The Water Fuel Cell

[Deeremechanic]

since HHO is highly volatile, is compression an issue?, perhaps an engine with very low or no compression stroke may work, as in leaving the exhaust valve open until close to top dead center, then injecting hho gas into compression chamber, and igniting it to force the piston down, just a theory, i welcome feedback

[H4FR33]

Actually Hydrogen does quite well with compression. I understand it will handle 14 to 1 easily. The biggest problem is lubrication. If you think about it, when Hydrogen burns it turns into water and with the high temperature in the engine, on into steam. I know of a large company that had converted a significant part of it's fleet to CNG (compressed natural gas) about ten years ago. I talked with one of their mechanics recently and he informed me that they had switched back to gasoline because of engine failures. It seems the CNG is too dry so you can imagine what steam would do to an engine. As a result I looked at how steam engines are lubricated and they have oil injected into the chamber with the steam.

All said a low compression diesel with a dramatically reduced flow of diesel would make an ideal conversion. Higher compression means more power. Diesels run from around 14 to 1 up to about 20 to 1. Diesel is much more lubricating than gas and would provide the lubrication necessary (maybe?). So if I could cut back on the diesel by 90% and achieve 180 mpg in a full size truck I wouldn't complain too loud. Also less smog controls to worry about such as the oxygen sensors.

Scott

[gbodyparts1]

From what I've researched, HHO conversions works to achieve as close to 100% volumetric efficiency as possible by eliminating unburnt hydrocarbons, thereby reducing the possibility of detonation to virtually zero. The result? You can run high compression engines on pump gas when using an HHO conversion. This combined with certain engine rotating assembly designs with regards to intake/exhaust valve timing can dramatically alter the power level of said motor(s) in a way that compression restrictions are reduced and gas mileage can soar along with power levels and produce little more than water vapor as an only pollutant. I have an engine design on paper and am currently working to determine the best HHO kit to try this with. I have been researching this for a while and am ready to build a water assisted motor that will break all the rules of high performance.

[gbodyparts1]

So here's what I've gathered so far....with respect to timing, you would need the ignition spark to happen after TDC because the hydroxy mixtures combusts very quickly and can be made even moreso by using a covalizer so you want combustion to happen after the piston has already reached and passed TDC so that the piston is being forced down it's exhaust stroke rather than coming up on it's compression stroke.....think of it like running nitrous oxide, you need to retard the timing because it combusts much earlier in the timing cycle so in order to avoid engine damage, you must adjust timing in order to "delay" the spark timing.

[H4FR33]

You're on the right track. Actually how quick the HHO burns is the real issue. Imagine a clock with 12 being top dead center and 6 being bottom dead center. Ideally you want the entire combustion to take place between 12:30 and 2:30. The closer to 12 it is the higher the compression and the more power you will get. By 3 the compression is half gone, as is half the power. How fast a fuel burns is why a diesel (which burns slowly) knocks. To get it completely burned by BDC it has to be ignited so far in front of TDC that it is attempting to push the piston backwards. This is the beauty of Hydrogen boosting, it quickens the burn so that more of the fuel is burned in the best spot. This in turn creates more power and better mileage.

My understanding of a modern car gasoline engine is that the computer system will automatically adjust the timing. Since the Hydrogen will burn quicker it would cause the engine to knock but the computer system will detect that and automatically retard the timing. So on gas engines this should not be an issue. On diesels I believe it is different. Diesels do not have spark plugs to ignite the fuel and they compress the air before adding the fuel. The fuel ignites immediately on introduction to the combustion chamber. Diesels tend to be lower tech and I believe with a lower rpm variance the fuel is timed mechanically so adjusting it would be much more involved than simply reprogramming a computer. This may be why so few people are having any luck boosting diesels.

Scott