Preignition Catalytic Converter / Hydro Assist Fuel Cell

[Aluminum_Butt]

I saw an ad for this in snoozeweek, and had to check it out on the website, HERE. The ad claimed to turn any car into a hybrid with a kit that costs $1000 and takes four hours to install. 50% - 100% increases in gas mileage are claimed.

 

I'm skeptical about anything like this, but I thought it would be fun to hear from the engineers around here on this unit.

[Boffin]

Snake oil.

[T__]

I saw an ad for this in snoozeweek, and had to check it out on the website, HERE. The ad claimed to turn any car into a hybrid with a kit that costs $1000 and takes four hours to install. 50% - 100% increases in gas mileage are claimed.

 

I'm skeptical about anything like this, but I thought it would be fun to hear from the engineers around here on this unit.

 

Bob, keep in mind that auto companies spend millions of dollars yearly to increase vehicle fuel mileage by tenths of a percent.. So anything that would yield even close to one percent at a low cost would be there already… Anything that could offer more fuel economy than that would make the world news nightly for months..

 

The company I work for will test some of these devices from time to time if the consensus is that there is a possibility they can work & so far most we have tested actually decrease fuel mileage,, hurt emission output,, can cause engine damage,, or hinder vehicle safety..

 

Keep in mind that just taping an aspirin to your fuel line within 13” of the fuel injector has been tested to improve fuel economy by a measurable amount when tested in a non laboratory environment.. Gluing some penny’s to the air cleaner works just about as good..

_Funny thing is, neither of these methods has ever shown a measurable improvement when tested under controlled conditions or tested by the public if they didn’t know they were there.. Seems these things ONLY work if the driver knows they are present..

 

Twisty

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Every car has a Catalytic Converter. The Catalytic Converter that is currently installed on your car is intended to help eliminate pollution and is located in your exhaust pipe. It works by breaking down the large gas molecules that were not burned in your engine and turns them into smaller particles that can be burned in your tailpipe before being released into the air, so less exhaust hits the environment. What if we could turn the gases you are throwing away via your exhaust into added mileage and power for your vehicle?

 

In other words, what if we “cracked” the gas and broke it down into smaller particles before it went into the engine — not after the engine had wasted it? Everything you would otherwise be throwing away would now be burned IN YOUR ENGINE, providing additional mileage and power! Well, that is what we did! Using a magnetic and electrical reaction to break down the fuel molecules into their elemental state, the PICC creates a plasma, which burns super efficiently and cleanly! Our “Pre-Ignition” Catalytic Converter feeds the engine instead of the environment. So the gasoline you pay for goes further and the exhaust is so negligible it hardly registers.

 

Combustion efficiency - that is, fuel energy released in combustion divided by fuel energy initially availabile, or mass burned/mass injected - is around 98 percent in a modern gasoline spark-ignited engine. Even if you could somehow burn all of the fuel instead of just 98 percent, the biggest improvement you would see in fuel economy is about 2 percent, not the 500 percent they're claiming for their PICC.

 

The "Hydro Assist Fuel Cell:"

The Hydro Assist Fuel Cell is a combination of long standing, proven technologies. It works by extracting a hydrogen-oxygen mixture from water by ionizing it with electricity from the battery.

 

This is not a fuel cell at all. They're just electrolyzing water to provide hydrogen and oxygen for ordinary combustion; any extra energy provided in the combustion process is negated by the electrical demands of the electrolysis process. And if you were to do this in any significant quantity, you'd need a massive alternator to meet the electrical requirement.

 

This mixture adds extra hydrogen to your fuel, which burns easily and powerfully and enriches your fuel mixture, giving you added mileage and power. The oxygen increases the octane value of your fuel.

 

If they're adding hydrogen AND oxygen in the exact proportions of water, then they're not enriching the mixture (i.e. no change in A/F ratio). And if they somehow were enriching it (i.e. more fuel and/or less air), that would be detrimental to fuel economy.

 

As for oxygen increasing octane...quite the opposite, higher concentrations of O2 increase the likelihood of detonation.

 

The system also uses six powerful magnets that ionize the gasoline to produce smaller molecules and help separate the compounds into simple elements so they burn more completely.

 

Oh boy, Fuel Magnets!

 

And, a specially formulated “covalizer” breaks down the covalent bonds of the long chain gas molecules and helps “crack” and vaporize your fuel as well as increase the life of your engine.

 

My fuel vaporizes just fine, thank you very much.

 

A perfectly balanced mixture of hydrogen and oxygen enriches the fuel so the computer can lean out the gas. Our special computer controls the car’s existing computer and keeps it from rejecting the savings.

 

There's that enrichment thing again.

 

The sad and infuriating thing is that these people are probably making a ton of money. Engine technology is pretty complex, and it's probably not fair to blame the average consumer for not understanding what the major factors are that affect efficiency, and what is and is not possible. But it seems like a no-brainer for a potential customer to ask: if this thing is such a great performer, why aren't cars equipped with this stuff straight from the factory? Why would Toyota build something as complicated as a Prius in order to just double fuel economy, when they could quadruple it by just sticking a couple of new parts under the hood? You don't need an degree in the hard sciences to catch this; it's just common sense.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

I love their use of buzz words, such as "cracking" and their clever names "Covalizer" to help make their thermodynamic and chemical nonsense seem like "REAL SCIENCE".

 

You can put all the mayonnaise you want on a $hit sandwich, in the end, it is still $hit.

[BFish]

You can put all the mayonnaise you want on a $hit sandwich, in the end, it is still $hit.

 

Ed...the above statment should be your sig line. i'm gonna steal for use in the appropriate situation if your copyright permits so.

[KevinH]

Sounds like a great suggestion for a "Myth Busters" segment.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Brian,

Feel free, don't even need attribution. It is a sentiment my father often expressed. Smartest man I ever knew.

[Rinkydink]

Mythbusters already did a segment on mileage improvement products a while back. Magnets, water, high speed dissinators, backfire gaskets etc etc etc. None of them worked.

[RFW]

Even the description of how a simple catalytic converter works...

 

"It works by breaking down the large gas molecules that were not burned in your engine and turns them into smaller particles that can be burned in your tailpipe before being released into the air, so less exhaust hits the environment."

 

...is pure bullshit. "Breaking down large gas molecules"?? Give me a break! A cat works oxidizing unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, and also by reducing nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen. The cat also does this within itself. There is no "burning" of anything in your "tailpipe"!

 

Anyone who falls for this, deserves to get fleeced!

[foxhound]

JeffOtto.com LTD's challenge to any of these so-called critics:

Put your money where your mouth is! $5,000 cash to be exact and we will do the same.

 

They provide a suitable shop at their chosen continental US location and we will provide a vehicle to be modified (a scientific before & after mileage check will be performed both before and after).

We will announce the date and location to give anyone that would like to witness the event adequate prior notice and it will be video taped.

They are also welcome to announce the event and have any of their experts present to test/examine the pre & post HAFC equipped vehicle.

If their experts can find anything bogus like a false tank, or whatever, they can announce that to the world as they see fit.

When they do discover the technology works exactly as we claim, they can than repent by issuing a public apology and remove any negative comments they have posted anywhere.

Obviously the winner will keep the losers $5,000!

[DaveTheAffable]

RE: PICC

 

Inventor Dennis Lee has an EXTENSIVE criminal history. He has also been going around the country selling his perpetual motion machine and free electricity from thin air devices. Anyone who disagrees with him is an "Agent of the CIA and in league with Big Oil." Sadly, he claims "God" has revealed these secrets to him.

 

If inclined... Google is your friend.