Quote:
Originally Posted by spacer
I'm thinking (not making any claims here) that perhaps the best way to use water to increase efficiency is to try something I think was called a six-cycle engine. After the fuel powered four, another involves injecting water into the hot cylinder, which turns to steam and applies pressure to the piston.
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Bruise Crower's 6 stroke was patented no later than 2006, probably much earlier but shows no sign of moving beyond the prototype stage. IIRC the problem he's had is acidification. Hot exhaust gases and steam will chemically 'crack' into all sorts of organic compounds, but the acids are the ones that will kill the engine by reacting with hot metal. Potentially you might need a far more complex catalytic-converter as well, I don't know.
This isn't like evaporative charge cooling (injecting small amount of water into inlet air) this is Lots of water in contact with hot metal surfaces. Very hard to get right if possible at all.