LOwCO2MOTION sounds like a really ridiculous name for such a serious and expensive project. I initially misread it as LOwCOwMOTION. Then again, this is France.

Note that Valeo's system is functionally very similar to those developed by Lotus and FEV several years ago. Those proved too expensive for anything but research engines, mostly because a regular 12V grid cannot supply sufficient juice to power a purely electromagnetic valve train at high RPM.

Like many other automotive suppliers, Valeo would presumably like manufacturers to switch to a higher voltage, e.g. the 42V systems that were proposed but never got off the ground. Since ohmic losses are proportional to the square of the current, tripling the voltage permits almost 10x the power flow using the same cables. This greatly facilitates mild hybridization (cp. Saturn Green Line), electric power steering, electric wedge brakes, electric water pumps, electric rear window defroster in addition to a fully variable electromagnetic valve train, all at the same time. Even electric A/C is possible.

The snag is an increased risk of short circuits and leakage currents, especially if dirt builds up near contacts. These problems are solvable, albeit at increased cost. A DC-DC bridge to the old 12V grid can be added so lights and small electric motors can remain unaffected. Perhaps the EU's new target of 130 g/km fleet average CO2 emissions will prompt ACEA members to agree on a firm date for cutting over to higher voltages. MY 2012, anyone?

Ihave read Mercede has palns for a camless engine in a few 2010 models.

These estimated mileage improvements are absurd. Theree are benefits but the gains can only be relative to a single cam engine without variable valve timing. Most of the benefit from a camless engine is already been achieved with that technology, especially if it is variable for both intake and output valving. Many advanced engine familaies now have that VVT technology so this is not a "breakthrough".

This seems like a perfect fit for a horizontally opposed twin 500- 700cc genset. It would lighten the engine to allow for more batteries and take up less space.

Rafael,

The energy to open the valve will be used to close the valve but it will not go back into the camshaft. That energy is spent and must be expended again to re-open the valve. Otherwise there would be little value in making a valvetrain light weight...one could simply use stiffer springs to handle high rpm and save costs versus trying to employ exotic alloys that are harder to work with.

Raf,

Go crank a cam by hand and tell me just how much energy you feel going back into the cam from the springs versus what is lost to friction. There is a reason why race cars and exotics use hollow camshafts.

If you relieve the valvetrain of mass (rocker/lifter arms) you don't need as stiff a spring, nor do you have as much inertia to overcome. Each of those components in the valvetrain will add another point for friction and the mass of the components determines the friction at the interface between components. Very few engines have direct valve actuation via the cams (many DOHCs still use rocker arms...especially if they have a variable valve lift component).

I wonder if the spring configuration for the valves is really as depicted in the accompanying image. It's a very sub-optimal arrangement. The restoring force that the electromagnets must resist is proportional to displacement from the neutral position, and is maximal at the full open and closed positions. As a result, a large holding current is required to hold the valve open or closed, draining power.

A better arrangement mimics the behavior of a compound archery bow. The pull is substantially reduced a full draw. In the electrically activated valves, that would mean less holding current needed, and less total mass in the holding plate and magnet assembly.

Any comment, Rafael? Or has this thread gone stale?

Very large voice coil actuators like those in large speakers (woofers) but smaller than those used in ancient computer disk drives could be used to move automobile valves at any speed. Automatic pulse width modulation would reduce the power required to a minimum level with the chance of some energy recovery. Innovative construction techniques could allow the voice coils to operate at very high currents with the resulting high power but also high temperatures.

Relatively weak springs or bellows could keep the valves in a closed position when power is off and the engine is not running, and they could also center the valve so that it needed no guides. Multiple spring wire leads can connect the voice coil to the fixed terminals. If springs don't break often neither do well designed spring wires. One of the free piston stirling generator companies has developed a flexure that could also support the valve stem and voice coil.

A capacitor-inductor computer controlled tuned circuit could reduce the wasted valve actuation energy to a minimum if that became important. It would probably save more energy to have electric power steering and power brakes and water pumps.

The windings in alternators for cars could be directly connected to a transformer that would supply any needed voltage for operating the valves efficiently. A small bank of nickel-cadmium batteries could be used for starting the valves, not the car. EFFPOWER could make a compact version of their high voltage lead battery for the same purpose.

It would be interesting to actually know the horse-power that is consumed in the valve train of modern engines. The minimum power could be measured by taking out all of the pistons and piston rods and turning the engine at different speeds with no other accesories connected.

In an electric hybrid car, the regular version of the EFFPOWER battery would be better than any Ultra-Capacitor for equal useable energy capacity and probably cheaper for useable actual equal peak power capacity.

It is well known that diesel engines have the highest efficiency, and that diesel is cheaper to produce than high octane gasoline. The production of diesel fuel probably also releases less carbon-dioxide than does that of gasoline, and in the future that carbon-dioxide should be considered with the carbon-dioxide that is actually released during the operation of the vehicle. Diesel hydraulic hybrids can probably out perform any proposed vehicle, including fuel-cell hybrids, for efficiency, and they cost less to build than any hybrid in production quantities. No fuel cell hybrid will ever produce less carbon than a diesel unless the hydrogen is produced by nuclear power, and in that case or any other case that produces hydrogen with electricity, the electricity can be used with nearly twice the efficiency in an electric or plug-in-hybrid car.

With the consideration that diesel is more efficient than gasoline in most cases, all cars should be produced with diesel engines and all pollution control efforts and research should be shifted from gasoline to diesel or electric cars. The end destination for automobile development has the plug-in-hybrid car in its path. Efficient diesel-hydraulic-hybrids can now be built, and the NOAX diesel hydraulic pump is more efficient than any other diesel-engine-pump combination and produces fewer carbon and non-carbon emissions than any other diesel except for microturbines. The fact, that the NOAX diesel pump can be operated down to zero speed with the vehicle still moving, gives it much of its high efficiency that all of the inovative valve control cannot do for a gasoline engine. Very high speed operation of the NOAX pump, that would cause piston rods and bearings to fail, gives the ability to get short periods of very high power from a smaller engine.

Hydraulic systems can be tuned to high efficiencies at low cost by designing low friction pipe, valves, passageways and motors. Air pressure tanks can store energy at less cost and complication than Ultra-Capacitors and have equal or better cycle life with no need for complex electronics. Large and small pressure accumulator tanks can be fit into any available area and connected with a simple tube. More complicated sytems could even heat the air in some tanks with exhaust heat for higher performance. NOAX has also invented fluid pressure energy transformers that could increase efficiency.

I don't get paid by NOAX; I don't even like the company because they don't produce the things they develop or set up a company that does produce them, and then they just sit around hoping that someone will buy property rights or new research. Caterpillar supported the research on the NOAX engine with the excuse that it might reduce the energy needed to run the hydraulic devices on its machines, and it would have, but it would have made their present machines look bad and competed with some of the other diesel engines they also produce, so they seem not to be supporting it.

HG..