- IRIS engine
The IRIS Engine is a design for a new type of
internal combustion engine . Its inventors say that engines constructed using this design can be smaller, lighter and significantly more efficient than traditional engines of comparablehorsepower anddisplacement . The design replaces the piston and cylinder architecture of conventional engines with a purportedly novel mechanism called the Internally Radiating Impulse Structure, or IRIS.http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYM11004022008-1.htm]In January 2008, the IRIS Engine design won first prize for transportation technology in NASA's annual "Create the Future" design competition. [ [http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/prizes/winners.html NASA Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest ] ]
Geometry of the IRIS
In an IRIS
combustion chamber , a number of inverted segments of a circle, or "chordons," interact to create a continuously sealed chamber of variable volume. Instead of elongating during combustion, as a traditional engine does, the IRIS engine's chamber expands in diameter. The inventors claim that this innovation will reduce waste heat and will increase the amount of surface area the engine has available to producetorque . [ [http://www.irisengine.com/6901/6922.html Tendix Development | The IRIS Engine: A Breakthrough in Energy Efficiency ] ]Design variations
IRIS engines are designed to run on traditional fuels, but could also be adapted to use
biodiesel ,natural gas , orhydrogen . IRIS radial impulse technology could also be utilized to create pumps, compressors and medical devices, the inventors claim. [ [http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/view/entriesdetail.html?entryID=666 NASA Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest ] ]Designers
The IRIS was conceived of by
Timber Dick , a Denver, Colorado inventor and businessman. Three of his sons, Corban, Levi, and Tomicah Tillemann-Dick, also contributed to the design and are credited on patent applications relating to the IRIS engine. [ [http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=radial+impulse+engine&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PG01 PreGrant Publication Database Search Results: "radial impulse engine" in PGPUB Production Database ] ] [ [http://www.irisengine.com/599.html Tendix Development | The IRIS Engine: A Breakthrough in Energy Efficiency ] ]References
External links
*http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_8189510
*http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/tips/judges.html
*http://www.irisengine.com/
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