Joint development of the adiabatic engine by Cummins Engine Company and the U. S. Army began with a feasibility analysis ten years ago. The effort was initially driven by the expectation of substantial performance improvement, a reduction in cooling system size, and several additional benefits.
Program emphasis turned quickly to experimentation with the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of the adiabatic engine in working hardware. Several significant achievements were realized as have been reported earlier. Further development of the adiabatic engine is expected to be more evolutionary, paced by available technology in the areas of materials and tribology.
Analysis capability necessary for insulated engine development has been found to be inadequate. Additional effort has gone into the development and validation of insulated engine analysis tools, both for cycle simulation and structural modeling. Emphasis is being placed on the analysis of design strategies, prior to test, with a view toward incremental adoption of insulating concepts as the technology becomes available.