Sustainable mobility is advancing, although sometimes we encounter obstacles along the way. We saw this with such a futuristic train that only operates on the Moon, and now we see it again. Discover the engine from World War II that starts up with such futuristic fuel. In fact, it is so futuristic that we have just discovered it and are beginning to generate it.
The engine that achieved the impossible: this is how it has traveled through time
Technological advances often come from adapting and improving old designs. A clear example is the recent project to modify a World War II aircraft engine to use hydrogen as fuel. Don’t you find it an amazing and technologically advanced invention?
This prototype, originally designed over 70 years ago, was modified by modern engineers to run on a completely new and cleaner fuel. The result is a century-old engine with cutting-edge technology, ready to power the vehicles of the future.
The original engine used as the basis for this modification was a radial engine with 28 cylinders developed by Pratt & Whitney in the 1930s and used during the Second World War for its great stability.
A 5-meter engine that changed everything: it has survived almost a century later
This engine, known as the R-4360, was one of the largest and most powerful aircraft engines used during the war. It was installed in several American heavy bombers, such as the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and the Consolidated B-32 Dominator.
The R-4360 stood out for its enormous size, with a diameter of almost 5 meters. It used an uncommon radial configuration of 28 air-cooled cylinders arranged in four rows. It was capable of generating a power output of between 2,500 and 3,800 horsepower, depending on the variant.
At the time, it represented the maximum power available for military aviation. Its great thrust allowed it to propel huge military aircraft loaded with tons of weaponry. However, its complexity and high maintenance requirements made it impractical for commercial aviation.
How this engine has been revived: it’s now hydrogen-powered and could be used in cars
The California-based company Achates Power was tasked with modifying this World War II engine to run on hydrogen fuel. They did so precisely to demonstrate that we not only need to create new prototypes but also to research and improve the ones we already have.
Achates Power, founded in 2004, specializes in the development of internal combustion engines with two opposed pistons. Their goal is to improve engine efficiency to reduce polluting emissions, which is what interests us in this context.
The engineers at Achates Power took the old Junkers engine and modified it to run on hydrogen instead of traditional fossil fuels. They made changes to the injection system, lubrication, and other parts to adapt it to hydrogen.
Tests showed that the engine can operate stably and reliably on hydrogen. It reached a maximum power output of 135 horsepower, similar to that of the original engine. However, emissions of polluting gases were practically nonexistent, meeting the strictest standards.
As you can see, this engine may have decades behind it, but it only runs on hydrogen, for which we are still searching for the key to produce it in the massive quantities we need. Perhaps it is because we are discovering more interesting fuels, like the one in this car that runs on tidal movement. Are we on the road to future mobility? At least, we are close.