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HCCI Engine: No-Spark Gasoline Engine as Efficient as Diesel

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HCCI engine on testing bench

If you ever had a diesel car, you know that it’s more fuel efficient than the gasoline counterpart. That’s because diesel engines use compression to ignite the fuel, and gasoline engines use a spark to do that. Practically, diesel engines could work without any electricity – at all.

General Motors, in its desperate search for new markets and viable technologies, has introduced a new concept: the HCCI engine (Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition), that uses the same old diesel burning principle to fire gasoline without a spark. They say it could offer a 15% reduction in gasoline consumption, if combined with other advanced technologies. Burning gasoline this way would reduce heat energy lost during the combustion process.

The HCCI engine practically gives the efficiency of a diesel engine and the cleanliness of burning gasoline (compared to diesel). In addition, burning diesel requires complicated and expensive exhaust filtering systems, which gasoline powered ones don’t need.

GM says they will have the engine finished for commercialization in less than 10 years, but don’t give any specific details as to when exactly this will happen. Slowly but surely, the HCCI engine will help power Volt and the other hybrid projects branded by General Motors. In fact, they already equipped an Opel Vectra and a Saturn Aura with HCCI. Let’s hope they ease the transition to full electric cars, although generally, when you want to quit smoking, you quit suddenly, otherwise you’ll find all kinds of excuses not to do it.

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11 COMMENTS

  1. Good blog post. I want to thank you for interesting and helpful information and I like your point of view. Thank you!- I love to read this type of material Good and attractive information I take from it.. Thank you for posting such a good article.

  2. Wow, this technology with HCCI is intriguing. A lot of the comments on here give lots of ideas on how to make an HCCI engine.

    It is now over half-way through 2012, and no HCCI engines in sight. Lots of manufactures have Direct Injected OTTO cycle engines, and a lot of hybrids available that have atkinson-cycle engines. Toyota’s 3rd generation Prius engine is ~38% efficient, being multi-port injected and they are aiming for the 4th generation Prius to have an engine that is 42% efficient, via Direct Injection and possible a longer stroke but smaller bore. Used Priuses are getting cheap on craigslist,Hurrah!

    I hope one day a Prius or other ‘regular sized’ 4-wheeled hybrid car can achieve 60MPG on the USA EPA highway and city test cycle. This can only be achieved I think with HCCI engines and high-tech steel alloys to save weight, along with aluminum or carbon fiber where it makes sense.

    In the coming years, engines and engine controls will become more and more complex, along with infotainment, collision avoidance and collision safety equipment. I question the long term reliability maintenance costs of future cars, and whether, despite the great fuel economy of a 2020 Hybrid Prius, would the net maintenance costs still save me money versus just keeping my 1999 Civic for another 20 years and doing the basic maintenance it requires?
    Chances are I would still save money with the new hybrid, I hope so.

  3. I just want to know whether you are speaking in terms of theoretical values or practical. Because in practical no System can reach up to 97.3% that is like no significant losses. I am waiting for your reply.

  4. Dear All…

    I READ ALL THE NEW DEVELOPED ENGINES

    BUT REALY SORRY NOTHING EVEN CLOSED TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THE W.J.Multi Power System(TM)

    CAN REACH UP TO 97.3% efficiency.

    Yours Faithfully.
    J.Waldhorn

  5. Dear All

    I Bless every new design and better diesel engine performance
    …..

    BUT

    Their is a new fully proven technologies using New Fuel with new piston engine that its efficiency is more than 84.5% efficiency .

    YES MORE THAN DOUBLE EFFICIENCY …..

    Zero- NOX
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    DO WE REALLY NEEDS HYBRID CAR OR ELECTRIC CAR
    WAIST OF MONEY ENERGY AND RESORSESS…..

    For more details
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  6. Diesel is aproaching 40% efficency. Diesel oil has more btu per gallon because its less refined then oil made into gas. Therefore this invention its more pie in the sky. Auto companies and government should mandate “clean diesels” so we arive at a solution to our oil situation sooner and not torment ourselves with pie in the sky wasted experiments that take more tax dollars.

  7. I think it is nothing… That engine uses the same old gasolnie… 15% more efficiency? whoa… I did more at home on my car… They won’t do anything until the oil runs out…

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