Terry Syd
Addicted to ArboristSite
OK, not water injection, but hear me out. I have a 450e with the X-TORQ system. When I got it I figured that it would never be able to produce as much power as the older style two-stroke engine. The reason? Well, two-strokes are to some extent liquid cooled - the coolant being extra fuel dumped into the engine to flush out the heat. Lean out the mixture and the heat builds up.
The X-TORQ system uses a stratified charge of fresh air coming in the via a piston port controlled by the side of the piston, which then routes it into the top of the transfer port via the transfer port opening. This air does not contain any fuel and thus would not contribute to the extra cooling that an air/fuel mixture would.
Since an air-cooled two-stroke can loose as much as 20% of its power as it heats up, an X-TORQ engine would have a cooling disadvantage that would likely be reflected in a slight loss of power compared to the older style two-stroke.
So, how can an X-TORQ engine be modded to produce more power than the older style two-stroke?
Hmm, I've got a water injection system on my turbo diesel. After playing around with the system I know that water/methanol injection can cool things down. The compressor section on the turbo can be made to operate as if the compressor was running a large wheel using a pre-turbo nozzle. The EGTS can be lowered to keep them in an acceptable range.
Back to the X-TORQ, what if the secondary inlet for the stratified air was modded to provide a metering for water or water/methanol? The water mix would come in and actually hit the piston itself (better cooling), then get sucked down into the top of the transfer port. The water/methanol mix would be the first to flow into the hot cylinder and cool things down - after which it would get pumped out during the normal X-TORQ cycle.
Water has a latent heat of vaporisation of 2259 Kj/Kg
Methanol has a latent heat of vaporisation of 1099 Kg/Kg
Petrol has a latent heat of vaporisation of around 586-628 Kg/Kg.
Perhaps the X-TORQ engine has the potential to out perform the older style two-stroke.
The X-TORQ system uses a stratified charge of fresh air coming in the via a piston port controlled by the side of the piston, which then routes it into the top of the transfer port via the transfer port opening. This air does not contain any fuel and thus would not contribute to the extra cooling that an air/fuel mixture would.
Since an air-cooled two-stroke can loose as much as 20% of its power as it heats up, an X-TORQ engine would have a cooling disadvantage that would likely be reflected in a slight loss of power compared to the older style two-stroke.
So, how can an X-TORQ engine be modded to produce more power than the older style two-stroke?
Hmm, I've got a water injection system on my turbo diesel. After playing around with the system I know that water/methanol injection can cool things down. The compressor section on the turbo can be made to operate as if the compressor was running a large wheel using a pre-turbo nozzle. The EGTS can be lowered to keep them in an acceptable range.
Back to the X-TORQ, what if the secondary inlet for the stratified air was modded to provide a metering for water or water/methanol? The water mix would come in and actually hit the piston itself (better cooling), then get sucked down into the top of the transfer port. The water/methanol mix would be the first to flow into the hot cylinder and cool things down - after which it would get pumped out during the normal X-TORQ cycle.
Water has a latent heat of vaporisation of 2259 Kj/Kg
Methanol has a latent heat of vaporisation of 1099 Kg/Kg
Petrol has a latent heat of vaporisation of around 586-628 Kg/Kg.
Perhaps the X-TORQ engine has the potential to out perform the older style two-stroke.