DIY_EFI Digest Tuesday, 20 August 1996 Volume 01 : Number 237 In this issue: Re: Zero Emissions Vehicle (was Electric Veh.) Re: '97 Corvette engine, DIS Re: Spark Ionisation to determine Combustion Characteristics ZEV / REV Re: EGO sensors Re: Zero Emissions Vehicle (was Electric Veh.) See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the DIY_EFI or DIY_EFI-Digest mailing lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ryan Harrell Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 21:59:23 -0500 Subject: Re: Zero Emissions Vehicle (was Electric Veh.) Matthew Lamari wrote: > > At 04:28 PM 8/19/96 MET, you wrote: > > > >Hello John, > > > > > >You are absolutely right! The efficiency rate from power-producer > >to end user is not more than 10% (I am not shure, but I can get > >exact numbers if you want) > >Also solar power is not the cleanest. Some years ago there was a > >study about solar-cells. It said, that solar cell production consumes > >more energy than the cell will bring back in it's lifetime. > >Maybe things have changed in between, but "zero emmission" is > >something else. > >Sorry, I don't have better ideas neither (spelling?), so we have to > >make the best out of existing energy possibilities. > >Regards > >Hans > > > >hiha@xxx.de > >Munich / Germany > > > > > > How about alcohol in a hybrid? So it takes twice as much methanol to > produce the same amount of energy as petrol; but at least you get all the > convenience of fuels (use it when you want.) Okay, you'd have to screw with > compressions and stuff; but it wouldn't mean an engine redesign of any more > epic proportions than souping up your car for a massive compression ratio > change. > > I seem to remember back in North Queensland when all the cane farmers and > processing mills were getting interested in something. They were going to > turn the cane into Ethanol and mix it in with Petrol (in parts so > compression didn't have to be changed on a regular vehicle.) It had been > tested and worked well. Alas, as it opposed the best interests of those in > the oil industry it went away. > > Sure it seemed expensive; but think of it in volume. The farmers get $30 a > tonne for the cane. Somewhere in between would be a competitive price. You > don't get anything particularly nasty when you burn alcohol. Not like some > of the stuff that comes out (even with a catalytic converter) when you burn > petroleum. > > It can be made directly from plants that efficiently use sunlight. Any > energy used in the process of making the actual alcohol would be used by > higher-efficiency (than the cars) dedicated machinery. Someone with a > heavily modified engine would merely use more alcohol, not add to any > pollution problem (except maybe water vapour/humidity? :) At the end of the > day you'd have a fuel that didn't really pollute, renewable from solar > energy, and always ready to produce plenty of power, conveniently located in > the fuel tank. > > Matthew. However, alcohol is very corrosive on internal engine components. Therefore, it is only suitable (and used) for racing applications. ------------------------------ From: Matt Sale Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 22:08:55 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: '97 Corvette engine, DIS Read the September '96 issue of Hot Rod magazine! It shows a coil-at-plug system on the new "LS1" 350. > > Are the rumors true, Direct Ignition on the '97 Corvette 5.7l LT1? Are there > any technical tidbits available? Feed me info ...please! > > GMD > > - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew D. Sale Delco Electronics Corp. '69 Mustang 351W 5-spd (13.656@xxx. All responses are my own and should not be mistaken for those of Delco Electronics or General Motors. ------------------------------ From: MaxBoost@xxx.com Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 00:20:30 -0400 Subject: Re: Spark Ionisation to determine Combustion Characteristics >As far as I know, this is a current (no pun intended!) method for >misfire detection for OBDII, although I don't know who or if anyone is >using it. >Andrew Rabbitt >Orbital Engine Company >PERTH, Australia FWIW, On OBD-II cars Nissan uses a secondary crankshaft position sensor on the outer lip of the flywheel to watch the crank speed to detect a misfire. There is a second row of teeth (360) next to the ring gear. By watching for a smooth pattern it can detect when a cylinder drops out by the change in speed. It also knows which cylinder misfired by the #1 reference at tdc for #1 cylinder. Max. ------------------------------ From: Jim Steck <72614.557@xxx.COM> Date: 20 Aug 96 01:02:48 EDT Subject: ZEV / REV >>So the term "Zero Emissions Vehicle" is a LIE. They ought >>to be called "Remote Emissions Vehicles" (REV) since they just shift >>the emissions point to another location. >people generally don't congregate around a power station exhaust >stack, but cars and people must co-habitate generally at close range, >therefore zero tail-pipe emissions is beneficial from a public health >point of view. So you think it's okay to dump it in my back yard? Besides, we're not going to die from the exhaust from internal combustion engines . . . it'll be the damn batteries that get us. Hey, how about a good 'T-bone' accident with an electric vehicle? Maybe one that's bromide based . . . or one of those that contain molten sulfer? ;-) Jim Steck AutoComponenti ------------------------------ From: Alexander.M.Lichstein@xxx. Lichstein) Date: 20 Aug 96 01:32:40 EDT Subject: Re: EGO sensors I wonder if anyone has really read the info that IS out there regarding EGO sensors. The O2 sensor is measuring ALL exhaust gas components. That means SOx's, NOx's, CO, CO2, O2 etc. In an earlier message I had included unburned HC's, but someone pointed out that the ceramic catalyst which forms part of the cell wouldn't allow [large] HC's to permeate. In fact, this catalyst (at 600'C) WILL combust the HC's, and the products of this reaction will then be able to permeate, so they [HC's] should be included in the analysis (and remember that there are dozens of families and thousands of memebers). In any case, the point is that each of these gases will generate a potential in the cell. Each effective emf wil be different, and these must all be taken into consideration. It so happens that the exhaust components of a stoichiometric combustion mixture will generally cause a potential of 0.45V (or so) to be generated in the cell. This has to do with the rapid increases of CO while the O2 drops, NO peaks, and SO drops (lean to rich). Off of this turning point, we must know the relative partial pressures of each component (and those which are generated by the catalysis of the HC's mentioned above) in order to predict what voltage will be generated. The point is that these relative components will be a function of ,but not limited to: fuel composition, additives, temperature, mixing, humidity, altitude, barometriuc pressure, engine size/weight/height, space-time continuum etc. Under completely known and repeatable conditions, it could be said that readings will be consistent. But I defy you to make a correlation based on all of the above under generalized conditions. Yes... anyone can linearize a graph, but not if it moves around as seconds, days, and years go by. These are my comments... I have more if you need. - - Z ------------------------------ From: Alexander.M.Lichstein@xxx. Lichstein) Date: 20 Aug 96 01:37:15 EDT Subject: Re: Zero Emissions Vehicle (was Electric Veh.) Not only is alcohol corrosive etc., but formaldayhde is produced in high concentrations during combustion. This particular chemical has it's own evils... in other words, alchohol is not the panacea clean-burning dru.. I mean, fuel that some would have us believe. Catalyze that out, and you're back where you started in terms of pollution. Renewability and economics (i.e. production from waste products: husks, cane, methane etc.) are it's greatest real draw. - - Z ------------------------------ End of DIY_EFI Digest V1 #237 ***************************** To subscribe to DIY_EFI-Digest, send the command: subscribe diy_efi-digest in the body of a message to "Majordomo@xxx. 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