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Toyota developing free piston engine linear generator for hybrid cars
FoxNews.com ^ | 2 May 2014 | Fox News

Posted on 05/04/2014 11:33:17 AM PDT by NYFreeper

Toyota is hot on hydrogen fuel cells for its next-generation cars, but it’s not going cold on internal combustion just yet.

The company’s R&D division has developed a Free Piston Engine Linear Generator that can convert gasoline and other fuels into electricity more efficiently than existing systems.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: cars; hybrid; toyota
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To: NYFreeper

Engineering ping.


21 posted on 05/04/2014 12:46:24 PM PDT by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

>>I wonder how they would balance it — make it smooth?

You could put a head at each end, and one head would fire the piston one way and the other would fire it back. Then build a bank of these that are timed to counterbalance each other. You could even vary the voltage output by controlling the timing of the counter-cylinder firing. It would be a little like juggling.

But, I like one of the other poster’s ideas: perfect the Wankel rotary engine and bolt the output shaft to a generator.


22 posted on 05/04/2014 12:52:49 PM PDT by Bryanw92 (Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Indeed. Lots of small aircraft used boxer engines (e.g. Lycoming).


23 posted on 05/04/2014 12:53:59 PM PDT by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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To: Jeff Chandler
I wonder how they would balance it — make it smooth?

Look for some of the Quasi-Cross Section drawings that were on GreenCarCongress, for the "Gas Spring Chamber" The underside of the piston has a column that is compresses air on and that I think that air also becomes the Combustion air for the Loop Charge since this is a Uniflow 2 Stroke wherein the air-charge comes in at BTC and in combination with the Exhaust Valves and Direct Injection, make getting air and fuel in and once it burnt out possible.

This concept has been bantered about before, this looks more advanced than anything else I have seen.

What no one considers, is I think this engine is almost "Adiabatic", i.e. their is No visible Cooling or Lubrication System. Remember Friction is a huge gobbler efficiency, no plain, needle, or ball bearing on connecting rod(s), crankshaft or camshaft(s). Notice the Exhaust Valves look to be driven by Solenoid(s), no friction gobbling valve train.

What we could have is almost an Un-Lubricated and Un-Cooled Engine, think of the savings in Lubrication Oil and Anti-Freeze.

Add a Carbon-Carbon Piston and Run it on CNG via a new Direct Injector and you would really have something.

Don't go to your house and plug in the Hybrid, Plug your House up to the Hybrid, this is your own Home-Generator Unit and no one see's it....

24 posted on 05/04/2014 1:34:56 PM PDT by taildragger (The E-GOP won't know what hit them, The Party of Reagan is almost here, hang tight folks....)
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To: NYFreeper

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Turbine_Car


25 posted on 05/04/2014 1:43:41 PM PDT by UB355 (Slower traffic keep rigsupreme Splasht)
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To: NYFreeper

What’s wrong with a small turbine?


26 posted on 05/04/2014 2:21:24 PM PDT by gura (If Allah is so great, why does he need fat sexually confused fanboys to do his dirty work? -iowahawk)
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To: Neidermeyer

ping for later


27 posted on 05/04/2014 2:23:42 PM PDT by Neidermeyer
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To: gura

Turbines are quite expensive. They have to run at real high temperatures (which requires expen$ive alloys for the parts) to get good fuel efficiency. Great power to weight ratio but expensive, thus suited for aircraft.


28 posted on 05/04/2014 2:24:00 PM PDT by nascarnation (Toxic Baraq Syndrome: hopefully infecting a Dem candidate near you)
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To: NYFreeper

About the cleverest thing we’ll see all week!


29 posted on 05/04/2014 2:26:00 PM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: NYFreeper
Cool thread; lots of interesting bits and pieces.

There are opposed cylinder engines, and that made me then think of opposed piston engines (like the big Fairbanks-Morse diesels). Then someone brings up the Uniflow engine, and by happy circumstance I just finished reading Richard Hills' "Power From Steam," which discusses this concept along with other steam-driven engines that date from Savery to Parsons.

More than once, I have had the experience of opening up the hood of my Subaru and having someone who is familiar with most cars look down in there and then look up at me with a baffled expression. One told me that it looked like "an airplane engine with a lot of s#$@ stuck on top of it."

Mr. Niteowl77

30 posted on 05/04/2014 2:46:06 PM PDT by niteowl77 ("Why do we go to Iowa? Because that's where the suckers are.")
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
Mazda had a piston free engine years ago, the Wankel

Mazda bought the Wankel engine license from West Germany's car maker NSU—who developed it. Wankels were first seen in NSU'S RO-80 sedan.

31 posted on 05/04/2014 3:20:03 PM PDT by Does so ("Miranda Warnings" and loss of "Common-Law Marriage" = 2 Big Mistakes...)
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To: NYFreeper
For those who REALLY like pistons, how about the Lycoming XR-7755 that had 36 of them?


32 posted on 05/04/2014 4:35:05 PM PDT by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Technically the Corvair engine , although flat , is NOT a “boxer” engine , that term is used specifically for 4 cylinder flat engines. All Corvairs were flat 6’s.


33 posted on 05/06/2014 1:11:56 PM PDT by Neidermeyer
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To: UCANSEE2

Right, I knew about that flashlight, I just never thought it could be scaled up like this.


34 posted on 05/06/2014 2:42:59 PM PDT by NYFreeper
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