History of the diesel engine

[waynne]

The diesel engine was invented by a Rudolf Diesel and built the first diesel engine in 1893. In 1896 the design was refined and by 1898 he was a millionaire - not bad for 5 years development!

Lets invent the next fuel for a future engine. If you could run a car on Salt maybee you could buy a seasoning ticking for discount fuel.

Back to the point of this post. In a relatively short time a totally new form of engine was developed, it took a little longer to be put into a motor car and only recent developments have increased efficient to the point it has become better than petrol.

Do you think there is much more that can be done with a diesel engine?

[HDi fun]

Diesels have come a long way in the last ten years, granted but petrol engines are progressing as well. In terms of dirveability and power it's not really fair to compare a NATASP petrol with a turbocharged diesel as the diesel will always in that competition now.

Diesel engines now need to evolve so that the cutting edge technology is as sturdy as the technology in a modern petrol engine.

There is probably room for the fuel itself to improve. Shell's gas to liquid technology (V-Power) is one such example.

Did you know that Dr Rudolf Diesel was found mysteriously floating the the English channel after his engine technology gave France a clear underwater advantage in the 2nd World War?

[waynne]

Poor guy! I don't think I want to discover the next wonder engine.

[HDi fun]

I agree. If anyone came up with a means to make all current cars do the equivalent of 150mpg you'd be bumped off either by one of the OPEC nations (they want their 80 years worth of revenue). Or even by the British government which wants its share of fuel duty.

[indiaman]

It may come as a surprise to many that that the inventor of the diesel engine was a yorkshireman named Herbert Ackroyd Stuart, unfortunately, he forgot to patent his invention, and Rudolf Diesel from Germany is now credited as being the father of the Diesel engine.

[jarrus]

Nice,

but lets not forget that Mr.Diesel originally made his engines run on peanut oil so they were cheap to run for farmers

[HDi fun]

Originally Posted by jarrus464

Nice,

but lets not forget that Mr.Diesel originally made his engines run on peanut oil so they were cheap to run for farmers

He did indeed. Today's high performance diesels (and they can truly be called high performance) will not tolerate anything other than forecourt derv or seriously refined bio diesel.

It seems that the diesel movement has lost its way.

Then again, I am the original diesel car hater. It's only the more recent common rail technology that has led me to rethink.

[wolfmankurd]

Isn't the 6 stroke the next big thing? The it uses two extra strokes where the heat is used to vapourise water? I'll find it on wiki and update.

As promised: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crower_six_stroke

[indiaman]

"Isn't the 6 stroke the next big thing? The it uses two extra strokes where the heat is used to vapourise water? I'll find it on wiki and update."

Thanks for the link, most interesting

[jarrus]

I have read about this 6 stroke engine in that same article a while ago,

and I agree it should be able to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions, more than manufactures have done so with a 4 stroke diesel
but it does still need development so that it can still last as long as a 4 stroke diesel, from what I have read, they are having issues with engine material, the stream is making a conventional diesel bloke corrode thus the engine will eventually seize


The biggest advancement in diesel automotive technology has to go Fiat for inventing the Diesel direct inject common rail system, the rights are owned by bosch due to Fait coming under financial struggles and sold them for a shed load of money,

There new Multi Air technology they say they have no intention of doing the same thing, but anyone else who has read something about it will know it is some quite genius....

It is basically a new form of VVT, but much more sophisticated.
It can vary the lift and duration of each individual valve to precisely the right amount (not just from one cam to another like honda's vtec system) depending on all the factors considered by the ECU, (the usuals, air temp/volume, thottle poss, engine rpms etc..)

and it also the new EGR system and does away with EGR valves in the engine...

Pritty cool stuff, and this tech can be made to work with diesels as well as petrols, should be good for making the torque curves on modern diesel engines flatter from what I can tell...

[jarrus]

Originally Posted by indiaman

It may come as a surprise to many that that the inventor of the diesel engine was a yorkshireman named Herbert Ackroyd Stuart, unfortunately, he forgot to patent his invention, and Rudolf Diesel from Germany is now credited as being the father of the Diesel engine.

You know, a lot of inventions are like that...the telephone being the prim example...

[pgarner]

Originally Posted by jarrus464

You know, a lot of inventions are like that...the telephone being the prim example...

telephone was invented by a scot

Originally Posted by jarrus464

I have read about this 6 stroke engine in that same article a while ago,

There new Multi Air technology they say they have no intention of doing the same thing, but anyone else who has read something about it will know it is some quite genius....

It is basically a new form of VVT, but much more sophisticated.
It can vary the lift and duration of each individual valve to precisely the right amount (not just from one cam to another like honda's vtec system) depending on all the factors considered by the ECU, (the usuals, air temp/volume, thottle poss, engine rpms etc..)

and it also the new EGR system and does away with EGR valves in the engine...
.

didnt hear about the 6 stroke but might do some reading on that tomorrow. suppose if the combustion chamber is hot enough them corrosion may not be so much an issue with the oily nature of diesel.

tried to find some info on the multiair but couldnt find much other than you said. where did you find the in depth stuff?

cheers

[jarrus]

Just going to dig it out now,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiair

thats some stuff, but I need to find the article I was reading

this is it...

http://www.gizmag.com/fiat-releases-...-design/11184/

but they are going to make cam less systems as well, just think what engine mappers can do then....it would be incredible

[teaszer]

All these new types of technology are benefiting us slightly but I refuse to touch new cars. The minute something goes wrong with it you know you are looking at a very costly garage bill.
Old Cars Were made to last forever and are so easy to fix !

[jarrus]

Originally Posted by teaszer

All these new types of technology are benefiting us slightly but I refuse to touch new cars. The minute something goes wrong with it you know you are looking at a very costly garage bill.
Old Cars Were made to last forever and are so easy to fix !

Can't agree with you more,

The engine in my car is a prime example

However, fixing newer cars only broadens our understanding of them,
I look at it like that rather than opting out because it's "too complex"

[pgarner]

Originally Posted by teaszer

All these new types of technology are benefiting us slightly but I refuse to touch new cars. The minute something goes wrong with it you know you are looking at a very costly garage bill.
Old Cars Were made to last forever and are so easy to fix !

lets go right back then
1886 Karl Benz patented the motorwagen with a 800cc single cylinder engine with 0.8hp top speed was 16kmh ~10mph
if it wasnt through R&D and working with technology we would still have cars with wooden wheels, drum brakes, poor power outputs, and large displancement engines that drank like an Scottish alkie binge drinking at new year.
now we have multiple auto gears, wheels and tyres that have high levels of grip,disc brakes with multiple pistons, power outputs over over 100bhp/ ltr and still manage over 40mpg

[Poddy]

i recon the person who manages to figure out how to 'cost effectivly' split hydrogen from any element its stuck to will be the next Rudolf Diesel, as Hydrogen Fuel Cells will be the next step in the evolution of the Car