Simplified Mechanics

[Lonny Doyle]

Over the years I have had many people ask me to explain technical aspects of engines and other mechanical assemblies in simplified terms so I thought I would start a thread just for that.

If you need a simplified explanation of something mechanical feel free to post your question on here and I will do my best to explain it.

The questions can be very general or about specific areas.




Lonny Doyle

[Sally]

Hi Lonny,

We all would like to thank you again for taking the "bull by the horns" and setting up a new blog site for us. I know there are things we would like to talk about but the Scuderi family has made it quite obvious to some of us that they are reviewing their option initiating a lawsuit agains several of us who have been known to speak the truth as they knew it to be at that moment. Since we have been appraised of this possible legal action many of us have reverted to the more private blogs using PM's to stay in touch.

I loved your response to me several months ago when I asked you about the SG engine not performing 100%. I did not know the engine did not perform 100% because the SG elected not to include that in any of their updates to their investor community, I learned about it via a blog put on the old site by gman, or at least I think it was gman who wrote that the engine was not working in March of this year. He learned about it at the investor meeting the SG had in March.

I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your trying to keep us together and allow us to talk about things on our mind. I know you will keep the site free of malicious insults or jabs thrown at other bloggers. I would encourage more people to ask questions. Paul is a great source of information and he is very willing to share with everyone.

I feel the need to end all my communication with the following: All of the foregoing is my opinion. I don't give anyone permission to cut/paste and disseminate my comments to a broader audience. This is a private communication intended for the above captioned recipients only. I do not wish to forward or commence any misstatements about or towards the Scuderi Group or Scuderi family members. Everything I have ever written in any blog site is my opinion only based on the facts as I knew them to be at that time. Whew. Ridiculous but necessary.

[Lonny Doyle]

It is amazing how differently Scuderi and Doyle Rotary handle people's opinions.

From what I have heard if you question too many things about the Scuderi Group you could possibly receive a cease and desist letter.

We keep the comments open on our youtube and website so that individuals are able to post their opinions both good and bad. I personally read every comment. It gives me an opportunity to see how well are being received by the public, and who knows someone may have an idea that might even improve our engine or comment on a potential problem that we may have missed.

I guess since we are very confident in the DRE it makes it easier to handle the bad comments.

I hope this forum will be constructive and I will try to keep it from being a place to attack engine designers.

Ours is the exception. I am more than happy to explain every detail of the DRE.

Thanks
Lonny Doyle

[Paul]

The SG has never had any problem with discussing their engine design whether it be negative or positive, that's all fair play in the SG eyes. What they do have a problem with is when people attack management with unfounded information, label them as dishonest, scam artists etc. at a time when they are raising capital for the future success of the company and it's investors.

[Lonny Doyle]

Based on what Paul said, everyone should feel free to ask me any technical questions about the Scuderi Split cycle without worries. So if you have anything you need explained about any new engine design including the Scuderi engine I will do my best to give you the easy to understand version.

So y'all need to get to asking.

Lonny

[Sally]

Here we go Lonny. I have heard Sal say they can build one of these monstrous generators in a year, Stephen says maybe 2 years. I also heard they will need at least 4-5 to get one built that works. Based on your background and knowing the Scuderi's are hurting for money, what would you predict as a timeline. Also, what is, in your opinion, going to be the biggest speed bump they're going to encounter? I'm not even sure SwRI is going to lead this new adventure - I think they are going to have to go out and find another company that has a history with these generators.

The questions are many so let's start with some of the obvious ones for now. I think as an investor I am more interested in a timeline that is supported by someone with a long history in mechanics like yourself. Sal has told us for over 6 years exactly what we wanted to hear - I want to hear the truth as you know it to be.

And we all know how I am going to end my sessions: All of the foregoing is my opinion. I don't give anyone permission to cut/paste and disseminate my comments to a broader audience. This is a private communication intended for the above captioned recipients only. I do not wish to forward or commence any misstatements about or towards the Scuderi Group or Scuderi family members. Everything I have ever written in any blog site is my opinion only based on the facts as I knew them to be at that time. Whew.

[Lonny Doyle]

Lets start with some good news first.

Generators are steady state which means the engine runs at a constant speed.

A car engine has to be efficient over a large range of RPMs where a generator does not.

Now for my concerns.

As far as I know they have yet to build an efficient prototype of their engine.

I feel that they are not going to be able to fire after top dead center and still have time to complete their combustion process.

It is possible that they have figured something out but if they have I don't understand why they haven't built a new prototype to prove it out.

To design and build a generator with an existing running engine could be done in a year or less.

Making their engine run efficiently is going to be the tough part.

The fact that they may have some new eyes looking at their engine may help them overcome some of the challenges, lets hope it does.

Who knows, maybe they have already finished a new prototype engine and are going to surprise everyone with it.

That would be good news.

[Sally]

I don't believe they have the money to build a new prototype at the present time. This new raise is key to them - if they don't get the money from this raise I'm not sure what their options are. So, Car Guy says they have been able to overcome the injection issues, not totally sure we know that to be the truth, but if they have maybe they can get this engine to work at a steady rate rather than the constant changing of rpm's. We really don't know what to believe because Sal and the family have never been 100% up front with the investor community.

I hope more people join this blog site and begin to ask their questions. Some of the folks out there have some terrific questions - I think it's going to take some time for them to know you're here but hopefully it will get more active soon.

Hey Lonny, because I said a few things about honesty and such I need to add my disclaimer for protection: All of the foregoing is my opinion. I don't give anyone permission to cut/paste and disseminate my comments to a broader audience. This is a private communication intended for the above captioned recipients only. I do not wish to forward or commence any misstatements about or towards the Scuderi Group or Scuderi family members. Everything I have ever written in any blog site is my opinion only based on the facts as I knew them to be at that time. Whew.

[Paul]

Hi Lonny,
Had a few questions,
Would Southwest Research quote the job to build the generator if they thought it could not be done?
Would somebody sell these Power Purchasing Agreements if they didn't have a strong indication it could deliver the generator within a specific time frame, which would also perform according to expectations?

I heard that the SG has entered the Power Generation market because Southwest Research was able to complete the combustion process with some type of direct injection which since has been patented.

[Lonny Doyle]

Paul

I was under the impression that Southwest Research was in the business of taking unproven technologies and trying to move them forward.

Without having a working prototype the people entering into the PPA agreement are having to base their decisions on simulated data and probably feel it is a good risk. I would say this is no different than how many of their investors felt good about investing.

Scuderi owns many patents on many interesting designs, I feel some of these patents will eventually pay off. As far as whether or not they can make fuel burn faster than physics seems to say it can, I can not answer. We may not know this until another engine is built and tested.

We all have to agree that if Scuderi is going to have one of their engines turning a generator somebody will need to build a production model of one.

[Paul]

The good thing is that these Power Purchasing Agreements are set up in Special Purpose Entities and the projects are financed by the banks. This is normal practice with these Power Purchasing Agreements, the generators are ordered and pre-paid from the SG, this allows the SG to build the generator without using their own capital.

[Lonny Doyle]

Paul
That is really cool.
This will be a great opportunity for Scuderi.
I can't wait to go to a website and see a company that has a generator powered by a Scuderi engine.

When do you guess they may have one ready for testing?

[Paul]

Once the SG issues a purchase order to have the generator fabricated, the best case senerio is the engine can be built in 3 months and test for 3 months, however it will more likely be built closer to 6 months and tested the following 6 months. The SG does intend on using a company highly experienced in bringing new technologies to the production stage. I won't say who the potential companies are, however I think you will be impressed when it is announced.

[Lonny Doyle]

Paul

I feel they should probably wait until they get the engine completed and tested before issuing a purchase order to have the generator fabricated.

Until they have a completed prototype they can not know how much torque and at what rpm the engine will be most efficient. Also the physical size and shape of the engine will need to be designed into the generator frame. Depending on how efficient the engine is will dictate how large the radiator will need to be and this will also need to be considered when designing the generator.

After completing the first generator engine prototype they will then know exactly how much power the engine will make per liter. At this point they will have to make a decision to either design a generator that matches their new engine or redesign a new engine that will match the size of generator that the PPA people ordered.

I personally feel that six months to design and build a new engine that is production ready is not possible.

I feel it will take a year to have the first prototype ready for testing and then they will need a year to build a second prototype to test the changes they made to first design. If they are then satisfied with the results they will need to set up for production. They will have to have castings made for each component and then set up a machine shop to machine the castings. They will then need to set up an engine assembly plant to assemble the engines. This could easily turn into several more years.

They can probably save a considerable amount of time by sending most of the production work overseas.

This is just my opinion and you are more in the loop with current Scuderi info than I am so I may be way off.

The older I get the faster time seems to move.

Lonny

[Sally]

Hey Lonny,

If I go back to my notes taken at the June NYC meeting I see where Sal said they were going to take an existing Caterpillar diesel engine and adapt their technology to it. Not sure about all the particulars but would that scenario help reduce some of the timeline you outlined in your previous blog?

I also heard a minimum 4 year timeline with 5 years being most probable. You see, this is where I have a hard time trusting what the SG or Sal say because I have been misled for at least the last 5 years. This is so problematic Paul - you keep us in the loop but so much of what you say is hard to digest because of past performance or lack thereof. It's not that I don't trust you, it's your source I have trouble relying on.

And because I made a few direct comments in this blog I must include my disclaimer: All of the foregoing is my opinion. I don't give anyone permission to cut/paste and disseminate my comments to a broader audience. This is a private communication intended for the above captioned recipients only. I do not wish to forward or commence any misstatements about or towards the Scuderi Group or Scuderi family members. Everything I have ever written in any blog is my opinion only based on the facts as I knew them to be at that time. Whew.