ABSTRACT

A project “Transonic Combustion” is focusing on raising not only the fuel

mixture‟s pressure but also its temperature. In fact, is to generate a little known,
intermediate state of matter also called supercritical fluid (SC), which could markedly
increase the fuel efficiency of next generation power plants while reducing their exhaust
emissions. Advanced diesel and gasoline engines, and alternative fuels, are really at the
middle of everything. For the next 30 years, these are more „classical powertrains‟ will
dominate in industry.

The traditional four stroke Otto cycle engine piston engine only has a thermal
efficiency of 25-30 percent; there is clearly still plenty of room for improvement. While
most of the green automobile attention in recent years has been focused on
electrification, liquid fuels still have about 100 times the energy density of today‟s best
lithium-ion batteries, a difference that probably won‟t change significantly any time in
the near future. With that in mind, there is still plenty of effort being expended on
improving the humble internal combustion engine. These efforts range from completely
different structures like Eco Motors opposed piston opposed cylinder (OPOC) to new
combustion processes such as homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI). One
of the most interesting combustion related developments comes from a transonic
combustion. In 2007, a company was claiming it could get an ICE vehicle to 100 mpg.
The transonic system isn‟t really a radical departure from what we have today on
engines. The system has fuel injectors, a common rail, a fuel pump, and a control system.
The system could be readily integrated in to existing engines; company anticipates
production of the concept in 2015 time frame. It is a fact that liquid fuels are going to
be there for a long time more and more they‟re going to be from alternative sources.

That‟s why we need to optimize the propulsion system for those liquid fuels.
The heart of transonic technology is a new fuel delivery system. To get the liquid fuel
into a supercritical state before injecting into the combustion chamber. Traditionally,
matter has been thought of as having three states liquid, solid, gas and any given material
can exist in one of those at any point in time depending on the temperature and pressure.
Fuels like gasoline and diesel generally only burn after they are vaporized.