CATALYTIC IGNITION ROTARY COMBUSTION ENGINE

WILLIAM C. PFEFFERLE ASSOCIATES (WCP) HAS INVENTED A PROPRIETARY CATALYTIC IGNITION FUEL-INJECTED ENGINE WHICH POTENTIALLY OFFERS A NUMBER OF PROMISING FEATURES, INCLUDINGSUBSTANTIALLY INCREASED FUEL ECONOMY, SIGNIFICANTLY MORE POWER, NOTABLY QUIETER OPERATION, REDUCED PARTICULATE EMISSIONS AND THE ABILITY TO BURN BOTH HIGH AND LOW CETANE FUELS. USING CATALYSTS PLACED PERMANENTLY IN THE COMBUSTIONCHAMBER OF A DIESEL ENGINE, WCP'S PISTON PROTOTYPE HAS DEMONSTRATED RAPID (CONSTANT-VOLUME) COMBUSTION OF DIESEL FUEL ACCOMPANIED BY NOTICEABLY-LOWER DIESEL CLATTER (CONFIRMED BY A PRESSURE TRACE WITHOUT HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATIONS) AND A COMBUSTION CHAMBER FREE OF VISIBLE SOOT.PARALLEL WORK IS CONTINUING TO DEVELOP THIS CATALYTIC PISTONENGINE. THIS PHASE I STUDY WILL CONDUCT FEASIBILITY EXPERIMENTATION TO TEST A ROTARY VERSION OF THIS INNOVATIVE CATALYTIC IGNITION TECHNOLOGY ON ITS VARIOUS PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THE CATALYTIC RCE'SWELL-TIMED NEAR-INSTANTANEOUS COMBUSTION WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANTLY SUPERIOR FUEL ECONOMY AND POWER COMPARED TO THE STRATIFIED CHARGE APPROACH WHILE ENABLING LOW VIBRATION OPERATION AND A MULTIFUEL CAPABILITY INCLUDING DIESEL AND JET A. PHASE II WILL EVALUATE ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF EFFECTING CATALYTIC IGNITION WHICH EXTENDING PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS AND SHOWING LOW UNIT COSTS AND OPERATIONAL DURABILITY.