HHO and you!
Ok, so hho has become the new fad in the mpg race, but is it really effective? Conservation of energy dictates that the energy required to separate water in to its base components is equal or greater to the energy released during its reconstitution. The key to making HHO a viable source of additional fuel would be utilizing the waste heat from the engine to provide the electricity needed.
TEG's + exhaust manifold + water = ?
Discuss!
Discussions
8 years ago
anybody else have some sources of useable waste energy in an engine?
Reply 8 years ago
I think you hit on the big one -- the waste heat of the exhaust.
Reply 8 years ago
I was also thinking you could re-route the radiator to make a detour into a bank of TEG's, and have a fresh air flow on the cool side.
8 years ago
Fit a turbo-generator to the exhaust?
L
Reply 8 years ago
now i like that idea, but i'm not really sure about how a turbo affects gas mileage, or are you saying using it strictly as a generator?
Reply 8 years ago
Yes, just a generator, otherwise-waste energy is still recovered from the exhaust.
L
Reply 8 years ago
Don't turbos significantly increase load on the engine? I thought that was the cause of turbo lag- the engine has to be running at a speed where the extra power from compressed intake air is greater than the power lost turning the turbine/compressor.
Reply 8 years ago
They affect back-pressure, but so does any other exhaust system. If the engine isn't turbocharged it's an easy-ish generator option.
L
8 years ago
Now that is an interesting proposal, and it raises some very nice quantitative questions:
What temperatures are accessible at either the engine block or exhaust manifold? What's the efficiency of TEGs as a function of temperature, or rather, what is the voltage-temperature function? How much hydrogen can you generate per mile (for example) once the engine is at equilibrium temperature? How does that quantity of hydrogen translate into engine power/efficiency/MPG?
This is an potentially practical idea for making hydrogen, provided the numbers pan out.
Reply 8 years ago
Hey, you! Yeah, you with the hard hat! I've been looking for you everywhere!
>insert reasonably intelligent question about your opinion as to the validity of the results with those pesky neutrinos<
Reply 8 years ago
Start a forum topic :-) I'll paste from my OB when it's there.
Reply 8 years ago
Ha, I should have looked there. https://www.instructables.com/community/What-say-ye-Resident-Physicist/
Reply 8 years ago
There was no reason for you to look there :-) I started to write that response here, in reply to you. I realized that was hijacking the forum topic, so I pasted it over to my OB, and wrote the above here instead. Thanks for creating the forum topic!