Waste Heat from Exhaust

[TES111]

Has anyone considered making a heat driven motor or a 50 / 50 heat, exhaust gas motor to drive an alternator? Base the idea on a rear end of a turbo. But use a blade less rotor such as a Tesla turbine for reduce power loss from the engine. And the heat driven motor could use the waste energy from the exhaust tube to drive the alternator. While the waste heat is not free it certainly wasn't being used to begin with.

Just a thought

I know nothing

[bikin' Ed]

Yes, I've thought of using a rear mount turbo to power an alternator. I just haven't had the time--hoping this winter. I have a Dakota so there is plenty of room under there.

My plan, though still in the thinking stage, is to find a salvage yard turbo, plumb it into the exhaust, machine a collar to mate it to my alternator shaft, extend the wiring, and replace the engine acc. drive belt.

I think it'll work. If it doesn't, it should be easily reversible.

[Red]

Don't turbos normally spin at around 10-15k?

[TES111]

Yea so whats to say you couldn't run a steam turbine from the waste heat @ the inducer and the rear turbine off the exhaust to assist in spin. Hook up some brushes and see what happens @ 15k.....?

Sounds like an abilty to make some power just dont know how much as of now. And the vapor mix coming from the inducer side could reduce exhaust temps while staying hotter than from the reservoir. Then be recycled to the steam side @ the manifold.

In short scavenged energy from heat and from exhaust flow turned into current to run a Hydroxy (HHO) Generator thus eliminating the draw from an alternator and giving you increased efficiency vs break even or reduced efficiency for HHO production.

Just built a test tube HHO generator and got 500 ml in 30 seconds. Working on a full scale for better production.

la 8

P.S. go to a semi truck yard or semi truck turbo repair. You can pick up a test turbo and its huge (from the throw out pile) for around 50 bucks. It wont be in perfect condition but it will allow you to tinker for far less. When you find one wiggle the nut at the front and back for play. If it wiggles don't buy that one. Get one with tighter tolerances. Also if you plan on taking the thing apart get them to show you the proper tools you'll need before you leave.

[MazdaMatt]

I like the idea of using the exhaust gas for a half-turbo to belt-drive an alternator. Sounds like ther eisn't much complication compared to the other ideas. Using exhaust HEAT to run some heat-engine to turn the alt would be the next step in my opinion, but that is a factor more difficult than the previous idea. using a turbo or heat engine to run a generator to produce HHO to produce more power/efficiency... that's getting a little silly, no?

[tasdrouille]

Originally Posted by Red

Don't turbos normally spin at around 10-15k?

You're missing a 0. It's more like 100-150k rpm.

[MazdaMatt]

What sort of torque or power is being generated by the output shaft of a turbo?

[Andyman]

Originally Posted by MazdaMatt

What sort of torque or power is being generated by the output shaft of a turbo?

From what I've been reading about turbo compounding, the power from the exhaust turbine is about 10% of the engine's power. To use this with an alternator, I think you would have to add an electric motor to help power the wheels. The battery wouldn't be able to absorb the amount of power coming from the alternator connected to the exhaust turbine.

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehicles...6_deer_vuk.pdf

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by TES111

Has anyone considered making a heat driven motor or a 50 / 50 heat, exhaust gas motor to drive an alternator? Base the idea on a rear end of a turbo. But use a blade less rotor such as a Tesla turbine for reduce power loss from the engine. And the heat driven motor could use the waste energy from the exhaust tube to drive the alternator. While the waste heat is not free it certainly wasn't being used to begin with.

Just a thought

I know nothing

TES111,we got into this about a year ago.I still think about it,here's where my thoughts have taken me.---------------- In Israel,solar ponds are used to drive a working fluid,like R-134A to superheat and drive a compound turbo-generator for electric power.Some of the energy is lost to a compressor,necessary to get the fluid to condense back into a liquid,to repeat the process.--------------------------- I considered capturing both cooling system and exhaust heat,run it through a triple-bundle heat-exchanger to provide the heat.I wanted to make it a hermetically sealed system.It's never gotten past the idea stage,however,since for every gallon of fuel turned into work,two gallons are lost to heat.So the payoff is huge if you can do it.------------------------- The adiabatic-compound-turbo engine,using very high temperatures(only ceramics will do it)and compound turbos is good for around 100% increase in efficiency.--------------------------- Coupled with the R-134A system,efficiency would pass above 100% gains.

[ConnClark]

Originally Posted by TES111

But use a blade less rotor such as a Tesla turbine for reduce power loss from the engine.

ummmm.... Tesla turbines have been obsolete in terms of efficiency for the past 50 years. Yes they were great when Tesla was alive but now they don't cut it. They also don't deal with high heat very well because the thermal expansion causes the disks to warp and drops their efficiency. You also have to look at the fact that engine exhaust is pulsed and a Tesla turbine can only achieve it best efficiency with a steady flow. Pulsed flow drops their efficiency even more.