Re: [St] Gas mileage, a new bike selling trend

[JES_VFR <jes_vfr@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 05:21 PM 5/29/2008, you wrote:

>  Thats something that has always troubled me about the internal 
> combustion engine. Essentiallly it hasnt changed much since it was 
> invented. Some vehicles are less enfficient now than those that 
> have gone before. I seem to recall reading of several engineers in 
> the US and Europe that were quite miffed at the inefficient design, 
> not only heat loss but also the conventional layout of 
> piston/crank/cams. So far it seems the mass producers have resisted 
> changing to another design or making the current design more efficient.
>
> Bertt.

Part of it is that many people still expect one little change to make 
a major difference on how the engine will perform. People don't want 
smaller cars, for lots of reasons. Not to mention that most of the 
car manufacturers had a negative response to emissions controls.
The powertrain of a vehicle (be it a truck, bus, train, car or 
motorcycle) is system. If all the parts of the system are matched and 
designed to be as absolutely efficient as possible, then some real 
improvements in mileage, performance and emissions could me made.
Here are some of the bits that could improve the efficiency of an 
internal combustion engine.
1. Use heat barrier materials (ceramic composite cylinders and other 
coatings) to maintain as much heat as possible in the combustion 
chamber, this will drive peak pressures up. Which will increase both 
the peak torque generated as well as the total work done by each 
combustion stroke. This would also reduce the power lost to the water 
pump and cooling fans.
2. Use the waste heat flowing out of the exhaust for two things. One, 
electrical power generation through some peltier bridge modules, 
these modules will take heat and make electricity from it. The 
secondary improvement is that the vehicle's alternator can be smaller 
and require less power operate as well. Two, low pressure 
turbocharging, which will improve/limit/optimize the filling of the 
cylinders, further improving the combustion efficiency, so again 
there will be more peak torque and total power from each combustion stroke.
3. Use some sort of combustion catalyst (like maybe one of these 
supplemental hydrogen injection systems) to make sure that as close 
to 100% of the fuel injected into the cylinder is completely oxidized 
(or burned/combusted,....whatever). Less of the primary fuel would be 
required since so much more of its potential energy is going to be utilized.
Hell, if the efficiency of combustion and utilization of the Joules 
of heat that were liberated was maximized, we might not even need a 
primary fuel as energy dense as gasoline to power our vehicles.
If that changed enough, it could also effect the longevity of our 
petroleum use!
In the end though one thing, one discovery is not going to fix this 
problem. It's going to take lots of changes, some big, some not to 
resolve this.

Now just to make you think some more about this wasted heat, what 
about braking losses?
Conventional brakes take kinetic energy and convert it through 
friction into heat, wasting more of that combustion liberated energy. 
If someone was to design a secondary device in the power train that 
would engage a clutch (along with the conventional brakes  for 
safety) and spin a secondary alternator, more of what is currently 
'wasted' heat could be recovered as electricity.
Throw in some peltier devices into the brake rotors on the wheels and 
two things will happen. One, the heat generated by the braking 
friction (and remember we are talking rotors getting cherry red on 
panic stops) will be converted into electric power that can be stored 
in batteries. Second, the bridges convert the heat to electricity so 
the Joules of heat are removed from the rotor, this acts as a cooling 
system, reducing brake fade, improving stopping power and consistency.

Are all these ideas that could be put into vehicle in the next year? 
No,but if a manufacturer really wanted to it could be in 3-5 years.

Would a vehicle with these innovations cost more than a similar sized 
conventional machine, You bet.
But I can bet you that it would have better gas mileage (probably 
close to double or triple the best of the current conventional IC 
designs), less emissions and probably be fun to own as well.


JohnS
A Dragon Ascending
"Forging my body in the Fires of my Will"

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