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Old 01-30-2010, 11:02 PM   #36 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elhigh View Post
I wouldn't expect the water injection to work. I don't think there'd be enough heat leaking into the two idling cylinders for a decent steam expansion. I say this with no experience, just my gut. My guts aren't that smart, so I may be full of baloney at this point.

I would like to see more from Crower on his six-cycle process. A couple of intriguing news articles, followed by a long and disheartening silence. He suggested his steam cycle could take the place of a radiator in the engine's cooling regime. Still need one for a condenser, but anyway.
The "idle" cylinders had exhaust gasses pumped from the exhaust of the running cylinders into the intakes of those cylinders, along with water injection on the "combustion" stroke of those cylinders. The water was also pre-heated with coils on the exhaust piping to take advantage of any left-over heat in the exhaust stream.

Basically, imagine it as two 2cylinder engines.

Run your first engine normally, except pipe the exhaust into the second engine's intake manifold, then run that engine, except instead of spark plugs use pipe connections with differential valves that spray water into the cylinder. Preheated water sprayed in, exhaust heat warms it up enough to turn to steam, it expands, then exhaust stroke happens on the second motor. Make them both run at the same speed. It's just another way to extract heat from exhaust gasses and re-use it as mechanical work.
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