Quote:
Originally Posted by RustyLugNut
I answered this in part in my post above. The H2 readily forms reactive OH- radicals. This participates in the branch reactions of the combustion flame front.
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I read that ... but I skipped addressing the OH issue before in favor of what I thought was the overall concept being described... H2 being used to allow leaner air to fuel ratios that still support combustion.
Here is my 2 bits on the H2 -> OH concept:
Bit#1> The H2 produced by the electrolysis will not break those hydrogen bonds of H2 until it chemically reacts ... for it to react with oxygen ... to form either H2O or in HO ... that is chemical reaction that takes input energy in order to break the initial hydrogen bonds of the H2... if the H2 is reacting with the O2 in the air to form some HO and/or H2O you are not beyond the LFL ... at least not locally where the H2 molecule reacts ... the LFL is more about the spread of the flame front ... the reaction of 2H2+O2->2H2O can happen at any A:F ratio if the energy to break the initial Bonds of H2 and O2 are supplied to the local area where those two molecules are in close proximity to each other ... beyond the LFL it just won't spread , or propagate through the area.
Bit#2> I suspect you might be thinking of the self ionization that liquid water freely forms into OH- and H3O+ ... a phenomenon that is not shared with the bonds of the H2 molecule... H2O does freely disassociate into H2 + O2 as the temperature increases ... using heat energy instead of electrical energy ... but that also is about H2O , not the bonds in H2 produced from the proposed electrolysis of water.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RustyLugNut
The gasoline mass air/fuel ratio I would like to target is 30:1. Again, H2 is a relatively small quantity of reactant and not the bulk fuel. The gasoline makeup is what we are hoping to change with the addition of H2 and manipulation of certain parameters.
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I get the H2 is a small % additive ... and I get that it is being intended to act as an method of supporting Lean Burn to leaner A:F ratios ... but the mechanism it can do this by is by Hydrogen's much faster flame speed... and to a lesser extend the lower density of the H2 gas itself as it disperses into the medium.
And of course other parameters will need to be manipulated to run a engine significantly lean ... in any engine not originally designed to be run significantly Lean... lean burn modification with or without the H2 injection.
Sense we also already know that Lean Burn has it's own benefits in and of itself , even without H2 injection ... the question becomes if the H2 injection will add enough net additional benefit beyond the non-H2 Injection Lean Burn... because we know the H2 injection will introduce additional penalties due to the increased load on the alternator to produce it... the benefits beyond normal Lean Burn have to be significantly greater than the penalties of the additional alternator load... if it is not a net of significantly better than just the lean burn by itself ... it isn't offering a significant benefit.