What is a Linear Electric Internal Combustion Engine (LEICE) ?
It is an IC engine which generates electricity directly from piston movement.
It has no crankshaft, no gearbox, no alternator, no sparkplugs, no starter motor, no radiator, no water pump, no oil and no oil pump, no camshaft and no drivetrain. Electric power drives the wheels via traction motors.
Why can it be so much more efficient than existing IC engines ?
The efficiency of an IC engine is governed by:
The Carnot efficiency: 1.0- Sink Temperature / Source Temperature. LEICEs use direct fuel injection and compression ignition and can have far greater compression ratios than existing IC engines. LEICEs therefore have far greater Source temperatures and Carnot efficiencies: more than double the efficiency of existing IC engine technology.
The cycle efficiency: Existing IC engines use a practical version of the Otto or Diesel cycles. These inherently give less efficiency than Carnot cycles. LEICEs can control piston (Shuttle) movement, are not limited by a crankshaft and can approach the real Carnot cycle efficiencies much more closely.
Existing IC engines have a whole range of power robbing components such as the crankshaft, the camshaft, the oil pump, the water pump and the alternator. This drops the efficiency of such engines such that the shaft output efficiency is only approximately 26% compared with the cycle efficiency of 36%. The LEICE has none of these limitations and the conversion to electric power is 93% + efficient.
Existing IC engines require a drivetrain which at best operates at 80% efficiency. The traction motors of the LEICE operate at approximately 93% efficiency,
LEICE vehicles are much more efficient, simpler and lighter than existing IC vehicles and have greater mileage range. LEICEs have much more power per liter of engine size.
Controlled Detonation Compression Ignition Engine
Piezo Injection of fuel at top of stroke, after compression has taken place.
No possibility of preignition as only air is being compressed, not the usual combustible air fuel mixture. This allows much higher compression ratios and efficiency.
Ammonia leaves no deposits- allows monolithic cylinder head and block. Elimination of this weak point also allows much higher compression.
Use in Existing IC Engines: Ammonia may be blended with existing fuels- Diesel, Gasoline and/or Alcohols. For high Ammonia content blends need conformal pressurized fuel tanks- as for Propane
Great reduction in potential for explosions as Ammonia is far less explosive than gasoline
An animation of an actual 500 cc engine design to produce approximately 150 hp