Ecomike said:
" Exactly, and if it's stoich, you're not using the hydrogen portion to the fullest benefit.
You'll be putting back together exactly what you've split apart to get energy.. energy you've lost (and then a lot) to split it apart.
Straight hydrogen allows you to lean out the fuel mixture, using less hydrocarbon fuel in the combustion."
I am sorry but this makes no sense at all. The Engine gets excess oxygen throughput, whether it is running lean or rich, it just gets more oxygen and less fuel when it runs lean. There is always about 5% (+/- 1%) excess O2 left coming out the tail pipe, so all the hydrogen gets burned either way, whether it started out as pure hydrogen or as HHO gas.
There is a nice chemical explanation in the old thread I posted the link to.
Actually, it makes sense if you understand engines.
If you inject only hydrogen, your engine controls will cut the amount of hydrocarbon fuel. Throttle position will stay the same as if you were using only hydrocarbon, the engine will run just as efficiently but on less gasoline or diesel.
I realize that there is an optimal amount of O2 to leave the tailpipe.
The big problem comes with these generators being powered by the vehicle itself. Alternators are on-demand, they only produce the amount of amperes needed to maintain voltage. As the amp load increases, so does the amount of torque from the engine to drive the alternator.
You're using chemical energy to get the electrical energy used to produce brown gas. With me so far?
Problem is that you'll never get back as much energy as you put in (let alone
more than you put in), no matter how hard you try. That's impossible. Someone else already posted the second law of thermodynamics...
Even if you're generating it seperately on a "free" system like solar, brown gas isn't going to be as good as straight hydrogen. If you inject a fuel/oxygen mix that's already stoich, you won't get engine controls responding by leaning the hydrocarbon mix, you'll get them responding by simply reducing throttle opening. That's also bad for efficiency, as anyone who's driven a fuel-injected vehicle at high altitude (and understands what's going on) can tell you. Your pumping losses go up at lower throttle settings. More of your torque is going to go into pulling more vacuum instead of moving the vehicle forward.
This is one of the facts that the OEMs know, and one of the reasons they're going to leaner-running engines with computer-controlled throttles.
With straight hydrogen injection, you're replacing fuel with fuel. Hydrocarbon is being replaced by hydrogen and your engine will run at the same throttle setting, just with less fuel. So yes, you'll get a benefit on efficiency with hydrogen. With "brown gas", you're replacing fuel
and oxygen with fuel and oxygen. Your engine will run at a lower throttle setting, and with these generators, you're putting more torque demand on the engine to drive the alternator.
Alternators don't just spin freely under load... The more load you put on them, the harder they are to turn. That is one of the basic truths that these generators ignore.
jeepman121 said:
Actually most oil companies controll the auto industry and buy the rights to all the gas saving gadgets.
That's one of the funniest things I've heard today! ...and totally untrue. You should honestly see the lengths OEMs go to to increase efficiency while maintaining or increasing power.
The real impediments to high mileage cars are cost, reliability, emissions (what, you thought that great mileage and great emissions went hand in hand?) and the market. Nobody wants to drive something horribly slow...