Split-cycle engines have been around for some time but until now have never matched the fuel efficiency of traditional internal combustion engines. That is about to change, with the latest split-cycle engines from the Scuderi Group offering greater fuel efficiency and up to 80 percent reduction in NO emissions and 50 percent reduction in carbon dioxide. Split-cycle engines feature paired cylinders, so a four-cylinder engine has two sets of paired cylinders working together, with a crossover passage linking the two cylinders in each pair to each other. The four strokes of the engine are split into two groups, with the left cylinder handling intake and compression and the second handling combustion and exhaust. The Scuderi Air-Hybrid design adds an air storage tank and controls that allow it to recapture and store the energy lost as the engine operates. The new design solves some of the problems that have hampered previous split-cycle designs such as the low volume breathing problem and the thermal efficiency problem. The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has been testing a 1-liter, two-cylinder engine for almost a year. The preliminary results suggest a 30-36 percent increase in fuel efficiency for the naturally aspirated Scuderi Air-Hybrid and a 25 percent increase for the base model. The test engine generates 135 horsepower at 6,000 RPM, which is similar to results of bigger and more fuel-hungry cars. The US government is introducing fuel economy rules to force manufacturers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles, and this may make the adoption of alternatives such as the Scuderi engines more attractive. More information can be found here: http://www.scuderigroup.com/
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