Passenger Vehicles
This project is to develop a vehicle with a steam hybrid engine. There are two vehicles, the first vehicle will be a prototype and the second an engineered vehicle that can be unveiled to the auto industry.
A rotary Wankel type steam engine is an ideal power producer for automotive applications. The Wankel engine is a displacement engine through which the steam passes with no reversal in direction (uniflow) and the exhaust is from max displacement to min.
The concept is to use a Mazda RX-8 vehicle as our prototype donor vehicle, with one of the two engine lobes running on steam the other on gasoline. The heat normally lost in the system will be recovered via a water jacket style steam accumulator with a closed circuit condenser running the length of the vehicle. The exhaust will enter the accumulator at the side of the engine, by enriching the air / fuel mixture enough to produce an exhaust stream. This is rich enough in Hydrocarbons to actually support complete combustion in a ‘thermal reactor’, (an enlarged open chamber in the exhaust/steam accumulator). This will assist the production of steam and delete the need for a catalytic converter.
The key to the success of the project is the heat recovery system and control system that manages the steam and gasoline operation. The objective is to enable the two lobes of the Wankel engine to operate together or individually.
This project will supply the technology that will allow the engine to switch effectively between steam and gasoline, or steam and gasoline simultaneously in separate lobes of the Wankel engine .
The current automotive rule of thumb is that one third of the energy from fuel produces useful work, one third is transferred to the cooling system and lost, and one third is lost through the exhaust pipe. This technology can save up to 40% of the waste heat. This translates into a realistic improvement in fuel efficiency by up to 40%, combined with a correspondent one-third reduction in emissions.
Current inefficient electric hybrid automobiles are parasitic on the primary engine and any additional power supply. This technology is not parasitic as it utilises only waste heat.
Automotive applications
CPTI is at an advanced stage of Research & Development in this sector, having designed and tested a steam-hybrid prototype for the rotary petrol engine from the Mazda RX sports car. Present solutions for alternative automotive fuel technologies, such as battery-based hybrids, may look attractive prima facie but their triple net gain is marginal. CPTI's petrol/steam hybrid solution will provide a 40% improvement in fuel efficiency and a corresponding or better reduction in emissions. CPTI is currently focussing on the more immediate revenues afforded by the trailer refrigeration market, but anticipates automotive prototype testing to re-commence in early 2011.