Mazda Motors working on better than hybrid gas engine

Mazda Motors is working on a motor that will get 70 miles per gallon. Ford Motors has a 45 miles per gallon Focus in the works, too. The goal is an impossibly efficient internal combustion motor that will not be used in a hybrid. The design uses advanced technology but some pretty basic principles.

Hybrids aren't as good as the Mazda engine

Mazda has been testing a new engine. CNN reports that this has created quite the buzz. About 70 miles per gallon can be achieved with the prototype. If the car has a good price, than many individuals could be dying to get the car with that fuel consumption. Direct fuel injection and variable valve timing are the two technologies the motor could be using. Ignition is much better with direct injection. This is because rather than injecting fuel on top of the bloc, it is injected to the piston chamber directly. Variable valve timing is where rather than mechanically set and unvarying valve operation, valves are automated via computer and adjusted to the most efficient rhythm. It is a really basic idea although it's new technology.

Simple physics

The science behind the Mazda motor and the 45 mpg Focus is pretty basic. Mechanical advantage and mechanical efficiency are two essential principles involved. Mechanical efficiency is a ratio of energy expended to work performed. Mechanical advantage is how much force a machine can produce from a unit of energy. How it relates to engines is the more power that can be extracted from a unit of fuel, or the greater the mechanical advantage, the greater the fuel efficiency can be.

Really doing it

If an engine can put gas in the right place at the right time, there can be more efficiency. This means more force can be created than traditional fuel injection creates. Turbocharged smaller engines are an answer also. Efficiency is increased there as well. Hybrid cars are an engineering marvel, though the technology is still in the relative infancy. The traditional combustion engine will be used for a long time still. It will be fun to determine how technology can advance with it.

Citations

CNN

money.cnn.com/2010/11/02/autos/gas_engine_improvements/index.htm

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_advantage

Wikipedia

wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_efficiency