I always wondered why with the exponential growth of technology that the combustable engine seemed to stay relatively unchanged. I figured someone would have figured out some way to make a giant leap forward in engine design. Perhaps the time is now.
This is the Opposed Piston Opposed Cylinder (OPOC), and its a turbocharged two-stroke, two-cylinder engine, with four pistons, two in each cylinder, that will run on gasoline, diesel or ethanol. It's extremely small, very efficient, delivers over 300+ Horse Power and is presently in use in test applications.
The configuration below is equivalent to a extremely ballsy four cylinder engine.
When doubled, it's an extremely ballsy 600+ H.P. engine.
The heavy lifting for this unconventional concept was performed Prof. Peter Hofbauer. During his 20 years at VW, Hofbauer headed up, among other things, development of VWs first diesel engine and the VR6. The two pistons, inside a single cylinder, pump toward and away from each other, thus allowing a cycle to be completed twice as quickly as a conventional engine while balancing its own loads.
The OPOC has been in development for several years, and the company claims its 30 percent lighter, one quarter the size and achieves 50% better fuel economy than a conventional turbo diesel engine. They're predicting 100 MPG in a conventional car.
For a good demo, See
here..
