Refrigerants, Wide range EGO and other thoughts.

[Robert Harris]

Having been led astray for the last few weeks, May I make a request?  To the
developer of the wide range EGO, could you E-mail me privately (or on the
list).  Need to know more about it.  Seems a certain low fangler that I
sometimes correspond with has publicly blamed me for his new toy and now we
need to tune it up at WOT.  Was trying to keep up, but everything got lost
in a torrent of commercialism stuff.  To the reverse enguneerer, rest
assured that this low fangler and myself intend to use it solely on engines
we build up and intend to toss it in our bag of tricks and not market it by
itself for profit.  It would really help us on some projects under way.

Refrigerants

Sounds like someone is trying to adapt the ammonia absorption cycle
refrigeration system to use as an intercooler.  What is interesting is that
although this cycle is less "efficient" at cooling than a compressed gas
cycle, it gets it's pumping energy from heat - in the case of a propane RV
refrigerator from a small propane flame, or in this case from the waste heat
of the exhaust.  The problem is probably the exhaust temperatures raise the
ammonia/water solution past the efficient working range and the gentleman is
looking for another absorption cycle fluid that will work in this range.
Just my uneducated, plebeian guess.

On water injection, once upon a time about a hundred years before OTTO or
Diesel published, a man called Watt wrote the book about water and steam.
Since then, there is a whole field of engineering and science devoted to the
fact that water is NOT an ideal gas and steam detests the Carnot cycle.
Ricardo has been mentioned - a fine M.E. starting place - but really, not
only is there a book about how water is different, but a whole damned
encyclopedia.  Without consulting a few chapters of this information, what
is being presented is simply anal extraction - something I have been accused
of and occasionally guilty of myself.

Little things to keep in mind (following data is from recall - somebody
buried my best reference three feet under in his reading room library - and
is subject to ERROR).

Water raised to aprox 705 f degrees creates steam at 3206 PSI. This is the
highest temperature and pressure saturated steam can develop.  Superheated
(dry) steam temp pressure scales skyrocket past these numbers into
unbelievablum.  Keep in mind that 1000 PSI chamber pressure is probably the
max that most engines ever see and then figure out the steam contribution to
that number at 1800F.

Then, without numbers to state exactly, my best recollection is that the
state change energy in Btu's for water to change to steam is far greater
that its ability to absorb heat below the state change.  (Course I don't
have the book handy).  This implies that the water temp for water injection
is almost meaningless.  Also, remember the specific energy figures of fuel
air.  Two sets of data, one where all the energy is used (water condensing)
and the one that is significantly lower - where the water is uncondensed.
See Bruce Hamilton Gasoline FAQ for example.  The difference is the
unrecovered energy trapped in the steam.

Remember that one gallon of gasoline combusted makes two gallons of
uncondensed (un mechanically recovered) steam in the exhaust.  Just some
thoughts to stir some cells.