Complete Vaporization through Proper Preheating

Anthony P. O'Donnell gives an account of a series of experiments he performed to increase fuel efficiency by heating the fuel using the exhaust from his car. Successes and shortcomings presented.

Editor's Note: What I picture in reviewing Anthony's design, to resolve his lag problem, is to construct an expandable/contractible diaphragm to house the fully mixed vapor. The diaphragm would contract for sudden acceleration needs, until the jets catch up to replenish. Before proceeding further please look at the following This will cost no money, and time required ( less than one minute ) Principle For Good Science The experiments must be repeatable and must produce the same results for any one who conducts the experiment the same way Equipment Required: Boiling Kettle Normal house hold Electric Fan Heater What to do 1 Boil the kettle and keep it boiling 2 Look closely at the steam vapour as it leaves the spout 3 You will see nothing right at the spout lip 4 At a short distance from the spout lip, you will see the beginnings of droplet formation that increases to form the plume of condensed steam cloud with which we are all familiar 5 Turn on the fan heater on heating 6 Direct the hot air from the fan heater onto the kettle spout, right at the plume of condensed drops 7 You will see the plume of droplets just disappears, and does not condense further, the steam dissipates into the surrounding atmosphere without condensing.

8 This leads one to the following questions :

Q 8.1 Why does (7) above happen? Q8.2 What happens in an internal combustion Engine? After you have tried the kitchen experiment we can go on, Please know that you will not need to do any more experiments after this one Would you please have a look at the following. I hope that you will not find it too tedious, but I hope that you will like the logic Q 8.1 Why does (7) above the steam and the hot air from the heater happen? When the liquid water is heated the temperature rises. At an atmospheric pressure of 14.7 psi absolute, when the water temperature reaches 100 C the liquid water turns into a gas called steam. The water vapour (as invisible steam), leaves the kettle spout ,at a temperature of 100 C, and discharges into the surrounding atmosphere. For discussion purposes , lets say this atmosphere is at the days temperature say at 25 C. Heat always flows from hotter to colder. Heat flows out of the hot 100 C steam jet, into the surrounding 25 C air. This raises the temperature of the surrounding air in the immediate vicinity of the steam jet. As heat flows from the steam jet, the water vapour jet temperature falls to less than 100 C. The reduction in temperature is causes the gaseous water vapour to condense back into fine drops. We then see the condensed drops ( not the steam)as the jet out of the boiling kettle spout. When the hot air from the fan heater discharge is applied to the steam from the kettle spout, there is no such condensation. Why? The hot air is at a temperature of or above 100C . This hot+ 100 C air mixes with the invisible 100 C steam coming out of the spout. During the mixing process the steam disperses through out the fan heater hot air discharge. Because of ratio of the volume of hot air in relation to the volume of steam, the resulting mixture of Steam ( water vapour) and air is not saturated at the resultant mixture temperature. The steam air mixture dew point temperature is the temperature at which the condensation occurs;

If the dew point of the mixture is less than the 25 Degrees ambient air temperature, condensation does not occur. The steam jet, (the water vapour) from the kettle spout, is diluted with warm air and then just disperses through into the surrounding ambient air, without forming fog. Obviously if the ambient air temperature is lowered, like on a rainy day, then condensation will occur, just as when it rains on a rainy day On any fine day, there is water vapour in the air, but the temperature is above the temperature at which condensation will occur. On the fine day, the amount of moisture is expressed as relative humidity. Eg 35% means that the air is carrying only 35% of the water vapour it is capable of carrying at the days temperature. When carrying the maximum amount of water vapour for a given temperature the air is said to be saturated ie 100 % loaded At 100 % relative humidity it is condensing ie raining In the kettle experiment the following are the key parameters 1 The liquids boiling temperature 2 The initial hot air temperature that first contacts and mixes with the vapour 3 The vapour and hot initial air mixture ratio 4 The vapour and air mixture condensation temperature ie the dew point temperature Obviously, the liquid does not have to be water, it can be anything even molten steel heated up until it becomes a vapour The liquid can be gasoline To achieve the best economy the gasoline must not be in the form droplets

Q8.2 What happens in an internal combustion Engine? Consideration #1 Do you remember seeing the Bunsen burner in science class. There were two ways of operating it

The first way was with the little air valve located at the base of the vertical tube shut. The gas flame was orange, a cool low temperature flame , and made a lot of soot, which would deposit on any surface the flame came in contact with. The second way was with the little air valve located at the base of the vertical tube open. The gas flame was blue, a very hot high temperature flame , and made a lot of no soot, which would not deposit on any surface ( Even a cold metal one) that the flame came in contact with. The two ways of Burning are called First One Second One Post Mix Premix

Consideration #2 Remember the old kerosene fuelled camping stoves, and blow lamps. They were not so easy to start, first orange flame with a lot of soot, then the hot blue flame, no soot

Consideration #3 Liquid fuel does not burn, it must be converted into a gaseous or vapour state first

Consideration #4 A bubble of air in Honey Do you recall seeing a bubble of air in Honey at the breakfast table. The air bubble just stays in the same place or rises very slowly. If the jar of honey is moved around even shaken, the bubble just stays in the same place realive to the honey. There is virtually no relative velocity between the bubble and the honey. _Consideration #4 Liquid Fuel. The spherical drop contains a volume of fuel, that has a a weight.

Double the size of the spherical drop, and the volume of fuel inside increases by 8 times. The weight of the drop also increases 8 times The shape of cross section of the sphere is a circle. Double the size of the spherical drop and the cross sectional area increases by 4 times, If the drop size is made smaller, say halved. The volume goes down to 1/8, so the weight goes down to cone goes 1/8 The crossectional area goes down to 1/4, as compared with 1/8 for the weight The area has doubled in relation to the weight If the drop size is 100 times smaller, the crossectional area relative to the weight is 100 times greater The smaller the drop the greater the cross sectional area relative to the weight

Consideration #5 A drop of fuel in a moving Air stream As one is driving along in a car, sometimes we all put our hand out the window and let the air blow over it. Depending on how fast the car is going there can be quite a wind force applied to our hand The moving air sees the drop cross sectional area like our hand outside the car. The moving air blows the drop along with the air stream. Provided the wind force is SMALL relative to the weight of the drop, there can be a large wind speed relative to the drop surface. But as the drop gets smaller, the cross sectional area relative to the weight gets much greater. The wind force becomes much greater in comparison with the drop weight. So the drop is blown around more easily. The wind speed relative to the drop speed becomes even smaller For smaller and smaller drops, the drop of fuel in air stream moves like a bubble of air in honey

Consideration #6 Evaporation from a liquid's surface

If one takes a bottle and fills it to say 5% full with water/. If the top is left open, over time the water evaporates until it is all gone. If the top is closed, some water will evaporate, but most will remain as liquid in the bottle. The initial evaporation in the closed bottle continues until the air above the surface of the liquid cannot hold any more water vapour. ie it becomes saturated. ie at 100 % relative humidity. The evaporation process stops. To evaporate more water, the water vapour laden air, above the liquid surface, must be moved and replaced with air that has unused capacity is able to absorb more water vapour. With continued air replacement the evaporation process will continue until all the liquid e water has completely evaporated The evaporation of liquid from surface of a drop behaves the same way. For a drop of fuel in a moving air stream : 1 as the drop size becomes smaller 2 the relative speed of the air over the drop surface becomes smaller 3 the rate of saturated air removal slows down 4 the evaporation rate from the drop surface slows down. 5 the vaporation rate can slow to be so that it is virtually zero Conclusion The above means that the creation of smaller and smaller drops ie finer and finer atomisation is a self limiting process and will not aid more complete evaporation This also means ever increasing fuel pressures in fuel injection sytems will be self limiting in terms of their ability to achieve finer and finer atomisation. The same applies to atomisation via a carbureter

Consideration #7 How does the normal engine run From considerations #1 through # 6, the conclusion would tend to be that internal combustion engines on gasoline are running without converting the liquid fuel to vapour, and the vapour is not properly mixed with the air and so in effect operates on POST MIX, and NOT PREMIX with the hot blue flame .

Consideration # 7a Due to increased surface area caused by atomisation, there is some partial evaporation of some of the gasoline components If there was none, ignition would not occur at all, but it obviously does, so there is some. Through the combustion process more fuel is evaporated, and subsequently burnt. When an engine is run without the exhaust manifolds, one can see flames coming out the exhaust. This means that fuel is still burning during the exhaust stroke, and during the latter part of the power stroke. None of which contributes to driving the engine. Only that part of the fuel which is converted to vapour and adequately mixed is be able to burn in the effective part of the power stroke ie where the piston has maximum leverage about the crank and contributes meaning fully to power out the crankshaft. On normal engines, a lot of fuel has to be put in to generate the required amount of vapour, to drive the engine . A lot of extra air has also to go in to burn the other fuel components not burnt usefully. That is more pumping work for the engine, and less to go out the crank as useful work. The obvious solution is to precondition the fuel into a vapour, mix it well with incoming air prior to ignition onset. The result would be increased Fuel Economy. less air pollution and much less of all the side effects of air pollution, health etc Has this been done before ? (Yes) Is it hard to do now? (No not when you know how to. That is what this all about ) _ Consideration #8 The finest atomisation This would be to achieve atomisation into individual molecules of the fuel. To do this one must evaporate the fuel. The kitchen experiment

One way is as per the kitchen experiment with a system the equivalent of the kettle The mixing would need to be a system equivalent to hot air from the fan heater Consideration #9 The temperatures required for the kitchen experiment were To boil the water 100 C To mix the steam without droplet condensation, the air from the heater will need to be over 100C Thermocouple Temperature measurements indicated a hot air discharge temperature of 160C Consideration #10 Temperatures for evaporating or boiling gasoline Most gasolines comprise a mixture of many hydrocarbons in various types and forms. Some begin to boil off at relatively low temperatures others at higher. Typically Ref Marks Mech Engineers hand book, Eigth Edition, Page 7.17, tabel 13 % evaporated 10 max 50 min 50 max 90 Max End point Residue Temp F 158 170 250 374 437 Temp(C) (70) (76) (121) (190) (225)

2 <_This is very important later

For an indication of Pressure vs Temperature curves for various hydrocarbons, see the attached chart from 1942. The above data indicates that if one heats all the gasoline up to 200 C, the vapour pressure of the lightest components will be very high. ie To contain that pressure is quite a task. Hence the heating of the gasoline has to be done the right way, as you will see later Conclusion For gasoline the, Design Temperature would need to be about + 200 deg Centigrade

Consideration #11 As per the kitchen experiment, To avoid condensation of the gasoline component vapour, the Hot Air Mixing temperature would also need to be 200 deg C

Consideration #12 Considerations #10, & #11 are the basis for the Process Design Heat flows from a hot source to a cold source. To be able to heat something to +200 C then a heat source above + 200 C must be found. There are obviously many ways of doing this but if the objective is to increase fuel efficiency the + 200 C heat source should not require an extra energy source to be powered up to generate the + 200 C. The heat generation rate must be sufficient to meat the heat demand to heat both the fuel and air to 200C The energy source logically would be from engine waste heat that would other wise be lost. There are a number of sources Engine coolant Exhaust gas Automatic Transmission oil Engine sump oil Engine Coolant operates at 85 C to 112 C or whatever the thermostat is set at. The coolant is not near 200 C, so is not suitable, except to aid temperature control or some degree of Preheating of either air of fuel Automatic transmission oil may be hot enough, but not of sufficient quantity Sump oil would probably not be hot enough, and but would not be of sufficient quantity That leaves only the Exhaust Gas Marks , Mechanical Engineers Hand Book , Eigth Edition, Page 9- 109. Fig 62 Relative Speed % Exhaust Temperatures Deg F ( C) Low load High Load

10 20 40 60 80 100

300 (148) 400 (204) 550 (288) 650 (343) 750 (398) 800 (426)

900 (480) 1000 (537) 1200 (648) 1350 (732) 1480 (804) 1600 (871)

If maximum engine speed is about 5500 RPM, Then idle is at about 550 RPM would yield 148 C Normal Driving is at about 1200 -1300 RPM, at 60 kph ie22 .7 % Rel speed, would yields about 200C These temperatures can easily be verified with a thermocouple in contact with the exhaust manifold For ecomomy ,the Exhaust temperature at low load would be about 200 C Conclusion :The exhaust gas is a suitable heat source

Consideration #13 Current status 1 2 3 The temperatures required are known The heat source has been determined Next is the mechanical design of the heat exchange equipment to achieve the process design 4 Heat flow is from hot to cold

5 The greater the temperature difference between the hot fluid and the cold fluid the greater the heat transfer rate 6 The greater the heat transfer rate, the smaller the equipment, the cheaper the equipment

7 The shorter the conductivity path in the both the heating fluid and the fluid to be heated the faster the heat transfer will occur.

8 9

That faster the heat transfer, the more rapid will be the responce to changing conditions The lighter the equipment, the less material there is to heat up

Heat exchanger Configuration Counter flow Type Tubular Max Volume with minimum external surface area and so minimum losses Conductivity path short suggests concentric tubes within tubes, with only slight change in diameter Material Operating temperatures would require stainless steel The next questions are: 1 What size does it all need to be ? 2 How is this determined ?

Consideration #14 VERY IMPORTANT What is the minimum temperature to prevent condensation and the reformation of fine drops ? This depends on the type of fuel and the fuel vapour to air ratio Please see attached chart. SAE Journal, Vol 22, No 4, page 4371928, Volatility temperature Curves. These curves are attached and show the dew points, or condensation temperatures for various fuel to air ratios for the gasolines at that time. NOTE : Current gasoline compositions are different , BUT the curves can still be used as a guide for todays gasolines Consideration #15 In Experiment # 40, 11 /10/1977, an experiment was done to overcome ice formation This involved feeding fuel from a flow control valve, into a tubular heat exchanger which was located directly in contact with the exhaust gasses ieit was inserted directly into the exhaust manifold of a 272 Ford V8. The tune was 3/8 OD copper and was about 32 long.

This produced 100 % gasoline vapour from an input liquid gasoline flow up to 2 Imp Gall per hour , or roughly 9litres per hour. This copper tubular vapouriser is the equivalent to the kettle Consideration #16 On March 25,1993 Experiment # 63 was done. This comprised a inch (12.5 mm) OD , 0/071 wall thickness, copper tube was fed through the exhaust manifold of a 161cubic inch displacement 6 cylinder OHV Holden engine. The tube was a single pass through the exhaust manifold and then fed the heated fuel and air into the top of the standard carburetor directly into the intake manifold. Temperatures measurements were taken using a digital thermometer, with arrange up to 1000 deg C The temperature out of the vapouriser was 48 C ie this was not enough The solution is to increase the heat transfer Area For Experiment # 64 Another pass of copper tube was added. The air was preheated through this pass and fed into the inlet with the cold fuel. This air temperature was better but still was only at 115C The solution is to increase the heat transfer Area even more For Experiment # 65, For the next experiment 2m of 25 OD copper tube was fitted down the center of the 52 MM OD exhaust pipe. This produced an air temperature 95C air This 95 C air was then Fed into The intake of the previous experiment. The temperature of the air and fuel vapour mixture into the top of the carburetter reached 140C The feed line size into the engine was only OD, ie quite small , so the engeine speed was limited by this size restriction. The solution is to increase the flow capacity by increasing the flow area and the heat transfer Area even more For Experiment # 66, a 2 OD (65mm) 2 m long copper tube was put around the outside of the copper exhaust pipe. The hot air from this heat exchanger was fed directly into the engine. The fuel and air vapour mixture from previous experiment # 65 at 150 Deg C was the redirected to mix with the 90 Deg C hot air from the new heat exchanger.( same task as the fan heater) Result.

The engine speed was able to be increased. The standard carburetor was removed leaving only the throttle body to regulate speed. And 18 thermocouple measuring points added. A comprehensive testing was begun at a range of steady speeds. Fuel metering was via a small needle valve from a model aero engine. The engine ran for hours on gasoline vapour, and the temperature regimes were right; Note : Photos are available. The important calculation could now be done measure the actual ,the heat transfer area required to heat the air and the fuel and compared to the engine displacement This number was calculated to be 4.75 sq ins of heat transfer area per cubic inch of engine displacement This data means a heat exchanger of the same type could be designed to suite any given engine size. The only problem was variability. Every time the throttle was changed on the air side, the fuel side would have to be manually reset to the most economical setting. Consideration #17 The next design, Exp # 69, Aug 92 was a copper heat exchanger, with a larger 72 long diameter, 4 pass copper tube vapouriser. The air to exhaust gas heat exchanger was mounted around this tubular vapouriser. The exchanger consisted of concentric tubes starting at 2 and increasing to 6 OD in diameter increments This design used 7.5 sq ins of heat transfer area per cubic inch of engine displacement. This compares with the previous 4.75 sq ins of heat transfer area per cubic inch of engine displacement, as used on the 161 Holden engine. The resultant temperatures should be even hotter The entire assembly was one piece and was built to bolt directly on to the engines head, ie in place of the existing exhaust manifold. Gas flows were redirected internally by a series of internal ports. The tubular vapouriser discharge temperatures hit 380C ( A Very Good Kettle)

The air temperatures out of the heat exchanger were +200C ( A very Good Fan heater) The failure was in the thermal expansion. Its (I am ashamed to say) effects were overlooked. The air exhaust heat exchanger began cracking up from the first moment of use. Extensive garage testing ,on the car, was done at different engine speeds. A road test was done on a tired old 1978 Falcon , running on 5 cylinders, and still managed to get 40 mpg. Even though the equipment was all broken the result was still good I had never got 40 mpg out of my falcons previously But I did get 40 mpg out of my mini with an 850cc engine The problem of control, ie being able to control air to fuel ratio at different speeds ie obtaining variability (while driving at varying load conditions ) still remained . Every time the throttle was changed on the air side, the fuel side would have to be reset to the most economical setting. One other important observation was made. The tubular vapouriser had some form of deposit build up taking place. This is caused by the residue in the Fuel. See Consideration # 10 The solution to the control problem is: The engine management system ie all the sensors and the ECU Note : Photos are available. Consideration #18 The next design, was experiment # 86, Dec 98 was built. There were no thermal expansion problems. The required temperature ranges were achieved. This was all fitted to a 97 4.1l 6 cylinder OHC Falcon Sedan, 3000LB This system is described in the document Fuel 1

The tubular vapouriser 72 of copper tube is retained in a purpose built carbon steel exhaust manifold. To achieve Fuel to Air Ratio Control at different engine speeds a second set of 6 injectors was fitted. Fuel is fed into the vapouriser by 6 extra fuel injectors. These extra 6 injectors were also controlled by the ECU. A purpose built wiring lume, with a change over switch, was used to ensure that the ECU controlled only one set of injectors at any one time A separate fuel piping was used with turn ball valves to redirect fuel from the normal fuel rail to the injectors feeding the vapouriser . After warm up these valves were set so that fuel could only be supplied to one set of injectors at one time . This approach resulted in ECU control of injectors used to feeded the vapouriser. The engine could operate on vapour, at fuel to air ratio as set by the ECU. The accelerator throttle could be varied and the ECU would automatically correct the fuel to match the air flow. This gave Fuel to Air ratio CONTROL at varying air demands for the first time The equipment The air, to feed the engine. is preheated in a stainless steel exhaust to air heat exchanger. There are 3 concentric tubes 2, 3 and 4, all 10 ft long Exhaust goes between the 2 and 3 Air goes down the 2, Air also goes between the 3 and 4 The external surface of the 4 is covered with of rock wool insulation. The design heated all the air up to 200C . It was cumbersome and can be refined further, The single vapouriser was fed by all 6 injectors, This did induce a throttle response lag. A possible solution: With one shorter tube per injector, the response time would be much faster.

Also the use of 6 vapourisers in parrallel, would mean the response time would be 6 times faster. Each vapouriser would also be much shorter at least 1/6 of the single one . All up this would add up to 36 times faster response which would reduce the lag, and virtually eliminate it But this car achieved 5l per 100K on the road. Ie 60 mpg. A lot better than 40 mpg achieved previously. This system still exists, can still be used today. Note : Photos and Drawings are available.

Consideration #19 The next design, experiment # 87, Aug 2000, was built This was fitted to a 98, 4.1l Falcon Sedan. Only part of the air is heated to 200 C, The design basis is based extrapolations from the Voliatility temperature curves SAE of 1928. The heat exchanger is smaller, and replaces the existing exhaust manifold. The tubular vaporizer is no longer used, eliminating throttle lag altogether Only one set of Injectors are used, as compared with a separate set for the vapouriser feed. With only one set of injectors, the duplicate wiring, fuel piping ,controls are eliminated This is all achieved by means of the injector bosses. Exp 87 is described in the PCT application. With the injector boss design approach, there is no solids residue problem No solids accumulated in the injector bosses This car also achieved 5l per 100K on the road. Ie 60 mpg. But another problem revealed itself. The oxygen sensors own temperature requirements. The sensor must be up to temperature to send the correct signal.

Low temperature, will result in a lean mixture signal being sent to the ECU. The ECU then will enrichen the mixture and continue to do so, This causes the engine to run Fuel Richer than the manufacturer intended, reducing economy which showed up on long trips measure by the tankful The car also smelled rich at the tail pipe right from the start These short comings are designed out in the next design Note : Photos and Drawings are available.

Consideration # 20 The heat exchanger for design * 87 is complicated and expensive to make. An earlier experiment # 73, was done using a simple rockwool fibre insulated sheet metal shroud around the standard cast iron exhaust manifold. The air was drawn across the manifold surface , but underneath the insulated sheet metal shroud. The gap between the outer surface of the exhaust manifold and the under surface of the externally insulated sheetmetal shroud was 6 mm or less. All the air for the engine was drawn in this way and resulted in 300 C air to the intake in less than 15 minutes.

Consideration # 21 The next design utilizes the above insulated sheet metal shroud concept, along with the injector bosses, plus a new valve design that is called the hot valve. The insulated sheet metal shroud will be much cheaper and easier to make than the previous heat exchanger. The hot valve is a simple 3 butterfly design. All three butterflies are on one common shaft. The two shaft support bearings are located at each shaft end. The central butterfly is the hot valve but it has no bearings to over heat. The hot central butterfly shaft has a close but clearance fit into the hot central butterfly housing.

The outer butterflies, throttle the cooler air, the shaft support bearings always remain cool , while central housing runs hot, but without any shaft support bearings that would be subject to loss of lubricant at high temperatures and subsequent bearing seizure and throttle jamming problems. The central butterfly regulates the very hot air to the injector bosses. The outer butterflies regulate the normal air supply to the intake manifold. The oxygen sensor will be in the normal position, and at the correct temperature. The result is an economical design, with the more complex parts readily amenable to mass production. Note : Some Photos and Some Drawings are available.

Consideration #22 To increase economy the engine can be leaned out further Oxygen sensor switching point normally 14.7: 1 This can be adjusted, retaining the standard oxygen sensor with a suitable control box to lean out the mixture. I will go into this later THE OXYGEN SENSOR

There appears to be two outstanding technical problems to overcome. Problem # 1 Oxygen sensor As I understand it , the oxygen sensor must be up to temperature to function properly. If not up to temperature, a signal to enrich the mixture will be the result. In the Fuel 1 design ie EXP # 86, with the long tube/exhaust pipe heat exchanger, the oxygen sensor was located at the exhaust manifold discharge, before the exhaust gas was fed into the heat exchanger. That means the oxygen sensor was up to temperature and would function properly On the shell and tube design, EXP # 87 , the oxygen sensor was located at this heat exchangers exhaust gas outlet. This location was too cool and so the oxygen sensor was not able to get up to temperature so as to operate as it is intended to do. i.e.instead the cooler sensor generated a rich mixture. This was reflected in the long distance fuel consumption figures.

The solution is to locate the oxygen sensor in the correct temperature location, OR to take off exhaust heat downstream from the existing oxygen sensor location. This problem is readily solvable. The following observations leads support to the above explanation. During Testing of The fuel 1 design, the exhaust smelled almost not like an exhaust at all. During the tests with the shell and tube exchanger the exhaust smelled as though the engine was running fuel rich. Problem # 2 NOX Generation The increased economy comes from running on a vapour air mixture. On fuel 1 the speed at idle increased from about 650 RPM to 1300 by simply changing over to vapour hot air mixture. To push the car along at a given speed requires a suitable gas pressure applied to the top of the piston. This is achieved by raising the intake air to a given temperature This is done by burning the vapour form of the fuel. If the intake is raised to a higher temperature, then the gas pressure will be higher, and applying more force to the top of the piston and so make the piston go down faster. i.e. the engine will speed up as per the observation of Fuel 1 idle speed. To maintain a given speed , the throttle is cut back, causing less fuel and air to be used for the same engine speed. i.e. the engine becomes more economical. BUT there is a problem NOX. My limited understanding is that more NOX is generated by higher temperatures. The approach taken to reduce these temperatures has been since 1973 1 2 3 Retard the ignition Retard valve timing Add exhaust gas recirculation

Another alternative is to increase the amount of excess air. A given amount of fuel will have to heat a larger mass of air. The objective will still need to be to generate the same gas pressure on top of the piston. But the temperature required to do so will be less than that for a smaller amount of air.

The lower temperature will result in less NOX

A possible technical solution appears to be 1 2 Operate the engine on excess air to lower NOX Operate the engine with a vapour system to obtain the fuel economy

The existing oxygen sensors are designed to change state around the stoichiometric ratio. As I understand it this switching characteristic for existing sensors is fixed. Hence a new oxygen sensor (with air to fuel ratio adjustment) is required. Delphi have one. PLEASE do not be put off by the large shell and tube exhanger it is not needed, the standard as manufactured exhaust manifold {un modified} can be used. Without that heat exchanger the components are quite small. The O'Donnell High Economy Fuel Systems

Please click on the links [pending] below to view... Introduction WORD DOC: Introduction to The O'Donnell High Economy Fuel Systems IMAGE: Edward John Fegan1927chrysler Australia Kitchen Experiment WORD DOC: The Kitchen Experiment Sample Drawings WORD DOC: Introduction to Drawings IMAGE: 87-0002 Plan AUTOCAD FILE: 87-0006 Preheater Details Sample SAE Chart IMAGE: Hydrocarbon Press Temperature Curves Sample Typical Photos IMAGE: Exp 87 in the Car

See also
Other Carburetor Systems (index) http://www.himacresearch.com/