Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff88
Bringing up an old thread, but a good one!... 
I was thinking, which steffen707 started to talk about, what if I did a "T" or "Y" bend, so that during engine warm-up, it used warm air, during acceleration or high engine revs (say over 2,000ish RPM), it switched to cold air and at cruising, switched back to warm air. I feel like this would give me the best of both worlds and help increase my FE better than a WAI or CAI alone. How would this be done? It would need some sort of "computer" to know certain variables (engine temp, revs, etc.) in order to switch back and forth appropriately.
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P.S. I don't have it yet, but I am planning on buying a Ford Escape Hybrid. Don't know if hybrids change the equation or not... Also, the FEH engine at cold start-up, automatically stays on until the engine is at operating temp, so the sooner it gets hot the better, because it will switch to battery sooner.
 Soooo many questions!... |
If the Escape Hybrid's algorithm is like the Pruis (or perhaps similar in design to the Insight 5-door), there may be a few levels of "warm-up", based on coolant temp (perhaps transmission fluid temp as well), battery State of Charge, etc. Operation could inlclude the use of the electric motor assist/charge even immediately after cold-soak starts. Others can likely offer more details.
Regarding the T- or Y-junction for intake air temp control, I had a scheme dreamed-up a few years ago for this exact scenario. You can go as complicated as fully automated gate with servo controls, using a circuit to use voltages and/or resistance values from Coolant Temp and engine RPM to calculate required gate movement to achieve a targeted IAT condition (monitored on a feedback loop). Another easier (yet manual) solution could be to use a knob to control the air source with a simple vaccum or electric gate. I opted for the latter and tried to find an existing part from a separate vehicle that was already built for this sort of task -- but struck out. EDIT: See
this post for an air box with the assembly fit for the task (Volvo). I suppose to decide on wild or mild and go from there...
RH77