Single cylinder research engines (SCRE)
With over 100 years of SCRE experience, Ricardo can help to accelerate and derisk your sustainable engine research with access to proven designs and hardware, expert knowledge of alternative fuels, access to test facilities and provide technical support during each phase of your R&D programme.
Single cylinder research engines: a versatile and valuable development tool
Ricardo has a family of proven single cylinder research engines (SCRE) to support the advancement of decarbonisation. The hardware is available to buy and compatible with alternative fuels including hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and bio-fuels. In addition, customers can benefit from expert support including set up and installation, adaptation of labs, understanding safety requirements of new fuels, testing and development, and understanding data and results.
Projects
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Read insightOur products
Ricardo has many single-cylinder and multi-cylinder engine test beds and extensive workshops.
Hydra
0.5 litre with bores from 65mm to 110mm and stroke up to 110mm for passenger cars, low-carbon vehicles, off-highway and power generation applications. Available in standard and customer designs.
Proteus 300
1–3 litre with bores from 120mm to 145mm and strokes from 130mm to 170mm for heavy-duty vehicles, off-highway and power generation applications. Available in standard and custom designs, and suitable for hydrogen
Atlas II
Bores of 150mm to 200mm and strokes of up to 280mm, 3–10 litre for marine, off-highway and power generation applications (high speed). Available in fully customisable designs,
Prometheus II
Bores of 200mm to 300mm and strokes of up to 1500mm, 10 litre+ for marine, off-highway and power generation applications (medium speed).
Ricardo's expertise
Ricardo has the know-how to engineer and procure the power unit for any size and fuel type, covering engine bores from 65mm to 300mm. We have the test facilities and our own fully designed, tested, and proven SCRE family which can be contracted to support component development, and accelerate and de-risk your development.
We offer four single-cylinder engine families – light duty, medium duty, heavy duty, and a large engine– known as Hydra, Proteus, Atlas and Prometheus II respectively. All ranges comprise standard designs as well as custom versions, designed specifically to satisfy particular requirements of individual customers.
Ricardo single cylinder engines can be used to carry out a wide range of testing, such as:
- Alternative or sustainable fuel testing
- Core combustion design testing
- Injector or other component development testing
- Lubrication evaluation testing
- Combustion modelling and simulation correlation testing
For a full list of the tests we can run, please contact our experts
In addition to the supply of standard and custom hardware, a wide range of services can be provided to assist testing operations for the single-cylinder engine including:
- Spares availability assured for past, current and future specifications
- Supply of conversion kits
- Supply of test stands and test equipment
- Full suite of training courses to support clients’ single-cylinder training needs
From understanding policy and strategy, to full life cycle analysis, design, integration, test and validation, Ricardo has expert knowledge of alternative fuels. Combined with over 100 years of SCRE expertise, we are uniquely placed to support you in converting or adapting your existing engine to be compliant with new or alternative fuel requirements.
Ricardo has a proven tool chain to turn data from single cylinder research engines into digital models, providing our clients with another option to accelerate their development at a lower cost. Ricardo offers digital twins from both single cylinder and multi-cylinder engines.
Ricardo has over 60 years of experience of in-cylinder photography in both diesel, gasoline, and alternative fuels. Various techniques have been employed in this work and considerable expertise has been developed, giving valuable insights and increased understanding of air motion, fuel spray behavior and fuel quality criteria.
To maintain our leading edge, we review and update our designs to meet customer expectations and the needs of the future. Our policy of continuous development and the monitoring of ever-changing requirements means you can be sure the right products will be available from Ricardo.
Single cylinder research engines (SCRE) Resources
