Soviet-Born Scientist Stirs Up a Revolution in Engines in the U.S.

• This is for all Gear-Heads. I have been following the rotary Wankel engine for decades. It never lived up to its expectations. Mazda came out with the memorable RX-7 equipped with their version of the rotary engine.
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• Soviet-Born Scientist Stirs Up a Revolution in Engines in the U.S.
  by Pavel Kotlyar, http://rbth.com/  
  Soviet-born scientist, Nikolai Shkolnik, has invented the world’s most powerful and efficient combustion engine, and patented it in the US.
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  In 1975 Russian physicist Nikolai Shkolnik left the Soviet Union for the U.S. after graduating from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute. For 10 years he worked as a consultant for struggling innovation companies. Throughout these years, he was constantly preoccupied with one question – why are modern car engines so inefficient?
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  Shkolnik developed his own high-efficiency hybrid cycle (HEHC) engine, which became a key step towards his dream. He was helped by his son Alexander, who eventually graduated from MIT and had become an expert in system optimization.  
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  Blast from the past
  The father and son inventors were inspired by the idea of a rotary engine, whose principles were first proposed in the mid-20th century by German inventor, Felix Wankel.
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  Ordinary piston engines have many rotating and moving parts, which reduces their efficiency. The Wankel engine, however, has an oblong chamber with a triangular rotor inside it, whose movements create different sections in the chamber where fuel is injected, compressed, burnt and released.
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  Despite their higher efficiency, rotary engines failed to win wide recognition because they were not very reliable and not environmentally-friendly.
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  Rotary engines reincarnated
  The Shkolniks founded the LiquidPiston company and created their own version of a rotary engine where the rotor has the shape of a nut that revolves in a triangular chamber, thus resolving the shortcomings of the Wankel engine. In addition, the Shkolniks’ engine creates a so-called isochoric combustion that is fuel burning with the volume remaining constant, thus improving efficiency.
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  The inventors created five models of an absolutely new engine, one after another, the latest of which was first tested in June when it was installed on a sports cart. The tests lived up to all expectations.
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  Compact and powerful
  The Shkolniks’ miniature engine weighs under two kilos, has a capacity of just three horsepower, and has an efficiency factor of 20 percent. By way comparison, a typical piston engine of the same displacement of 23 cubic centimeters has an efficiency factor of just 12 percent, while a piston engine of the same weight would generate just one horsepower.
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  read more.

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