Bolt On Hydrogen-Boosted Gasoline Engine

[doh]

http://auto.consumerguide.com/articl...ED_ENGINE.html

COOL STUFF

The Hydrogen-Boosted Gasoline Engine
03.30.2006
By Bob Brooks
Faced with the ever increasing cost of gasoline, automakers worldwide are working overtime to cost-effectively improve vehicle fuel economy, while still meeting today's strict emissions requirements.

One promising way to boost fuel economy is to add hydrogen to the fuel/air mixture in a conventional gas engine. It's called a hydrogen-boosted gas engine. However, since hydrogen isn't readily available at your local filling station, selling a hydrogen-boosted gas engine hasn't been on the short list at many automakers. That is until now.

There's a new technology that utilizes a fast-response on-board reformer to generate a small amount of hydrogen from gasoline. This hydrogen is added to the engine's normal air/fuel mixture. Engines designed to run on a mix of hydrogen/gasoline can see a fuel-economy gain of 20 to 30 percent with no requirement for control of harmful NOx emissions, oxides of nitrogen.

An Alternative to Diesels, Hybrids, and Fuel Cells?
This new technology that's just beginning to emerge from the laboratory, however, offers the prospect of an economic way to produce a small amount of hydrogen from gasoline with an on-board reformer. Invented by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and being perfected by auto industry supplier ArvinMeritor in cooperation with the German automotive engineering firm IAV, this system may provide a cost-effective alternative to fuel-cell technology and traditional gasoline- and diesel-combustion engines. It's possible that hydrogen-boosted engines could bridge the gap between today's gasoline-powered vehicles and the fuel-cell vehicles of the future.

Hydrogen-Boosted Gasoline Engine Reformer

Prototype reformer mounted close to the engine for testing in a V6 SUV is 18 inches long by 4 inches in diameter. (Photo courtesy of ArvinMeritor.)
While fuel-cell vehicles may hold long-term promise, the reality is they are years away from mass production. Critics cite the high cost of fuel-cell stacks, hydrogen fuel mass-production issues, and general fueling problems as key stumbling blocks. Some believe it may be decades before fuel-cell vehicles become widely available. European automakers have already turned to more expensive diesels but their cost and related complexity is increasing with stiff new emissions requirements for control of particulate matter and NOx emissions.

U.S. carmakers faced with the same concern about diesels are reluctant to commit to the huge expense required by the changeover from gasoline to higher-cost diesel. For example, consumers currently have to pay a $3000 premium for a diesel-powered light truck vs. a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle. This will increase in the future to compensate for the rising costs associated with making sure diesel vehicles meet forthcoming emissions regulations. The EPA has recently granted diesel vehicles a break by easing near term NOx requirements, but only through 2009 and the high-mileage emissions requirement has been tightened as a trade-off.

What the Experts are Saying
According to experts at ArvinMeritor, and executive engineers Rudy Smaling and Jens Beister at IAV, the facts about a hydrogen-boosted gasoline engine and its advantages are clear.

A small amount of hydrogen made on-board by the reformer is added to the normal intake air and gasoline mixture. This greatly improves overall combustion quality by allowing nearly twice as much air for a given amount of fuel introduced into the combustion chamber. This is more energy efficient because it saves energy by reducing the amount of engine pumping needed.

Fuel efficiency is also gained through the use of higher engine compression ratios made possible by the hydrogen-rich charge characteristics. A hydrogen-boosted fuel system also saves energy because of the remarkably low amount of electrical energy needed to power the reformer. According to the developers, it needs less than 75 watts, which is less than the electric needs of one standard headlight.

An industry-accepted virtual vehicle analysis based on engine test data indicated the potential for a 20 percent to 30 percent improvement in fuel economy for a turbocharged downsized version of the hydrogen-boosted engine when compared with conventional gasoline engines.

[87aero]

Ummmm. Ok. That's pretty general. I wish they'd explain how this works better than just stateing "hydrogen is added to the engine's normal air/fuel mixture." and then explain why doing this increases mileage.

[Canyonaro]

There is a place that sells that type of thing in my area. They are sealed boxes and look like a big steel battery. About every few thousand miles you are supposed to fill it up with a gallon of distilled water.

One of the News stations picked up the story and tested it on a few cars. The results were really promising. Apparently you can add it on any diesel or gasoline car (if you have the space under the hood) and it is supposed to bost hp/tq and add about 15-20% mpg. What it does is extract the hydrogen from the water and add it to the incomming air for the compression (don't ask I have no idea on energy it takes to extract).

Problem is that it costs $1200 upfront to have them add it, which I guess you could recoup if it does in fact work.

[Dutchman]

Isn't that the Tesla-engine? check this: http://www.teslatech.info/ttstore/ar.../geet/geet.htm

[doh]

Originally Posted by Canyonaro

There is a place that sells that type of thing in my area. They are sealed boxes and look like a big steel battery. About every few thousand miles you are supposed to fill it up with a gallon of distilled water.

One of the News stations picked up the story and tested it on a few cars. The results were really promising. Apparently you can add it on any diesel or gasoline car (if you have the space under the hood) and it is supposed to bost hp/tq and add about 15-20% mpg. What it does is extract the hydrogen from the water and add it to the incomming air for the compression (don't ask I have no idea on energy it takes to extract).

Problem is that it costs $1200 upfront to have them add it, which I guess you could recoup if it does in fact work.

Yes it does say the Hydrogen is made on board, with a small amount of energy 75 watts. With 20-30% improvement in fuel economy.

The least costly substance to get Hydrogen, is water. But it also stated that higher compression ratios are needed.

[dauntlessVsix]

http://www.agweb.com/get_article.asp...&pageid=126057

[asim]

Nice idea...

[56 Starchief]

i wonder when GM is going to show its hydrogen might in production form.

[Globalist]

An onboard reformer is too expensive. The best solution is from HGS (Hy-drive) a Canadian company offering a small electrolyzer that provides small amounts of H2 to boost performance and reduce emissions. They have many customers (truckers and buses) and their stock is crazy right now. It doubled in the last few weeks.

[IROCNROL1]

Technology might save us from ourselves after all.