Sounds a very complex way to try and cool the air. I wouldnt think your average AC system would cool the air that much given the volume of air consumed by the engine
Yesterday I had a really weird stupid idea.
I thought that instead of scrapping the AC, if there was a way to use it in order to feed the engine with cold air.
Obviously, it appears that the gain will be less than the loss of HP due to AC.
Just drive your car in the winter - that will give you the most power with that lovely cold damp air. I will store the car during the spring and
summer for you, and because i am nice, i'll take it for regular runs for you!!
Sounds a very complex way to try and cool the air. I wouldnt think your average AC system would cool the air that much given the volume of air
consumed by the engine
scrap the ac and fit a supercharger ?
if your running injection have a pipe from the throttle body to the front of the car or via the inner wing this will pull in as much cold air as
posibble.
Also conside vebting your engine bay so hot air can get out weve done this on an MK indy running a 2litre zetec managed to drop the running
temperature by 10 degrees. Therefore underbonnet temp also reduced.
No - it wont work because the energy you put into cooling the air will be more than the energy you gain by cooling the air.
The only way it will work is if you have a charge cooler with good water reservoir that is chilled by the aircon at part throttle - then at full
throttle you switch out the aircon with a throttle switch, switch on the the charge cooler circulation pump and provided the charge cooler isn't
so restrictive that it throttles airflow you have a low temperature power boost.
Of course the weight gain of aircon an, charge cooler and water reservoir might also negate the power boost.
This will of course work very well with a turbo for short boost periods.
Won't work.
Conservation of energy principle.
AC systems are noisy, ineffecient things so any power boost you'll get from running the inlet through the AC would be more than lost by the
energy initially required to power the AC.
What would be interesting is if you somehow ran the AC off a clutch driven system so you could use it as a form of braking.... But as already said
that would be heavy and the reduction in power:weight would more than compensate for any power hike!!!
IE you need to find a way of using energy you wouldn't normally make any use off....
Another way of using cooling to help power is to cool the fuel as much as possible - I used to keep the fuel for my drag bike in the fridge , then
fill and re-fill the insulated tank just before running - it definatly made a difference (but then it only ran on full power for about 8 seconds
......)
Most modern diesel vans have a cooler matrix in the fuel return line to cut down on heat buildup in the fuel tank .
quote:
Originally posted by clairetoo
Another way of using cooling to help power is to cool the fuel as much as possible - I used to keep the fuel for my drag bike in the fridge , then fill and re-fill the insulated tank just before running - it definatly made a difference (but then it only ran on full power for about 8 seconds ......)
Most modern diesel vans have a cooler matrix in the fuel return line to cut down on heat buildup in the fuel tank .
You said it yourself, you'll loose more energy than you'll gain. If you want to use engine power to increase the density of the air feed,
use a supercharger.
I did have a funny idea once to use the exhaust power to ionise air going into the engine. This would break O2 bonds and lower the initiation energy
required, so increasing energy output. So instead of using the exhaust energy to throw more air and fuel in, you're actually delivering that
energy itself back into the start of the equation. Unfortunately it was never going to go anywhere as there's no way to generate that much
static from the exhaust.
BMW have come up with a way of doing it that looks interesting - using the excess engine heat to create steam to create drive directly. Check this
out - LINK
quote:
Originally posted by austin man
scrap the ac and fit a supercharger ?
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
quote:
Originally posted by clairetoo
Another way of using cooling to help power is to cool the fuel as much as possible - I used to keep the fuel for my drag bike in the fridge , then fill and re-fill the insulated tank just before running - it definatly made a difference (but then it only ran on full power for about 8 seconds ......)
Most modern diesel vans have a cooler matrix in the fuel return line to cut down on heat buildup in the fuel tank .
A good reason to have a fuel swirl pot at the rear of the car rather than in the engine bay.
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
IE you need to find a way of using energy you wouldn't normally make any use off....
quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
The steam thing sounds interesting, looks like it could be used to power a turbo or something...
Well a turbo runs off the fumes from the exhaust doesn't it? Maybe this is a way of having it running better under track conditions, the steam keeping the turbo running at all times therefore bigger turbo with no lag. Just make sure the dump valve works!