Pulse Tuning - Senior Design Project Advice

[minger]

Hi, I am coming into my senior design project and I have a question. Originally, my group was going to design a new cylinder head design without using poppet valves. Being that we only have 15 weeks, we figure we don't have nearly enough time. Wanting to keep an automotive related project, I suggested pulse tuning. I noted that many car companies have a 2-stage and a couple even a 3 stage intake manifold to account for this. I wanted to make a continously variable manifold to account for this at all RPM.

Doing quick calculations, I figured at 1000 rpm, the pulse would need to travel something like 50m before the valve opened again. Obviously you can't design an intake system that large. At high rpm obviously that gets cut to a reasonable number. Anyways, I also figured that you could use "modes" of vibration. Say the pulse oscillates between the valve and the manifold 16 times. Now, I only need to design for a few meters.

I guess my question is how much of an effect can I measure at low RPM due to this? I think at high rpm, I should be able to get a noticable efficiency increase, but how much will these "oscillations" hinder gains?

If you need a quick overview of pulse tuning, I'd be more than happy to explain. Or google it yourself ;)

Anyways, thanks for the help