24 Department of Mechanical & Automobile Engineering

Vol. 5, 2009
The IRIS Engine is a design for a new type of internal
combustion engine. Its inventors say that engines
constructed using this design can be smaller, lighter and
significantly more efficient than traditional engines of
comparable horsepower and displacement. The design
replaces the piston and cylinder architecture of
conventional engines with a purportedly novel
mechanism called the Internally Radiating Impulse
Structure, or IRIS.
In January 2008, the IRIS Engine design won first prize
for transportation technology in NASAs annual Create
the Future design competition. In October 2008, the
Radial Expansion Engine (RXE), a variant of the IRIS
design, won a major award in the ConocoPhillips Energy
Prize competition.
Geometry of the IRIS
In an IRIS combustion chamber, a number of inverted
segments of a circle, or chordons, interact to create a
continuously sealed chamber of variable volume. Instead
of elongating during combustion, as a traditional engine
does, the IRIS engines chamber expands in diameter.
The inventors claim that this innovation will reduce waste
heat and will increase the amount of surface area the
engine has available to produce torque.
The Iris Combustion Cycle
The iris offers the simplicity of a two stroke combustion
cycle with the efficency of a four stroke engine. The design
utilizes an innovative valve /vent system that also enables
the engine to breathe far more effectively.
IRIS Engine
Anmol Kumar & Puneet Kalra
Third year, Mechanical Engineering
Department of Mechanical & Automobile Engineering 25
Vol. 5, 2009
The IRIS offers the simplicity of a two-stroke
combustion cycle with the efficiency of a four-stroke
engine. The design utilizes an innovative valve/vent
system that also enables the engine to breathe far
more effectively than traditional piston-in-cylinder
mechanisms