Friday, 14 November 2014

EcoMotors SOP now set for 2015

EcoMotors Inc. of Allen Park, Michigan, now expects production of its ground-breaking opposed-piston diesel engine to begin in 2015, according to company sources.

In an exclusive statement the company, which has created a unique opposed-piston engine told autoindustrynewsletter.blogspot.co.uk…”Ecomotors is an engine development company, one that is approaching commercialization.  As we get closer to that phase, the tempo of communication will increase.  On our website (Ecomotors.com) you can see a video of our test capabilities and our development engine running.  The development engine is a 240bhp diesel, and testing is on-going.  Size and weight are important benefits of the opoc architecture, and we continue to optimize component materials and processes with them in mind.  SOP is expected in 2015.

In April 2013, Zhongding Power and Ecomotors signed an agreement to build a facility that would be capable of building 150,000 opposed-piston engines a year. Last month, officials visited the newly completed foundry and were photographed (below) in front of an EcoMotors Opoc engine. an official of Anhui Zhongding Holding Group explained the working priciples of the opposed-piston.

Ecomotors declares on its website: "Our unique opposed-piston opposed-cylinder (opoc) engine technology enables endless potential for innovation in vehicle and machine design, giving our customers the opportunity to create distinctive value and to make meaningful, lasting changes that benefit the world.”

“This patented design creates a ground-breaking internal combustion engine family architecture that will run on a number of different fuels, including gasoline, diesel and ethanol. The result is an engine family that is lighter, more efficient and economical, with lower exhaust emissions,” the company adds.

See other references to EcoMotors and Zhongding Power on this blog. A feature of the Zhongding Power technology is that it would take advantage of using the latest technology, including the use of compacted graphite iron (CGI) as the cylinder block material for the opposed-piston engine. The new foundry, designed from the outset to produce CGI components, casting the cylinder blocks for the Opoc engine uses the SinterCast process control technology to produce the necessarily high-quality CGI material. 



The companies plan a whole range of applications for the engine, including passenger cars, commercial vehicles, buses, agricultural vehicles and construction equipment as well as power generation facilities. 

Previous applications of opposed-piston diesel engines have included the extremely complicated Napier Deltic engine employed in railway locomotives and marine patrol vessels, and the Rootes TS3 engine (see above) used in commercial vehicles.


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