It was one of Ward's Best Engines for a few years. Mazda did a lot of research into it during the 90s but appears to have abandoned it later. Mazda likes weird/exotic shit, so they put it on the Millenia which was supposed to be part of their scuttled luxury brand in the US. MPG may be deceptive because I'm pretty sure the Mellenia had a 90s 4 speed automatic and weight from luxury bits.

SAE papers on the engine is here (cost $ but I will put them on my wish list)

http://papers.sae.org/940198
http://papers.sae.org/950974
http://papers.sae.org/960589

The basic Miller cycle concept is actually used a lot in the Prius and other Atkinson cycle engines. Basically the Prius holds the intake valve open all the way into the compression stroke, but it doesn't have a supercharger. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkinson_cycle#Modern_Atkinson_cycle_engines

6/18/2011 10:32:54 AM

that engine is a POS. ask Stein/

also they have to run boost on it which isnt going to help their weight here.

6/18/2011 2:37:29 PM

yeah the actual Miller cycle (very long intake duration + supercharger) didn't work out so well but the Atkinson cycle (very long intake duration but no supercharger) is common in hybrids

6/18/2011 4:38:36 PM

atkins isn't a bad idea but it has a heavy rotating assembly so it doesn't feel very rev happy and doesn't feel like a performance engine. This is why although incredibly efficient and powerful for their size (and rpm range) they don't ever get used in performance applications because they just don't feel fun.


also the fact that the atkins cycle is actually a recognized cycle kinda pisses me off.. its a modified otto cycle. anyone who has taken dynamics 1 would have done to the otto cycle engine what atkins did because in theory its a duh huh move... but has its drawbacks due to material limitations.


[Edited on June 18, 2011 at 10:01 PM. Reason : .]

6/18/2011 9:47:24 PM