October 30, 2007
Oil edging towards a hundred dollars a barrel is a reminder of how uncertain the supply of crude has become. The instability of oil is opening the doors for other fuels to enter the economy-energizing arena that could offer guaranteed supply forever.
There may be a variety of fuels that could run the engines of the world but there aren’t many engines capable of running on a variety of fuels. Australian company Orbital Corporation Limited, an international developer of engine and related technologies, says that engines and fuel systems can be designed to run on a variety of fuels, even two or three different fuels at a time.
Simply put the words One Engine - Any Fuel are Orbital's description of its new Flex-Di (tm) fuel system technology. The company says it can now offer a fuel injection system that will run on a variety of fuels, including liquid and gaseous fuel at the same time.
The possibilities could be appealing for engine and vehicle manufacturers:
--- For alcohol fuels, such as nonfood sourced ethanol, Orbital’s new system would allow engines to run on 100 percent ethanol (E100) and eliminate the need for gasoline to be blended or injected to aid cold starting.
--- With gaseous fuels, including compressed natural gas (CNG), the system will provide better fuel economy and overall performance.
--- With hydrogen as a fuel, Orbital’s Flex-Di would offer a number of significant improvements. The two-injector design allows water and hydrogen to be injected at the same time, controlling the fast-burning hydrogen to reduce NOx emissions while increasing the power output of the engine. Orbital says it can make hydrogen engines with the same or better power density as gasoline engines. And of course there’s no CO2.
--- The system would allow for multi-fuel engines that run on more than one fuel type, as well as bifuel engines that can switch between two fuels, or dual-fuel engines that can run on two (or more) different fuels simultaneously.
--- Heavy fuels can be used with the system as well. Kerosene and diesel fuel can be spark-ignited in both 2 and 4 cycle engines. Orbital cites special applications such as engines in snowmobiles and outboard motors as good applications for Flex-Di, operating on heavy fuels.
--- And of course gasoline need not be forgotten. The system would offer cleaner burning, more efficient, engines when operating on the conventional fuel.
Links: Flex-Di, http://www.flexdi.com, Orbital Corporation, http://www.orbitalcorp.com.au.
Read More: http://www.green-energy-news.com:80/arch/nrgs2007/20070124.html.