Heat Recycling Engines or
High Power Engines or
Both?
Heat recycling is primarily for fuel economy.
However, the patents pending are for engines simpler and cheaper to build then 4 stroke engines, and with fewer moving parts.
Typical automotive engines run most of the time with an average pressure of 1 atmosphere or less, and peak power works out to 8 or 9 atmospheres.
A Heat recycling engine maintains more air in each cycle, and the power available for each cycle is multiplied. For an air density of 10 (corresponding with a compression ratio of 10), a heat recycling engine can deliver about 10 times the power per stroke. This means it can deliver the same power at 600 rpm's that 4 stroke engines deliver at 10 times that, or 6000 rpm's.
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Formula 1?
Formula 1 rules are to "level the field" of racing, keeping it about skill, not monster machines with huge engines. There are many rules, but a primary rule is they cannot exceed a maximum displacement. This has had the beneficial side effect of driving engine technology, instead of engine size. The technology has often found its way to consumer engines.
A racing engine can obviously achieve higher compression ratios, and higher average pressures, so higher power for a given displacement.
A heat recycling engine of the same displacement, can achieve virtually unlimited average pressure (net pressure) to apply to a crankshaft. Enough even to twist a racing shaft into a cork screw. Using air densities at matching density to racing compression, and using air temperatures up to only 900 C or so, average pressure (power) can easily be multiplied by 30. Peak pressures considerably lower, huge pressure increase in mid-stroke relative to a 4 stroke, so torque is abundant throughout the cycle, and each down stroke is a power stroke, twice the displacements per revolution, another factor of 2 up to a total of 60 times power.
Match the displacement, 4 stroke engines do not stand a chance.
Few of today's racing shafts, or transmissions, are going to survive that.
While the goal of heat recycling engines is economy of fuel, it does not come at a trade for power, or engine complexity, both are improved as well.
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