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High Efficiency Hybrid Cycle Engine
Stephen Nabours, Nikolay Shkolnik, Ryan Nelms and Gnanaprakash Gnanam
LiquidPiston, Inc.
Alexander Shkolnik
LiquidPiston, Inc. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ABSTRACT
The High Efficiency Hybrid Cycle (HEHC) is a
thermodynamic cycle which borrows elements of Diesel, Otto
and Atkinson cycles, including:
• Air compression to a high ratio, followed by fuel injection
and compression ignition (Diesel).
• Constant volume combustion (Otto)
• Over-expansion (Atkinson)
• Optionally, internal cooling heat recovery via steam
generation (Rankine).
Simple air standard analysis predicts this cycle to be 17%
more efficient than diesel and 19% more efficient than Otto.
The construction of a prototype rotary engine implementing
this cycle is also described in detail. The main engine
components consist of a rotor in pure rotation and two
reciprocating gates directly driven by overhead cams. This
combination separates the working mixture into three
separate volumes. At a given rotor position each volume
operates at a different part of the cycle. For instance, intake/
compression, combustion, expansion/exhaust are occurring
simultaneously in separate chambers. As the rotor moves, the
cavity formed by the side of the rotor, the retracting
compressor gate, and the stationary housing is decreasing in
volume, producing compression. The gate fully retracts, as
the rotor passes beneath. The air is fully compressed into a
combustion chamber within the housing and held at constant
volume. Fuel is injected, and combustion occurs at relatively
constant volume. As the rotor continues its motion, the
volume defined by the housing, expander-gate, and the rotor
is increasing through the completion of the expansion stroke.
2010-01-1110
Published
04/12/2010
Copyright © 2010 SAE International
Due to the geometry, a higher expansion ratio is achieved
relative to the compression ratio. The result is a high power
density, high speed engine. A 20 HP prototype is currently
being tested. Predicted output is 143 Hp/L and 30% thermal
efficiency.
INTRODUCTION
In heat engines, the Carnot cycle achieves the highest
theoretical thermal efficiency. The Diesel Cycle is less
efficient at a given compression ratio compared to the Otto
cycle; however, since diesels typically run at approximately
twice the compression ratio, a higher thermal efficiency is
realized. If the Otto cycle could be implemented at current
diesel compression ratios, or if the diesel cycle could achieve
the constant volume combustion achieved in the Otto cycle
then higher thermal efficiencies would be possible. In
addition, roughly 30% of the available energy is sent out the
exhaust. Atkinson cycle engines and turbo systems recover
some of this otherwise wasted energy by putting this useful
work back into the process. LiquidPiston has developed a
new thermodynamic cycle to take advantage of constant
volume combustion and lost exhaust energy. The high
efficiency hybrid cycle (HEHC) engine achieves constant
volume combustion at high compression ratios and over-
expands the working fluid to convert more heat energy into
useful work.
The High Efficiency Hybrid Cycle (HEHC) was previously
presented in several embodiments [1,2,3,4,5], along with a
thermodynamic analysis of efficiency. Most recently, a split
engine design was presented [4], which proposed using
separate rotary compressor, combustor, and expanders to
implement the cycle. This design required a valve to transfer
working medium between the chambers of the engine.
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Designing a fast acting valve with minimal transfer losses This is accomplished by holding the combustion chamber
was a challenging engineering task. In this work, we present a volume constant during combustion and expanding the
new HEHC engine embodiment which eliminates this valve combustion products at a higher ratio than they were
while retaining the key aspects of the HEHC cycle. compressed. LiquidPiston is currently testing a single
cylinder, rotary, HEHC engine (Figure 1).
HEHC CYCLE
The global engine parameters are shown in Table 1 below.
This paper presents a rotary implementation of the High The size and weight characteristics of the prototype are
Efficiency Hybrid Cycle (HEHC) [1,2,3,4,5]. HEHC is a targeted for small range-extender applications, or auxiliary
thermodynamic cycle which exploits beneficial features of a power applications.
variety of other cycles. The cycle is characterized as follows:
1. Air is compressed to a high compression ratio, as in the Table 1. Prototype Engine Parameters
Diesel Cycle
2. Fuel is added and ignition occurs. The volume during
combustion is constant for a substantial duration of the
combustion process. Thus, the heat-addition process is
modeled as isochoric, as in the Otto Cycle.
3. Combustion products are expanded to near-atmospheric
pressure, which requires a larger expansion volume than
compression volume, as in the Atkinson Cycle.
4. Water may optionally be added during combustion and/or
expansion to generate steam, increasing expansion pressure,
and producing more work while providing internal cooling to
the engine.

In the next section, we describe a rotary implementation of

this cycle. This is just one possible embodiment of the cycle,
which Liquid Piston has chosen to prototype due to its ease of
modification. LiquidPiston has also designed piston versions
that will run in HEHC mode.
ROTARY ENGINE ARCHITECTURE
The compression ratio is adjustable from 12:1 to 18:1. This
will allow testing with multiple fuels. The moving parts in the
rotary HEHC consist of one rotor, main shaft, and two
reciprocating camshaft driven gates. These are contained in a
housing with dual covers for ease of assembly. In order to
achieve high speed operation, a desmodromic overhead cam
system was designed to operate the gates. An exploded view
of the single cylinder, rotary engine is shown in Figure 2
below.

<figure 2 here>

Oval gates are used to allow for a simple piston ring type
sealing design while still maintaining scalability. The oval
ring seals are designed for an initial 15 psi preload.

The four stroke cycle is shown in Figure 3 below. Notice with

a single rotor, there is a combustion event every revolution
even though it takes 720 degrees for a given trapped mass to
complete the cycle.

<figure 3 here>

Figure 1. M2 Rotary Engine on Dyno Table
The High Efficiency Hybrid Cycle (HEHC) attempts to
exploit the best features of Diesel, Otto, and Atkinson cycles.
Compression begins when the rotor closes the intake port
(Figure 3a&b). The fresh charge is trapped between the rotor,
housing and gate. Figure 4 shows the rotor during the
compression stroke.
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<figure 4 here>
The compressed air is squeezed into the combustion chamber
(Figure 4, right) where the volume is held nearly constant
(within 0.5%) for 10 degrees. The graph in Figure 5 shows
the combustion chamber volume at TDC with +/− 0.5%
deviation lines. This constant volume region allows more
time for diesel combustion to complete resulting in higher
efficiency Figure 7 and higher speed operation.
Figure 5. Combustion Chamber Volume at TDC with
0.5% Deviation Lines
After combustion the gas is expanded at a higher ratio than
the compression ratio thus extracting more useful work out of
the hot exhaust gas (Figure 7). Figure 6 shows three separate
zones completing different parts of the cycle (intake,
expansion, exhaust).
<figure 6 here>
Figure 7 shows the rotor and gate position at various points
on the PV diagram.
<figure 7 here>
IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES
The primary implementation challenges in this engine
include:
1. Sealing: Low friction seals are required to prevent large
mechanical losses while preventing leakage between various
chambers of the engine or to atmosphere. In the first iteration
of the engine, simple spring loaded seals similar to those used
in current Wankel engines were implemented.
2. Heat transfer: In this prototype a larger percentage loss to
heat transfer compared to a conventional engine is expected.
This is due to the large surface area to volume ratio and the
moving chamber. In future iterations it is planned to take
advantage of the hot and cold side to heat the trapped intake
charge and insulate the exhaust. The combustion chamber can
also be held at higher temperatures. This option is not
available in a conventional piston engine. See Thermal
Management below.
3. Thermal Management: With each of the four strokes
occurring in a different zone of the engine, each zone can be
independently optimized for wall temperature to minimize
heat transfer. For instance, the intake zone does not see
combustion gas. Therefore, with selective cooling/insulation,
heat loss during expansion and the critical constant volume
combustion can be minimized.
THERMODYNAMIC MODEL
The thermodynamic model presented in this paper is limited
to discussion of an ideal air-standard HEHC engine only, and
is presented for the purpose of comparison with ideal air-
standard Otto and Diesel (pressure-limited) engine cycles.
Figure 8. Qualitative P-V diagrams comparing the
thermodynamic cycles of Otto, Diesel and HEHC
engines.
Analysis of air-standard Otto and Diesel engines is useful for
theoretical comparison, and can be found in most internal
combustion engine textbooks. Actual engine efficiency is
significantly lower due to mechanical and thermal losses, but
analysis becomes increasingly complex. Assuming these
loses are similar in all engines, a good comparison of the
relative efficiencies can be made by analyzing simplified
models.
The air-standard theoretical cycle uses the following
assumptions:
• Gas in the cylinder obeys the ideal gas law and has constant
specific heat
• Physical constants of the gas are the same as those at
moderate temperature
• The compression process (1-2) and expansion process (3-4)
are adiabatic and frictionless
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• Heat addition occurs at either constant volume (Otto, Table 4. Ideal Otto Cycle: Pressure, volume and
HEHC) or constant pressure (Diesel) temperature at various points of the cycle for r = 12
• Frictionless intake and exhaust processes

EFFICIENCY CALCULATIONS
Heat, qout, rejected from state 4 to state 1 occurs under
constant volume in Diesel and Otto engines, and occurs at
constant pressure in the HEHC engine if expanded back to
atmospheric pressure or a combination of both if
overexpansion ends above atmospheric and at a volume
greater than start of compression:

And thermal efficiency of the cycle is:

(1a)

(3)
(1b)
As shown in Table 2,3,Table 4, the efficiencies come to:
The work performed during one cycle is:

(4)
(2)
Note, efficiency can also be written:
Table 2. Ideal HEHC Cycle: Pressure, volume and
temperature for N = 1.5, r = 18

(5)

Table 3. Ideal Diesel Cycle: Pressure, volume and

temperature at various points of the cycle for r = 18

Figure 9. Thermodynamic efficiency of ideal HEHC,

Otto, and Diesel cycles as a function of compression
ratio
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The above analysis shows the ideal thermodynamic REFERENCES

efficiency of the HEHC cycle is 17% greater than Diesel, and
19% greater than Otto. Actual efficiency for all of these
engines will be lower than their ideal cycles. However,
combustion in HEHC occurs in an isolated chamber under
truly constant-volume conditions, and is allowed to proceed
for significantly longer than in conventional engines. Heat
transfer may be higher in the HEHC compared to Otto and
Diesel due to higher pressures and increased time at high
temperature; however, the thermal management techniques
discussed previously will reduce or eliminate this effect.
A graphical comparison of three cycles is given in Figure 9,
over the range of compression ratios, similarly to [6]. Auto-
ignition precludes operation of Otto cycle engines at
compression ratios above ∼ 12, which is signified by broken
line.
One of the reasons actual Otto engine efficiency is
significantly lower than ideal is because combustion does not
occur under truly constant volume (which is an assumption of
the ideal cycle analysis). The difference between actual
efficiency and ideal efficiency is less for HEHC than Otto
cycle because combustion happens at a truly constant
volume, while in Otto engine the pressure curve slopes down
as piston moves out from the top dead center. Thus, it may be
reasonable to suggest that actual HEHC engine efficiency
will be closer to its ideal.
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CONCLUSIONS CONTACT INFORMATION

This paper discussed a rotary engine embodiment of the The authors can be reached at {snabours, nshkolnik, rnelms,
HEHC cycle. It is expected that this engine will demonstrate pgnanam, ashkolnik} @ liquidpiston.com. Their physical
high power density, superior volumetric efficiency, as well as address is LiquidPiston, Inc., 21c Old Windsor Rd.,
fuel efficiency across a broad range of speed and loads. At Bloomfield, CT 06002.
the same compression ratio, the HEHC is more efficient than
both Otto and Diesel cycles. However, HEHC can run higher
compression ratios (similar to diesel) than the Otto cycle. At DEFINITIONS/ABBREVIATIONS
higher compression ratios it is more efficient than the Diesel
cycle. The constant volume will also allow for higher speeds cv
under diesel combustion increasing the power density specific heat at constant volume
compared to same displacement diesels.
cp
Compression testing and initial break in of the prototype is specific heat at constant pressure
currently in process at LiquidPiston Inc. Firing data is
expected by the time of publication and will be a future topic
as well as other embodiments not discussed in this paper. k
Simple air standard analysis shows a 17% and 19% increase cp/cv
in efficiency of the HEHC cycle compared to Diesel and Otto
respectively. Assuming that the losses are similar between
p
cycles, this improvement will also be realized in the cycle
pressure
with losses. In addition to the energy recaptured from over
expanding the exhaust and the higher speeds possible with
constant volume diesel combustion, some additional energy qout
normally lost to the coolant may be recovered by selective heat rejected from state 4 to state 1
cooling/insulation of the unique cycle zones of the engine.
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Qin
heat input due to fuel combustion per amount of air
intake

r
compression ratio

T
temperature

V
volume

ηth
thermal efficiency

ωth
work performed during one cycle (one Piston swing)

HEHC
High Efficiency Hybrid Cycle

Superscripts (Figure 8)
D
Diesel

H
HEHC

O
Otto
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Figure 2. Main Engine Components

Figure 3. Four Stroke Cycle in Rotary HEHC Engine

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Figure 4. Compression Stroke (Left), Rotor at TDC (Right)

Figure 6. Expansion Stroke

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Figure 7. Rotor and Gate Position Relative to PV Diagram

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Printed in USA
doi:10.4271/2010-01-1110