Invention to optimize fuel economy

Engineering Matters, Inc. today announced that its groundbreaking invention to optimize fuel economy, cut gasoline emissions and improve automotive performance, the Fully Flexible Electromagnetic Valve Actuator, was selected by R&D Magazine to receive one of the 2008 R&D 100 Awards. Branded “The Oscars of Invention” by The Chicago Tribune, the R&D Awards are granted to the 100 most technologically significant products introduced in the past year. This is the company’s second R&D 100 award, the first received in 2005 for its electromotive force-feedback joystick.

Electromagnetic valve actuators are the recognized solution for increasing fuel efficiency, improving performance and reducing emissions in internal combustion engines. No other actuator provides the features and benefits of Engineering Matters’ Fully Flexible Electromagnetic Valve Actuator, which promises fuel savings greater than 20 percent, potentially decreasing U.S. reliance on foreign energy sources. It also achieves a 15 percent reduction in the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming and a 30 percent improvement in engine performance.

Engineering Matters’ Fully Flexible Electromagnetic Valve Actuator operates on an advanced design principle, provides increased operational flexibility and offers unique capabilities such as both variable timing and variable lift, low valve seating velocity, fast transition times and full-stroke force authority.

“The ability to alter the opening and closing of engine valves creates more powerful engines that require less fuel and creates fewer emissions,” according to Dr. Murali S. Nair, Small Business Innovation Research Program Director at the National Science Foundation, which funded the research.

“Engineering Matters’ valve actuator is the best cam-less technology I’ve ever seen, with the potential to be a highly efficient and reliable system,” states a senior technical analyst with a leading global automotive supplier. “Cam-less valvetrains are on the wish list of every engineer because other technologies have issues, but Engineering Matters’ product does not have any of those issues.
Their product is the most promising of all the existing cam-less valvetrain technologies. I see it being developed successfully.”

“Engineering Matters has fulfilled its vision of developing an actuator with innovative capabilities yielding multiple benefits,” states Tom Keim, principal research engineer and director, MIT Industry Consortium on Advanced Automotive Electrical/Electronic Systems. “The company has invented an elegant solution that improves fuel economy without sacrificing engine performance.”

Engineering Matters’ Fully Flexible Electromagnetic Valve Actuator is also a general purpose actuator that can be used in electro-hydraulic and all-wheel drive clutches and other clutch applications.

This is the 46th year that R&D Magazine has bestowed the prestigious R&D 100 Awards. According to the publication’s Website, “The winning of an R&D 100 Award provides a mark of excellence known to industry, government, and academia as proof that the product is one of the most innovative ideas of the year.”