LESS in action. Proven in the real world.
We currently have two working TRL5 prototypes. The first one is a compressor and the second is a 2-cylinder, 4-stroke, gasoline-powered ICE. Our prototype already proves LESS’ size benefit with a 50% reduction in volume and a 60% reduction in weight vs a conventional engine of roughly comparable power output. We are also building a prototype of a pump for high-pressure applications (such as deep wells) using our mechanism.
Compressor Prototype
On the right you can see one of the first tests of the LESS mechanism used as a compressor.
Unfortunately, due to NDAs we cannot publicly share any details about our compressor designs. If you are interested in information about our compressor designs, please contact us directly.
Pump Prototype
Unfortunately, we cannot publicly share any details about our pump prototypes at this moment, other than that it’s a high-pressure piston pump that is aimed at Deep Well installations up to 300 meters below the surface. If you are interested in information about our pump design, please contact us.
Internal Combustion Engine Prototype
Our first TRL5 prototype is a 2-cylinder (216cc each), 4-stroke, gasoline ICE and was built to be the same size as a general-purpose engine we had available.
Click here to launch a fully interactive 3D view of our 1st Engine Prototype that allows you to view each component directly, and how the engine operates.
Note: This version was built as a proof of concept, and not to showcase the improvements of our mechanism compared to traditional crankshaft engines. It was based on a 70s design of an industrial motor, and our focus was on ease of manufacture, testing, and experimentation.
As such, it should not be seen as a showcase of our design, or as a properly designed ICE for production.
Below you can see our prototype (left) compared to a single-cylinder general-purpose industrial engine:
Last but not least, below, you can find a video of the engine in use:
LESS Engine V2
Thanks to a €500K grant by the Greek government, we built a second, TRL6 prototype of an Internal Combustion Engine, using all the knowledge & data we have acquired from the first prototype, and designed to be more production-ready. One of the build stages of the prototype, connected to a dyno, can be seen below.
The prototype was also shown in the Smart Cities Expo that took place at The Zappeion on 16-17/6/2023. Below you can see a picture of G-Drill’s booth, as well as the prototype mounted to a dyno.
Preliminary Results
After successfully completing the required 3D CFD Simulations, and building and testing a prototype, the LESS V2 prototype is already showing promising results, even though there is still more R&D required to finalize the design. Below is an graph of the simulated/expected IMEP of LESS V2, along with its experimentally measured data.
We can also show a comparison between the Indicated Torque of LESS V2 and an existing comparable engine.
Last but not least, while the LESS-2 prototype already showed promising results, further analysis and development of the design for a 3rd iteration, LESS-3, shows that a significant increase in the power output of the can be achieved, with an IMEP of 11.68 bar @ 2000 rpm (an increase of 33.5% over LESS-2), and 13.85 bar @ 5000 rpm (an increase of 68% over LESS-2).
