Giant leap forward in engine technology...
8/17/04, 03:21 AM
#1
Mach 1 Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: February 18, 2004
Posts: 874
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Arvinmeritor Pursues a Different Hydrogen Strategy
13 August 2004
Author:
Provider: Automotive Design & Production
Originally Published:2004 08 01
"Plasmatron" is a name that smacks of the sort of advancement in technology that the unit that ArvinMeritor (Troy, MI; www.arvinmeritor.com) is working to commercialize really is. Although that name was used by the researchers at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, from which the auto supplier has licensed the technology, they're calling it the "Plasma Fuel Reformer," a more descriptive, if mundane, moniker. This system, explains Pedro Ferro, vice president and general manager, ArvinMeritor Commercial Vehicle Emissions, "produces hydrogen onboard and on demand from the vehicle's fuel." That fuel can be either diesel or gasoline. With the system there's no need for a hydrogen infrastructure, as the system does the job.
As "Plasmatron" implies, a plasma cloud of ionized gas is generated, through which atomized fuel is passed. That induces a partial oxidation reaction, which results in H and CO. The hydrogen can then be mixed in the vehicle combustion chamber with gasoline. As a result, says Garrick Hu, vp of Advanced Engineering, ArvinMeritor Commercial Vehicle Systems, "You're extracting more of the energy from the fuel than you do in a normal gasoline engine." He explains, "It gives you flame stability, so you have the ability to operate in a lean condition. Your lean limit can move. Your knock limit can move. You can go to higher compression ratios. Higher compression ratios give you more power." He adds, "Typically that yields a higher NOx production-but not in this case."
This results is a 20% to 25% improvement in fuel efficiency. What's more, because of the efficiency of the burn, there is less aftertreatment of the exhaust involved, which can significantly reduce emissions and the cost of catalysts.
When could we see a Plasmatron on an engine? John M. Grace, vp, Engineering and Technology, ArvinMeritor, suggests that it could be "within two to five years."-GSV
13 August 2004
Author:
Provider: Automotive Design & Production
Originally Published:2004 08 01
"Plasmatron" is a name that smacks of the sort of advancement in technology that the unit that ArvinMeritor (Troy, MI; www.arvinmeritor.com) is working to commercialize really is. Although that name was used by the researchers at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, from which the auto supplier has licensed the technology, they're calling it the "Plasma Fuel Reformer," a more descriptive, if mundane, moniker. This system, explains Pedro Ferro, vice president and general manager, ArvinMeritor Commercial Vehicle Emissions, "produces hydrogen onboard and on demand from the vehicle's fuel." That fuel can be either diesel or gasoline. With the system there's no need for a hydrogen infrastructure, as the system does the job.
As "Plasmatron" implies, a plasma cloud of ionized gas is generated, through which atomized fuel is passed. That induces a partial oxidation reaction, which results in H and CO. The hydrogen can then be mixed in the vehicle combustion chamber with gasoline. As a result, says Garrick Hu, vp of Advanced Engineering, ArvinMeritor Commercial Vehicle Systems, "You're extracting more of the energy from the fuel than you do in a normal gasoline engine." He explains, "It gives you flame stability, so you have the ability to operate in a lean condition. Your lean limit can move. Your knock limit can move. You can go to higher compression ratios. Higher compression ratios give you more power." He adds, "Typically that yields a higher NOx production-but not in this case."
This results is a 20% to 25% improvement in fuel efficiency. What's more, because of the efficiency of the burn, there is less aftertreatment of the exhaust involved, which can significantly reduce emissions and the cost of catalysts.
When could we see a Plasmatron on an engine? John M. Grace, vp, Engineering and Technology, ArvinMeritor, suggests that it could be "within two to five years."-GSV
8/17/04, 03:29 AM
#2
GTR Member
Join Date: May 27, 2004
Location: Manchester, England
Posts: 4,748
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
1 Post
When they produce the Hydrogen, What do they do with the carbon monoxide? This is the worst emmission of the lot. Increased fuel efficiency would be offset by higher tax for CO emmissions (the way vehicle taxing works here anyway).
8/17/04, 03:38 AM
#3
Mach 1 Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: February 18, 2004
Posts: 874
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Here's a little more info; a few years old, and my understanding is that this technology is now about a year or two away from being implemented in vehicles. If so, it's a massive leap forward...
'Plasmatron' may clear the air
Device could help cars' gas-burning efficiency
By TOM PAULSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It's called a plasmatron and some day it could power your car using the same physical process that fuels the sun, achieving a hundred-fold reduction in smog-producing emissions.
"And it's completely compatible with existing automobile technology," says Daniel Cohn, head of plasma technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The experimental plasmatron is small enough to fit on your car's carburetor, will likely cost only a few hundred dollars and converts gasoline or even corn oil into hydrogen gas with such high efficiency it may become one of our best weapons against air pollution.
Cohn will speak on the MIT plasmatron, developed with assistance from Northwest scientists, at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society's division of plasma physics, on Thursday.
The meeting runs today through Friday at the Seattle Westin Hotel.
Cohn's plasma physics lab at MIT developed the plasmatron, working with scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland and Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Plasmas are collections of electrically charged particles sometimes called the fourth state of matter -- after solids, liquids and gases.
Plasmas are the most common form of visible matter in the universe, frequently described as a charged field or ion cloud.
The sun and the stars are high-temperature plasmas. The light in fluorescent bulbs is a low-temperature plasma. Lightning is a moderate kind of warmish plasma.
Cohn first got the idea for using plasma technology from a former Soviet scientist he met in the early 1990s. When the MIT scientists proposed it, some colleagues in the plasma physics community scoffed.
"Skeptics said it wouldn't work because it would take too much energy to run," said Jud Virden, an automotive technology expert at the Pacific Northwest National Lab. Virden and another colleague at PNNL, which is run by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy, helped Cohn develop the plasmatron.
Virden knew Cohn because of PNNL and MIT's collaboration on nuclear fusion research. Fusion reactors depend on high-temperature plasmas to produce nuclear energy.
"Our group was also working on low-temperature plasmas," Virden said.
In 1993, Alex Rabinovich, the former Soviet scientist, came to MIT to continue his work in plasma physics. Rabinovich mentioned to Cohn how he had set up a low-temperature plasma reactor using common fuels to give his lab more than the government-allotted power supply.
"That got us real excited," Cohn said. "We started looking around for how we might put this to use."
Virden was in Flint, Mich., at the time working as a technical liaison between PNNL and companies such as General Motors. Cohn told Virden about Rabinovich's work.
"I said I thought we could make it work for automobiles," Virden said. In 1995, Cohn, Virden and Rabinovich joined with Leslie Bromberg of MIT and Jeff Surma at PNNL to make the plasmatron idea for cars into a practical reality. The name for the device was likely Cohn's idea, Virden said.
"I don't know what 'tron' means," Virden said. "I think Dan just thought it sounded neat."
The primary hurdles, Cohn said, were to make the device small and affordable, reduce the electrical demand needed to create the plasma and improve the efficiency of converting fuels to cleaner-burning hydrogen gas.
What they have arrived at after considerable tinkering is a plasmatron that converts some of the fuel to hydrogen gas that is fed back into the regular fuel supply. This hydrogen-rich fuel is sent to the engine where the hydrogen allows the engine to burn the fuel much more efficiently at a lower temperature.
"We think it's the best option for reducing pollution in cars," Cohn said. Tests in a car engine at the Oak Ridge Lab, he said, produced a huge reduction in the emission of nitrogen oxides -- the main contributors to smog. He said the plasmatron, when mass-produced, should cost only a few hundred dollars.
'Plasmatron' may clear the air
Device could help cars' gas-burning efficiency
By TOM PAULSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It's called a plasmatron and some day it could power your car using the same physical process that fuels the sun, achieving a hundred-fold reduction in smog-producing emissions.
"And it's completely compatible with existing automobile technology," says Daniel Cohn, head of plasma technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The experimental plasmatron is small enough to fit on your car's carburetor, will likely cost only a few hundred dollars and converts gasoline or even corn oil into hydrogen gas with such high efficiency it may become one of our best weapons against air pollution.
Cohn will speak on the MIT plasmatron, developed with assistance from Northwest scientists, at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society's division of plasma physics, on Thursday.
The meeting runs today through Friday at the Seattle Westin Hotel.
Cohn's plasma physics lab at MIT developed the plasmatron, working with scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland and Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Plasmas are collections of electrically charged particles sometimes called the fourth state of matter -- after solids, liquids and gases.
Plasmas are the most common form of visible matter in the universe, frequently described as a charged field or ion cloud.
The sun and the stars are high-temperature plasmas. The light in fluorescent bulbs is a low-temperature plasma. Lightning is a moderate kind of warmish plasma.
Cohn first got the idea for using plasma technology from a former Soviet scientist he met in the early 1990s. When the MIT scientists proposed it, some colleagues in the plasma physics community scoffed.
"Skeptics said it wouldn't work because it would take too much energy to run," said Jud Virden, an automotive technology expert at the Pacific Northwest National Lab. Virden and another colleague at PNNL, which is run by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy, helped Cohn develop the plasmatron.
Virden knew Cohn because of PNNL and MIT's collaboration on nuclear fusion research. Fusion reactors depend on high-temperature plasmas to produce nuclear energy.
"Our group was also working on low-temperature plasmas," Virden said.
In 1993, Alex Rabinovich, the former Soviet scientist, came to MIT to continue his work in plasma physics. Rabinovich mentioned to Cohn how he had set up a low-temperature plasma reactor using common fuels to give his lab more than the government-allotted power supply.
"That got us real excited," Cohn said. "We started looking around for how we might put this to use."
Virden was in Flint, Mich., at the time working as a technical liaison between PNNL and companies such as General Motors. Cohn told Virden about Rabinovich's work.
"I said I thought we could make it work for automobiles," Virden said. In 1995, Cohn, Virden and Rabinovich joined with Leslie Bromberg of MIT and Jeff Surma at PNNL to make the plasmatron idea for cars into a practical reality. The name for the device was likely Cohn's idea, Virden said.
"I don't know what 'tron' means," Virden said. "I think Dan just thought it sounded neat."
The primary hurdles, Cohn said, were to make the device small and affordable, reduce the electrical demand needed to create the plasma and improve the efficiency of converting fuels to cleaner-burning hydrogen gas.
What they have arrived at after considerable tinkering is a plasmatron that converts some of the fuel to hydrogen gas that is fed back into the regular fuel supply. This hydrogen-rich fuel is sent to the engine where the hydrogen allows the engine to burn the fuel much more efficiently at a lower temperature.
"We think it's the best option for reducing pollution in cars," Cohn said. Tests in a car engine at the Oak Ridge Lab, he said, produced a huge reduction in the emission of nitrogen oxides -- the main contributors to smog. He said the plasmatron, when mass-produced, should cost only a few hundred dollars.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Gigantor
2005-2009 Mustang
31
5/11/23 07:31 PM