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22 December 2009
LOTUS OMNIVORE ENGINE - 10% BETTER
FUEL ECONOMY THAN CURRENT LEADING GASOLINE ENGINES
Lotus Engineering
recently announced significant fuel economy gains with the Omnivore
multi - fuel concept engine.
In addition to very good fuel economy, the
engine has demonstrated the capability to operate under Homogenous
Charge Compression Ignition mode (where the engine operates without
the need for the spark plug to ignite the fuel and air mixture in
the cylinder) at very low loads, and under cold start operating
conditions, which is a significant feature compared to conventional
spark ignition engines.
The initial Omnivore programme has been in
collaboration with Queen's University Belfast and Orbital Corporation
Limited Australia, with sponsorship from DEFRA/DECC and DOE NI through
the Renewables Materials LINK programme.
The Omnivore engine itself is a 2 stroke engine,
with variable compression ratio and exhaust porting, and uses Orbital's
FlexDITM air assisted direct injection system.
The graph below compares the fuel consumption
against load for conventional direct injection homogeneous combustion
operation (GDI), and both the stratified (SGI) and HCCI (Omnivore)
combustion modes. The latter two combustion modes are reliant on
the direct in cylinder injection system. 2000 rpm represents a typical
operating speed for most automotive engines.
For more detailed information, please refer
to the following web-link: http://www.grouplotus.com/mediacentre/index.html
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