Transonic Claims to Boost Fuel Efficiency of Internal-Combustion Engine Up to 75%
By Scott Doggett March 5, 2010
A small California-based company is making engines with a fuel-injection system that it says may boost fuel efficiency by as much as 75 percent while cutting emissions in half by processing fuel at a higher temperature than in conventional engines.
Transonic's supercritical injection process, as viewed through an optical engine fitted with a quartz window, does not create fuel droplets that can reduce an engine's efficiency.
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Transonic Combustion's fuel-injection system burns so-called supercritical fluid - a state at which fuel has been heated to a temperature that puts it part way between a liquid and a gas, company officials said.
Such a state allows fuel to mix more rapidly with intake air, a process that improves combustion efficiency.
The result is that a 3,200-pound car with an engine that has Transonic's injection system has been tested to get 98 miles per gallon when running steadily at 50 miles per hour, while CO2 emissions are less than half the standards established by the European Union for 2012.
With such testing results, Transonic's supercritical fuel-injection system provides between 50 percent and 75 percent better fuel economy than a similar conventional gas-powered engine, Eric Sharp, Transonic's director of marketing, told Green Car Advisor.
Transonic, which has a total 48 employees at its headquarters in Camarillo, California, and satellite office in Bloomfield, Michigan, says it is putting the finishing touches on an engine that will be used in a test fleet of as many as 100 vehicles.
Additionally, two automakers are taking a look at Transonic test engines, according to Ashley. The company hopes to find a partner to manufacture and market its injection system by 2014.
Danny King, Contributor
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Likely the real world increases would be much lower but it's still really interesting.
I hope they have strong patents on the design. If it works as claimed every car maker will need to have it or their "own" version.
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