Who says internal combustion engine technology is dead?
We saw two novel internal combustion engine concepts at WCX. One from Nautilus Engineering LLC uses homogenous charged compression ignition technology. The Nautilus four-stroke/six-cycle dynamic multiphasic combustion engine has two combustion chambers with multiple ignition events happening within one stroke. The primary chamber is forced to critical stage by spark or compression ignition before or at top dead center. A secondary combustion happens after TDC. Advantages of the DMC engine are said to include 30% better fuel efficiency than equivalent convention ICEs and NOx emissions that are low enough to eliminate the need for a catalytic converter. Among the planned uses are as a range extender for hybrid EVs. In the accompanying image, company officials hold a water-cooled version of the engine that puts out around 14 hp and weighs about 20 lb.
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