Testing Water Injection in a Gasoline Engine

Testing done by Rudy Stefenel - 5/10/200

!"R!#SE$

To find out if %ater injection %ill actually increase t&e efficiency of a gasoline engine' If it does %or() find out %&at is t&e o*ti+u+ rate is to add %ater to t&e carburetor air inta(e under t&e test conditions'

,IS-"SSI#.$ There are three purposes for using water with a gasoline engine, other than radiator cooling, that I know about.

1) To improve the miles per gallon of gasoline automobiles. 2) To help cool gasoline engines when they are under heavy load. This was done with some war airplanes to help keep the engine cool during take off. The water was injected into the air fuel air mi!ture somehow. ") This third way is not water injection. #ome of the electrical energy created by the alternator of the automobile is to used to convert water into hydrogen and o!ygen gases. The hydrogen is fed into the carburetor to add as part of the fuel. I don$t know if anyone feeds the o!ygen into the engine too.

This test report only covers the first purpose% to improve the miles per gallon &efficiency) of a gasoline engine. There are water interjection devices on the market for automobiles, but just because they are there for sale, it does not prove to me that they really help. The testing documented here is a reasonably accurate method using a gasoline generator with a fi!ed load. The generator has a governor to keep the gasoline engine speed constant. ' fi!ed load and a controlled speed are ingredients for a good repeatable test. I used gravity feed, a needle valve, and a small orifice to inject water into the carburetor of the generator. The amount of water is controlled by the needle valve setting and the height of the water supply above the engine carburetor.

-#.-/"SI#.S$ 0y conclusion is t&at it is li(ely t&at t&ere is no i+*ro1e+ent) and if t&ere is any i+*ro1e+ent) it is not significant' I found slig&tly o1er 1 *ercent i+*ro1e+ent at one rate of adding %ater) but t&is is +as(ed by t&e inaccuracy of t&e tests done' If I re*eatedly test %it& just regular unleaded gasoline alone) I %ill find +ore t&an 1 *ercent difference bet%een tests' 2ased on t&is testing) I a+ not going to bot&er adding %ater injection to any gasoline auto+obiles t&at I o%n for t&e first *ur*ose +entioned earlier' It %ould be interesting if t&ere is any i+*ro1e+ent %it& %ater injection using a diesel engine' 0aybe so+eday) I +ay dig into t&is'

TEST 0ET3#,$ The gasoline generator$s gas tank is disconnected and the carburetor is connected to a pipette, which serves as the gas tank for these tests. The engine efficiency is compared by timing the flow of "( milliliters of gasoline through a pipette repeatedly. The first test is with plain regular gasoline to get a reference. The ne!t test is done with a water injected into the carburetor. )ach test that follows is done with a different rate of water injection to hopefully find an optimum amount for best efficiency.

This is a great place to do this sort of testing. I am setup under a tree, and it is comfortable even on a hot day. I bring my lunch when I do this sort of testing. *y the way, I keep a fire e!tinguisher handy just in case. #cientific testing, and outdoors too, what a life+

TEST SET"! 5/10/0 $ Location: #tabili,er #olutions, in -ilpitas, thanks to .eter /errera+ Regular Gasoline: 0nion 12 3egular. Gasoline Generator% 4hampion .ower )5uip. 1200 Watt Test Load: 6ne 7(( 8att waffle iron with its thermostat disabled.

3ere is t&e test set u* s&o%ing t&e electric generator) and t&e 00 %affle iron' 4lso a jar of %ater is s&o%n on a ladder as *art of t&e gra1ity feed for t&e %ater injection'

The water flows from the pipette through clear fuel line to a copper tube clued to a cement block. The cement block is there to keep the engine vibrations from reaching the pipette. It is much easier to see the fuel level when the fuel is not vibrating. The fuel line continues from the other end of the copper tube, through a fuel filter, and then to the carburetor of the engine. 's you can see, it is easy to time the fuel flow between marks on the pipette. 9or the tests done in this report, I timed "( milliliters of fuel flow each time. The fuel is always 0nion 12 3egular unleaded gas. 6nly the amount of water injected is changed during each test.

T&is *&oto s&o%s t&e jar of %ater *laced on a ladder ste*' T&e %ater *ressure is adjusted by c&oosing %&ic& ste* t&e jar is *laced on' T&is is gra1ity feed'

2ric(s %ere used to get t&e jar at *laces in bet%een ste*s'

T&is *&oto s&o%s &o% I ti+ed 5 +illiliters of %ater flo% using a sto* %atc&' T&e narro% bea(er is calibrated in +illiliters'

E.GI.E W4R0 "! using Regular gasoline$ 8armed up the engine for 1: minutes while adding regular gasoline to the pipette to keep it from emptying out. 'll test times recorded are in minutes and seconds all through this report. 's an e!ample 2%11 is two minutes and eleven seconds. 'nother e!ample is 2 minutes and "" and a half seconds% 2%"".: TEST ,4T4$ /ere are the times logged for "( milliliters of fuel flowing using straight regular unleaded gasoline% The ambient% 2; degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular gasoline only )% 2%"2, 2%"1, 2%"2, 2%<(, 2%"1, 2%"1 'verage% 2%":.: 'mbient% 2; 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 2%((.: minutes)% 2%"1, 2%"(, 2%"<, 2%"1, 2%"1, 2%"" 'verage% 2%"1.1 'mbient% 2; degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 1%"1)% 2%2", 2%2<, 2%21, 2%2" 'verage% 2%22.1: 'mbient% 11 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular only, no water)% This was done to confirm that everything is working correctly. 2%"<, 2%"1, 2%<( 'verage% 2%"1 'mbient% 12 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 2%"2)% 2%21, 2%2;, 2%22, 2%"1 'verage% 2%2; 'mbient% 12 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in "%<2)% 2%"1, 2%"1, 2%"" 'verage% 2%"1.21

'mbient% 1; degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 1%21)% 2%27, 2%21, 2%"( 'verage% 2%2;.21 'mbient% 11 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 1"%2;)% 2%"1, 2%"1, 2%<", 2%27, 2%"2 'verage% 2%"".2 'mbient% 11 degrees 9. &0nion 12 = : ml water in 27%() 2%"2, 2%"1, 2%"" 'verage% 2%"2 'mbient% 11 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular only, no water)% 'nother reference check. 2%2;, 2%"1, 2%<1, 2%"1 'verage% 2%"<.2: 'mbient% 11 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 17%1)% 2%"2, 2%";, 2%<(, 2%"1, 2%"1 'verage% 2%"1.2 'mbient% 11 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 1<%"<)% 2%"2, 2%"2, 2%"1 'verage% 2%"2." 'mbient% 11 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 12%1<)% 2%"1, 2%":, 2%"< 'verage% 2%""." 'mbient% 11 degrees 9. & 0nion 12 3egular = : ml water in 1<%"<)% 2%"2, 2%"2, 2%"1 'verage% 2%"2.""

# 35.50 # 3!.00 # 3$.#5 # 35.&0

155.50 15!.00 15$.#5 155.&0

(o water (o water (o water Average no water

Three separate tests were done using no water, and they are tabulated here and averaged. The first column is minutes and seconds for "( milliliters of gasoline flow. The second column is the same data converted to seconds. The last row is the average of the top three and I will be using this average when I tabulate all the data and chart it below.

Test to see how much time to fill a 5 milliliter flask Minutes 1 3! # 00.5 # 3& 3 $& ! #1 1# 1$ 13.#% 1$ 3$ 1".10 #" 10 no water

Converted to Seconds "! 1#0.5 15& ##& $$1 !3$ %0% %!$ 1150 1!50 no water

This Calculates to this rate of water injection milliliters'sec. 0.01031 0.00%30 0.00&$1 0.00$$# 0.00##! 0.0013& 0.001#$ 0.0011$ 0.000%! 0.0005! 0.00000

Time for gasoline engine to use 30 ml. gasoline Average Converted Time to Minutes Seconds # ##.!5 # 31.%0 # #%.00 # 31.&! # #%.&! # 33.30 # 33.#0 # 3&.30 # 3!.&0 # 3#.00 2:35.60 1$#.!5 151.%0 1$%.00 151.&! 1$%.&! 153.30 1#3.#0 15&.30 15!.50 15#.00 155.&0

/ere is all the data tabulated to create a >? 4hart. To really make sense out of this, see this data charted on the ne!t page.

1&0

155

150

1$5

1$0

135 0.0000 0.0005! 0.000%! 0.0011$ 0.0013& 0.00##! 0.00$$# 0.00&$1 0.00%3 0.01031

The > a!is is time in seconds for "( milliliters of gasoline flow through the pipette. The ? a!is is the rate of water injection in milliliters per second. The a red line is hand drawn line that averages through the data points. 's you can see, the engine efficiency drops in general as more water is added. )ven if you were to take the highest point and compare that to the average of all the no water tests, that would indicate only about a 1 percent improvement. The testing is not accurate enough to call that a 1 percent improvement and even if it was accurate enough, just a 1 percent is not worth all the trouble of adding water injection for me to bother with it. 3udy #tefenel :@21@2((7