Performance Evaluation of an IC Engine Using Oxyhydrogen As a Fuel Supplement

Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol. 74, March 2015, pp. 176-179

Performance evaluation of an IC Engine using Oxyhydrogen as a fuel supplement

R Abhilash2, K Gopalakrishna1* and K Venkatesh3 *1,2 & 3Centre for Emerging Technologies, Jain University Jain Global Campus, Jakkasandra Post, Kanakapura Taluk, Ramanagara District, Karnataka State, India

Received 20 August 2014; revised 27 November 2014; accepted 22 January 2015

Commonly used fuels such as petrol and diesel have definite energy values and the extent of energy retrieval is limited due to the operating principle of the IC engine. Water upon electrolysis dissociates into hydrogen and oxygen, both the gases together in a common duct called as oxyhydrogen is used to increase the overall energy content of the primary fuel with a proportionate increase in efficiency. In the present investigation, this method is used to generate oxyhydrogen and feed it as a supplement fuel into the air intake manifold of a four stroke diesel engine test rig coupled to a rope brake dynamometer. The performance of the engine is monitored with the supply of oxyhydrogen intake at different electrolyte concentrations. Tests were also done with an accelerometer installed on the engine block to verify the effect of oxyhydrogen fuel on the engine vibration. The results indicate increase of 4% in brake thermal efficiency with the use of sodium hydroxide electrolyte and the efficiency peaked at 75% of rated load on the engine.

Keywords: Oxyhydrogen, efficiency, I.C.Engine testing, manifold, electrolysis

Introduction fuel gets negated at low engine speeds. The present Availability of Hydrogen in the atmosphere is very investigation aims at fabricating a wet type scarce and is commercially synthesized from oxyhydrogen generator9,10 setup, which can safely hydrocarbons and also by the dissociation of water into generate oxyhydrogen (HHO Gas) and adopt it to work its primitive states, ie. Hydrogen and water. The fuel is with a commercially available diesel engine test setup. highly combustible with an energy density of 121 Oxyhydrogen is generated by the electrolytic MJ/kg1,2 and does not emit harmful components into dissociation of water and to make water conductive, an the atmosphere making Hydrogen one of the main electrolyte of known concentration is added to water. contenders for a cleaner and environment friendly fuel. The generation rate is mainly dependent on the A widely adopted way to generate oxyhydrogen is by concentration of the electrolyte and hence tests to applying a constant voltage potential across the determine the best electrolyte for maximum efficiency electrode in the electrolyser cell. This method was used were conducted. The flame propagation rate of my Milind et al.3 to study the effect of oxyhydrogen on oxyhydrogen is very high and the chances of IC engines utilising petrol or diesel as a fuel and a flashbacks into the generator system is prevented by comparison of the same is done with a producer gas4. using a flashback arrestor which acts as a barrier Similar tests were done by Samuel and McCormick5 to between the engine and the generator cell. understand the diesel engine performance and emission characteristics with a blend of oxyhydrogen with the Materials and Methods air fuel mixture. Tests were conducted to study the NOx The setup used in all the experiments were emissions in exhaust gases of diesel engines by Lilik et fabricated, tested and checked for compatibility with al.6. Saravanan and Nagarajan7 observed a 15% the test engine. The effect of oxyhydrogen on the increase in brake thermal efficiency at 75% load while performance of a diesel Engine was studied using a operating with oxyhydrogen supplement. Tests custom made wet type generator cell which is simple conducted on a four cylinder four stroke compression and easy to fabricate, making it suitable for a compact ignition engine by Yilmaz et al8 show that the system which was important in the present setup. advantages of using oxyhydrogen as a supplementary Generator Shell and Electrodes A generator container was machined out of a —————— *Author for correspondence polyoxymethylene (commonly known as Delrin) billet. E-mail: [email protected] The material is commonly used in precision parts that GOPALAKRISHNA et al.: NANOEMULSION BASED HYDROGELS FOR DRUG DELIVERY 177

require high stiffness, low friction and excellent Tests were conducted on the rig by changing the dimensional stability. With a density of 1.42 g/cm3 the electrolyte concentration. The concentration of the material is light, making it suitable for a portable electrolyte determines the volume of oxyhydrogen setup. Using a lathe, a commercially available stock generated. The concentration of the electrolyte of delrin was machined into a hollow canister which determines the level of conductivity in water and in can contain 900 ml of the electrolyte-water mixture. turn reflects on the generation rate. The magnitude of The generator electrodes was made from a Stainless power generated by the engine at varying loads with steel wire of 2.6 millimeter diameter [Grade 304]. The different levels of oxyhydrogen intake is studied to wire was wound into two concentric coils with a radial understand the performance of the engine. Tests were offset of 2 millimeters. Spacers were used to separate conducted to find the time required for 10 CC of the two coils so that they donot short upon contact. fuel consumption at different loading conditions. Performance evaluation of the engine is done by Electrolyte comparing the brake power output with the thermal Electrolytes such as sodium hydroxide and efficiency and specific fuel consumption at different potassium hydroxide have little to no effect on engine loads. Experiments were conducted under the stainless steel and hence stainless steel Grade 304 was following conditions. used in fabricating the electrodes.

An 800 ml. solution of 10 % (weight-volume ratio) Using Air fuel (A/F) mixture electrolytes were used in all the experiments. Both the Under normal conditions (no load condition), the reagents used in the present tests were obtained from time required for the engine to consume 10 cc of M/s Sigma Aldrich. diesel is determined. Consecutive tests were repeated Flashback Arrestor by loading the engine (40 N, 60 N and 100 N) and the A hybrid type flashback arrestor was fabricated time required for the consumption of 10 cc of diesel and used with the oxyhydrogen generator setup. in every condition is examined.Using this data the The arrestor is about half the size of the generator brake power (power output of the engine), specific shell and its outer shell is machined from delrin. fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency were Inside the arrestor shell there is a hollow space, computed using the following equations: partially filled with water and the rest of the space is available to suppress the flashback. Safety devices Brake BP  πNT /2,Power 60 , kW …(1) such as pressure reducing valves are added to release the high pressure generated inside the arrestor shell. where N is the crankshaft speed in revolutions per min, T is the loading torque on the crank shaft in kN-m Test setup The specific fuel consumption(SFC) is obtained Tests were done to record the performance of a from diesel IC (Internal Combustion) engine by comparing its performance with oxyhydrogen as a supplement  MassSFC of fuel /)Kg/hr(consumed …(2) for the primary fuel. Performance evaluation of Brake power of the ,engine kW oxyhydrogen as a supplementary fuel is done by connecting the hydrogen generator setup with a diesel The Brake thermal efficiency (BTE) is given by engine test rig. The standard laboratory test rig  BrakeBTE power, kW/Heat supplied,kW consisted of a Kirloskar diesel engine (type: AV1) connected to a rope brake dynamometer.  BTE (BP/(m f CV). *) 100 % …(3) The details of the test setup are Diameter of Bore, Diameter of orifice, where mf is the mass flow rate (Kg/s) of fuel and D = 800 mm Do = 15 mm C.V is the calorofic value of the fuel, kJ/kg Stroke Length, Density of Diesel, 3 Using Air fuel and Oxyhydrogen mixture L = 110 mm d = 780 kg/m Diameter of brake drum, C.V. of Diesel = 43000 kJ/kg Tests with a 10% w/w concentration of the Db = 380 mm electrolyte were conducted with the oxyhydrogen Rope diameter, Compression ratio = 15:1 setup. Initial readings were taken with Zero load, dp =25 mm 40 N, 60 N and 100 N load on the rope brake 178 J SCI IND RES VOL 74 MARCH 2015

dynamometer. The concentration of the electrolyte is were repeated and the results were plotted by then changed by diluting the electrolyte concentration averaging five repeated tests. with distilled water. Performance tests are conducted in the decreasing order (10%, 8%, 6% and 4%) Results and Discussion w/w of the KOH and NaOH electrolyte concentrations At about 75 % of the rated load, there is a notable (represented in figures 1 and 2 as A/F + HHO change in the engines performance. This trend (10%KOH), A/F +HHO (10%NaOH) respectively) increases up to the maximum load capacity of the and the time required for consumption of 10 cc of fuel engine. With the air fuel mixture, the brake thermal in every case in examined. The above process was efficiency peaked at around 53 % with a repeated with both the electrolytes (potassium corresponding Specific fuel consumption (SFC) of hydroxide and sodium hydroxide).For comparison the 0.158 kg/kWh. The test setup showed remarkable test was repeated for A/F mixture only. A 2-axis changes in efficiencies when injected with accelerometer was mounted on the engine block to oxyhydrogen supplement into the fuel intake record any changes in the vibration resulting from the manifold. By observing the brake thermal efficiencies intake of oxyhydrogen. Tests were conducted for with the use of potassium hydroxide and sodium 50 seconds by alternating the oxyhydrogen and air hydroxide electrolytes from Fig 1a and Fig 1b it can fuel intake for every 10 seconds. During these be found that the efficiency of the engine saturates at experiments a 10 % potassium hydroxide was used in about 75 % of its rated capacity (ie. 5 kW) and any the generator cell and the speed (rpm) of the engine further loading causes the efficiency plots to coincide changed with the alternating fuel supplement. The nullifying the effect of oxyhydrogen supplement. results were plotted with amplitude of vibration as a From Fig. 2a and Fig.2b this behaviour is again function of time and variations in the amplitude of observed in the specific fuel consumption of the vibration along the X and Y-axes. The above tests engine. With sodium hydroxide electrolyte the engine

Fig. 1—Brake Power as a function of Brake thermal efficiency with fixed A/F mixture and different levels of oxyhydrogen intake using (a) Potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte (b) Sodium hydroxide as the electrolyte

Fig. 2—Variation of Brake Power as a function of SFC with fixed A/F mixture and different levels of oxyhydrogen intake using (a) Potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte (b) Sodium hydroxide as the electrolyte. GOPALAKRISHNA et al.: NANOEMULSION BASED HYDROGELS FOR DRUG DELIVERY 179

in oxyhydrogen supplement increases the efficiency of the engine. The efficiencies observed in the present test setup is from a governor controlled test engine. The results will be much better with an ECU the results, it is observed that potassium hydroxide as an electrolyte is better when compared with sodium hydroxide and hence is the preferred choice among the two electrolytes tested with oxyhydrogen generator. Potassium hydroxide is commercially available and hence the operating cost of the generator cell is less. With oxyhydrogen intake, the revolutions per min of the engine increases and this reduces the vibration

Fig. 3—Two axis data from an accelerometer showing variations of the engine which can be confirmed by the in engine vibration with oxyhydrogen suppliment accelerometer data. Moreover, potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide are commercially available and showed a 4% improvement in the brake thermal hence the operating cost of the generator cell is less. efficiency and specific fuel consumption under test With oxyhydrogen intake, the RPM of the engine conditions. In comparison with sodium hydroxide the increases and this reduces the vibration of the engine potassium hydroxide electrolyte, improved the and is confirmed by the accelerometer data. performance of the engine by more than a factor of two (9%) at 75% of its rated load capacity. The References accelerometer arrangement mounted on the engine 1 Center for Transportation Analysis, Trans Ener Data Book, block confirms the change in power generated by the Appendix B, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 31st edn, induction of oxyhydrogen supplement. From Fig.3 July 31, 2012 alternating changes in the frequency and amplitude of 2 Kalyan A & Puri I K, Combus Sci Engin, CRC Press, 851 vibration confirm the change in engine rpm of the test (2006), ISBN 978-0-8493-2071-2. setup caused by the fluctuating power output. This 3 Yadav Milind S, Sawant S M, Anavkar Jayesh A & Chavan Hemant V, Investigations on generation methods for oxy- shows that oxyhydrogen induced fuel supplement hydrogen gas, its blending with conventional fuels and effect increases the power output of an IC engine. on the performance of internal combustion engine. J Mech Eng Res, 3(9) (2011) 325-332, 21. Conclusions 4 Yadav Milind S & Sawant S M, Investigations on oxy- There is a notable change in the efficiency of the hydrogen gas and producer gas, as alternative fuels, on the engine when oxyhydrogen is provided as a performance of twin cylinder diesel engine, Int J Mech Eng, supplement with the air fuel mixture and the 2(2) (2011) 85-98. efficiency of the engine improves with increase in the 5 Samuel S & McCormick G, Hydrogen enriched diesel combustion. SAE Power trains, Fuels and Lubricants concentration of the electrolyte. However, it is meeting, (2010), DOI: 10.4271/2010-01-2190. observed that all the readings converge with the air 6 Lilik G K, Zhang H D, Herreros J M, Haworth D C & fuel mixture reading. This is because, the generator Boehman A L, Hydrogen assisted diesel combustion. Int J cell has a constant current flowing through the Hyd Ener, 35(9) (2010) 4382–4398. electrodes; the amount of oxyhydrogen generated for 7 Saravanan N & Nagarajan G, Performance and emission a given time is constant but the fuel intake of the studies on port injection of hydrogen with varied flow rates with diesel as an ignition source, Appl Ener, 87(7) (2011) engine increases with increase in load. This makes the 2218–2229. volume of generated oxyhydrogen minimal and hence 8 Yilmaz A C, Erinc, Uludamar & Aydin K, Effect of hydroxy does not reflect on the graph at higher loads. A more (HHO) gas addition on performance and exhaust emissions efficient method is to use a modulated current source in compression ignition engines, Int J Hyd Ener, which can control the gas generation with feedback 35(20)(2010) 11366–11372. 9 Yull Brown, Yull Brown patent for welding apparatus, US from the engine. It is observed that the fuel Patent 4014777, March 1977. consumption of the engine reduces notably with 10 Rhodes W A, Apparatus for the electrolytic production of increase in electrolyte concentration because the hydrogen and oxygen for the safe consumption thereof, US flame propagation rate and the excess oxygen present Patent 3262872, July 1966.