I think a lot of commenters in articles like this will only think about automotive as a use case for alternative engine designs.
I'm reminded of a linear piston engine (iirc two pistons that just go back and forth without their motion being translated into rotation; one where they were side-by-side moving alternately, the other one where they'd actually move towards each other and share a combustion chamber). The use case for that was to have the pistons move through coils, thus generating electricity. We used to have a flashlight that works with the same principle, shake it to generate electricity.
My first thought went to cargo ships. They require huge motors, so I imagine that if you can keep or gain performance while reducing size they would be very interested.
this is backwards. the reason cargo ship engines are big is because they don't care about size. they would rather have a 2x bigger engine that was 1% more efficient
> this is backwards. the reason cargo ship engines are big is because they don't care about size. they would rather have a 2x bigger engine that was 1% more efficient
I'm reminded of a linear piston engine (iirc two pistons that just go back and forth without their motion being translated into rotation; one where they were side-by-side moving alternately, the other one where they'd actually move towards each other and share a combustion chamber). The use case for that was to have the pistons move through coils, thus generating electricity. We used to have a flashlight that works with the same principle, shake it to generate electricity.