B3 Engine Dyno is almost done... soon the experiments will start.

[bravekozak]

That dyno is a great setup. I am impressed. Great job.

[fujioko]

Thanks for the positive comments!

Yesterday I finished the basic controls and I can now get real HP and torque numbers. I have some cleanup work to do and I need to write some code to run tests automatically but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.



The above photo is from a quick test to verify the software was working. The torque arm and load cell have not been calibrated yet so there is a margin of error. From what I can tell, the calibration is close and the torque is within +-5-7 lbs.

As you can see, these little engines develop a lot of torque and not so much HP. This would explain why I see trailer hitches on a lot of members Festivas.

Anyway, the engine runs good but is not tuned to specs yet. We should see an improvement once I set the timing and make a few adjustments.

Jim

[bravekozak]

fujioko, What is the "X" for on the front pulley, some kind of strobe verification marking?

I would like to see you do a Smokey adiabatic test. Do you know anyone who makes custom cams?

[fujioko]

The "X" on the water pump pulley is mostly random. I wanted to see how it would look when the engine was spinning. Smokey was a fascinating person. The Fiero he built has always been an interest on mine. back in the day I read the Hot Rod article over and over looking for clues. At some point I would like to try his adiabatic theory.

[bravekozak]

I spoke with him on the phone once. I have a file with all the stuff. I will scan it.

[Movin]

Take the adiabatic fuel system to the next level, today you are competing with direct injection.

[bravekozak]

Direct injection is not as efficient since small droplets are not completely vaporized.
I would prefer 60+ miles per gallon without a computer.
It's still the same old internal combustion engine.

[fujioko]

Good fuel atomization has been something I have been experimenting with. When I calibrated the B3 fuel injectors for the megasquirt, I noticed that the faster the injector cycled the better the atomization. Part of the megasquirt injector calibration is to find the dead time of the injector. A few micro seconds past the dead time is where the fuel would form into "bubbles" and float around the garage. It took a while before I realized my garage getting dangerously close to some sort of explosion event. I don't think what I witnessed has ever been described before.

Anyway, I looked into this and found people were using ultrasonic transducers to vaporize fuel. Just stick the transducer into a container of gasoline and a vapor would form above the pool. This seemed interesting so I built a fuel injected ultrasonic vaporizer. The injected fuel would instantly vaporize as soon as it hit the transducer. I shot a video of this experiment http://youtu.be/42v3YQnkJNg

Anyway, the vapor generated by the device was not enough to run a small gasoline engine and the transducers cracked after a while. I think I was on the right track but I didn't follow this experiment to a conclusion.

Some newer ideas have come to light and eventually I'm going to set up a new type of atomizer device and give it a try on the dyno.

Jim

[bhearts]

You could always try a heat exchanger between coolant and fuel. Then you could have 180f fuel that would instantly vaporize once or of the injector

[bhearts]

The only issue with that would be the fuel tank acting like a heat siphon until it gets up to temperature. Which would drastically change the perceived capacity of the coolant system

[sketchman]

The hot vapor / adiabatic patent DOC.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/amgivqqevphb9jf/hotvapor.pdf?dl=0

[bhearts]

I foresee a project where the exhaust manifold runs through the intake manifold. Harvesting some of that wasted heat. Injecting water/methanol in extremely lean mixtures while completely vaporizing the mix before it gets to the combustion chamber

[Movin]

Take it to the next level. Exhaust heat limits you to the first level because as the beginning of efficiency happens exhaust heat cools toward room temp. So as good as the first level is it is nothing compared to the 2nd level. Yes there is more after the 2nd Smokey was a thinker. Lot more.

[sketchman]

The patent doc explains and shows a diagram of both the exhaust part of the heater and the engine coolant part. Explains how they work too.

[Movin]

Smokey calls that the first level. The reason he calls it that is because it stops at the doorway of adiabatic, even though he used exhaust heat , the temp of exhaust falls dramatically as combustion becomes more efficient.