[WrigleyMike]

Actually, I know where it came from, I just read every bit of info on the website and wondered how i missed it.



Interested?

Read more here, yes, those are spherical valves, not the poppet style we've used since the beginning.
http://www.coatesengine.com/

[ringsarcle]

Wow, that is a very sweet design. From the picture it doesn't look that complicated, I wonder why no one has thought of it before? Is the engine in production yet? I can't wait to read up on it as soon as this paper is done.

[WrigleyMike]

Wow, that is a very sweet design. From the picture it doesn't look that complicated, I wonder why no one has thought of it before? Is the engine in production yet? I can't wait to read up on it as soon as this paper is done.

They make heads for production engines, they've already converted what looks like a small block ford v8, motorcycle engines and several others. They have video's of it running on the website.

Crazy. No valve float, so as long as the bottom end can hold together just keep spinning the enigine for power. Similar to a rotary, but without the apex seals (and with pistons)

[ringsarcle]

Crazy. No valve float, so as long as the bottom end can hold together just keep spinning the enigine for power. Similar to a rotary, but without the apex seals (and with pistons)

Thats what I was just thinking about, I bet those converted engines can rev to the sky and back.

I am just kind of skeptical about it, all of the info and videos look like they were made in the early 90s. Why hasn't this taken off ? Just seems to me that if its really that good, everyone would be using it by now, right?

EDIT: It reminds me of that MYTE engine. In the sense that its supposedly the engine of the future, yet no one cares.

[WrigleyMike]

Well, apparently they are still in business and still do conversions, but yeah I don't think they ever caught on.

Very cool concept though. However I think there are problems with intake/exhaust valve duration at high speeds. I could see a wicked variable valve train setup with that valve system.

The MYTE engine seems more myth than fact. In every demo I've seen its only pumping air, and even then its being driven by a electric motor.

This valve train has been proven on engines already though, they say 30% increases in fuel economy which is a big jump, but not as large as the MYTE engine promises. Seems reasonable in a special scenario. However a 15% gain would be a huge number if if could provide that for all engines. I'd imagine that this type of valvetrain LOVES forced induction.

[gydrorway]

Why hasn't this taken off ? Just seems to me that if its really that good, everyone would be using it by now, right?

Maybe the cost is too prohibitive.

[myspacecoo]

That's quite interesting. [thumbup]

Nice to see the little guy being innovative, be interesting he ever sells the technology to one of the giants.

[slima]

It's probably oil companies offering money so they shut up.
I mean, surely there must be a design that's more efficient than the old enginetype we use today.. if you let the big engine companies fiddle with engines like this one or the MYT i'm sure they could eliminate all the problems

[Skete]

Whoah, where did this engine come from?! Why hasn't this taken off ? Two questions, one answer: New Jersey

[intifatry]

Two questions, one answer: New Jersey

That about sums it up. Not much good comes out of this state. I don't plan on staying too much longer. Once I've graduated, I'm taking a little trip to a few parts of the US to find somewhere else to live. There's 49 other states, there's gotta be somewhere else that I'd like to live. [thumbup]

[Siliespiriulk]

Been quite a while since I've seen those heads - IIRC, the main problem was getting a durable seal for the combustion pressures - would be great if they were sorted - ceramics, perhaps.
You may wish to have a search for, IIRC, the "POLO" engine which was made primarily of plastics - very light and showed a lot of promise in the early '90s in motorsport.
Have a look for "sleeve valve' and "rotary valve" engines, as well.

[verybigf]

It's probably oil companies offering money so they shut up.
I mean, surely there must be a design that's more efficient than the old enginetype we use today.. if you let the big engine companies fiddle with engines like this one or the MYT i'm sure they could eliminate all the problems

Engine Designer: I've designed this new engine. It gets amazing fuel efficiency, great power, and never dies. Its cheap too. Now we just need investors.
Big Oil + Ford Rep: We'll each give you 40mil to sell us the patents and move to Hawaii.
Engine Designer: SOLD!

[bQXHsKzS]

You would think that if it is actually any good that someone would have taken off with it by now with all these crazy engine designs that are coming out.

It seems like they haven't been able to sell their design to anyone, just like the MYTE engine, so are trying to make a buck or two out of their own shop.

I would think that there could be a problem with it though on engines with a lot of miles on them. When it com busts, it seems like a lot of deposits could form on the underside of the the cams which as mileage builds up on them could make rotation difficult, as the gap between the cam and the head is extremely slim.
Plus deposits could form on the intake and exhaust cam openings, quickly limiting the volume of air that is able to enter and leave. As it fills with deposits, less is able to enter.


In a normal combustion camber, air is sucked into the engine with the downward stroke at a constant rate, but with this engine, it looks like the downward stroke sucks air from the cam, which wouldn't be able to supply a constant rate of air. It would basically be opening and closing thousands of times each second, limiting air supply. As the cam rotates, during the intake process, their would be gaps from air being a loud to come into the engine and vis versa for the exhaust. Current engines allow a constant rate of intake and exhaust flow which I would see as being much more idel.
Then with that, I don't think that force induction would really be all that great either. As the air is being thrown into the motor via super/turbo charger, air would be pushed back into the turbo quiet frequently as the cam rotates not making it as efficient. Plus, it looks like when you really start revving the engine, all the air in those little cam pockets may not completely get sucked out, or enough exhaust gases getting pushed out. The cam would spin so fast that the pockets don't fully fill to their capacity.

Plus being able to modify the cam/head wouldn't seem like you could really do all that much. Less possibilities for the home user to modify the head for added performance, and gives manufacturers less room to modify their heads for different applications. Just less flexibility for everything.

You can look at those specs and be amazed, but it could also be from the guys who are fudging their specs just to try to make a buck.
Car companies are doing much more crazy things then this, and some seeming to be much more complicated then this, so I wouldn't think much of this technology to really add up to much.



It seems like the main thing the engine has is compression, which I don't think would be all that great because of fuel octane unless in applications other then gasoline.
Just seems fishy to me for a normal combustion engine. Their site compares it to a normal engine making 480hp, they say that they can rev to 15k rpm, but don't state HP!? They also show a 855cu in (14L) making 180hp to 280hp on natural gas and up to 400hp on diesel. Doesn't seem all that special to me only making that kind of power compared to the competition.