ApEkV2

People can be doing alot to increase the efficiency of gasoline engines.
The problem is the general public has a negative stereotype of fuel saving devices whether they work or not, or the majority of the pop doesn't have any knowledge of these devices.

I will be building the preheater hopefully late next week. I have other projects that pose greater benefits.

On the design I am planning, I'll try to replicate the video link in the first post.
The only difference is I am going to use far less solder than he did.
Planning on only using solder in like a spot welding manner. The thermal conductivity of silver solder is vary high similar to copper.
After the mess is all fixed up, ArmorFlex is going to be used to insulate it.
Oh and angle iron to keep it secure to the radiator.
(for this car, the best place for it on the radiator line is right next to the radiator because there isn't much room anywhere else)

After the preheater, the wet stone idea sounds good to try. Like a high speed humidifier or a ultrasonic water mister.

That is an awesome idea Dave. I was also thinking of a water mist spray into the intake.
I was going to use an oil burner nozzle (.016 gallon per minute rate or lower), but this idea sounds better.
Now I'm going to have to try both!

Using cooler air does increase performance. The reason being that cold air is more dense than hot air.
For example take a balloon and fill it with air. Now heat it up. It expands, and when it is cooled, it gets smaller.
So the cold air occupies less space than the hot air (when inside a container).

Building a preheater is not that expensive at all. Just find some scrap copper, a couple of brass barb fittings and solder it together.
I will probably do this in the near future.

While waiting for a couple of items to arrive via the mail, I began learning about fuel pre-heaters and want to know whether they work or not.
The brief science of it all is to heat the gasoline somewhere in between the fuel pump and fuel rails.
With the easiest heat source being the engine cooling system, the gas would be heated to around 180* F with the means of a heat exchanger.
This heated gasoline has an increased molecular kinetic energy, and thus mixes better with the air.

For an example, you have a jug of cold water and a jug of hot water.
It takes less time and effort to mix a solute into the hot water than the cold.

One question people ask is, "Isn't vapor lock a problem?"
Well from my understanding, vapor lock occurs when the gasoline between the gas tank and the fuel pump becomes heated creating a vapour.
The fuel pump has a hard time of drawing vapours, so the engine looses power and stalls.
I haven't heard of vapor lock occuring in between the fuel pump and the rails.

Here is a vid from youtube and some resources of what I'm talking about.

YouTube - Fuel Pre Heater Prodgect for 89 Ford Mustang

Flash point - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vapor lock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I want to know if this idea actually works, and if anyone has built one that increases fuel economy and can comment on their gains or losses.

If there is already a thread about this, I'm sorry to be a bother, but I think it's smart to revisit things now and then to keep ideas floating around.

Matt

diac relevance to the circuit

Changing the resistor didn't have near the same effects as changing the diac. I tried three different diac solutions.



From left to right, a real diac from a light dimmer - a neon lamp - and a homemade diac built with two inverse parallel shockley diodes.
All yielded different results, but the one that worked best with the rest of the circuit was the far right diac.
The first two didn't work so well with the resistor / capacitor arrangement I have.
They altered the triac firing pulse too much giving me little to no adjustment.
A way to solve that would be to redesign the whole trigger circuit with different resistance / capacitance values.
If I were to redesign the circuit, I think the neon lamp would be the best diac to go with as it is the simplest solution.

Here are links for anyone trying to build an unorthodox dimmer.

How do light dimmers works?
The Shockley Diode : THYRISTORS
Resistors
Odd application of neon glow lamps
TRIAC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The DIAC : THYRISTORS

Thanks I'll try switching that resistor on the breadboard circuit (the original circuit was on a breadboard).
The plasma coming from the cathode doesn't eat the copper away at all.
If anything, the 304 stainless is electroplated onto the copper electrode.
Of course, I think when I try 220vac instead of 115 that could change.

Hello, does anyone know of any very low current dimmer circuits out there?
This is partly solved, and I've posted links for anyone building circuits like these (post #4).
Here is the one I made from scratch, but it doesn't work below 120 watts.
I would like to build one that could run at under 100 watts of current.
(It uses regular 115vac house current at 60hz) I'm also planning on using 220vac with this dimmer as well.
Does this circuit pass for this kind of voltage?



The application would be for a plasma electrolysis experiment I am conducting.
It seems that right when the reaction is at its peak, the power drops off to a point where the dimmer can't run because of the low amp draw.
If it were to function under low current conditions, I think the reaction could be better.

The full circuit this dimmer would be in is here at 40 seconds into video.

YouTube - Plasma HHO (3)

Is this an unfixable trait of triacs? Or can there be a workaround.

Matt