In the following podcast, Scuderi Group President Sal Scuderi talks about some of the advantages the Scuderi Engine's Air-Hybrid Design, how it compares to electric hybrids, and how it can be used.
With only a few weeks to go until the first public unveiling of the highly anticipated Scuderi Engine, the Scuderi Group announced today it has secured patent protection for its critical valve technologies. The company now has more than 200 patents, including 72 issued in more than 50 countries in its global patent portfolio.
The latest patents represent further protection of the engine’s intellectual property as the Scuderi Group enters an important time for the technology and its licensing efforts.
"The valve train is one of the most critical parts of a working engine, which is why these patents are so significant to the progress of the Scuderi Engine," said Scuderi Group Vice President and Patent Attorney Stephen Scuderi. "The better the valve train works, the better the engine works. These latest patents cover the technology allowing the Scuderi Engine to run in all conditions."
Three Scuderi Engine valve technologies recently patented worldwide:
Valve Seating Control Device that adjusts valve speed to prevent wear and damage in a camless split-cycle engine
Valve Lash Adjustments that adjust valve speed to prevent wear and damage in a cam-driven system
Valve Seat Insert designed to accommodate the high impact stress of outwardly opening valves in the Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine
On Saturday, February 28, Boston University’s School of Management hosted a panel discussion titled "The Future of Transportation." Scuderi Group President Sal Scuderi joined diverse panel members from Putnam Investments, CDM Inc. and KEMA, along with the Dean of the BU School of Management. The panel offered students in a healthy exchange on the global energy industry.
When Fully Developed, Engine Expected to be Most Significant Advancement in Internal Combustion in Over 130 Years
February 9, 2009 – After several years of extensive research, development, and patent preparation, the Scuderi Group announced today the assembly of the proof-of-concept prototype for its Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine. The highly anticipated prototype will undergo further testing and analysis and will be officially unveiled to the automotive industry April 20 at the 2009 SAE World Congress in Detroit.
The one-liter, naturally aspirated gasoline prototype is expected to produce up to 80% less toxins than a typical internal combustion engine. And when fully developed with its turbo charged and air hybrid components, it is expected to achieve significant gains in fuel efficiency – the most since the inception of the Otto Cycle over 130 year ago. The introduction of the Scuderi Split-Cycle technology to the engine manufacturing industry is significant because it gives OEMs a new, cleaner burning solution to comply with tough emissions and efficiency standards going into effect around the world – without having to make significant investments to retool or modify current production processes. The original Scuderi Engine design was invented by Carmelo Scuderi (1925-2002).
The Scuderi Group expects further advancement of the technology once the greater engineering community begins working with the engine and makes modifications and improvements that will most likely take the efficiency to even higher levels.
"This is a very important milestone for the Scuderi group as well as the Scuderi family,” said Sal Scuderi, president of the Scuderi Group. “This has been seven years in the making and we’re only just beginning to realize the potential that this technology holds. We are eager to conclude licensing discussions with OEMs, so we can see the engine come to life in a variety of vehicles and finally be able to give the driving public a more fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly driving option."
Click on the player below to listen to a podcast with Sal Scuderi talking about this latest development.Subscribe to the Scuderi Group Podcast
The basic Scuderi Engine is a split-cycle design that divides the four strokes of a conventional combustion cycle over two paired cylinders: one intake/compression cylinder and one power/exhaust cylinder. Additionally, by firing after top-dead center, it produces highly efficient, clean combustion with one cylinder and compressed air in the other. Unlike conventional engines that require two revolutions to complete a single combustion cycle, the Scuderi Engine’s combustion cycle is completed once per revolution. Besides the improvements in efficiency and emissions, test results have shown that the Scuderi Engine is capable of producing more torque than conventional gasoline and diesel engines.
President Barack Obama is expected to grant a waiver allowing California and some other states to enforce their own greenhouse-gas emission standards on autos.
According to the LA Times, this move would obligate automakers to produce cars that are far more efficient than those called for under current federal standards.
The Scuderi Group recognizes that automotive manufacturers are under tremendous pressure due to the current global economic crisis and sharply lower sales of vehicles. With more stringent fuel emissions regulations now likely, the industry will face even greater challenges in the months and years ahead.
Now more than ever, the Scuderi Group believes that auto manufacturers must embrace technological solutions that are cost-effective and practical, yet offer significant improvements in terms of both greater engine efficiency and lower emissions.
The Scuderi Group offers the Scuderi Engine as a practical alternative to electric hybrids, hydrogen-powered engines and other existing and nascent engine technologies.
The Scuderi Engine incorporates a unique split-cycle piston design that promises both efficiency gains and reduced emissions. No costly batteries or electric systems are required. Equally important from the automotive industry’s bottom line perspective, minimal retooling will be necessary to manufacture the Scuderi Engine.
A prototype of the Scuderi Engine has already been assembled. The working prototype will be unveiled at the Society for Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit this April.
We strongly believe that our timing couldn’t be better – for the health of the planet and for the global automotive industry at large.
The Bush administration has elected not to issue final rules for CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards for the 2011 – 2015 automotive model years as previously planned. A written statement issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation said that “recent financial difficulties of the automobile industry will require the next administration to conduct a thorough review of matters affecting the industry, including how to effectively implement" a new energy law requiring tougher standards.
The Scuderi Group – developers of what is expected to be the most fuel efficient internal combustion engine – welcomes this development. The incoming Obama administration has consistently expressed firm commitments to both responsible environmental initiatives and to a vigorous domestic automotive industry. The Scuderi Group believes that with the implementation of innovative new technologies like the Scuderi Engine, each of these ambitious and vitally important objectives will reinforce the other.
The first prototype of the Scuderi Engine is scheduled to be officially unveiled in April of 2009.
It's clear given a recent CNN poll that it's going to take a lot for the Big Three to reclaim the trust and faith of the American driving consumer any time soon.
The popular German weekly business news magazine Wirtschaftswoche published an article about the Scuderi Group on November 10, 2008 that has received widespread attention in Germany. The following is a translation from the German: Miracle of ScuderiIt drives and drives and drives and drives. Since 1876, when Nicolaus August Otto from Cologne, patented the Otto combustion engine, the four strokes principle has not changed from ingestion, compression, burning, and discharge. Despite all attempts by engineers to make the petrol engine simpler, faster, and more economical, the operation mode of engines has essentially remained the same for over 130 years. In addition, the efficiency of this heat-powered engine remained rather modest with its 33 percent. Carmelo Scuderi, an Italian-American from West Springfield, Massachusetts, simply could not accept this low output. Scuderi, a specialist of compressor technology who is credited with the development of the technical basis for the CFC-free refrigerator, started to work intensively with the gasoline engine in the mid- 90’s. His new approach divided the four cycles into two and allocated each of the two cycles into a cylinder. Thus, the basis for the "Scuderi Split Cycle engine" was invented. With this patented idea, the engineer founded the Scuderi Group in 2001. After the passing of Carmelo, his sons began to manage the company. Scuderi Group President Sal Scuderi expanded the engine by adding a compressed air reservoir, rendering it more powerful and turning it into a hybrid system. By end of the year, he will have invested approximately 50 million dollars into the project. The first prototype of the miracle machine, a double-cylinder engine with one liter capacity and 100 hp, should be completed by the end of the year. The aim is very high - the double cylinder engine is expected to consume only half as much fuel as the conventional Otto engine, and the emissions are planned to be about 80 percent lower. The new motor could drive lawn mowers as well as cars and diesel locomotives. The best news is this innovative engine would cost only about 300 Euro more than a conventional diesel engine. But how does this consumption miracle work? A cylinder takes in air, compresses it and pushes it via an elaborate valve system into the second cylinder where it ignites with fuel. Both units are optimally designed for their functions. For example, the compression cylinder builds pressure up to 50 bars, whereas an Otto engine with direct fuel injection only manages three bars. The advantage of this high compression is that the fuel can be ignited in the second cylinder after the upper slack point, which would not need to work against the combustion pressure. "That alone increases efficiency by 20 percent," says Lutz Deyerling, vice president of European operations of the Scuderi Group. In addition, the fuel burns at lower temperatures and thus fewer pollutants result. Without much trouble, the engine can be transformed into an air hybrid. To do that, a compressed air reservoir is installed between the two cylinders. When the driver slows down the car or steps on the brake, the system transports the hot air generated in the compressor cylinder into the reservoir. When the driver accelerates, the car uses the power from the pressure reservoir first. "This reduces consumption by 50 percent," states Deyerling. The proof, however, is still pending. Nevertheless, the US Department of Defense could be convinced. It supports the construction of the prototype at the South West Research Institute in San Antonio (Texas) by funding millions of dollars. For military use and commercial motor vehicles, the generation of compressed air is especially interesting, as it can easily be retrofitted. However, the large German car makers and their subcontractors have withheld their judgment. They want to wait until they have seen the prototype in action. The fact that surplus pressure can be effectively used is also demonstrated in the hybrid drive that Rexroth, a Bosch affiliated company, is currently testing in a garbage truck in Berlin. Here, the engineers have linked a so-called axial piston unit with the transmission shaft. When braking, it pumps oil into a high-pressure reservoir. This power is sufficient for letting the garbage truck roll about 150 meters from a standing position without igniting the diesel engine. Tests have proven that the system consumed about a quarter less Diesel and ran very quietly. That hydraulic hybrid functions so well that Bosch wants to launch next year. "The price is not yet fixed, but the acquisition will amortize itself for the buyers within two to three years," promises a Bosch manager.
By Efrain Viscarolasaga, October 10, 2008 As West Springfield-based Scuderi Group LLC moves closer to the unveiling of its air-hybrid internal combustion engine, the company has partnered with some well-known names in the automotive industry to help engineer the engine’s complementary components. Earlier this year, Scuderi announced a partnership with Germany’s Bosch Engineering GmbH for assistance on the timing mechanism of the engine, and last week it announced partners for its engine’s pistons, valves, valve train assembly and belts. The first fully operational prototype for the Scuderi Group’s engine, which executives expect to be the most fuel efficient engine in the world, is scheduled to be completed in November. The company expects to unveil it to the world’s automotive manufacturers through a series of trade shows and conferences over the ensuing six months, culminating with the Society of Automotive Engineers’ World Congress in Detroit in April 2009 and the Engine Expo in Stuttgart, Germany in June. For Scuderi’s “split-cycle” engine design, the firm has teamed up with German automotive supply company Mahle Group for the pistons, Swedish engine developer Cargine Engineering AB for the air-activated valves, Denver-based Gates Corp. for the belts, and Germany-based Schaeffler Group KG for the valve train assembly. Read the rest of the story.