美国动力公司研发提升五成油效对置活塞二冲程发动机（在线收听）

美国动力公司研发提升五成油效对置活塞二冲程发动机

This little engine looks like it has only three pistons, but in fact, it has six, sharing only three cylinders.

这台小身材引擎看起来只有3个活塞,但事实上却有6个,而且是3汽缸。

With the help of modern technology California-based Achates Power has given new life to the concept of the opposed-piston engine, mostly abandoned after the second World War.

在现代技术的帮助下,总部位于加利福尼亚的阿凯提斯动力公司为这些第二次世界大战后就弃之不用的对置活塞发动机注入了新的生命力。

“With the opposed-piston engine, you're able to achieve the efficiency of a much larger engine in a much smaller package."

“这台小身材的对置活塞发动机却能带来更大引擎的燃油效率。”

An opposed-piston engine is a two-stroke engine with separate oil flow.

一台对置活塞发动机就是单独油流量的二冲程发动机。

It has no cylinder heads and no valves, both sources of considerable loss of heat and power in conventional combustion engines.

该发动机采用无汽缸盖和无气门机构设计，因此大大降低了传统发动机的热能损耗。

Two pistons move against each other in the cylinder, compressing a fuel-air mixture, which self-ignites, pushing the pistons apart, generating power.

气缸中的2个活塞会将空气混合物燃料压缩,而后自燃,推动活塞,产生能量。

Exhaust gases escape through ports in the cylinder walls.

而废气通过汽缸壁的接口排出。

Stripped of many conventional engine parts, the opposed-piston engine is inexpensive and simple to manufacture.

由于取消了许多传统的发动机部件, 对置活塞发动机造成低廉而且生产工艺相对简单。

“We make sure that we do not over scavenge and achieve a very good combustion efficiency, so that hydro nitro-carbons and the emissions are reduced to a great extent."

“我们确保我们不过度清除污物,这样才能达到很好的燃料利用率,因此在很大程度上减少了减少氮氧化物以及可吸入微粒的排放量。”

Larger opposed-piston engines have long been used for military and other applications.

更大的对置活塞发动机一直是用于军事及其他领域。

But developing them for consumer vehicles was not easy.

但为消费者车辆研发这样的设备并非易事。

“This combustion strategy has some difficulties and weaknesses at low loads, because it needs a certain level of temperature inside the combustion chamber to make sure that the gasoline gets ignited."

“在低负载的情况下这样的燃烧机制就会显现出一些困难及弱势,因为炉膛需要达到一定温度才能点燃汽油。”

Achates Power, together with Argonne National Laboratory and Delphi Automotive, say they are sure they will overcome the obstacles, and by 2018 will have a 50 percent more efficient three-liter three-cylinder engine that will be suitable for passenger cars and trucks.

阿凯提斯动力公司正与阿贡国家实验室及德尔福汽车一起协作,他们表示将克服这些障碍,到2018年将有适用于轿车及卡车提高效能50%的3缸3.0升发动机问世。