Hybrid Vehicle Zero Constraint Free Piston Energy Converter: EPSRC Grant: GR/S97507/01 2005 – 2008 £332,519
Collaborating University: Dept. Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, University of Loughborough UK.
Collaborating Company: Lotus Engineering.
Consortium PI: Paul Stewart
The technology is based around a single-cylinder free-piston internal combustion engine (ICE), which is run on a 4-stroke cycle, with an integral linear electromagnetic machine and electromagnetically operated poppet valves. This is a rig run-round which gives an idea of the amount of ancillary work necessary to get a project like this off the ground. In this configuration, it operates like a single cylinder experimental engine, but has the advantage of offering complete control of piston trajectories to allow quasi-constant volume combustion
