Ricardo plc
Encyclopedia
Ricardo plc is a British publicly listed company named after its founder, Sir Harry Ricardo
and founded on 30 June 1927 in Shoreham-by-Sea
, West Sussex
. The company is a leading global multi-industry engineering provider of technology, product innovation and strategic consulting. Ricardo develops engines, transmissions, vehicle systems, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and hybrid & electric systems. The industries served are in transportation, defense and clean energy.
, Chicago
, Detroit, Schwäbisch Gmünd
(Germany), Prague
, China, Japan, Korea, India, and Russia.
Harry Ricardo
Sir Harry Ricardo was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine....
and founded on 30 June 1927 in Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
. The company is a leading global multi-industry engineering provider of technology, product innovation and strategic consulting. Ricardo develops engines, transmissions, vehicle systems, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and hybrid & electric systems. The industries served are in transportation, defense and clean energy.
Company
As well as the Shoreham head office, there are technical centres in Royal Leamington Spa, CambridgeCambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit, Schwäbisch Gmünd
Schwäbisch Gmünd
Schwäbisch Gmünd is a town in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. With a population of around 62,000, the town is the second largest in the Ostalbkreis and the whole region of East Württemberg after Aalen...
(Germany), Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, China, Japan, Korea, India, and Russia.
Notable designs
- The Comet series of diesel engineDiesel engineA diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
s. One of the earliest types of indirect injectionIndirect injectionIn an internal combustion engine, the term indirect injection refers to a fuel injection where fuel is not directly injected into the combustion chamber...
system, the Comet's 'swirl' chambers made high-speed diesel engines practical. First used in AEC London Buses, and the 1935 Citroën RosalieCitroën RosalieThe original Citroën Rosalie was a light-weight racing car that established a succession of records at the Montlhéry racing circuit. More generally the Rosalie was a range of three models/sizes of automobile that comprised the core of Citroën's model range between 1932 and 1938...
passenger car, its pre-combustion system is still used in today's diesel engines and has been improved over the decades. - Gas turbineGas turbineA gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
Barostat fuel supply systems for jet engineJet engineA jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...
s, in conjunction with Sir Frank WhittleFrank WhittleAir Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air...
. - The draft-sensing three point linkageThree-point hitchThe three-point hitch most often refers to the way ploughs and other implements are attached to an agricultural tractor. The three points resemble either a triangle, or the letter A...
used by tractorTractorA tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
s. Ricardo's innovation was to automate it so that it only operates when the vehicle is moving. - Investigations into the Stirling engineStirling engineA Stirling engine is a heat engine operating by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas, the working fluid, at different temperature levels such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work....
for fuel-efficiency - commissioned by the U.S. Department of EnergyUnited States Department of EnergyThe United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
in 1978, it has scope for use in hybrid engines. - The Rutan Voyager's Teledyne Continental Motors aircraft engine, modified to fly around the world non-stop without refuelling.
- Direct fuel-injection systems for aircraft and automobile engines.
- About 1990 Ricardo undertook the development of an automatic layshaft transmission as part of an integrated power-train control system.
- Transmissions and engines for motor sport and speed records, notably the gearbox for the Audi R8 used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans24 Hours of Le MansThe 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
, the JCB DieselmaxJCB DieselmaxThe JCB Dieselmax is a diesel-engined 'Streamliner' car designed for the purpose of breaking the land speed record for a diesel-engined vehicle.The car was built for JCB...
diesel land speed recordLand speed recordThe land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a wheeled vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C flying start regulations are used, officiated by regional or national organizations under the auspices of the Fédération...
holder, and the DSGDirect-Shift GearboxThe Direct-Shift Gearbox , commonly abbreviated to DSG, is an electronically controlled dual clutch multiple-shaft manual gearbox, in a transaxle design - without a conventional clutch pedal, and with full automatic, or semi-manual control...
-type gearbox of the Bugatti VeyronBugatti VeyronThe Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engined grand touring car. The Super Sport version is the fastest road-legal production car in the world, with a top speed of . The original version has a top speed of...
. - Improving the BMW K1200 series motorcycle engineMotorcycle engineA motorcycle engine is an engine that powers a motorcycle.Motorcycle engines may be two-stroke or four-stroke, reciprocating or Wankel, single-cylinder or multicylinder , or single-rotor or twin-rotor . The engine typically drives the rear wheel, but some small bikes such as the Velosolex have a...
s which were subsequently fitted to the BMW MotorradBMW MotorradBMW Motorrad is the motorcycle brand of the German company BMW, part of its Corporate and Brand Development division. The current General Director of the unit is Hendrik von Kuenheim....
K1300S, K1300GT and K1300RBMW K1300RThe BMW K1300R is a naked motorcycle launched at the end of 2008 to replace the K1200R as BMW's flagship urban motorcycle. The K1300R produces a claimed @ 9,250 rpm from its 1,293 cc Inline-four engine with torque of @ 8,250 rpm...
models. - Executing the complete design of the six cylinder motor for the BMW MotorradBMW MotorradBMW Motorrad is the motorcycle brand of the German company BMW, part of its Corporate and Brand Development division. The current General Director of the unit is Hendrik von Kuenheim....
K1600GT and K1600GTL, and the design and manufacture of its transmission, under contract to BMW. - An engine capable of switching between two-stroke and four-stroke cycles is the result of a collaboration between Ricardo, DensoDENSOis a global automotive components manufacturer headquartered in the city of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Established December 16, 1949 as , in 1996 the company became DENSO Corporation worldwide...
, Jaguar Land-Rover and the Centre for Automotive Engineering at the University of Brighton. The engine is claimed to improve fuel economy by up to 25%. - The company collaborated with Xtrac LimitedXtrac LimitedXtrac Limited, also known as Xtrac Transmission Technology, is a British engineering company founded in 1984 by the former Hewland engineer Mike Endean to make 4WD systems and gearboxes for rallycross and later rally and racing cars...
to develop the Xtrac 1044 gearbox, supplied in 2010 to three Formula One teams: Lotus, VirginVirgin RacingMarussia Virgin Racing, the trading name of Virgin Racing Limited, is a Russian owned Formula One racing team based in the United Kingdom and racing on a Russian licence, which made its debut in the 2010 Formula One season. It was granted entry as Manor Grand Prix on 12 June 2009, as one of four...
and HRT. This gearbox is mated to the CosworthCosworthCosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...
CA2010 engine. - Ricardo helped McLarenMcLaren AutomotiveMcLaren Automotive, commonly referred to as McLaren, is a British automotive manufacturer of high-performance vehicles. The company was established as McLaren Cars in 1989 as a producer of road cars based on Formula One technology...
develop and produce the M838TMcLaren M838T engineThe McLaren M838T engine is a 3.8 litre twin-turbocharged flat-plane V8. Developed with help from Ricardo with technology acquired from Menard Competition Technologies, it is McLaren's first engine. The engine redlines at 8500 rpm, however 80% of the engine's torque is available as low as 2000 rpm...
, the latter's first ever engine. The new engine is built at Ricardo's new engine assembly facility in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.