Carmakers continue to search for new solutions to leave EVs behind and close a historic chapter in sustainable mobility. However, a new engine has just shocked the industry, not only because it has traveled back in time: it hides one of the worst memories for America, just at a time when perhaps it should not have arrived: we explain the reason for so much concern.
This is the first engine to “travel in time”: from one century ago to nowadays
The history of the opposed piston engines goes back over 100 years and it has many exciting stories associated with its development. First trademarked in 1908, the opposed piston engine is an engine with two pistons in each cylinder that reciprocate in opposite directions.
It was designed with two pistons per cylinder that operate in an out-in movement. It gears more power using less fuel than ordinary engines. Opposed piston engines were used to some degree in the 20th century but mostly went out of production due to superiority of conventional designs.
Nonetheless, there is a renewed interest in opposed piston engines today due to Achates Power and similar companies. It has been shown when used in combination with green fuels such as hydrogen the AP engines have the capacity to transform the transport industry for example the long haul/semi long haul trucking.
How can an opposed piston engine work? The reality behind this “sci-fi” invention
Oppo-piston engines are the type of internal combustion engines that have a special technical arrangement of elements opposed to regular ones. In the conventional engines the pistons move up and down in cylinders linearly aligned in V or inline formations.
This ensures that complete combustion of the fuel takes place and makes the engines more efficient than the standard ones. The use of opposing pistons results to a balanced design that permits production of high power density from a smaller and light package.
The cylinder head becomes not justified in an opposed piston engine and can be eliminated. It also causes the engine operation to be symmetrical and enables the better heat loss to the cylinder walls and cooler denser charge. All of this translates to the increased fuel efficiency of vehicles and reduced emissions.
Opposed piston engines are less complex than normal piston engines since they do not have the cylinder head, valvetrain and the camshaft which consequently reduces the number of components that the engine needs repairing as it gets worn out.
Achates Power has done it again: this hydrogen engine travels in time
Opposed-piston hydrogen engine design – an asset to Achates Power – is effective in use of hydrogen as a fuel. Gasification of hydrogen offers several advantages as a fuel for heavy-duty commercial vehicles over diesel fuel.
- Hrogen fuel cells generate electricity from an electrochemical and hydrogen combination with water and heat as the only waste gas. This makes hydrogen a carbon- free energy fuel source. The combustion products of diesel engines at the same time include less harmful gases like carbon dioxide.
- Hydrogen has greater amount of energy by weight than diesel. Of course, this means that the fuel cells may be capable of giving the same or even better driving ranges as diesel tanks do while reducing the weight of the tanks drastically.
It should be noted that long haul trucks trucks use of heavy vehicles for transporting heavy loads require maximum utilization of the freight carriage and hydrogen tank has a much lower weight as compared to heavy diesel tanks.
The reissue of a World War II hydrogen engine is a milestone for mobility, as it shows how this fuel was not as novel as we thought. However, its current extraction methods, which give rise to green or blue fuels that can be used in cars, are. Just look at what brands such as Toyota or Hyundai have achieved (don’t wait for Tesla, which considers this fuel to be “stupid,” in the words of Elon Musk).