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by Sterling
D. Allan
Pure Energy Systems News
Copyright ฉ 2009
Last Monday I interviewed
Raphial Morgado, inventor of the Massive Yet Tiny
engine. After two years
of silence, he announced on our show that his company, Angel Labs LLC is ready
to go into production with their engine design, to retrofit existing vehicles.
He made the astonishing assertion that the power-to-size ratio, or energy
density of his engine is so high that the engine size needed to retrofit
an SUV would be a little larger than an alternator -- tiny in comparison -- even
while having essentially the same cubic inch cylinder displacement. The
resulting vehicle would have better performance, while achieving the mileage of
a Prius.
And he is not talking out of some dream state. He has received some four
million dollars and built several
prototypes and has demonstrated them to thousands of people. In 2006 he
won first place in the "Create the Future" contest by NASA-Emhart's
Tech Briefs, competing against the likes of Boeing, Xerox, Caterpillar, Ford,
GE, and other industry
heavyweights.
 Inventor, Raphial Morgado, stands between a conventional engine and his engine that has comparable power output. |
He said his phone has been ringing continuously since our interview, with
investor interests, CEOs, and others wanting to help out. He may have a
few wrinkles to iron out in his business model, but the technology is amazing
and well worth the interest it is generating.
But if you think that is exciting, wait until you hear what else he has up his
sleeve.
When you can get the weight and size down so small while keeping the power up,
all kinds of possibilities open up that previously were not available. One
of those is personal flight capabilities.
I
was asking him if he saw our feature page about the Terrafugia
Transitionฎ flying car.
He responded, "That's not a 'flying car,' it is a 'roadable
aircraft'. People have been doing that for fifty years." He
explained that a flying car needs to be able to take off and land vertically,
which takes a lot more power. He also explained the "ground
effect" that makes it easier to fly helicopter-like craft near the ground
because they have something to push against.
He
said he approached the people at Muller
Skycar about his engine that would make their objective much easier to
achieve. But they never responded.
But he hasn't let that stop him. During his spare time, as a
"hobby", he works on a jetpack type of application in which a thruster
system with his engine and a turbine would be strapped to a person's back like a
backpack and would enable them to
go airborne -- and not just for a few seconds, but as long as an hour, he
predicts.
Because
of the weight of conventional systems, the longest anyone has been able to stay
airborne with a personal flight pack has been around 21 seconds.
If you can be
airborne for up to an hour between refueling, now you have a practical device
that can be used for personal transportation -- like in the Jetsons.
"Since earliest times, man has wanted to fly. Now he will be able
to," said Morgado.
He says his systems will be comprised of two 3.5-inch diameter engines,
one for backup, that would power a counter-rotating turbofan engine.
"It would be practical and safe, with redundancy built in."
"Because it is classified as light weight, you don't need FAA approval, as
long as you're flying under air traffic heights."
"It could happen this year", Morgado said, though quick to add again
that this is a "hobby" project of his, and that his main focus is to
be able to retrofit existing vehicle engines with his tiny engine. For
that project, he says he'll need $10 million to build a pilot production
facility. The reason the price is so low, relative to other engine
manufacturing paradigms, is because of the simplicity of his design. It
doesn't take nearly so much to build.
While the technology might be straightforward, one person I talked to wondered
about all the bureaucratic hoops he'll have to jump through -- the licensing,
certifying, safety testing -- which could cost $10 million itself.
But Morgado is an inventive optimist, with a lot of talented people offering
their input. The odds are good that he will somehow pull this off.
Ironically,
while he hasn't yet secured the funding to go into production with his engine,
he does have funding to pursue what he calls the "Angel Flight
Pack." But to him, this Segway of the Sky is fun, but would not
have the planetary impact that his engine as a retrofit would have. It
could profoundly reduce our footprint on the planet, save money on fuel,
eliminate our dependence on oil from unfriendly countries and controlling
interest -- all while creating around 2-3 million jobs. At least that is
what he envisions.
And that isn't all that he has up his sleeve.
The military has been one to show some of the greatest interest in Morgado's
technology and has wanted to keep him busy building their systems alone.
But he insists on also providing these technologies to the public.
# # #
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Top
100: Engines
> Retrofits
> MYT
> Interview: Massive Yet Tiny Engine Going to Production - World famous inventor, Raphial Morgado, sets forth a plan for his technology roll-out without requiring auto maker's cooperation. One of Angel Labs' retrofit engines the size of an alternator could replace an SUV engine, increasing performance, and yielding mileage as good as a Prius. (PESN; Jan. 13, 2009) |
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| Page composed by Sterling
D. Allan Jan. 18, 2009 Last updated November 29, 2012 |
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Massive Yet Tiny
engine
