c
  



  c




 
 

 
Galang Purnomo Adi*
*Physics Department of University of Brawijaya

|
 
 the source of hydrogen and oxygen that can

As the increasing technology and the be used as the additional fuel to the gasoline
world population, the need of energy keeps through a process called electrolysis.
increasing every year. In other hand, the
reserve of fossil fuels as the main source of G
 
energy today keep decreasing because of its There are two main part of the theoretical
characteristic as non-renewable energy. design in this paper. The first is the water
While fossil fuel needs a lot of time to steam injection into the combustion room
and the second is the additional ³fuel´
produce, the human need of energy can not
produced from water electrolysis along with
wait that long. Because of that, the energy
the hydrocarbon fuel. Generally, both parts
crisis has driven many parties all over the
is aimed for increasing the performance of
world to do innovations in the energy field
in order to overcome this issue. the spark-ignition engine by decreasing the
Meanwhile, motorcycle is one of the gasoline consumption and reducing the
favorite and most preferred vehicle of unwanted emission from the conventional
Indonesian because of its efficiency combustion process.
compared to another fossil fueled vehicle. In 
connection with the energy crisis issue, that !|£

"
Œ.1 Four Stroke Engine
makes increasing price of gasoline as the
One of the most used engine is gasoline-
primary fuel used in motorcycle, the need of
more efficient and cleaner combustion in fueled engine that¶s also referred as spark-
motorcycle engine is escalating. In the ignition (SI) engine. Based on the number of
meantime, there are always some pollutant piston strokes per combustion cycle,
that is produced during the combustion gasoline engine is divided into two-stroke
process. One of them is the excess heat that engine and four strike engine.
In four-stroke engine, there are four phases
is let out through exhaust pipe as the by
or strokes to do in order to complete one
product of combustion.
cycle of combustion, they are intake,
As a matter of fact, water, that is always
known can not be used as the fuel, actually compression, expansion, and exhaust as can
has a great potential as the supplement of be seen in the picture 1. Two of them are
fossil fuel. To manipulate this potential, the downward (intake and expansion) and the
excess heat produced can be used as the other two are upward (compression and
energy source for evaporating the water to exhaust). A cycle is completed as the
crankshaft makes two revolutions. The
enhance the combustion performance.
valves in the combustion room open and
Besides, the water also can also be used as
close for routing gas in and out of the Œ.2 Water Electrolysis
chamber. Electrolysis is a process which is use
The first phase is for the intake valve to electrical energy to drive a non-spontaneous
open during the intake stroke by the piston chemical reaction to arise. It is used for
in order to draw the mixture of fuel and air obtaining the elements that are chemically
into the chamber while the exhaust valve is too reactive to found in nature. In this case,
closed. In this stage, the piston move electrolysis is used to obtain hydrogen (H2)
downward from top dead center (TDC) to and oxygen (O2) from water.
bottom dead center (BDC) for creating a There are two reaction involve in the
room for the fuel and air to get into the process. First is a reduction that occur in the
combustion chamber. cathode. Reduction will occur at the
The second phase is called compression cathode. At this electrode, hydrogen gas and
stroke. This time, the intake valve closes and hydroxide ions are produced. While, the
the momentum of the crankshaft generated electrons required for this reduction will
by the downward-moving piston allows the come from the power source of electric. The
piston to move up from BDC to TDC. It reaction can be seen as below:
creates a compression to the fuel and air 4H2O + 4e- ĺ 2H2 + 4OH-
mixture. As the piston gets near to the TDC At the anode, an oxidation will occur
and at the end of compression stroke, the producing oxygen gas and hydrogen ions.
spark plug ignites the mixture that causes The electrons produced will return to the
them to burn. power source with reaction of:
The third phase is the downward 4H2O ĺ O2 + 4H+ + 4e-
movement of the piston caused by the Adding both reactions we will have
increasing pressure and temperature by the 6H2O ĺ 2H2 + O2 + 4H+ + 4OH-
burned fuel and air mixture or called as 6H2O ĺ 2H2 + O2 + 4H2O
expansion stroke. Then the kicking piston 2H2O(l) ĺ 2H2(g) + O2(g)
will again move the crankshaft half
revolution and place itself into BTC. Œ.Œ Water Injection
At the fourth phase, the exhaust valve According to Labonte, water Injection
opens and the piston move up in the similar was first successfully implemented in WWII
way as the first phase, and push out the on the P-47 ³Thunderbolt´. The Turbo
exhaust gases out of the chamber. Charged Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine
normally produced 2000 HP, but with water
injection the power raising up to Œ800 HP
and also had 20 minutes high power output
during combat.
One of the advantages using water
injection into combustion room is the
cooling of intake air in the first phase. By
Picture 1. Four-stroke engine cycle cooling the intake air, more oxygen
molecules enter the cylinder through a
denser air charge. The additional oxygen be absorbed by the black side and will be
from the intake air help the combustion radiated back into the steamer room
process become more efficient because it referring to the black radiation theory. There
will make the combustion of fuel more is a room between the innermost and
complete. The other benefit is the water outermost plate of the steamer with the
steam adds the density in the combustion intention of utilizing green house effect. The
room that it will give extra force to the radiated heat from the black-painted inner
piston during the expansion stroke and will steamer will be trapped by the reflecting
give more torque to the crankshaft. side of the outer plate with the outer plate¶s
Russian researches, Satpov and Lusho, color remains as it is (metal color) so that
have reported the effects of water presence the temperature from the environment will
in fuel on spark-ignition engines. They not become a bother and it acts as an
indicated that the NOx content in exhaust insulator. And by channeling the steam into
gas dropped by 1.Π% for 1% addition of the manifold with the shortest path, it is
water to emulsified fuel. hoped that the steam will stay as it was in
the steamer. The reason utilizing the dry
r #
  $
 "   steam injection instead of water injection
% into the combustion chamber is to ensure
According to the second law of that there will be no water accumulation in
thermodynamic, there is no engine that can the combustion chamber that will corrode it.
convert all the heat produce into work, and The electrolysis process will take place in
so do the engine of the motorcycle. It will the electrolysis chamber with electrode
always generate heat even though it is an made from stainless steel for preventing it
unwanted phenomenon. So, in order to from corroding by the contact with the water
minimize the energy loss, the excess heat and connected to the electric source from the
can be used in other way that will also boost accumulator. The resulting hydrogen and
the SI engine performance. oxygen gases will be contained in a
By utilizing the excess heat, we can create temporary reservoir before channeled into
dry water steam that will be injected into the combustion room in order to control the
combustion engine. There is a water tank amount of the gases injected.
and is channeled into the water steamer that In the combustion room the fuel, air, dry
uses the heat from exhaust pipe that has steam, hydrogen, and oxygen will meet
average temperature of Π0oC. From the together. In the first stroke, the intake valve
steamer, the steam will be channeled into opens and the entering steam will add the
manifold before entering the combustion density that will give extra pressure to the
chamber. In order to keep the temperature piston plus it will absorb the heat in the
relatively constant either in the way to the chamber so that it will reduce the production
manifold or to give resistance to the of Nox gas.
environment temperature change, a system While, the additional oxygen will make
has to be made. The steamer is painted black the fuel combustion process become more
on the innermost plate so that the heat will
complete and result in the cleaner produced from electrolysis. The water steam
combustion. The hydrogen produced from will add the density and give extra force
the electrolysis process has the wide range while oxygen will help the combustion
of flammability, and as a result hydrogen process raising up and the hydrogen will act
can be used in a wide range of hydrogen-air- as a supplement to the gasoline due to its
gasoline mixture. Another advantage is wide range of flammability and can be used
hydrogen can be used in a lean mixture in lean mixture.
where the fuel amount needed is less than
theory. The flame velocity of hydrogen is 
much faster than other fuels allowing Anonymous. 20006. Electrochemistry,
oxidation with less heat transfer to the Electrolysis of Water.
surroundings. This improves thermal www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/chem
efficiencies. Efficiencies are also improved Œ0_0 /6.../
 .pdf|
because hydrogen has a very small gap Labonte ,Daniel J. Water Methanol Injection
quenching distance allowing fuel to burn on Diesel Engines for Combustion
more completely. The only drawback to Cooling and Enhanced Engine
hydrogen is that even though its lower heat Performance. USA.
value is greater than other hydrocarbon fuels Lanzafame , R. 1999. Water Injection
it is less dense therefore a volume of Effects In A Single-Cylinder CFR
hydrogen contains less energy [4]. In order Engine. SAE International Congress
to cover the drawback, steam injection is and Exposition, Detroit: USA.
induced so that the temperature will become Wall, Jacob. Effect of Hydrogen Enriched
lower and add the overall density. Hydrocarbon Combustion on Emissions
and Performance. Department of
X Biological and Agricultural
The motorcycle engine efficiency can be Engineering: University of Idaho.
increased through the injection of water
steam and oxygen and hydrogen gases
c
   

  c




 
 

 

by

Galang Purnomo Adi

08109Œ0002

&'())%
&$#
*#

+$,£#(+$#'
$#$*%*$#,$£)
*


,*
)#(+-$c.$($

$&£G