NASA report on hydrogen injection

[Johnh]

Seems like NASA has been sitting on this for 31 years

http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/blog2/index.php/hydrogen-gas-savers/nasa-reports-hydrogen-and-gasoline-mix-increases-mileage/

Check the DOT report in the above doc. too

John

[Stevo]

I found this paragraph to be one of the most helpful sections in the document:

"The effect of adding hydrogen on gasoline's apparent flame speed is contained in the factors that control the rate of the combustion process. The flame velocity depends on the rate of thermal and mass transport from the burned to the unburned gas. This, in turn, depends on the heat and mass transfer across the flame front. At the same equivalence ratio, hydrogen induces higher flame temperatures, which increases the difference between the temperatures of the burned and unburned mixtures and creates a more efficient heat-transfer mechanism. This same temperature difference explains some of the reduction in flame speed with leaner equivalence ratios. As the charge gets leaner, the flame temperature decreases, which, in turn, lowers the heat transfer to the unburned mixture. Other important factors that control heat transfer are the flame front area, the heat lost to the chamber walls, the gas emissivities, and the transport properties of the gaseous mixture. A second mode of energy transfer, mass transfer, is also affected by adding hydrogen. Molecular diffusion and the diffusion of active radicals
due to concentration gradients between the burned and unburned mixtures, along with the physical transfer of burning particles into the unburned mixture, strongly influence
flame speed. The chemical series of reactions involved in the combustion process is affected by the reaction kinetics, which depend on diffusion of these active radicals into the unburned mixture. Hydrogen possesses a high diffusion coefficient and may enter
the chemical reaction systems in a manner that produces more active radicals. The transport of these radicals also depends on the motion of the gases either due to the motion
of the flame front itself or due to externally induced small-and large-scale turbulence."

- "EMISSIONS AND TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF A MULTICYLINDER PISTON ENGINE RUNNING ON GASOLINE AND A HYDROGEN-GASOLINE MIXTURE" - NASA technical note by John F. Cassidy (NASA Lewis Research Center, May 1977)

[SamB52]

Seems like NASA has been sitting on this for 31 years

http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/blog2/index.php/hydrogen-gas-savers/nasa-reports-hydrogen-and-gasoline-mix-increases-mileage/

Check the DOT report in the above doc. too

John

It's an excellent blog site, too. All kinds of interesting articles. It looks like some big boys are getting into the game. I sure would like to know how MIT is catalyzing hydrolysis.

[volomike]

A few things...

* It doesn't take a rocket scientist to say that if you had hydrogen in a canister and you spray it into your engine, that you can't get better gas mileage. The trick, though, is in producing the hydrogen on the fly, while increasing load on the alternator and the engine to replenish that power loss, and yet have a net gain on fuel economy with the gasoline. Of course, we're all proving it with HHO/HFI and a PWM to lower the amperage. However, it would be nice to have NASA reflect on the best methods we have here for HHO/HFI and come out with a lot of interesting data. Say, did you know that NASA Labs has grant money for projects like that?

* The reasons why HHO/HFI are not accepted as a viable alternative, in my humble opinion, are:

1. If you don't turn it off when the engine is off, it could potentially explode and kill you, depending on several factors. A properly hooked up relay circuit is a good way to fix that, though.

2. The easiest electrolyte to acquire, cheapest to purchase, and which has the least negative side effects on equipment -- that's lye. And unfortunately lye, when overheated, emits potentially poisonous lye gas which can get you really, really sick. Of course, it would take a lot of close contact with that over a long period of time, and perhaps someone who's using way too much lye in his equipment. Also, you can pour gasoline on your hands for a couple hours. However, try to pour watered down lye electrolyte on your hands for a couple hours -- you'll get a lye burn eventually. (At least I think so.)

3. The electrolyzer burns up water fairly fast, even on low amperage. I mean, if you were to lower your amperage with a PWM down to 1 to 5 amps, and still turn out the kind of HHO you need to drive a vehicle with better fuel economy, you still would need to refill your electrolyte at least every day or every other day. In some situations, perhaps every 5 hours depending on how the system is built. Therefore, you need something that is practical, and Detroit and Japan obviously see that this isn't practical enough yet.


On point # 3, however, this is something I'm working on. Imagine two upright tubes in front of your radiator. One contains your electrolyzer. The other is a clear tube that acts as your bubbler. What's different about this design, however, is that the bubbler contains electrolyte, not water. At the bottom of the bubbler and the electrolyzer is a tube that connects the two. At the top of the electrolyzer, another tube comes out and it feeds into the bottom of the bubbler as well. And out the top of the bubbler, a tube collects the open part of the bubbler where the gas collects, and feeds that into the fuel injector box on the vehicle.

With this design, when the electrolyte gets low, it pulls from the bubbler. When the electrolyzer pushes electrolyte out the top tube through vacuum, it goes into the bubbler and replenishes it -- keeping electrolyte in a circular fashion and avoiding this going into the engine. Meanwhile, the bubbler gives you a clear indication of how much electrolyte you need to add, as well as how much bubbler fluid you need to add -- because they are the same fluid and because of the way this arranged in a circular fashion with the tubes.

Therefore, from the front of my vehicle, I can just look at the bubbler level, see it is low, and add either water or electrolyte there. (They say with lye that you don't need to keep adding lye electrolyte all the time -- you can add water every other time.)

Anyway, I'm going to test this out soon, and I'll let you know how it goes.

[justaguy]

I think you are right, take my wife or mother-in-law for example. They will drive around with a half flat tire or oil light on or whatever. So you know people like that aren't going to keep an eye on an hho generator. However, I do think if we can build generators like we do then GM or Nasa or any of the big corps can build one with the proper electronics to make them no more trouble than adding water in your windshield wiper container.

They can be connected to the electric fuel pump to where it only comes on when your fuel pump does.