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Dynamometer and 5
Gas Emissions Analyzer
Emissions
We have
always wanted to have access to a dynamometer and a 5 gas exhaust emissions
analyzer to be able to further document the benefits of the Hydrogen
Boost system. Today we can
report that we now own our very own dynamometer and emissions analyzer
and to sum up preliminary tests we can confirm that what we have been
claiming for years had indeed been accurate. Here’s the story.
A few
weeks ago I saw a dynamometer on EBAY with a bid having already met the
reserve bid for the auction.
The listing also indicated that the seller had available a 5 gas
emissions analyzer for sale. I
contacted the seller and purchased the analyzer for a fair price and
bid on the dynamometer a couple times and ended up winning the auction.
This week the pair of
instruments were delivered in the midst of two weeks of near steady
rain up hear in the Northeast that caused much flooding. With all the rain I didn’t get much
time to set up and do extensive testing, but I did get a couple breaks
in the rain to do some short preliminary testing.
First I tried out the gas
analyzer on the Saturn SL1 at idle, 2000RPM and 2300RPM with no
load. I know the analyzer has
not been calibrated in a few years so the numbers will not be accurate
but the comparisons between the emissions with and without the Hydrogen
Boost system will be relative.
I tested at idle a number of times and consistently got very
similar emissions with and without Hydrogen Boost. I do have to mention that this
engine has had Hydrogen Boost installed for quite some time now and it
has had a chance to clean out the carbon in the combustion chambers so
this car will typically run cleaner than normal even when we shut off
the Hydrogen Boost system. The
tests showed varied results when comparing the carbon monoxide (CO),
hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Sometimes the emissions would be slightly higher and
sometimes slightly lower when comparing the readings with and without
Hydrogen Boost but overall the average readings were virtually
indistinguishable.
Then I tested at 2000 RPM
and 2300 RPM and found slightly better results. Again the test showed varied results
but generally lower emissions with Hydrogen Boost than without. The NOx emissions were of particular
concern to me because we had never tested NOx with Hydrogen Boost and
we already had documentation of improvements in CO and HC. According to automotive engineering
theories if the fuel ratio is leaner than 14.7 to 1 the NOx emissions
will increase because of higher combustion temperatures. But in these tests I confirmed what
I said in our June 2004 newsletter.
With proper adjustment of the fuel ratio, the NOx emission were
indeed lower with Hydrogen Boost than without.
Further in depth testing is
planned with the engine under load as soon as the rain stops.
Dynamometer
Between
rain showers I got a chance to set up and test for a couple hours on
the dynamometer. Testing our
Saturn SL1 with Hydrogen Boost and without (shutting off the components
we could) we confirmed that our system, even without the implementation
of driving tips, gives a considerable increase in mileage. The only test I had a chance to do
was at 45 mph with slightly less than normal engine load than when we
are cruising down our test track road.
The reason I say slightly less drag is because the mileage
figures were slightly higher than on the road.
Without
the Hydrogen Boost system turned off (of course we could not take away
the engine treatment which was already a part of the engine) the trip
MPG for one mile of constant 45 mph on the dynamometer produced a trip
mpg reading of 58.5 mpg. If you
are familiar with last month’s newsletter the relatively stock Saturn
SL1 was tested to achieve 50 mpg on our ½ mile test track road at the
same constant speed. On the
dynamometer, with Hydrogen Boost turned on, the Saturn achieved a trip
mpg reading of 69.1 mpg on a one mile run. This is only an 18% increase over the 58.5 mpg, compared
to the 20% increase with Hydrogen Boost on our test track road. I would expect this slightly lower
improvement because of the reduced load on the engine.
Remember that at 70 mph on
the road the Saturn achieved a 25% increase in mileage with Hydrogen
Boost. I expect to come close
to duplicating the 25% increase on the dynamometer when we get the
engine load and tire speed up to comparable conditions to 70 mph cruise. Hydrogen Boost has greater
improvements at higher engine loads because the effects of the
components is more pronounced when more combustion is taking place.
If the rain ever stops I
hope to get some serious testing done before winter, that is if I don’t
have to go to Italy on my other Hydrogen Boosting project.
10-17-05 Update
Today
I kept my promise to do further testing on the Dynamometer with the
Saturn SL1. Since the engine
was cold I decided to start off with mileage tests with a cold engine
during warm-up to show how much difference engine temperature
matters. I shut off what system
components that I could but I left the tires inflated to Hydrogen Boost
standards and of course the engine treatment could not be removed.
The
first one mile test at 45 mph achieved a mileage of 58.0 mpg with
engine coolant temperature at 145 degrees. This was followed by 60 mpg at 165 degrees, 61.0 mpg at
175 degrees, and 62.0 at 185 degrees.
Since 185 degrees is the thermostat setting on the Saturn we could
use 62.0 mpg as baseline mileage for the Saturn equipped with XCEL PLUS
engine treatment and increased tire pressure. Last week’s baseline of 58.5 mpg with normal tire
pressure likely indicates a 56 mpg true baseline figure for this
vehicle without XCEL PLUS engine treatment.
After
the baseline was established I recorded numerous trials (usually five)
with the Saturn on the dynamometer equipped in various
configurations. The highest and
lowest figures were discarded and the remaining figures were
averaged. Following are the
results:
Baseline 56.0 Increase based on Increase
58.5mpg w/XCEL PLUS
overall
Engine cold w/ tire pressure 58
XCEL PLUS and tire pressure 62 6% 10.7%
Above plus Fuel heater 67.7 15.7% 20.8%
Above plus Hydrogen 68.8 17.6% 22.9%
Above plus electronic circuit 71.6 22.4% 27.9%
Conclusions: The dynamometer tests were
consistent with the road tests already published. Though these mileage figures are not
true road miles per gallon expectations, they use the dynamometer to
prevent any implementation of driving tips in influencing the
results. The consistency with
the published road test results shows that the road tests were indeed
accurate. I would tend to argue
that the road tests were more accurate because they were done under the
influence of wind resistance.
Though the wind resistance would have been constant with all
these tests because they were all done at the same speed I will agree
that the dynamometer is a valuable tool to verify what was already
known and published. And
considering that many people will not believe road mileage tests, for
good reason considering many claims on the Internet that are not based
on controlled experimental data, these dynamometer test results should
silence the nay sayers.
10-20-05 Update
After
finally learning how to change the load on the dynamometer and also how
to drive off the thing properly without ripping off my front bumper
cover, I set out to do some tests at 70 mpg, with and without the
Hydrogen Boost system components turned on. This time I tested with Hydrogen Boost standard tire
pressure (50 psi), starting again with the system shut off and turning
on one component at a time until the system was complete. Then I tested a few different
electronic control settings to find the best setting for mileage. I previously considered the best
setting for power to be the best setting for mileage, but today I found
out otherwise. Today’s tests
were done slightly different than Monday’s. Instead of doing five runs of one mile each and averaging
the middle three (throwing out the highest and lowest numbers), I became
quite consistent on repeating similar numbers so I limited my trials to
three runs of one mile each and averaged all three. For a baseline I had to calculate a
soft tire baseline by assuming the increased tire pressure alone would
make the same 10.6% increase it did on Monday. The reason I did this is because
when I got the car up onto the dyno and the tire pressure set at 30
psi, the frame of the car was resting on the frame of the dyno. So the weight of the vehicle was not
resting well on the tires when the pressure was 30 psi. The 10.6% adjustment to the baseline
figure below allows us to calculate the benefits of the whole
system. The middle column below
indicates the mileage improvement over the 50 psi tires.
Following are the results:
Components operating Mileage Increase Increase based on 30 psi tires
Baseline (calculated) 44.3
XCEL PLUS and 50 psi 49 10.6%
Above plus fuel heater 49.4
0.8% 11.5%
Above plus Hydrogen 50.0 2.0% 12.9%
Above plus EC set at 13.5 53.0 8.2% 19.6%
EC
set at 13.0 55.1 12.4% 24.4%
EC
set at 12.5 58.2 18.8% 31.4%
After getting test results with the whole system
operating I shut off each component individually in reverse order and
tested with each configuration again.
The results of these tests were again very similar to the
results above. I did these
tests because I suspected that the earlier tests might show improvement
in mileage that could be attributed to the vaporizing of fuel in the
tank more toward the end than at the beginning, because over time the
fuel in the tank increases in temperature. The second set of tests confirmed that this was NOT the
case, and that the mileage gains attributed to each system component
was accurate.
Conclusions: As
expected and as predicted above, the improvements in mileage due to the
Hydrogen Boost system was more pronounced at higher engine loads, which
is what you have at 70 mph versus 45 mph. In this set of tests, the increase in mileage due to the
three engine-related components able to be shut off (fuel heat,
hydrogen and EC) was 18.8% versus only 15.5% at 45 mph. And the total increase in mileage
due to the entire system, including increased tire pressure, was 31.4%
versus 22.4% with the same configuration at 45 mph. This should give hope to those of
you that drive heavy work vehicles with high engine loads.
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