The X-Prize Sonata

[RealityRacer]

Well this engine efficiency stuff seems highly unlikely. Chasing unicorns here. Do you really think OEMs aren't doing everything they can to make efficient vehicles? You need to think logically about all this.
First, an ICE is 20% efficient and there is no room for improvement or the OEMs would do it,
Second, the ECU is programmed to adjust for max efficiency,
Third, do you really think we want to be dependant on foreign oil?
You all seem like intelligent people. Please prove me wrong like the guy at the table with a mug and beverage of choice. Interested but doubtful.
Reality folks!

[mpgmike]

Do you really think OEMs aren't doing everything they can to make efficient vehicles?

Pull a valve on most production heads and have a look at how inefficient the bowls are. They work around the compromise between perfection and mass production realities. Think like a production engineer here and tell me the economical way to add Powre Lynz in the production process.

Oh, and if you are right, why is it that quite a few folks here on this very forum are reporting successes improving on what the factory did? Oh, now I see, you joined the forum just to lambaste something (you currently have 1 post).

[RealityRacer]

I wish I could say I was convinced. One guy defending the hope to improve automobile efficiency seems valiant but again, can anyone here answer my questions? Surely, someone has some insight. You all seem very intelligent...
1. An ICE is 20% efficient and there is no room for improvement or the OEMs would do it. Can this be improved?
2. The ECU is programmed to adjust for max efficiency. Is there any evidence that the ECU is limited to a specified MPG?
3. Do you really think we want to be dependant on foreign oil? I mean, would there be any reason to keep us addicted to oil?
Please educate me- I am looking for answers.

[oil pan 4]

The OEMs appear to be more interested in horsepower numbers than MPG numbers.

Max fuel economy is had with lean burn, but the epa has determined that NOx is the root of all evil and doesn't allow lean burn cars to be sold in the US.
The computer has to produce the cleanest emissions. Fuel economy is somewhere down the list.
There's not a whole lot than can be done for the engine but there is plenty that can be done for the rest of the vehicle.

[mpgmike]

May I suggest a stroll through the Combustion Efficiency page. It breaks down different aspects of the combustion process, making it easier to spot areas where improvements might be made in the engine.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by RealityRacer

3. Do you really think we want to be dependant on foreign oil? I mean, would there be any reason to keep us addicted to oil?
Please educate me- I am looking for answers.

'We' should be in charge, but decisions seem to go another way. There appears to be a reason to keep 'us' dependent on foreign oil.

The addiction is to motion, the oil is just an efficacious means to the end.

[mpgmike]

Something tells me that US purchases of foreign oil is in Petro Dollars only. This helps preserve the dying Petro Dollar in spite of Putin's statement that Russia will no longer accept Petro Dollars for the purchase of their oil.

[oil pan 4]

Why stay addicted to foreign oil?
Probably kick backs. Did you know the average congress critter increases their net worth by 4x their yearly salary.
Yeah nothing to see going on there.

[mpgmike]

Part of our X-Prize journey led us to the PCV system. On the surface, the PCV system is extremely straight forward(right?). When a piston moves upward on the compression or exhaust stoke, crankcase volume increases creating a slight vacuum. When the piston moves downwards on a Power or Intake stroke, volume decreases creating a pressure in the crankcase. Some small engines use this pulsing pressure differential to power a fuel pump.

Let's add to the equation the effects of "blow-by gasses". There is chemistry happening inside the combustion chamber. Extreme combustion chamber pressures are isolated by simple "piston rings". Believe me, they are NOT perfect. When extreme pressures are generated inside the combustion chamber, at least some "stuff" gets past the piston rings. When that happens, where does that pressurized physical matter go?

To try to create a mental image, if you could watch a really old car engine while idling, there would be a "blow-by draft vent tube" attached to a valve cover. The outlet of this tube would most likely discharge a visible "smoke". Similarly, an older small engine would have a vent tube connected to a "valve cover" discharging to atmosphere, from which you could observe visible "smoke". Diesel engines are even more profound with the visibility of "smoke" they discharge from their crankcase ventilation system dump tube.

Since every gasoline powered automobile starting in 1964 (in the US) has had a PCV system, it made sense for us to pay it considerable attention. The US EPA has postulated that the toxicity of the crankcase gasses generate a considerable environmental threat. Recycling those gasses back into the intake charge — where they stand a chance of being burned — will reduce Combustion Efficiency, slightly increasing exhaust emissions, but the net emissions would be reduced. EPA chose the overall net benefit. We researched and found that, unless otherwise regulated, NO RACE CAR USES PCV IF THE RULES DO NOT DICTATE IT!!

For the X-Prize competition, we had to comply with EPA standards. Since we had to recirculate crankcase gasses back into the intake charge, we questioned "can we make it better?" We found the Smart Emissions Reducer chemically could break down heavy HC blow-by contaminants to a point where the combustion process could better burn them. This was proven at FreeCol Labs in western Pennsylvania, where the crankcase gasses going into the SER, and the output gasses coming out were also quantified and qualified. That (expensive) testing showed conclusively that the SER fractionalized and ionized the PCV gasses.

After the competition we continued to use the Sonata for development work. We added a vaporizer we called internally the Stratifier. It’s an aluminum block with a cone-shaped interior, with a coolant jacket to heat the physical block. The PCV gasses leave the valve cover, enter the Stratifier at the base of the cone at the tangent, spiral around the heated walls, and exit the apex. At the center of the base of the cone is a fuel injector. Itspritzes a very minute amount of gasoline into the PCV charge which gets homogenized and vaporized in the cone shaped “tornado”. The outlet then fed into the Smart Emissions Reducer.

The benefits were 2-fold; we added gasoline vapor to the combustion process to improve flame propagation rate, and we catalytically fractured and ionized the PCV gasses making them not only more combustible, but also somewhat of a combustion accelerant in their own right. Adding the fuel vapor upstream of the SER enabled the entire charge to be more molecularly homogenized in size (plus being ionized); meaning the overall charge was significantly more combustible.

[mpgmike]

As part of the initial package, we connected with Arvind Svrivanisand at Aqua Pulser to beef up the ignition system. The recipe requires non-resistor spark plugs, if you have ignition wires, they must also be non-resistive/solid core. For COP (like the Sonata) Aqua Pulser offers special ignition coils that facilitate easy connection to the power module. It puts out a BLAST of energy instead of a steady weak spark. The car would run like a scalded rabbit when we would first turn it on. Sadly, we rarely got more than about 10 miles before the ECU started freaking out. After many failed tweakings and upgrades, we down-graded to Pulstar Plugs and factory ignition coils (which was still better than stock). The Roush Report reflects the Pulstar plugs.