Why are we not funding this? 6 stroke engine cycle.
It’s the same as a 4-stroke, but adds a 5th and 6th. On the 5th, you spray water into the engine. It turns into steam and pushes the piston back down for an extra power stroke. 6th is the steam exhaust cycle. This system uses waste heat from combustion to create another power stroke. It also cools the engine, meaning a minimized need for outside cooling systems, like radiators.
Another benefit is that 1/3 of the strokes are power strokes as opposed to 1/4 being power strokes in a 4 stroke cycle. It also burns fuel 50% less often than a traditional engine (Once every 6 strokes instead of once every 4), so you get more power and burn less fuel.
Also, sorry if this is in the wrong community, none really seemed to fit this accurately.
Comments
has this been patented? because this is an awesome idea (if its yours)
It’s not my idea, haha, people have been kinda working on it for years, but i’ve only just heard about it and thought it was really cool so I thought i’d share it.
Here’s an article from back in 2006.
http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/inside-bruce-crowers-six-stroke-engine
This is honestly really cool haha
It would need a source of water for spraying. And every time it is sprayed, it would reduce, naturally. Which mean you will have to refule the water more often than practicable. Otherwise than that, great idea..
From what i’ve read, it would use roughly the same amount of water as it does fuel, which would make it not much more different than we’re used to, you’d just have to fill up with two liquids instead of one. It does need distilled water or the cylinders get coated with calcium buildup and whatever else was in the water, but distilling water isn’t “that” difficult when you consider that we’ve managed to design ways of turning explosions into smooth linear motion.
I’m pretty sure there are ways to condense water out of air. I saw it on Pimp My Ride once :P
Well if someone can make a system that recycles the exhaust steam
Sounds good but… Wouldn’t the car need a Water Reservoir secondary to the Fuel one then?? If it was optional (like Eco-On cars) would sound nice though, Else you’d have to refill it after driving around…
It would, but considering we already have fuel tanks in our cars, we’re kinda used to that already, haha. I could also see an issue with the engine not being hot enough to flash water to steam immediately after you started it, so to be practical, you might need to be able to flip it on and off.
I don’t know if this will work but instead of letting the steam exhaust go out the back, why not recycle it by cooling it down to the point where it turns into water in the same way the car cools down the air that goes into the AC? My knowledge of a car’s inner workings is still a little bit choppy so go easy on me.
The main problem I see is that you would eventually have to deal with water getting into the oil via condensation on the walls of the combustion chamber. Also how can you make sure all the water gets exhausted? If you build up too much condensation you would eventually have enough water to compress and hydrolock the engine
hmm, I see what you mean, I think in order for this to work properly the engine would need to be pretty hot to ensure that the water had turned 100% into a gas.
You do realize how hot the combustion chamber of a running engine is………the water would be steam instantly…..
With modern engine management systems those problems are easily solved. To avoid rust and condensation after shutting the engine down the ECU could turn the engine into a 4 stroke engine a few seconds before shutting down, by skipping the steam power and exhaust stroke. This would dry out the engine. Same goes for starting the engine, you could program the ECU to turn on water injection only after a certain engine temperature has been reached.
Ideally you should then have a pressure sensor in the combustion chamber to manage pressure and prevent hydrolock. If the ECU sees the pressures rise (due to condensation building up) it can temporarily shut down the water injection to dry the engine until pressures are normal again.
Pressure sensors in the combustion chambers are not possible today, in a production vehicle. But companies like Bosch are working on it because using them would also enable manufacturers to bring emissions of 4 stroke engines down.
It might be hard to get into production considering water filling and long term usage
There’s actually a different type of 6 stroke engine too. Also there are engines out there, for example i thing bmw has one but i’m not sure, that sprays water in with the fuel to cool the engine. its super cool and its called water injection. Its worth looking up. Also here’s a link to the six-stroke engine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-stroke_engine#/media/File:M4%2B2anim.gif Its designed to heat up the fuel so that it burns cleaner.
This might sound stupid but… how would it handle at higher RPMs? Would it just be like a regular engine?
Maybe not water. Winter will come and ice up all the water.
Maybe mix it with antifreezer, or alcohol? Would that work? I seriously don’t know. Captain please.
Wouldnt water cool down the cylinder and make it wet making the next combustion stroke less efficient?
The water would evaporate fully, so there would be no wetness left in the cylinder, however if there is too much coolant injected or if it’s too cold, the difference in temperature i would think could warp the cylinders or pistons
I think it would, depending on the injection method, in direct injection engines the heat vaporises the petrol alowing it to well mixture with the air.