Before he died in 2002, Carmela Scuderi, an expert in thermodynamics, designed a new fuel-efficient engine:
In a normal engine, a piston moves up and down in a cylinder in a four-stroke cycle — down as a mixture of air and fuel enters the cylinder; up to compress the mixture; after a spark ignites the fuel, the piston is driven back down in the power stroke; and then up again, pushing out exhaust gases and starting the cycle over.In the Scuderi design, pairs of cylinders work together. One cylinder does nothing but intake and compression. It is partnered with another that does only combustion and exhaust. A high-speed valve channels the pressurized fuel-air mix from the compression cylinder to the combustion cylinder.
Mr. Scuderi envisioned putting two sets of paired cylinders together to make a four-cylinder engine. According to his calculations, this setup should reduce resistance within the engine, result in greater compression of the fuel and air, and faster and more complete burning of the mixture.
Mr. Scuderi calculated that these and other changes could convert about 40% of the energy in gasoline into mechanical energy.
Mr. Scuderi suffered a heart attack and died in 2002. His children continued to refine the engine design, and now envision adding a tank to store highly compressed air that can be fed into the combustion cylinder to further improve efficiency.
The firm believes the Scuderi engine, equipped with the air tank and a turbocharger, could increase a vehicle’s fuel economy by perhaps 50%.
The Scuderi Group site goes into more detail.