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as turbine engines may seem to be no more than
Page 59
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an interesting footnote in history, but at least one American company sees them as part of tomorrow's road scene. Turbine Truck Engines (TIE) of IDaytona Beach, Florida, is now on the fifth generation of its prototype Detonaton Cycle Gas Turbine engine (DCGT).
The engine is a scalable and modular I unit, capable of powering anything from a lawnmower to an ocean-going ship. Each module looks a little like a BMW boxer motorcycle engine, although with one high pot and a lower one on the other side. What look like cylinders are actually the combustion chambers, and they work in opposing pairs. Air is pumped by a crank-driven blower Into the combustion chamber where fuel is injected, the mixture is ignited and expands. The expanding gas acts against the main engine's only moving part, which is a water-wheel type turbine
attached to the equivalent of the crank shaft, creating rotary motion.
As the ignition process occurs, it creates back pressure down the intake manifold, which effectively causes a pressure blockage and diverts the incoming charge to the opposing side of the engine, which has a slightly longer manifold. This is vital to provide the staggering of the firing events. The process then repeats, giving rise to the "Cycle" part of the engine's name. That's basically it for the single module unit; the truck-sized prototype consists of three modules.
The advantages of the DCGT engine are that the lack of moving parts and low-pressure, low-stress combustion process will make it cheaper to build and maintain than a conventional engine. TIE claims this to be half the cost and twice the life of a diesel.
The explosive nature of the combustion process is said to result in a near 100% burn of fuel, giving reduced fuel consump tion and emission levels. Again, TTE's claim is 30% better economy than for a comparatively powered diesel. The DCGT is also truly multi-fuel, capable of running on any fuel that is gaseous or can be gasified, from coal dust to hydrogen.
TIE makes no secret that it has no interest in becoming an engine manufacturer, preferring to license the concept. It has spent some time trying to persuade the US truck manufacturers to get on-board, but with little success, so far.
While still actively pursuing finance in the West, TIE is now placing most of its eggs in the Chinese basket. The first step is likely to Involve production of 150hp car and 400hp bus engines.
However, TIE has identified 33 industry sectors in 100 countries that it sees as potential markets, so there's a fair chance we are I,kely to see more of the DCGT in the future.