cost saving fuel device

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gjgm

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Anyone heard of Oil Drum/Fuel Save ? In todays FT.
Said to increase disel fuel efficiency by up to 18pct
A s/steel box of tricks that releases hydrogen to be mixed into the fuel mix....
 
It looks like a simple device to generate hydrogen from water by electrolysis, and to inject the gas into the air intake.

http://www.save-fuel.co.uk/

OK, there will be maintenance problems to keep the water tank filled with the correct electrolytic solution, and some cleaning, much as any production device.

They are not talking high pressures from the generator, but to create enough H will mean a fair amount of DC power. The consumption and benefit figures look good, and when they get the smaller size machines for e.g. LandRover, I'll be very interested.

As a byline the device will produce Oxygen, which presumably will bleed to atmosphere !
 
[ QUOTE ]
They use high frequency for the generation of H2O hence the amps are quite low

[/ QUOTE ] ????????????

Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis which will require DC . You won't escape from the normal laws of electrolysis which basically say that 1 gram of hydrogen (about 12 litres at 20C) requires 96,500 coulombs of electricity.
1 coulomb is a current of 1 amp for 1 second. Do the arithmetic and you find that 1 amp will only produce about 7.5cm³ hydrogen per minute.

Now you could run several cells in series on a 24 volt supply so the same 1 amp could produce several times that volume. Alternatively using modern electronics a 24 volt DC supply could be "transformed" into a lower voltage with a corresponding higher current available for the same power consumption.

Which ever way you don't get an awful lot of hydrogen for your amp but the point of the system is that only a small amount of hydrogen is needed to improve the combustion effeicency of the diesel fuel.
 
My sceptical mind has difficulty accepting that by transforming mechanical energy into electrical energy, then into chemical energy and finally back to mechanical energy there is somehow going to be increase in something other than the entropy of the universe. Damn those laws of thermodynamics.
 
Well, that was also my initial impression, however it does seem that there may be something to it after all. Even the best diesel engine is not 100% fuel efficient and the addition of hydrogen is claimed to increase the percentage of fuel burned (i.e. extract more heat energy from the chemical energy, rather than chuck unburned fuel out the back).

I can't be bothered to go and work out how much energy it takes to produce hydrogen by electrolysis, but whether or not this is viable in overall energy terms depends on the thermal efficiency and fuel efficiency of the engine in question. I would expect an old mechanically injected lump to benefit more than a modern common rail engine, but I don't know where the breakeven is in fuel terms, never mind economics.

The website talks about a 10% improvement but at a cost of £3500+ VAT, so it would only make sense on a big mobo that is run regularly. For truck fleet operators of course, £3500 will be repaid very quickly.
 
Its amazing, how every so often, a magic device like this is wheeled out.

They seem to be able to improve the efficiencies of petrol & diesel engines (Spitfire engines frequently quoted as fitted too), can also be used to descale hard water & also cure arthritus.

All powered using a U2 battery, dissimilar magnetic metals, sometimes by a transformer (the more elaborate versions).

Why does the phrase 'Snakeoil' come to mind? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Exactly.

And when it goes tits up after 13 months, usually 1 month out of warranty, the recouped costs are 'unrecouped'... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Just like Solar power and Wind power. Utterly pointless as a money saving excersise...
 
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