In a rare shift from its normal independent consultancy role KGP has been providing its expertise to assist commercialisation of this new technology. This will require investment in future steps of development leading to licensing the technology to the auto industry. Brian Knibb, KGP’s managing director, said “The Merritt Unthrottled Spark Ignition Combustion (MUSIC) system offers a cost-effective route to achieving substantial improvements in fuel consumption for gasoline engined vehicles; unlike many of the complex systems already coming to market it has no moving parts and uses regular componentry”. KGP is now helping Dan Merritt find vital investment partners in order to enable the project to move forward.

The technology, initially developed at Coventry University has, for the first time, undergone formal evaluation tests in a four cylinder form developed by Powertrain Technologies Ltd near Norwich with the aid of a grant from the UK’s Energy Saving Trust (EST). This gasoline engine is able to operate un-throttled like a diesel engine and can come close to achieving the fuel efficiency advantages of the diesel engine.

In tests conducted recently at an independent test facility, as required by the grant providers for the project conclusion, the four cylinder engine achieved a remarkable 19.8% improvement in fuel economy averaged over a conventional petrol engine chosen as a base line target. CO2 performance will improve correspondingly.The comparison is made against a current Ford 2.0lt Duratec engine as fitted to the Mondeo car. The near 20% improvement was calculated over a number of test points simulating an urban drive cycle, known as the NEDC. The thermal efficiency increases as the engine load decreases and at near idling condition the fuel saving measured was an impressive 42.5%.
MUSIC could gain 25% in CO2 more cost-effectively than alternatives

Andrew Barnes, the Managing Director of Powertrain Technologies, is confident that, in view of these results obtained at such an early stage of development, still more improvements, maybe up to 25%, can be achieved in the near future. He commented “Due to difficulties in obtaining suitable injection equipment we were unable to optimise the engine at certain test conditions. However, we are confident that there are a few more percentage points available when optimised”. The four-cylinder prototype is essentially a new cylinder head and its associated combustion system mounted on a Ford Duratec crankcase. Unlike competing technologies, the MUSIC system does not require any new supporting technology. Apart from the cylinder head, the 4 cylinder prototype engine uses currently available production components throughout albeit in the case of the injectors to new specifications.
Dr Merritt, believes that the thermodynamic advantages of his combustion system are amply demonstrated in the fuel economy, equivalent to that attained by the diesel engine, and is pleased that the concept was engineered into a simple working engine to demonstrate this point. The preliminary work at Coventry University, conducted on a single cylinder research engine, enabled the important parameters to be defined and the invention to be patented.
Please note: Details of MUSIC in comparison with competing technologies will be covered at the SIAT Vehicle Technology Congress in India, January 21-23 2009. This leading event for vehicle engineers and product planners will also enable interested managers to discuss MUSIC in detail. If you would like to find out more please email brianknibb@kgpauto.com

brianknibb@kgpauto.com
janewoodward@kgpauto.com
MUSIC's website: http://www.musicombustion.com/