Engine 'exhausts' Otto technology

Date: 5/5/2009

Scuderi Group unveils most efficient automobile engine in over 130 years



By Katelyn Gendron

Reminder Assistant Editor



WEST SPRINGFIELD -- The American auto industry may not be able to keep up with foreign competitors but one company in Western Massachusetts has unveiled the most efficient internal combustion engine in over 130 years.

The Scuderi Group of West Springfield revealed the Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine prototype to the world at the Society of Automotive Engineers 2009 World Congress in Detroit, Mich., last month. The prototype's homecoming celebration will take place on May 14, culminating a journey for the Scuderi family that began with the late Carmelo Scuderi.

"[Bringing the prototype home] means an awful lot to all of us," Nick Scuderi, Carmelo's son and vice president of marketing and sales for the Scuderi Group, said. "We always knew my father was a [great] engineer. This is his biggest accomplishment; he was ahead of his time."

Carmelo, a West Springfield resident, worked for over 50 years, up until his death in 2002, as a cutting edge inventor, mechanical designer and thermodynamics and fluid mechanics engineer. He labored for seven years before completing the design for the original Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine in 2001, which drastically improved the process of the internal combustion engine.

"The one-liter, naturally aspirated gasoline prototype is expected to produce up to 80 percent fewer toxins than a typical internal combustion engine," according to information released by the Scuderi Group. "When fully developed with its turbocharged and air-hybrid components, the engine is expected to achieve significant gains in fuel-efficiency -- the most since the inception of the Otto cycle over 130 years ago."

Bill Wrinn, director of marketing and communications for the Scuderi Group, explained that this technology will help automakers comply with increasingly stringent emissions and efficiency standards.

"Our plan is to license the technology to engine manufacturers," he explained. "We are currently in discussions with 14 of the world's top 20 engine makers and believe we could see the first Scuderi Engine on the road in 2012."

Nick said he is optimistic that the company's researchers and engineers will be able to maintain the timeline. "The proof is in the pudding and we have the pudding," he added.

Nick said seven years of research and testing of the Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine has been a "painstakingly slow" but necessary process to ensure maximum productivity and the total realization of his father's work.

"After the naturally aspirated gasoline prototype, we will build the turbocharged gasoline engine and then the air-hybrid gasoline engine," Wrinn said of the company's future plans. "We hope to have them completed by the end of next year. After those prototypes are finished, we will then move into building the Scuderi Diesel Engine."

Public viewing of the Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine will take place at the homecoming on May 14 from noon to 4 p.m. at Storrowton Tavern & Carriage House, 1305 Memorial Ave.