Knibb, Gormezano & Partners The Merritt Un-throttled Spark Ignition Combustion (or MUSIC) engine, which was initially developed at Coventry University has reported a 20% improvement in fuel efficiency in formal evaluation tests in a four cylinder form. this gasoline engine is able to operate un-throttled like a diesel engine and can come close to achieving the fuel efficiency advantages of the diesel engine (see summary table attached). The CO2 performance will improve correspondingly
The comparison is made against a current Ford 2.0lt Duratec engine as fitted to the Mondeo car. The 20% improvement was calculated over a number of test points simulating an urban drive cycle, known as the NEDC. The thermal efficiency increases as the engine load decreases and at near idling condition the fuel saving measured was an impressive 42.5%.
Andrew Barnes, the Managing Director of Powertrain Technologies, is confident that, in view of these results obtained at such an early stage of development, still more improvements, maybe up to 25%, can be achieved in the near future. The four-cylinder prototype is based on a cylinder head mounted on a Ford Duratec crankcase and, unlike competing technologies, the MUSIC system does not require any new supporting technology.
He commented “Due to difficulties in obtaining suitable injection equipment we were unable to optimise the engine at certain test conditions, we are confident that there are a few more percentage points available when optimised”.
The four-cylinder prototype is based on a cylinder head mounted on a Ford Duratec crankcase and, unlike competing technologies, the MUSIC system does not require any new supporting technology. Apart from the MUSIC cylinder head designed to promote the new combustion system invented by Dr Merritt, the 4 cylinder prototype engine uses currently available production components throughout.
Dr Merritt, believes that the thermodynamic advantages of his combustion system are amply demonstrated in the fuel economy attained by the diesel engine and is pleased that the concept was engineered into a simple working engine to demonstrate this point. The preliminary work at Coventry University, conducted on a single cylinder research engine, enabled the important parameters to be defined and the invention to be patented.
For further information please contact Brian Knibb or Jane Woodward at Knibb, Gormezano & Partners (KGP). KGP is a specialist automotive consultancy guiding commercialisation of the project:
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