case the new sleeve valves are so good, why not to use them in the conventional four-stroke long-stroke engines, as well?
On the other hand, you can take a look at the opposed-piston four-stroke PatFour engine at the bottom of http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonPatPOC.htm .
The PatFour engine has conventional poppet valves, a single-crankshaft, is full-balanced, its main crankshaft bearings are permanently unloaded, it provides additional time for the combustion, etc.
In a similar way, the OPRE two-crankshaft two-stroke opposed-piston engine (shown in the video at the bottom of http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonFly.htm running on Diesel fuel and driving two counter-rotating air propellers) can change to a four stroke engine.
Thanks
Manousos Pattakos
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