Heres a story recently featured in Popular Mechanics about a guy who has created possibly the worlds first gas/steam hybrid internal combustion engine.

Its quite clever in that is uses the wasted heat from the gasoline explosion to vapourize water, resulting in greater efficiency and a cooler operating temperture.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/FREE/302270007/1023/THISWEEKSISSUE

Wow, that's amazing!

That kicks ass!

It would be best to hold off on the kudos until some hard data is available. Even though this guy takes a rather novel approach, water injection is far from new and there are several problems with it - one being internal corrosion.

He may really be onto something - and I hope so! - but it's going to take a lot of proving before we can celebrate.

why not use a sirling engine to reclaim the heat?

why not use a sirling engine to reclaim the heat?

Because he also cools the engine with his method.

Since I happen to be here at the moment, I'll go ahead and mention some of the other problems that have happened with water injection in the past.

One is the need for very pure water. Straight tap water just won't do. It will cause mineral deposits and scale buildup that will muck up the rings and valves.

Another is water getting into the crankcase. There's always blow-by in any engine simply because piston rings and valve stem guides can't provide perfect seals. And the oil will have to be changed VERY often because the engine doesn't run hot enough to boil the water out - it just keeps getting more and more diluted and continuously looses lubricating ability. And that leads to excessive engine wear, especially on the crankshaft and cam.

So, as I said before, it's going to require several hundred run-hours of testing and lots of hard data before it can be determined if the idea is worth it.

So, as I said before, it's going to require several hundred run-hours of testing and lots of hard data before it can be determined if the idea is worth it.
It sounds like a neat engineering trick, but I sincerely hope its NOT worth it.

Even with improved efficiency the internal combustion engine is a very primitive tech with lots of disadvantages,

Even going back to the Doble steam car would be an advancement.

Much better than any internal combustion engine would be an external combustion engine that uses compressed air as a buffer.

Im just speculating of course, but why not have a simple steam motor running on liquid fuel that compresses air in a storage tank...that is used to drive a compressed air motor turning the wheels.

You would get max torque from the get go, without wasteing most of the fuel's energy as heat.

Heres a story recently featured in Popular Mechanics about a guy who has created possibly the worlds first gas/steam hybrid internal combustion engine.

Its quite clever in that is uses the wasted heat from the gasoline explosion to vapourize water, resulting in greater efficiency and a cooler operating temperture.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/FREE/302270007/1023/THISWEEKSISSUE

I read about it last year, it is impractical for a vehicle as it becomes heavier
with water tank etc.

Heres a story recently featured in Popular Mechanics about a guy who has created possibly the worlds first gas/steam hybrid internal combustion engine.

Its quite clever in that is uses the wasted heat from the gasoline explosion to vapourize water, resulting in greater efficiency and a cooler operating temperture.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/FREE/302270007/1023/THISWEEKSISSUE

Hurrying to his comprehensively-equipped home workshop in the rural hills outside San Diego, he began drawing and machining parts, and installing them in a highly modified, single-cylinder industrial powerplant, a 12-hp diesel he converted to use gasoline. He bolted that to a test frame, poured equal amounts of fuel and water into twin tanks, and pulled the starter-rope.

“My first reaction was, ‘Gulp! It runs!’” the 75-year-old inventor remembers. “And then this ‘snow’ started falling on me. I thought, ‘What hath God wrought…’”

The “snow” was flakes of white paint blasted from the ceiling by the powerful pulses of exhaust gas and steam emitted from the open exhaust stack, which pointed straight up.
heehee

Looks promising