The Next Generation Elio Engine ? (2-stroke Turbo Diesel)

[Mrtoycrazy]

good question .... I don't know that there would be any advantage to having dual tires on the rear of an Elio but it is an interesting thought

All I can see is if you had a blow out in one ,you'd still have the other. In a three wheeler like the Elio I don't think it would matter though,being front wheel drive.

 

[pistonboy]

All I can see is if you had a blow out in one ,you'd still have the other. In a three wheeler like the Elio I don't think it would matter though,being front wheel drive.

You bring up a good point. If the rear tire goes flat on the elio, the entire rear of the vehicle lowers. I wonder if this produces any unusual effects.

 

[Bert]

Yes pistonboy it does! You have to fix the tire before continuing on!!

 

[BilgeRat]

I'm not going to say otherwise... Look at cholesterol and statins... o_O

 

[Snick]

This is a two stroke diesel using two pistons per cylinder. The Germans used this concept during WWII in some of their submarines. At the bottom of the piston's travel, the blue and red ports are uncovered. Fresh air is blown in through the blue ports forcing exhaust out the red ports leaving the cylinder chamber full of fresh air. Then the pistons travel towards their "top" position compressing the air. At the "top", fuel is injected. This design has always seemed unnecessarily complicated to me. Just the thing German engineers are known for.

I like the simpler two stroke diesel design of one piston per cylinder with a large single exhaust valve at the top.

Tugboats and American submarines are still fitted with Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston 2-stroke diesels. It's a power backup power generator, ventilator, and also runs blower motor to surface the submarine. Source: I'm ex crew of USS Ohio.

 

[pistonboy]

Tugboats and American submarines are still fitted with Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston 2-stroke diesels. It's a power backup power generator, ventilator, and also runs blower motor to surface the submarine. Source: I'm ex crew of USS Ohio.

Do you know what is the advantage of this opposed piston 2-stroke diesel design? It seems complicated compared with a regular diesel.

 

[wheaters]

This engine isn't a new idea, by any means, just a re-visitation of an old idea.We had a large number of opposed piston, supercharged, 2 stroke diesel engined vehicles on the road in the 1950s and 60s. They have to be supercharged to work.

Here's one of the more expensive ones (I've seen it a number of times at various events):

Maybe some of you folks will see it, seeing as it has now gone to the USA.

P.S. one of the big advantages of this type of engine is no head gasket to blow, because there is no cylinder head!

 

[RUCRAYZE]

I wonder it this type of tire system could be use on the rear of an Elio .... if so, would it then become an automobile ?

didn't the Isetta use exactly that configuration? and wasn't it built as a M C to lower taxes on it?

 

[BilgeRat]

Tugboats and American submarines are still fitted with Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston 2-stroke diesels. It's a power backup power generator, ventilator, and also runs blower motor to surface the submarine. Source: I'm ex crew of USS Ohio.

Yep. And doesn't the diesel fuel tank sort of double as a radiation shield? IIRC, it's located at the forward end of the reactor compartment, and feel free to correct my sometimes faulty memory...

Do you know what is the advantage of this opposed piston 2-stroke diesel design? It seems complicated compared with a regular diesel.

Wheaters is right about the no cylinder head, but they ARE hard to work on, and the parts are very expensive. Having had the good fortune to work on a Fairbanks OP years ago, anything major is very difficult. You can actually change a lower piston without the removal of anything else major, but the removal of an upper piston or a liner involves removal of the upper crankshaft first... I remember that the upper oil pan on a 10 cylinder engine had something over 300 bolts, and getting the upper pan out of the way was just the start of the fun. Give me an EMD to work on any day...

 

[BilgeRat]

And then, there's this in the opposed piston firmament, the Napier Deltic. British railways, the Royal Navy and the US Navy used these. In the case of the USN, they were in PTF-Nasty class patrol boats used in Viet Nam.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic