New Injectors Promise 20 Percent Better MPGs
Fuel savings can come from myriad sources from electric motor assistance and better aerodynamics to lightweight materials. Nostrum Motors claims it can offer up to 20 percent better fuel economy with a new kind of fuel injector.
It developed the technology for pharmaceutical aerosol delivery and is now translating the tool to automotive applications. The Detroit-based developer plans to start trials later this year. When that happens, it expects the new injector is expected to yield big gains.
Nirmal Mulye invented the injectors and is the chairman of parent company Nostrum Pharmaceuticals. He says the fuel delivery system can be used in existing engines with conventional electronic controls.
Development and testing for the injectors is being conducted with independent companies including Mahle Powertrain and engineering firm Ricardo. The Michigan Technological Institute, which has one of the country’s most advanced testing facilities for internal combustion engines is also collaborating on the project.
The injectors use a different design than those implemented in current engines. Mulye developed the design, which he uses for pharmaceutical injectors found in nebulizers that deliver medication as an mist patients inhale, and is modifying it slightly for automotive use. He’s still waiting on a patent for the technology and wouldn’t elaborate on how it works during an interview with Ward’s Auto. But he did say that the system looks like a shower head and produces a spray that breaks into a mist within a few millimeters.
Currently, his group is working on an engine that will return 100 mpg and could be on the road by the end of the decade.
Gasoline direct injected engines use high-pressure injection to deliver fuel at pressures as high as 1,740 psi. The Nostrum injectors operate at a much lower pressure and create less engine drag as a result. By producing a finer mist, the system also allows for a better air-fuel mixture to happen inside the cylinder.
[Source: Ward’s Auto]