As the cost of fuel continues to spiral, a Temple University physics professor has developed a simple device which could dramatically improve fuel efficiency, by as much as 20%. According to Rongjia Tao, chair of Temple’s physics department, the small device consists of an electrically charged tube that can be attached to the fuel line of a car’s engine near the fuel injector. With the use of a power supply from the vehicle’s battery, the device creates an electric field that thins fuel, or reduces its viscosity, so that smaller droplets are injected into the engine. That leads to more efficient and cleaner combustion than a standard fuel injector, he says. Six months of road testing in a diesel-powered automobile showed that the device increased highway fuel efficiency by 20% and gained 12-15% higher efficiency in city driving — translating into significantly better gas mileage. “We expect the device will have wide applications on all types of internal combustion engines, present ones and future ones,” Tao wrote in the study published in Energy & Fuels. Temple has applied for a patent on the technology, which has been licensed to California-based Save The World Air, Inc., an environmentally friendly enterprise focused on the design, development, and commercialization of revolutionary technologies targeted at reducing emissions from internal combustion engines. According to VP of Marketing Joe Dell, the company is currently working with a trucking business near Reading, PA, to test the device on diesel-powered trucks, where he estimates it could increase fuel efficiency as much as 6-12%. Dell predicts this type of increased fuel efficiency could save tens of billions of dollars in the trucking industry and have a major impact on the economy by lowering of cost of delivering goods and services. Go to: ScienceDaily

Posted October 1st, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer

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