News & Events

14 Aug, 2007

LIM Technology has been featured in the September/October issue of Auto Aficionado Magazine. Click below to read the article.

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Simple Cycle Engine

This is an engine whose systems are simplified to provide a smaller parts count, less friction, and fewer inertial losses. Less material, expense and waste foretell more efficiency. In preliminary advanced digital modeling just completed, a fuel efficient power density of over 1.5 horse power per cubic inch appeared to be easily attainable. Also apparent is the likelihood of even higher performance with some optimization after further experimentation.

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Simpler, Smaller, Smarter Valves

LIM’s original Simple Valve is a primary component of the Simple Cycle Engine, but its later permutations can be used in all other types of internal combustion engines and have additional uses, for example in air compressors.

VALVE BOUNCE

Questions raised by knowledgeable people regarding valve bounce were answered in 2006, with the publication of the report by Douglas M. Baker, Ph.D. Dr. Baker describes how valve movement was measured at high speed. Valve bounce occurred on opening, and we know how to eliminate it. Time to open the valve to full lift was faster; dwell was longer, and closing was faster than conventional cam profiles can allow. Valve bounce at closing, due to the small mass of the valve and the deceleration shown in the diagram below, seems to be a non-issue.

The chart above tells the story of valve bounce in our camless engine. Blow down begins at 126 deg. after BDC. It appears that the valve begins to open at 145 deg. In the engine tested, maximum valve lift would be about 0.450 inches. In about 30 deg. of crank rotation, the valve reaches about 90% of its potential lift. After a bounce of just over 1/10 “, ending at about BDC, lift resumes, continuing for another 70 deg. As the valve retracts, its rate of closure slows to a nearly soft landing after the exhaust ports are sealed by the piston. Experts had thought that valve bounce would be a factor in closing the valve, when in fact bounce at closing is negligible. Unlike in any conventional valve train, there is some bounce in the opening, but we think it is benign.

US Patents

Alliances

TECAT Engineering, located near Detroit, headed by Douglas Baker, PhD., a noted mechanical engineer who consults for some of the automotive industry's major players, specializing in high performance engines, is a productive partner. To see Dr. Baker's report on the LIM Simple Cycle engine, CLICK HERE

Horton Machine, in Glen Burnie MD., an established supplier of parts to the manufacturing industries around Maryland, is a close ally.