Anthony has generously offered me space in his campground up North. As a young nerd I, of course, imagined eventually seeing a total eclipse at some point in my life and this is my chance.
I am now on the road and I won’t be back until at least Tuesday. Getting to Oregon should not be difficult as traffic has been spread out all through the week. However, at noon on Monday, everyone will be leaving at the same time. That will be fun.
I’m not sure if Anthony is back in charge next week or not.
There are a few posts scheduled through Monday and the guest posters with self-posting permissions have been told to get busy, so with luck there will be only a minor slow down, if any.
Tuesday may be a little thin. We’ll see. Feel free to use this post as an open thread. ~ ctm
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Bon Voyage!
Hoping for a Mr. Blue Sky were you will be at!
Hey, we only get 80% occlusion in Southern Ontario but it occurs during one of the golf tournaments that I and the committee have organized. I have slipped a welding glass into my bag for the occasion. I hope the occlusion is auspicious for winning some money.
Have a good trip Charles, and make sure you pay more attention to the trip than the eclipse. Astronomical events are predictable hundreds and thousands of years in advance, but every moment of your life is unique and no one can tell you what’s going to happen next.
Cherish that.
Mazda’s New “Skyactiv-X” Gasoline-Powered Diesel Engine
On August 8, on the finance-oriented website Seeking Alpha, at https://seekingalpha.com/article/4096302-mazdas-new-invention-diesel-without-diesel?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-widget, Anton Wohlman posted an article titled “Mazda’s New Invention: Diesel, Without The Diesel.” Its summary contains the following:
Here’s an impressive 3-minute video touting the “Skyactiv” diesel technology that preceded its new “Skyactiv-X” announcement: https://www.mazda.se/filmer/technology/skyactiv-diesel/
Mazda’s August 8 press release is here: https://insidemazda.mazdausa.com/press-release/mazda-announces-long-term-vision-technology-development-sustainable-zoom-zoom-2030/ Its Item #2, about 2/3 down the page, describes the technological innovations and desirable features of the “Skyactiv-X Next-Generation Engine.” The key innovations are “maximizing the zone in which compression ignition is possible and achieving a seamless transition between compression ignition and spark ignition.”
Here is a January 13 article on Autoguide.com, at http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2017/01/mazda-s-new-engine-tech-will-cut-fuel-consumption-by-a-third.html, titled “Mazda’s New Engine Tech Will Cut Fuel Consumption By a Third.” It states:
Greater efficiency implies lower CO2 emissions. Several commenters defend the viability of EVs, partially in response to the first commenter on the Seeking Alpha thread, Yambol, who wrote:
I don’t know if this is a flash in the pan, like the sort of never-heard-of-again breakthroughs sometimes featured in Popular Mechanics-type magazines. The expanded partnership with Toyota and the new North American factory they’re building gives me hope that this has real substance.
Roger –
Thanks. I can say “wow!” too. I watch for this sort of thing and you caught me by surprise. Very good story and not one I’ve found in the MSM or even alternative news sources. The thanks are sincere.
If this technology performs as claimed, I’d guess it spells then end of EV’s for at least 20 years. If it performs as claimed.
That’s a big if, but off the wall miracles have happened in the past…
Roger,
Seems interesting, as they use the increased compression ratio of a diesel engine (= efficiency), without the extra particulates caused by direct injection of the fuel. The trick seems to be to adjust the moment of ignition with a spark for a lean mixture, as a rich mixture will start burning too soon and a lean mixture too late – or not at all – for best performance.
As that is -relative- easy to implement (diesel engines already use demand dependent timing changes for injection or even multiple injections), I suppose that will not take long before on the market…
The only drawback I see is that NOx will go up as you have most of the time a lot of excess air to reach the high compression, thus de-NOx measures will be necessary…
Alternative could be that they recycle part of the exhaust to reduce excess oxygen – and thus NOx -. As far as I remember, VW does something like that…
“I suppose that will not take long before on the market…”
My guess is that it will first be sold in Japan. it’s likely IMO that prototypes are working there now.
I can usually squeeze close to 50 mpg out of my 2014 Mazda 3 driving carefully with the current generation Skyactiv. So the next generation is looking at 65 mph, without hybrid technology add ons. Kudos to Mazda for taking their own path of innovation and not following the EV crowd.
IIRC the previous Skyactive engines from Mazda the compression ratio is more or less the same in petrol and diesel engines, about 16:1, both fitted with turbocharger. In a departure from mass production engines is that the inlet and exhaust vales and ports are “ported” for better gas flow. Also the exhaust headers/extractors are gas flowed, tuned mandrel bent steel tubes rather than a cast iron block, to improve efficiency.
Sign in Rufus, OR: No fuel for 94 miles, i.e. Madras. A zoo in Madras, with Japanese and Eiropean tourists taking over the Warm Springs Imdian Reservation.
I hope you are able to get photographs of the stars behind the shadow of the moon as it eclipses the sun as depicted in “The Science Channel” promotion of their coverage of the eclipse. That would be a WOW! moment.
Just in case the formation and strengthening of Harvey is blamed on global warming (because it will be), here’s the water temp anomaly…
http://icons-ak.wxug.com/data/images/sst_basin/at_anom_mm.gif