2002-07-16 - 8:57 a.m.
Hehehe�I SO double dog dare you to click on this link�hehehe
Today I learned (thanks to my bud Tholen)
On water injection in a combustion engine�
There are a few reasons why this works.
1. Water mist cools down the air as it flows into the cylinder allowing more are into the cylinder, especially in turbo/supercharged engines.
2. By having water in the air it reduces the likely hood of pre-ignition (knock), by reducing the temperature of the incoming air that is being compressed.
3. The latent heat of vaporization (energy required for water to become steam) of water is high, thus it absorbs a lot of the heat of combustion. This sounds bad right? Wrong. Because when water flashes to steam it expands _a lot_.
4. Because you need more heat to vaporize the water you can run on a lean mixture of fuel and your engine will be running at a lower temperature than before.
5. By running at a lower temperature N2 is less likely to break down and combine with O2, forming fewer NOx exhaust gasses. Because of the better air flow and the expansion of water into steam, MORE POWER. Higher Air to fuel ratio, MORE MILEAGE. Lower operating temperature, FEWER NOx gasses.
At least that is the theory such that I've read and what I've been able to include from my Thermodynamics knowledge. Hope this inspires you to look into it more.
So what have you learned today?
�
�
