What is Digg?190 Comments
- S7aind, on 06/26/2008, -0/+65There are so many prototypes like hydrogen cars, electric cars, etc. that I see here that take awhile to see widespread use, but a more efficient engine like this could make it in cars almost immediately.
- SpaceDreamer, on 06/27/2008, -4/+51The title is wrong.
They raised the maximum efficiency of a gasoline engine from 32% to 39.5% (according to their website).
That is not doubling.
And they don't compare it to diesel or anything, just to basic gas engines.
Still, it's some interesting tech. They have a PDF that explains why they gain efficiency:
http://www.revetec.com/pdf/X4v2_testing_update_nov ... - DrCrankenstein, on 06/26/2008, -2/+26I've seen that cylinder design with only 2, but it looks pretty cool with 4 on a diagonal axis. I'll take one.
- gaoshan, on 06/27/2008, -0/+23"Innovation..."
"Doubles Fuel Economy"
"...a little known company..."
"...may be on to something huge"
"50% smaller..."
"...50% lighter..."
"...50% lower emissions..."
"...cheaper to manufacture"
Add a dash of hope, some really smart ideas, throw in 10 times the promises with 100% more ***** and you have what this sort of article is.
You know, I've seen some variation of these sorts of claims repeated over and over for a nearly infinite number of technologies practically every day for the past few years. And it never quite happens. "Oh, but THIS one is sooooo almost there." "Don't be a cynic... this time next year (or maybe the year after... 2010 tops) you'll be eating your words". Uh huh. Sure. You know what I say to that? B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T!
Just make it frickin' happen and then you can crow about it all you want. I'll rush out and buy one, no... TWO, of whatever is made from whoever can get it to me. Just shut the hell up and produce it. Until then, expect a heavy dose of cynicism from the likes of me. - TheMachine1, on 06/26/2008, -6/+26"This isn’t some hoax..."
"To illustrate how serious he is, Mr. Howell-Smith said that since 2001 his company has been in touch with the US Military Head of R&D for the Southern Hemisphere on a “regular basis” for the purpose of developing one of their engines for light aircraft."
Not only is it likely a hoax that same scam that the "US military is looking into it" is something I've seen a few times in other high efficiency hoax engine news stories. - clarkd, on 06/27/2008, -0/+16This is nice and all, but maybe when it's available to the public and proven I'll start to get excited. Until then, this is all just hype to me.
- inactive, on 06/26/2008, -4/+20It's like some of those airplane radial engines. I guess it would be lighter than a normal engine.
- MikeSD34, on 06/27/2008, -0/+16You try calling up a major car manufacturer that you have a radical new engine design that you would like them to fund. Tell me how long it takes before they stop laughing.
I'm not saying that it's not crap, just that the fact that it hasn't taken off doesn't mean that it's a hoax. - MtheoryX, on 06/26/2008, -2/+18I wonder what kind of fuel economy one could get if this engine were used in a hybrid electric engine instead of a conventional engine.
One can dream, anyway. - shortyjacobs, on 06/27/2008, -0/+15The first ***** to tout "HHO" or "Water4gas" gets cold cocked.
- Ne007, on 06/27/2008, -0/+15All this...just 10 years away.....10 years from now it will still be 10 years from now....always....
- Mootabolife, on 06/27/2008, -2/+15Make it a diesel hybrid
One can wet dream, anyway. - clarkd, on 06/27/2008, -2/+15Congrats? And how is this relevant to this particular article?
- spectre_25gt, on 06/27/2008, -0/+12He's right. For those of you that dug him down, you might be thinking of a rotary (Wankel).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radial_engine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine - TheMachine1, on 06/27/2008, -2/+14http://www.nsxa.com.au/ RVC
Statistics Summary:
Total Trades: 361
Average Price: $0.04
Total Volume: 27,927,346 securities
Total Value: $1,224,178.68
Cancelled Trades: 5
Shocking that such an "amazing" technology is merely valued at $1.2 million. And I hope thats not just the $1 million grant that they supposable got. How is it that
"big money" never finds these great investment opportunity before us suckers on Digg? - TheMachine1, on 06/27/2008, -1/+11I'm suspicious of the independence of the tester.
http://www.startsurfing.com/encyclopedia/o/r/b/Orb ...
The tester Orbital was hyping their on miracle engine during the energy criss of the 70's that never materialized. - niccha, on 06/27/2008, -6/+14Did you read the rest of the article? They've independently tested their engine. Also, on their website it says that they've received a $1 million dollar grant from the Australian government. Visit their website for more info....
- ralphthemagi, on 06/27/2008, -1/+9Do you realize how insanely little $1m is terms of capital? YouTube clones raise more than that. If this company was actually onto something, capital investors would be throwing money at them.
The reality is that there is more to an engine than just cheaper, lighter, lower emissions. It has to be not only cheaper to manufacture, but capable of being mass manufactured using existing infrastructure. It has to be reliable to the end user. Moreover, you have to be at least six sigma in terms of manufacturing reliability. It has to be viable over the long term. If the industry does start to shift away from the ICE, do market leaders really want to adopt a strategy with a new kind of ICE at the center - when everyone else is doing electric of hydrogen?
It may not be a "hoax," per se, but even snake oil often does something. - inactive, on 06/27/2008, -2/+10Possible through the sacrificial blood of wallabies.
- speakafreaka, on 06/27/2008, -0/+8its a reverse rotary!
- DarknessGP, on 06/27/2008, -0/+8... Even if everyone (and I mean everyone) switched to Priuses or these small engines, we'd still be dependent on oil which is the main issue. All this is doing is helping to slow us down from reaching whatever it is we do after oil.
- krnldmp, on 06/27/2008, -2/+950% more? It looks like a mechanical nightmare to me. No thanks. I'm looking forward to Subaru's flat four diesel.
- G-RaZoR, on 06/27/2008, -0/+7Yes, they could fit into cars almost immediately, pending production, design and implementation into cars, etc...
I would imagine it would take at least a year for them to be mass produced and developed to fit into a car. - danomagnum, on 06/27/2008, -2/+9Nah, those use crankshafts.
- scy1192, on 06/27/2008, -2/+9the fuel economy is how many miles per gallon you get out of it.
- empraptor, on 06/27/2008, -0/+7Attraction of hybrids for me is half higher mpg and half low noise.
Gas mileage varies greatly with driving habits, but from what I read Priuses average 45mpg/42mpg city/highway.
Honda Civics Hybrids average around there too, if not slightly lower.
I'd love to get an Insight (60mpg) but Honda stopped making them in 2006. Probably hard to find used. - wolferz, on 06/27/2008, -0/+6@spectre
The Wankel is actually less fuel efficient compare to a conventional piston driven engine of equivalent output and size. - trogdor282, on 06/27/2008, -6/+12If this makes for a 80 mpg Yaris, why are they sitting around making fancy animated GIFs of it instead of licensing it to Toyota? Oh, right, cuz it's a scam. Mark my words.
- niccha, on 06/27/2008, -3/+9I wrote the article. I can assure the title is not wrong. I even triple checked my facts with the inventor Brad Howell-Smith. The efficiency rating of the of the engine is only a part of what determines fuel economy. According to Mr. Howell-Smith the engine uses 50% less fuel which is a doubling of fuel economy. Also, there is mention in the article about how it would compare if the engine were converted to run on diesel.
- F9Phoenix, on 06/27/2008, -0/+6Is there a reason this blog is featured on Digg everyday? Is this some new side project by the Digg creators or something? Did Ron Paul fund it? Anyone?
- 80hd, on 06/27/2008, -0/+5It's been said that the bearings between the piston (rod?) and drive shaft are a real Achilles heel and have reliability issues.
any seconds or substantiation on that rumor? - KLowD9x, on 06/27/2008, -1/+6"Controlled combustion engine"
Yeah, because the complex engine management systems on every car sold today are there to run an engine that operates on uncontrolled combustion.
The only new engine design I can see actually working is the Crower Six Stroke gas/steam hybrid engine. - gl77, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4exactly....the same snake oil ***** people have been peddling for ages. and there are always suckers believing this ***** too. if i had a quarter for ever hair brained idea that someone swears is the next best thing that made it to the front page of digg, i would be a ***** millionaire. buried as a scam until i see actual physical proof or until the thing hits the market.
- jbird32275, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4Interesting. It doesn't look as if it would take a lot of room in an engine compartment either. I wonder how easily it could be mated to an electric motor to form a hybrid?
- andy314159pi, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4guys at top notch institutions are scrounging for 3-5% improvement in ICE performance so this seems a little iffy
- Scaryclouds, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4It's practically impossible to get over six sigma in production quality and I seriously doubt many current engines are six sigma.
- jvredpath, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4Let's get an independent lab to test the actual claims rather then the author being "in communication" with the inventor CAD designer. On it's face value, it looks like an investor scam. Let's see if they float stock next week. And don't you think that Toyota or GM would have this technology already. Honestly. Oh wait a minute, I forgot. The big oil companies bought the patents and buried it. Stupid me. It's funny how big oil always beats the car manufacturers to the 200 mpg carburetor.
- gl77, on 06/27/2008, -3/+7probably 35 highway/29 city.......same as they are now, same as some of the cars 20 years ago were getting, slap a "hybrid" badge on the side, and the suckers will eat it up.
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4I hear so much about revolutionary technology that is suppose to increase gas mileage 2 fold, yet cars still seem to be using the same gas guzzling engines as always. Until I see a main line vehicle with this new tech, its just unrealized *****.
- rowlodge, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4what happened to the miracle cold fusion stories?
- madetosink, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4Does it come in a turbo model?
- Tenlow, on 06/27/2008, -1/+5Yeah, so much different then what they did with the Tahoe and Yukon or the Chevy Suburban and the GMC Suburban. Or what just about every car company has done with every car they've ever made. They didn't "buy" a design for the GTO. They used a Holden Monaro (Or Vauxhall if you're in the EU). Just like the new G8 is a Holden Commodore with Pontiac badges. If you want to go even further into that, the G8 is a 4 door GTO, as the Monaro was a coupe version of the Commodore.
They already owned all the designs. All they did was rebadge the cars they already made. Just like they did with the Pontiac Tempest when they made the original GTO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badge_engineering
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_GTO - empraptor, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4Snake oil does what it's supposed to do (back pain relief?), if it comes from the right snake. Problem was unscrupulous hacks sold bad oil.
That's what I remember about the origin of the term anyway. - niccha, on 06/27/2008, -0/+4According to the article, they did have it tested by an independent lab in Australia. True, the author was in communication with the inventor.... but as most journalists will tell you, the "interview" is a pretty common way of obtaining information.
- bigboy101011, on 06/27/2008, -2/+6if it's true there are a range of high strength space age materials that could be used.
- videographer, on 06/27/2008, -0/+3Believe it when I see it in a Yaris. Still uese gasoline, though...in the meantime, let's go electric.
- whatever01, on 06/27/2008, -0/+3"What has come of Digg...?" Jeeeezzzz you say that like it's a hallowed institution dating back to the time of Charlemagne or at least Lincoln.
For the most part, you're dealing with a bunch of twenty somethings and younger who don't remember a president before George HW Bush and believe that a hopped up Supra can take a fully blown 1960's GTO in a quarter mile. - niner9, on 06/27/2008, -3/+6Kickbacks from the oil companies. Lower mpg means more $$$ for oil companies.
- niccha, on 06/27/2008, -0/+3Nope and nope. It's just got a large Digg following. There are several websites that make it to the front page of Digg everyday. There's no conspiracy to dig up here.
- feliks2, on 06/27/2008, -1/+4First of all he would obviosuly be interested in saying that the engine uses 50% less fuel. But even if he is not outright lying, you can twist statistics to say something like this easily. Did he say if the engine was mated to a car while the tests were being run? If so, what kind of car? How fast was the engine spinning? What engine was he comparring it to (I have a feeling this holds a big part of the answer to why this is BS)? Was the engine tested at optimal, unrealistic conditions?
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