Hello to all

[R.I.D.E.]

Soletek, I was reading up on your VX to HF swap, most impressive, and that is from a guy who put a 49 Plymouth Businessmans coupe body (sectioned and channeled) on a 1983 Nissan pickup frame with a240 Z engine and tranny.

The R.I.D.E engine design utilizes the basic design of the original rotary aircraft engine, which is not a reciprocating design. You can see an animation of the original rotary (not wankel) aircraft engine by googling "animated engines gnome".

In the original rotaries the airplane propeller was bolted to the engine block which spun around a fixed (bolted to the airframe) crankshaft. Few realize the significant differences between this configuration and conventional reciprocating engines. Combustion pressure pushed the cylinder head away from the con rod. The con rods rotated around the fixed crank, unlike reciprocating engines where the rods never rotate around the crank unless you are about to throw a rod.

My basic modifications are to eliminate the connecting rods, reverse the pistons and cylinders, and provide a means of adjusting the stroke position from a positive or negative amount to a neutral position where the pistons do not move vertically in their respective cylinders. This happens in tenths of a second and when the stroke position is zero the mass of the engine becomes a flywheel capable of storing it's own energy in it's rotating mass. The concept is to use the engines own weight to accomplish short term high capacity storage. The energy stored in the flywheel mode would be suffecient to accelerate to 60 MPH in about 5 seconds. It would only take about twenty revolutions of the cars wheels to reach this speed. Originally the transmission was intended to be a CVT design, this was in 2003-4 when the original patent was filed in September.

It became apparent that no manufacturer was interested in the original design, but the purpose of the first filing was to claim the adjustable stroke feature, which was the critical difference compared to the original rotary.

Subsequent development focused on the powertrain design, particularly after reading the EPA's papers on hydraulic hybrids, and the UPS delivery trucks that are using a hydraulic hybrid configuration. I built a simple model using a 73 Z car fan clutch hub assembly and some tubing and dowells. It was intended to demonstrate the non reciprocating principles of the original aircraft engine. By pure accident the pistons and cylinders were reversible, and I realized that with the cylinders rotating around the center hub, and the pistons connected to the periphery of the rotating engine block, you could use the design as a hydraulic pump without the inherent imbalance problems if the fluid displacement was at the perimeter of the hub instead of over the middle. The center hub can now be ported to allow hydraulic fluid to enter and exit as the cylinders rotate around the hub.

Now you have the simplest imaginable powertrain. Charge a hydraulic accumulator and lauch your car to 80 MPH with no engine whatsoever. When you would normally brake just reverse the stroke and recapture the vehicles inertia as hydraulic pressure, again with no powerplant whatsoever. The EPA estimates an 80% inprovement in mileage with no changes in the engine. The estimate jumps to 120% with predicted engine improvements.

Consider this, use any engine or motor, any fuel source, to recharge the accumulator as the pressure levels are depleted. Now you have truly disconnected the engine (motor) from the wheels.

Pulse and glide is now possible without changing the vehicles speed, instead you change the infinite ratios of the drive system as pressure reserves decline, and change them again as the engine regenerates the pressure reserve. The load on the engine is completely independent of the power required to drive the vehicle and can be kept within the range of greatest efficiency regardless of vehicle demands. The engine only runs to replenish losses from a minimum pressure to a maximum pressure, when it cuts off until pressure reserves are depleted. Engine run time would range from 15 seconds per minute (higher speeds) to just a few seconds every two minutes (stuck in traffic). Engine power generation speeds would be low with storage speeds in the range of 5000 RPM when regeneration occurs at maximum reserve charge level. Normal engine speed would be in the range of current 3 liter diesels.

The EPA has a mule vehicle in operation today, it weighs 3800 pounds and gets 80 MPG. They state that the system is bulky and would not be practical on a small car. My design would work on a bicycle, certainly on cars weighing less than 1000 pounds, and anything larger you could imagine, including power units to haul nuke submarines to their covered work buildings.

Will post photos of the model, the concept is not easy to explain, but I thought the members of this forum would have the advantage of understanding the operational principles.

regards
Gary