ETHANOL BOOSTING SYSTEMS, LLC (EBS)

EBS Technology Overview

The essential feature of the EBS approach is to use the ethanol in a way that overcomes one of the most significant prior constraints on the operation of turbocharged spark-ignited engines – i.e., the necessity of limiting the extent of turbocharging and lowering the compression ratio of the engine to eliminate the occurrence of engine knock (uncontrolled combustion). By use of a limited amount of separately stored ethanol, which is directly injected into the engine in a specifically controlled manner, it is possible to greatly improve knock resistance.

The carefully designed and timed direct injection of ethanol, through the mechanism of evaporative cooling and its own intrinsic properties as a fuel, is equivalent to increasing the overall fuel octane rating of the mixture of ethanol and gasoline to more than 130. This high effective octane rating and increased resistance to engine knock allows for significantly higher levels of turbocharging. This implies that -- compared to a conventional engine of comparable size -- over two times the air and fuel flow can be processed in an engine equipped with EBS technology without any reduction of compression ratio, an important design parameter affecting the engine’s intrinsic energy conversion efficiency. This allows for substantially higher levels of torque in turbocharged engines and makes it possible to substitute a smaller, more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine for an engine twice its size while maintaining the same or better horsepower and torque capability in the low RPM range which is important for acceleration. For example, a 3.0 liter V6 engine could be replaced by a 1.5 liter 4 cylinder engine.

The EBS technology is based on MIT intellectual property developed by Dr. Leslie Bromberg, Dr. Daniel Cohn, and Professor John Heywood.