ICE ceramic coatings

[Stephen Lamb]

>One project I have on the go right now is a propane conversion on a 1996
>Chrysler minivan. It is a competition among major universities accross
>North America sponsored in part by the SAE, called the LPGV challenge
>(Liquified Petroleum Gas Vehicle).  One of the fuel systems we are working
>on is direct liquid propane injection and ceramic coated pistons and
>cylinder heads.  Should prove to be an interesting project.  PS: if any of
>you have tried this before, I would appreciate any information you could
>give me, we are all novices with direct injection and would sure like some
>insight into some solutions for this most difficult engineering problem.


There is a company over here (in South Australia, from memory) that has
built an LPG injection system as an 'add-on' to the existing EFI system.
Unfortunately I know little about its technical details, other than the
fact that a demonstrator vehicle (locally built Ford) has been in research
and testing for about a year now.   It was shown on one of our science
programs and appeared to run well apart from minor hiccups with the control
electronics.

I'm sorry I can't give more detail (hardly surprising given the commercial
implications).

Cheers

Stephen Lamb
Dept. of Defence DSTO, AMRL
506 Lorimer Street
Fishermans Bend  VIC  3207 Australia
Tel: +61 3 9626 7525
Fax: +61 3 9626 7089

IZCC #180