Introduction

The Rotating Liner Engine

Welcome to Rotating Liner! We are improving the fuel efficiency in heavy-duty diesel engines by about 10%, via friction reduction. Check out all of our Rotating Liner Engine prototype test results.

What is a Rotating Liner Engine?

The Rotating Liner Engine (RLE) is a design concept for internal combustion engines, where the cylinder liner rotates at a surface speed of 2-4 m/s in order to assist piston ring lubrication which reduces piston friction (by up to 70%). The RLE exploits the well proven piston and piston ring advantage of the historic sleeve valve (opens in a new tab) engine and applying it to the modern exhaust-emission-driven reciprocating engine.

RLE improves fuel efficiency, decreases pollutants, increases durability, and has applications thought the range of the $50B+ heavy-duty diesel market.

rotating liner

How does it work?

This simple animation shows the nature of the relatively large friction that exists in internal combustion engines, more so in modern diesels due to their very high operating pressures. The mechanism of providing a full oil film due to liner rotation is too difficult to explain here. We are also showing a CAD snapshot of our single cylinder Cummins ISB prototype (built on a four cylinder block) that has proved the concept on a diesel and also proved the enabling technology, the face seal.