[Land-speed] End of the High performance car???

[John Thornton]

Both the valve design and piston crown we're experimenting with would be 
incompatible with HCCI. The variable valve event aspect may or may not 
be compatible.
The intake valves and piston are integral parts of our patentable work 
so we're certainly wedded to them.
Our lean burn design is attendant upon a specific flame front 
propagation that results from the unique swirl and tumble 
characteristics of our intake system and the infinitely variable lift, 
duration, and timing (within a specific crank angle range) along with 
the shape of the piston crown and it's attendant squish area.
HCCI seems like a more expensive proposition to develop than what we're 
working on.
Portions of our system are able to be used on an existing engine head 
and block combination but a mildly redesigned head would yield more gains.

John Thornton



Bryan Savage wrote:
> John,
>
> Have you looked at HCCI technology? Some interesting possibilities.
>
> Bryan
>
>
>> Generating electricity on-board makes more sense right now. More so 
>> than storing energy anyway.
>> Partial load throttle response is a problem for current lean burn 
>> technology but that isn't an issue for a motor used only to generate 
>> electricity.
>> We can use a lean burn motor only to generate electricity and 
>> drastically improve economy while not sacrificing performance.
>> It is possible to get ~50 to ~60 mpg and get performance comparable 
>> to a 500 bhp motor. We have the technology to do this right now and 
>> at a reasonable cost.
>> I'm working on a small lean burn motor incorporating infinitely 
>> variable valve lift, timing, and duration towards this end right now. 
>> Since none of this is yet patented I can't really go into any detail 
>> but it is all very "doable" as they say.
>>
>> John Thornton