A small displacement engine with an Oxygen concentrator when power is needed?
 

What about a small displacement engine for economy during stop and go traffic jams.

During uphills, passing or otherwise called to make serious power it would have an electric supercharger passing air thru an Oxygen concentrator
Oxygen concentrator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Oxygen concentrator feeds Oxygen enriched air to the engine allowing more fuel to be burned thus being capable of generating much more power for a given engine size. Even more power than a turbo engine of the same displacement.

It remains to be seen if such high Oxygen concentrations would make the engine any more prone to predetonation although I suspect air temperatures would be more important than Oxygen content.

Interesting idea.

I think a turbocharger would be more efficient than a device using electricity. They effectively do the same thing, but the turbo uses primarily waste energy where as the concentrator does not.

i think you're going to need a bigger oxygen concentrator.... or compressor and storage tanks. Since about 1999, units capable of supplying up to 10 lpm have been available. Oxygen concentrator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
10 lpm, would be about .35cfm

I read an article today about the 2019 VW Golf 8. They want to use an 1.0 liter 3-cylinder engine with electric turbo. Because at low rpm, the small engine doesn't have enough exhaustgasses to power a conventional turbo. They also want to integrate a flywheel system, variable compression, full wheel covers and 'engine off coasting-technology' (which we all know). They are also thinking about a four-seater XL1, which will be called the XL2.

Even if you could get enough volume the high oxygen concentration would make the fuel charge burn so much hotter that you may burn through a piston. Think oxy/acetolene torch. Even with NOS (which is used for its enriched oxygen content, NO4 I think) is still buffered somewhat by the Nitrogen. You may be able to stiffle the excess heat by enriching the charge with a bunch of added fuel, but I agree a turbo would be more efficient and it compresses air which is about 3/4 Nitrogen anyway. Smartcar turbos are tiny and used on mopeds for boost.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ncentrator.jpg

Most people with problems absorbing oxygen into their blood system uses these machines. Sounds like a compressor running 247, dad was on one.

I think for quick bursts of performance a wet NOS kit is a better choice. I ran the idea by a few mechanics about using a 25 shot or less on my insight and they said not for every day use. :eek:

You mean something like this:

Burning Pure Oxygen vs. Air

?

I think a wet shot of nitrous would be better.

Or you could use an electric traction motor

Toyota Prius - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Im wondering if the "wet" or fuel added would negate any fuel economy using NOS over forced induction? Is the fuel used during the shot the same used for a turbo application? At least with the NOS you can use a switch to arm it, rpm range or a progressive setup where as the turbo is always on.

Ive toyed around with the idea of a chemical intercooler or methanol water injection or using that in place of the fuel when spraying NOS so you keep your MPG?

Problem with a turbo charger on a gasoline engine is its always on. Always hurting fuel economy.
Now if it were a diesel, put a turbo charger on and see at least a 10% gain.

You can use water methanol as fuel for your wet shot, but then you have and extra fuel system to drag around.

Adding nitrous would be much easier than adding an electric motor.

Ive talked to the water/meth injection people. They say the small system 3 qts of fluid would last 10 gallons of fuel. They also say for best performance use a 50/50 mix of methanol and water. You can use a mix of Heet and rubbing alcohol, certain windshield washer fluid that has a high VOC warning and their special fluid.

Good point.

To prevent engine internal parts from melting and to reduce the O2 concentrator size maybe just SOME extra Oxygen is needed to be mixed with air?
Maybe just enough to double Oxygen content from about 21% in the atmosphere to about 40% for the engine?

You can either disconnect the supercharger with an electric clutch, like air conditioning.
Some centrifugal superchargers and most turbo compressor stages allow the engine to breathe thru the compressor wheel even if it is not moving.

Nitrous is expensive and not as readily available as pump gas.

Supercharged Toyota MR2 has this.

If you want to increase oxygen content nitrous oxide is the way to go.

A nitrous kit is going to be easier to get than an electric traction motor system that does not exist.

Doubling the oxygen content is a serious proposition. That's like running pure N2O in place of air, and that would burn your engine up without a doubt. Plus, remember that at full throttle and 6000rpm a 2L engine can ingest 100L of air per second. How are you going to store that much oxygen onboard?

An oxygen concentrator is probably too big and heavy to be of practical use like this. However it could be a cheaper substitute for nitrous if you have one plus a compressor. Since oxygen is gaseous you probably can't store as much though.

If you have confidence in your ability to build an oxygen + auxiliary fuel injection system that won't fry your engine then yes, this could be a good way to get a power boost for street or drag racing use. Have a small tank with a tiny O2 concentrator + tiny compressor and store a few liters of oxygen at maybe 5 bar, which is not too dangerous.

You can get oxygen or NOS at most gas vendors. You can fill up your NOS bottle at most performance shops.

I think they told me a 10 lb tank gives like a 90 second spray.

You can also pop the belt off most super chargers too and the vehicle will run just fine. Some recommend doing this til you can get the vehicle to get a tune. :thumbup:

A 10lb tank will give you 3 or 4 quarter mile passes running a 100hp shot on a car that can do a 11 or 12 second quarter mile.
So if you ran a 25hp shot a 10lb tank cold spray for maybe a little over 2 minutes.
Biggest tanks go up to 20 or 25lb.
The thing with nitrous is you only spray it a wide open throttle and above 3000 to 3500 rpm.

It would be about like running a cheater system but with a huge overt nitrous bottle instead of a small hidden one.

An ecomodder car with nitrous. I would like to see that.