Directory:Crower's Six-Stroke Engine
From PESWiki
Achieving a means of harnessing engine heat, Bruce Crower's internal combustion engine adds two strokes involving the injection of water, which immediately turns to steam, expanding the chamber for another cycle. Process keeps engine running cool.
| Table of contents |
About
| This is a new page! |
|---|
|
Official Website
- none yet
Crower's Site
- Crower Cams & Equipment (http://www.crower.com/)
Video
- You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hc2Xi5TU2k)
Technology Description
The first four strokes are the same as an internal combustion engine.
In Crower's design, after the exhaust cycles out of the chamber, rather than squirting more fuel and air into the chamber, his design injects ordinary water. Inside the extremely hot chamber, the water immediately turns to steam, expanding to 1600 times its volume, which forces the piston down for a second power stroke. Another exhaust cycle pushes the steam out of the chamber, and then the six-stroke cycle begins again. (Ref (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=467))
Q/A with Crower
Mr. Crower phoned on March 27 to provide answers to a few questions Sterling Allan had. The responses are as follows.
- Q. What do you do when the engine is cold?
- Answer: The water does not start being injected until the engine reaches ~400 F.
- Q. What about rust?
- Answer: Engine will run for 30 sec without water before shutting off.
- Q. When will it hit the market?
- Answer: We're waiting for someone like Ford to step forward to engineer for production. Many companies have approached us.
- Q. How much water will it use?
- Answer: We will cycle the water in a closed-loop system, running it through a condensor.
- Q. How will you heat the cabin?
- Answer: There will be plenty of heat coming off the condensor coil.
No Cooling System Required
- "Besides providing power, this water injection cycle cools the engine from within, making an engine's heavy radiator, coolant, and fans obsolete. Despite its lack of a conventional liquid cooling system, his bench engine is only warm to the touch while it is running." (Ref (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=467))
Potential Efficiency
Crower estimates that eventually his six-stroke engine could improve a typical engine’s fuel consumption by as much as forty percent. (Ref (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=467))
About Bruce Crower
- "The six-stroke design was developed by 75-year-old mechanic and tinkerer Bruce Crower, a veteran of the racing industry and a the owner of a company which produces high-performance cams and other engine parts. He had long been trying to devise a way to harness the waste heat energy of combustion engines, and one day in 2004 he awoke with an idea which he immediately set to work designing and machining. He modified a single-cylinder engine on his workbench to use the new design, and after fabricating the parts and assembling the powerplant, he poured in some gas and yanked the starter rope. His prototype worked." (Ref (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=467))
Patent
Bruce Crower holds a patent on the new design. (Ref (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=467))
U.S. Patent number ______??
In the News
- The Six-Stroke Engine (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=467) (Damn Interesting; March 18th, 2006)
- Autoweek article on the six-stroke engine (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/FREE/302270007/1023/THISWEEKSISSUE) (Feb. 23, 2006)
Comments
Materials Research Required
- "Before this engine can go into mass production, there needs to be quite a bit of research into the materials properties. Some metals, when heated, will scavenge Oxygen from water, causing them to 'rust', decreasing efficiency, and spewing Hydrogen into the exhaust stream (e.g. Steam explosion). This is one of the reasons that most engines intentionally run with a rich fuel mixture (with the other reason being to hold down combustion temperatures, which tend to peak when running at a stochiometric ratio). Another concern may be with the water absorbing Carbon Dioxide to form Carbonic Acid. That probably won't be a problem for the exhaust system, but may be a concern with blow-by gasses. For that matter, with the cooler running engine, steam blowby into the crankcase may contaminate the oil, leading to premature bearing failure without some materials research into a water compatible lubricating oil. For that matter, the cooler running engine will require modification to the lubricating system (e.g., different viscosity of the oil, etc.)." (Dave Ref (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=467#comment-2797).)
Oil Emulsification; Decreased Fuel Vaporization
- "Two obvious problems I see with this are: 1) Oil emuilsification.[...] I would think that within a very short service life the oil in the sump would be very badly emulsified, and this in turn would lead to accelerated engine wear; 2) Poor fuel efficiency! [...Engines] rely in part on the internal heat to vapourise the fuel as it travels through the inlet mainfold tracts and into the combustion chamber." (Philber ref (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=467#comment-2864))
No real Problems Here
Existing internal combustion engines are already designed to meet some of the issues raised in the first two comments, as the primary byproducts of hydrocarbon combustion are CO2 and water vapor coupled with very high peak cylinder pressures. Regulation of water injection volume and timing, to control cylinder temperature and pressure can easily be used to directly limit blow-by, oil contamination and fuel vaporization issues while maximizing energy recovery. Use Hydrogen as the fuel and the CO2 contamination issue goes away.
Contact
http://www.crower.com/misc/contact.shtml
Crower Cams & Equipment Co., Inc.
San Diego, CA
Phone: 619-661-6477 · Fax: 619-661-6466
info@crower.com (mailto:info@crower.com?subject=Crower_6-stroke_engine_mentioned_at_PESWiki)
Directories
- Crower six-stroke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crower_six_stroke)
See also
- Engines (http://www.freeenergynews.com/Directory/Engines) - index page at FreeEnergyNews.com
- Directory:Engines
- Other Directory listings
• Latest
• A-I
• J-R
• S-Z
• Tree
• News
- PESWiki home page
