Monday, January 19, 2009

Scuderi Group lands $20M for combustion engine tech

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

The Scuderi Group LLC, the developer of a new kind of fuel-efficient internal combustion engine, has landed $20 million in a new round of private funding. While the company did not release the names of specific investors, the new funding brings the company’s total to $35 million since its inception in 2002.

The Scuderi Group, a 12-person West Springfield company led by founder and president Salvatore Scuderi, has developed a new combustion process for engines based on a “split cylinder” configuration, dividing the four strokes of a standard engine over a paired combination of one (intake/compression) cylinder and one (power/exhaust) cylinder. The two cylinders are connected by a cross-over chamber with high-speed valves that allow each piston and cylinder to perform their respective functions independently.

According to officials, the design produces a highly efficient and clean burning cycle, as well as increased horsepower and torque. According to an independent study by Southwest Research Institute in Texas, the engine achieved higher efficiency than “the best petrol engines on the market” and provided a higher torque than most of the conventional diesel engines. In addition, the NOx emissions of the engine were reported to be 50 percent to 80 percent less than conventional diesel engines.

Last year, Scuderi announced a partnership with Germany’s Bosch Engineering GmbH for assistance on the timing mechanism of the engine, as well as with German automotive supply company Mahle Group for the pistons, Swedish engine developer Cargine Engineering AB for the air-activated valves, Denver-based Gates Corp. for the belts, and Germany-based Schaeffler Group KG for the valve train assembly.

According to officials, a working model of the engine’s first prototype is scheduled to be unveiled to the automotive industry in April at the SAE World Congress in Detroit.