[Diy_efi] GDI cont'd

[Mike]

I knew one fo the engineers at orbital some time ago, and understand
this is the current news (+ - a year) :-

a.	The old real orbital worked fine above certain revs,
	I think it was 1500. There were a few variants, the last
	was made specifically for compliance and passed all except
	the idle mode speed tests. Reason it wasnt use was primarily
	that testing revs for complince was too low and sealing
	became an emissions issue at low revs. When operated at
	higher revs it worked fine with similar seals to the
	wankel. Engine was capable of firing even to 65:1 AFR
	and could wind to some very high revs > 20,000. At the
	time I recall there were all sorts of politics and
	finance issues with BHP and the inventor, Ralph Sarich.
	I met his nephew who runs a marketing company in West Perth
	who shared basic goal issues re any tech development,
	made good business/management advice.
	My personal opinion is Ralph made as much money as he
	needed re capital injection and left the co so it could pursue
	air/fuel injection. Ralph followed the classic maxim
	that any pump can be an engine and vice versa, so you
	can imagine the chagrin from the older mechanical engineers
	that Ralph would use the orbital as a capital raising
	venture with only a smidgen of practical result. He made
	something like AUD$400 million when he walked. He is
	active in Australia - primarily in property development.

b.	The current system is effectively a strafied charge
	direct injection system with their own ECUs and a heap of
	their own modules, castings etc. Needs separate
	air comrpessor and work been done on integrating fuel,
	air channels into castings. Has a quite sizable gain
	fuel economy and power as the timing and chamber configuration
	minimises heat loss to walls as charge is ignited before it
	has too much time to be lost to chamber. This configuration
	has been licensed successfully to Mercury and I think some
	Dutch co is now making some small car engines or at initial
	stages. Orbital is becoming a Southern Hemisphere version
	of bosch to some degree.

c.	Current project is integration of air/fuel/spark into one
	screw in module using lines in castings, new ECU designs
	with heavy integration for other vehicle systems.
	Plus size variants for their exisiting injectors...

I guess once you start with enough money - you can develop a
niche with some intensity provided there is a minimum technical
basis and the money doesnt end up in long lunches.

I should add all the above stuff is common knowledge, nothing
proprietary :)

rgds

mike


At 09:13 AM 13/1/2003 +0800, you wrote:
>On Sun, Jan 12, 2003 at 12:43:28PM -0800, efi student wrote:
>> Thanks Greg, I'm glad to see something useful come of their work.
>
>You may be able to read about other applications on their web site.
>Aprilia motor scooter is another application.
>
>> I just remembered reading about their prototypes and the source
>> claimed that we would soon all be driving vehicles with Orbital
>> engines in them because of their efficiency, reduced parts count,
>> excellent emissions profile, etc..
>
>Well, those were their hopes. If Engineers aren't allowed to dream;
>they can't create.
>
>> Don't know if you remember but they had a unique engine
>> configuration that they were touting as a real breakthrough in
>> mechanical design and thermal efficiency.  It was a radial design
>
>_Orbital_. The piston doesn't rotate.
>
>> as I recall with exceptionally low compression.  I wonder whatever
>> happened to that project?
>
>On the shelf. It's a BIG shelf. 
>
>Novel design with an umber of inherent design weaknesses. The main
>one being seals. Similar to the problems of the Wankel rotary.
>
>Ever tried sealing a corner with a sliding seal?
>
>The OCP (Orbital Combustion Process) is off-shoot technology. There
>are myths and fables about its development. AFAIR, air-assisted fuel
>injection was a serindipidous discovery. Never look serendipity in
>the mouth.
>
>May be worthwhile to check the currency of the Patent(s). But
>AFAICT, Orbital now have more lawyers than Engineers... just to keep
>track of Patents and other IP.
>
>-- 
>/"\ Bernd Felsche - Innovative Reckoning, Perth, Western Australia
>\ /  ASCII ribbon campaign | I'm a .signature virus!
> X   against HTML mail     | Copy me into your ~/.signature
>/ \  and postings          | to help me spread!
>
>_______________________________________________
>Diy_efi mailing list
>Diy_efi at diy-efi.org
>http://www.diy-efi.org/mailman/listinfo/diy_efi
>
>

_______________________________________________
Diy_efi mailing list
Diy_efi at diy-efi.org
http://www.diy-efi.org/mailman/listinfo/diy_efi