The Scuderi engine

There is a company located in my area (Massachusetts) called the Scuderi Group. The patriarch of the family was an engineer and had come up with some technological designs for more efficient engines for cars and allegedly some other tech designs that have not come to light yet. The family has gone ahead and secured funding to build a working prototype (the engine works according to computer models) and supposedly has some major players in the car manufacturing world lined up to use the engine in their cars. Since they are a local company, we get local media coverage on the technology and their attempt to sell the rights to use it. I'm not sure if the company or technology has garnered national media attention. It's an interesting enough engine though and I'm definitely curious to find out what other designs the father had come up with.

www.scuderigroup.com...

while the design seems interesting to me... there are other designs out too... such as that circular-piston design (forgot the name) where the pistons are arranged in a circular pattern instead of the usual line, V or W... and if I remember correctly, they fire AROUND the engine, instead of in and out....

one thing with this scuderi design that I can see is.. MORE TO GO WRONG... also, while they say it won't compromise car size... I think it's gunna make the engine a bit bigger... double the amount of pistons really...

Seems kosher to me. They're just claiming efficiency improvements from design, not trying to repeal the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Whether the engine actually works as advertised is another question.

Originally posted by x08
there are other designs out too... such as that circular-piston design (forgot the name) where the pistons are arranged in a circular pattern instead of the usual line, V or W... and if I remember correctly, they fire AROUND the engine, instead of in and out...

Well, there's the Wankel rotary engine, but that doesn't have pistons, it has a rotor on a central shaft and spark plugs arranged around the rim of the combustion chamber that fire in sequence to keep the rotor turning. NSU and Mazda both had successful production cars fitted with Wankel engines. Maybe other companies did too.

Then there's the radial engine, in which the pistons are arranged in a circle around the driveshaft. They were popular with aircraft designers in the propeller era because they eliminated some issues (torque or vibration if I recall correctly) that caused handling problems in aircraft. Now entirely outdated, I fear.

yeah, i tried to post this a while back, did not get many replies, more luck to you.

www.abovetopsecret.com...


i think that any improvement is welcome, although most piston designs look overly complicated and heavy, today it's more about selling a new concept rather than proving its benefits, so baby steps might be the only way.

I didn't mean to step on your toes. I ran a thread search on this topic but nothing came up.

Friends of mine know the Scuderi family and have bought shares in the company (I didn't have $25,000 to kick in, which is what a full tier cost). The capital is being used to build the working prototype. The most interesting thing I've heard from the family is that as they've tried to sell the rights to use the engine to different car makers, the Japanese and the Europeans were the ones most interested. Ford actually told them that no American car company would touch it and to look overseas. Ford also said they wait for innovation to happen before they jump on board rather than take the lead. I now see why the American car industry is in the shambles they find themselves in.

The company is also operating under a directive from the engine designer (their deceased father) to not sell the engine outright to any one carmaker but rather sell them the rights to use it in their cars. I don't know if thats just a ploy to increase the longevity of the company or a way to promote widespread use of this more efficient design. After hearing them out it seems that their intentions are honorable though.