News
Lean Burn Lives
Michael A. V. Ward, Ph.D.
e-mail: ignition@rcn.com
Suffering & Love allows one to see through the eyes of God
Lean Burn Engine
July 1, 2009
Letter regarding our new Web-site-to-be.
Our new web-site “Lean Burn Lives” has been finally launched. It may go initially by the old name Lean Burn Ignition. I trust you will find it informative and helpful. I expect at first it will not be complete. But I have a commitment to make the information complete so that we all can use our God-given abilities to solve the difficult problems of global warming, and to use these innovations to maximize efficiency at the lowest cost.
With this letter, we believe we have fulfilled our mission: to develop a lean burn engine, the Holy Grail of car engineers, which promises more miles per gallon and less pollution, “The Economist, June, 1986”. Having solved lean burn in the year 2000, we have solved the lean burn engine problem in its entirety by May 2009, but not in the way we had envisioned. Over the years, we solved pieces of the lean burn puzzle, but were not able to see the picture in its entirety – until now! A critical part of the solution lay in seeing the two-stroke in a new way, as a hybrid 2-stroke/4-stroke engine with the power of the best 2-stroke and the simplicity and efficiency of the best 2-valve, 4-stroke engine.
The engine combines with the best traits of the CEI Ignition with Squish Flow with the best that Michael May has to offer and with certain aspects of the Ford PROCO. A description of the innovation will be found in the introductory web-site, in the engine technology section. We hope to develop drawings of the 2-Stroke Inverted Cross Scavenged engine with time, and to post them regularly on the web-site. I have attached certain information with this e-mail for those who want to know the heart of the message.
The key point is to recognize is that this is the first 2-Stroke that has the elegance, simplicity, and low-cost of a two-valve engine with an overhead intake and exhaust valve. It has the highest efficiency, the highest power and lowest emissions in a small package. It operates like a normal gasoline engine i.e. doesn’t have to mix oil with gas.
I quote from a section of the web-site, the Lean Burn Engine, which I attach. On May 22, 2009, a provisional patent was filed on the 2-Stroke ICS engine. The design is revolutionary in that it has two overhead valves, an intake and exhaust valve, and is the first two-stroke engine which does not require ports in the engine block. This is a great advantage, and can use almost any engine block. The engine does use the CEI Ignition with squish-flow, with two halo-disc spark plugs, and a state-of-the-art electronic fuel injector.
A car with the 2-Stroke ICS would … be simple to build and maintain. It can have two cylinders, like the Fiat 500, but would be much more efficient and powerful. By working with Fiat-Chrysler, we can prototype the world’s best car. By incorporating Michael May’s combustion chamber in the 2-Stroke ICS design, we would have a low cost, simple design with the highest efficiency and the highest power (a selling point in the U.S.)
The 2-Stroke ICS in the format of a two-cylinder engine can be a match for the larger, state-of-the-art 4-cylinder engine. It is much leaner burning and more powerful. And the engine is so simple and low-cost that it can be a candidate engine for the world car. We need to get the word out to Sergio Marchionne of Fiat, and to Alan Mulally of Ford. Hopefully, they will be able to see and appreciate the tremendous advantages offered.
Michael Archimedes Ward, Ph.D.
Michael A. V. Ward, Ph.D
e-mail: ignition@rcn.com
Suffering & Love allows one to see through the eyes of God
Lean Burn Engine Lives
July 10, 2009
Where is Michael May of the Fireball???
In 1984 there appeared an article in Automotive News, International Viewpoints, with the title “High-Swirl Combustion Chamber Cuts Emissions and Consumption”. By David Scott, European Editor, Volume 84, Number 6. The title of this paper understated the importance of this work.
Michael May had developed and patented the “Fireball” chamber which was able “to burn an exceptionally lean homogeneous air/fuel mixture, around 26:1 against the usual 16:1”. Fuel consumption in the modified VW Dasher is quoted as 40% better than the standard model of the VW Dasher. “Compression ratio is raised to 16:1 from the stock 9.7:1” with many hours of testing, without any problems.
The AFR and CR seem unusually high -- for an engine and person to not be heard of again. Some three years later, an SAE paper was published by Mazda, with the title “Investigation of High-Compression Lean Burn Engine”. It verified Michael May’s findings, without referencing him. It showed his patented combustion chamber (Figs 4, 5, 11) in the Mazda paper, again without referencing him. It is very strange. You can draw your own conclusions. If Michael May took an early retirement, that may explain some things, but we have not heard a word about it.
Following the tests on the Fireball, Michael supposedly worked for Yamaha on the two-stroke engine design, and worked on fuel injection research for Daimler-Benz. Getting to see the possibility for the 2-Stroke ICS development is helped, if one has the combined knowledge of the Fireball, two-stroke engines and fuel-injection, as Michael May clearly had. While my ego would like for me to think that I alone discovered the 2-Stroke ICS engine design, “the Engine of the Future”, I am left wondering about the disappearance of Michael May and his later work. Could he have also discovered the 2-Stroke ICS, and was prevented from disclosing it, given the importance of the discovery.
I have repeatedly said that my seeing the 2-Stroke ICS or equivalent as the answer to the perfect Lean Burn Engine, was a gift from God as I have no experience with two-stroke engines. And yet today, I feel like I have an intimate understanding of this two-stroke engine (as if I had known it for years).
I became interested in two-stroke technology after being contacted by the Grail Engine people, who have developed a sophisticated two-stroke engine, the Grail Engine. The Grail Engine was too complex for my liking, which led me to the 2-Stroke ICS and to the work of Michael May on the 4-stroke. Obviously, Michael May had all the ingredients which would lead to the 2-Stroke ICS engine.
Besides looking for Michael May, I am also looking for a few good people to help in the exploration of this engine. The implementation of this engine would reduce CO2 emissions by large amounts, at the lowest cost. God knows that the world needs this.
Sincerely,
Michael Archimedes Ward, Ph.D.
Michael A. V. Ward, Ph.D.
e-mail: ignition@rcn.com
Suffering & Love allows one to see through the eyes of God
The Lean Burn Engine Lives through Him
September 15, 2009
Third Newsletter,
Changes to the web-site leanburnlives.com are ongoing, and with every editing it improves. I am particularly happy with the most recent result. I now have the peace of mind that if I may not be able to survive, lean burn lives on!!! The work on the lean burn engine goes on, given the level of clarity and completeness.
It will be difficult for the dominant auto industry i.e. GM, Ford, VW, M. Benz, Toyota, to eradicate the lean burn engine, as they apparently did with Michael May’s work. We did not have the internet in Michael May’s time, thirty years ago.
The most important event of this period was the filing on September 3 of a second provisional patent application on the Lean Burn engine, the 2-Stroke ICS, first filed on May 22, 2009, showing that a new type of a two-stroke engine is the “perfect” engine. It became clear with this engine was not just the perfect engine in terms of its simplicity, power and efficiency, but is all around “perfect” in that it is theoretically an ideal engine. It is the only engine that uses the Miller cycle ideally under all conditions, i.e. from light load to WOT, and uses an expansion ratio of 20 to 1 for best efficiency, and an effective compression ratio of 10.5 for best power, which it attains through the valve closing (end of scavenging) at about 90º ABC. By displacing the exhaust gases with fresh intake air, the process takes place at constant temperature and pressures, at NTP, and not at elevated temperatures and pressures, to cause knocking, i.e. the process of scavenging, typically in a two-stroke, can allow an engine to have a full charge, without full compression.
You may have understood from what has been said that we now have the perfect lean burn engine, the Holy Grail of car engineers. Through Him, we developed the best two-stroke engine, the perfect Lean Burn engine; both the theoretical best, the highest efficiency and power, and the actual best, the simplest to construct and the lowest cost.
The patent application on the Optimized Coil was filed on May 1st. Incidentally, as hoped, the fifth patent application was published on May 28th. This means that the art behind the CEI Ignition is now complete, to be further developed to the production stage and used in all applications areas, including with the 2-Stroke ICS engine.
Here are some examples of Detroit’s supposed innovations. Ford is now working on laser ignition, a technology tested some 30-40 years ago by the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J. Ford acts as if they discovered it. Stevens gave up on it – it was too expensive and had serious flaws. The latest hype in car technology is the GM Volt – costing some $43,000. A lean burn car can be made for far less, e.g. $10,000, and can get 100 mpg, powered by a small and powerful two-cylinder 2-Stroke ICS engine.
The CEI Ignition is the world’s best but it needs production coils and plugs. Established coil and plug makers refuse to acknowledge the existence of our technology. Car makers count on the refusal of suppliers to admit the advantages of the CEI Ignition.
I hope to keep my website updated every month, especially through the “News” section, via the Newsletter, as we are doing here. The last newsletter gave a brief history and discussion of the disappearance of Michael May, a great automotive engineer,
Michael Archimedes Ward, Ph.D.
Michael A.V. Ward, Ph.D.
email: ignition@rcn.com
Arrogance and Greed cause Blindness
Suffering & Love allows one to see through the eyes of God
The Holy Grail Lean Burn Engine Lives through Him
October 24, 2009
Fourth News Letter.
The website was recently redone with an up-to-date Home button and a new button Holy Grail (Lean Burn) Engine. It is worth looking at them on the website, www.leanburnlives.com.
The thing that motivated this Newsletter was a recent article on natural gas, i.e. there was an article on Friday, Oct. 10th, in the NY Times on natural gas [CH4], saying that there is a way to recover plentiful CH4 from sedimentary rock in a highly effective way, and that there is an abundance of CH4 in the world to last us for centuries. The article went on to say that this is the most important realization of the decade relating to climate change. The importance of CH4 is that it is low carbon fuel, unlike coal which has a high ratio of Carbon to Hydrogen >1. Oil (gasoline) has a ratio of 1-1 C to H, while natural gas [CH4] has a low ratio of C to H, i.e. 1 to 4. This can be seen in the simple reaction CH4 + 2O2 ≈ CO2 + 2·H2O, i.e. combustion of CH4 produces more water than CO2.
The implications for a lean burn engine [the 2-Stroke ICS Engine] are important, since our engine works as well with CH4 as a fuel as with gasoline, and the engine is very efficient, small and powerful, i.e. its high efficiency means it will produce even lower CO2 by burning little CH4 fuel, a low carbon fuel. The exhaust from the engine will be mostly air and water, and a small amount of CO2, because the Holy Grail Engine is such an efficient engine that it requires only small amounts of fuel to move the car, i.e. it has such a high expansion ratio (ER) of about 18 to 1 and burns an ultra-lean mixture most of the time.
A point that is overlooked is that the Holy Grail Engine consumes fuel while emitting only water, air and small amounts of CO2, while a power station produces toxins: coal ash and polluted water, to supply the electrical power that Electric Vehicles (EV) need. Clean coal is a myth, perpetuated by the coal lobby. See website, Holy Grail Lean Burn Engine.
There is no point to the EVs, with their outrageous price: $43,000 for the GM Volt and $89,000 for Al Gore’s EV, made in Europe, instead of the US, and financed by the American people to the tune of $500,000,000. The EVs still have problems, i.e. driving range problems, battery problems and high costs, adding up to $100 billion by 2020. President Obama is being deceived by greedy technocrats. I hope that Michael Moore can shed light on the deceptions. The light-weight, highly efficient, 2-cylinder, 2-Stroke ICS can be built with a suitable chassis for a mere $10,000 in the US, and less in other parts of the world. This implies no additional cost due to climate change factors by 2020, as is currently believed.
We have CH4 at our facility and have a set-up for running an engine on either gasoline or CH4. We once had a contract for running on natural gas from the AGA. Unfortunately, at the time, neither the CEI Ignition nor the Holy Grail Engine had been developed.
It is important that we start the development right away to show that simplicity and efficiency can also be sophisticated and low-cost. The needed time and funds to build and test a single cylinder engine in one year and only $550,000. This will be followed by a 2-cylinder engine completed also within one year and costing also about the same. The cost is minute when compared with the developmental costs of hybrids and EVs. The Holy Grail Lean Burn Engine can revolutionize the auto industry, and save a tremendous amount of oil.
Michael Archimedes Ward, Ph.D.
Michael A.V. Ward, Ph.D.
email: Michael_A.V._Ward@post.harvard.edu
Suffering & Love allows one to see through the eyes of God
The Holy Grail Lean Burn Engine lives through Him.
January 25, 2010
Development of the “PERFECT” engine, the HOLY GRAIL LEAN BURN ENGINE
This is the Fifth Newsletter emphasizing the importance of beginning our engine program in 2010. The Fourth Newsletter showed why Electric Vehicles were doomed to fail. In addition, the Times reported that the EV requires cancer causing rare-earth-metals to be mined and processed, produced mainly in China which is waking-up to the health issues. LBE will develop prototypes of a single and 2-cylinder 2-Stroke ICS engine. When compared with other engines, it is cheaper, simpler and far safer to build. Also, it is superior in emissions, fuel efficiency and power. It is analyzed in the website www.leanburnlives.com to be the “perfection” in engine design.
By “perfection” is meant a design that has the above positive attributes plus two overhead valves; no ports in the block; a booster in the intake air; an electronic fuel injector in the cylinder; and it operates as a true Miller Cycle with a high expansion ratio. Arrogance caused the 2-Stroke ICS engine to be overlooked. Partial support of this work can come from Angel Investors located in progressive economies such as Brazil (rich in ethanol and oil), and from innovative car makers such as SAAB. The work conducted in the period 2008 to 2010 was principally in the technical domain to verify that the 2-Stroke ICS engine was indeed the “perfect engine”, as claimed.
LBE will be granted licenses to engine related patents that issue in the US and will have the right to license others for royalties until 12/2015, when the patents become royalty free. Work to date has shown that the 2-Stroke ICS can be viewed as a perfect two-valve engine with the power of a Big Bore Four. See the updated Opportunity, Home, Current Status and Patent sections of the website, and the sections on Technology and the Holy Grail Lean Burn Engine.
The principals of LBE will be made up of the Innovator, the Investor(s), and the Finder(s), who will determine the granting of licenses and the royalty rates. Early car makers are expected to make one time royalty payments for a co-exclusive, one year license. Target companies are Honda, Ford and SAAB. After the year of co-exclusivity, the licenses will become non-exclusive until 12/2015 when they enter the public domain (are available to everyone). Note that the two provisional applications have been converted to a U.S. patent application on Jan.16, 2010.
The purpose of the first year is to build a demonstration prototype, single cylinder engine i.e. the 2-Stroke ICS engine. It is also to build production prototypes of the optimized coil and halo-disc plugs, which exist as prototypes. LBE will work with a strong coil maker like Diamond to make production coils, and with spark plug makers, e.g. Champion, to make halo-disk plugs.
Note that the 2-Stroke ICS engine uses a true Miller Cycle with an expansion ratio (ER) of 18:1 for high efficiency, an effective compression ratio (CR) of 10.5:1 for best power without engine knock, with the two valves opening at around BC, and closing at approximately 70º ABC. Note again that since the ER is very high, i.e. 18 to 1, there is no need to consider the complexity and expense of variable ER/CR. This engine is a two-stroke engine with an oil sump, and free of the oil-leak problems that the 4-stroke has under very lean conditions.
The Angel Investor who backs this project will find that it has tremendous potential; that it has room to provide excellent financial rewards as well as the possibility for doing so much good, in so many different ways. I worked on this project for decades, dedicated to the people of my homeland Uganda, hoping to find the perfect engine, the Holy Grail Engine. I had given up, believing it did not exist. Then, after suffering two strokes, which left my right side semi-paralyzed and with a speech impediment, I had the Holy Grail Lean Burn Engine revealed to me. But I was not able to announce it, so I described it in detail on my Website, trusting the world would wake up to it, seeing the gift that it is to mankind, and seeing its tremendous advantages.