Jake59
Active member
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- Kaggevinne, Flanders, belgium
All,
I have been facinated by engines my whole life. Managing fuel consumption has become an important element in my research ever since I was 10y old nd because I could barely aford buying a few liters of gasoline every week for my off-road use only, 1954 VW Beetle 1100cc and thus I've been tinkering with engines ever since to make them better... and I keep on doing so at the age of 62. However, I am not an engineer and I do not have any design or manufacturing facilities, but I have had plenty of hands-on and trial and error.
This is the best and final stage of what I have learned and I want to share this here with yall:
The information herein can be implemented on GM 6.2 diesel, but can also be used on many diesel engines which have mechanical pressure operated injectors (and also on gasoline engines, see further below) . This does not work on electromagnetic or piezo electric injectors as these will be destroyed due to the temperature.
Only fuel vapors burn, all droplets will go out the exhaust, be oxydized without delivering power to the engine, generate soot and ash, emissions, etc... .
Diesel fuel evaporates 100% at 400° celcius or 750° Fahrenheit. I have tried numerous methods for reaching this temperature and one of the obvious methods is by using the principles as found in the Charles Pogue carburettor, which actually makes very good sense: use the exhaust heat, which is definitely higher than 750° F to evaporate your fuel. The problem is however that it takes time before this temperature is rachead in the exhaust and more so, before this heat can be projected, transferred into a fuel vapor system. Also, admittedly, maintaining 750° in the exhaust is not always obvious.
Reaching the vaporising temperature must be very fast, if not instantaneous to be practical and useable on a daily basis. So how do I get fuel vapor quickly? I have been searching for quite a while for an easy, feasible, cost effective, DIY, reliable, ... solution and this is what I found.
The solution is all around us and readily available. Simply use either one (or two) 12VDC or 24VDC and sufficiently heavy ZVS (induction heating element), about 2000W, which power 4 or 8 small coils, one for each injector or you can use a smaller but robust ZVS mounted for each individual injector. The fuel heating coils should be 1.5-2" long and centrally positioned around the high pressure fuel injection line and as close as possible to the injector. A temperature switch which opens once 750° F or a little more is reached must be mounted on the fuel line and after the coil to keep fuel temperature near the injectors at a controlled temperature. Temperature variation (Delta t) between opening and closing (=ZVS on-off switching) must be kept as little as possible to prevent injector dripping, due to pressure increase caused by temperature rise.
Thus the temperature driven pulsing on-off cycle of the ZVS will allow your fuel to be kept at evaporating temperature in the fuel line. However, the diesel fuel will not evaporate in the high pressure line, since the fuel is under high pressure (below 125Bar but still high nevertheless).
When an injector needs to inject, obviously it receives the high pressure pulse or push from the IP, the nozzle needle will lift off the seat at 125 Bar and liquid diesel will spray into the pre-chamber cup. This fuel however, will virtually instantaneously vaporize in the hot air medium of the cup, where the surrounding medium pressure is considerably lower then in the fuel line. Because of the complete fuel evaperation, the oxydation of the fuel with air/oxygen will be much better, actually complete.
This results in a total and clean burn of the injected fuel in the cylinder and no "afterburn" in the exhaust, no soot and no carbon emissions, exhaust temperatures will drop. In consequence, less fuel needs to be injected since now all the fuel does the work in the cylinder, which in turn will increase your gas mileage and power massively.
There are a few things to consider.
For gasoline engines, the same principles apply, however:
And let's face it, we do not need those electric (toy) cars to save the planet!!
Jake
No doubt there will be more interested forums and groups within SS whom may have an interest in this information.
I have been facinated by engines my whole life. Managing fuel consumption has become an important element in my research ever since I was 10y old nd because I could barely aford buying a few liters of gasoline every week for my off-road use only, 1954 VW Beetle 1100cc and thus I've been tinkering with engines ever since to make them better... and I keep on doing so at the age of 62. However, I am not an engineer and I do not have any design or manufacturing facilities, but I have had plenty of hands-on and trial and error.
This is the best and final stage of what I have learned and I want to share this here with yall:
- I find the group of folks here in SteelSoldiers the best and foremost helpfull, wise, well-mannerd, and of course there are numerous fellow men in uniform, of any group anywhere on www.
- Further development of these designs should not remain in the hands of a single person, nor get lost or perish.
The information herein can be implemented on GM 6.2 diesel, but can also be used on many diesel engines which have mechanical pressure operated injectors (and also on gasoline engines, see further below) . This does not work on electromagnetic or piezo electric injectors as these will be destroyed due to the temperature.
Only fuel vapors burn, all droplets will go out the exhaust, be oxydized without delivering power to the engine, generate soot and ash, emissions, etc... .
Diesel fuel evaporates 100% at 400° celcius or 750° Fahrenheit. I have tried numerous methods for reaching this temperature and one of the obvious methods is by using the principles as found in the Charles Pogue carburettor, which actually makes very good sense: use the exhaust heat, which is definitely higher than 750° F to evaporate your fuel. The problem is however that it takes time before this temperature is rachead in the exhaust and more so, before this heat can be projected, transferred into a fuel vapor system. Also, admittedly, maintaining 750° in the exhaust is not always obvious.
Reaching the vaporising temperature must be very fast, if not instantaneous to be practical and useable on a daily basis. So how do I get fuel vapor quickly? I have been searching for quite a while for an easy, feasible, cost effective, DIY, reliable, ... solution and this is what I found.
The solution is all around us and readily available. Simply use either one (or two) 12VDC or 24VDC and sufficiently heavy ZVS (induction heating element), about 2000W, which power 4 or 8 small coils, one for each injector or you can use a smaller but robust ZVS mounted for each individual injector. The fuel heating coils should be 1.5-2" long and centrally positioned around the high pressure fuel injection line and as close as possible to the injector. A temperature switch which opens once 750° F or a little more is reached must be mounted on the fuel line and after the coil to keep fuel temperature near the injectors at a controlled temperature. Temperature variation (Delta t) between opening and closing (=ZVS on-off switching) must be kept as little as possible to prevent injector dripping, due to pressure increase caused by temperature rise.
Thus the temperature driven pulsing on-off cycle of the ZVS will allow your fuel to be kept at evaporating temperature in the fuel line. However, the diesel fuel will not evaporate in the high pressure line, since the fuel is under high pressure (below 125Bar but still high nevertheless).
When an injector needs to inject, obviously it receives the high pressure pulse or push from the IP, the nozzle needle will lift off the seat at 125 Bar and liquid diesel will spray into the pre-chamber cup. This fuel however, will virtually instantaneously vaporize in the hot air medium of the cup, where the surrounding medium pressure is considerably lower then in the fuel line. Because of the complete fuel evaperation, the oxydation of the fuel with air/oxygen will be much better, actually complete.
This results in a total and clean burn of the injected fuel in the cylinder and no "afterburn" in the exhaust, no soot and no carbon emissions, exhaust temperatures will drop. In consequence, less fuel needs to be injected since now all the fuel does the work in the cylinder, which in turn will increase your gas mileage and power massively.
There are a few things to consider.
- The injector nozzles, of the type, such as on the GM 6.2 and 6.5 engines which have only one single injection opening, with the needle tip protruding are the only suitable diesel injectors for this setup. The protrusion of the needle tip has a cleaning action when moving up and down, preventing the spray hole to get clogged up. Neveertheless, these injectors will require more maintenance, as there will be more carbon build up on and just around the needle tip. No doubt there are a lot more diesel engines using this type of injectors, but mostly these can be found in the older diesel engines, since modern diesels all have multiple spray hole injectors and most are CR, with electromagnetic or piezo controlled injectors, of which the elecrtonics will fail in no time, as said.
- If you use e.g. injectors with multiple tiny spray holes, these will very quickly clog up due to carbon, as the fuel starts to burn as soon as it gets past the needle tip and comes in contact with oxygen. So these nozzle types will not work well or only have a short lifespan.
- The ZVS will put additional stress onto your alternator and electric system. Count with an extra 30-50A continuous power consumption, so wire accordingly. Providing continuous and sufficient alternator power to the ZVS should not be an issue in most cases however.
- A glow plug system will no longer be required, as the fuel will burn instantaneously when injected. But you will still be facing the usual "diesel preheating waiting time". Indeed, once you turn the ignition on, the ZVS will start heating up the fuel inection lines and only after the preset temperature has been reached the engine can be cranked. It takes less than 30 seconds of pre-heating before the fuel line is truly glowing red hot, (which is already too high a temp) so no issues there, ask me how I know.
- The temperature in and of the injector bodies, nozzles and needles will obviously increase considerably. Needles may need some "Honing" to assure smooth operation when "hot". Also keep in mind when torquing things down. Cylinder head temperature may increase some due to the "hot injector" bolted in there.
- The fuel flowing into the return line will be hot, too hot for the rubber hoses to handle. You will need to consider copper/metal return lines and no o-ring or any synthetic materials to be exposed to the hot diesel fuel. Anything above ~250° F will kill all synthetic materials, unless anyone here knows of a synthetic high temp seal or hose? A different type of return hose connection on the injectors must be considered.
- The return lines must first run the fuel through a cooler, before this fuel is allowed to return to the IP, fuel pump,.... to avoid damage to IP, synthetic, rubber lines, seals,....
- Where the coil is mounted on the high pressure line, the line should be made of a material which responds well to induction heating, preferably be corrosion resistent and suitable for repeated and sustained high temp heating and cooling etc...
- The glow plugs are to be removed and replaced by non-protruding plugs. The glow plug tips may otherwise be consumed in the combustion.
- The IP idle setting will have to be lowered considerably to reach a normal idle again, which will be with a much smaller injected dosage of fuel then before.
- Also max rpm must be adjusted to stay within limits of the engine.
- Advance may need some retarding, because of the now much more "all at once bang".
- Needless to say that you can use even a wider range of fuels now, for your engine to burn.
- NOx will relatively increase.
- You will have better throttle response and considerably more power and extremely clean exhaust.
- There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that this entire concept is a by long well known secret in the automobile and oil industry! But the above approach is definitely within reach and feasable for any DIY mechanic!!
For gasoline engines, the same principles apply, however:
- Pre-heat gasoline to 210° Celcius or 410° Fahrenheit, to get 100 evaporation. Again, use an ZVS and coil to vaporize the gasoline. You will only need 1 point of heating to vaporize the fuel and from there the vapor fuel must be mixed with air in the intake.
- Gasoline injectors will melt down at such temperatures, since these are electromagnetic injectors, so these are not usefull. This system works well with carburettors however.
- You may consider using an LPG type carburettor to mix the vapor with the intake air.
- For best efficiency the amount of gasoline passing through the vaporising coil must be delicately dosed to optimise fuel consumption.
And let's face it, we do not need those electric (toy) cars to save the planet!!
Jake
No doubt there will be more interested forums and groups within SS whom may have an interest in this information.
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