BMW Group Research and Engineering has demonstrated a new technology, referred to as the turbosteamer, which recovers heat normally wasted in an internal combustion engine and converts it to additional power.
Heat is recovered from both the exhaust gas and the cooling water to make steam, with the majority of the heat coming from the exhaust. The steam is then expanded to produce the power which is input to the drive shaft of the engine. A rather complex cycle with eight components and interconnecting piping, which is shown in the illustration, recovers the heat at various temperatures, superheats the steam and then runs it through two expanders and then uses water exiting the radiator to cool the condensers. The water from the radiator is circulated through the system in a low temperature circuit, while the steam and steam condensate are circulated through a high temperature circuit with heat exchanged from one circuit to the other to maximize the efficiency.
BMW claims that more than 80% of the heat in the exhaust is recovered.
Testing to date has been in a test rig. All of the components have been designed so that they will fit in the 3 series. In a test with a 1.8 liter engine, the turbosteamer system reduced fuel consumption by 15% while generating 14 additional horsepower and 20 addition Nm of torque.
Resource: BMW More Efficiency Instead of Power Loss, BMW press release via Autoblog, December 7, 2005
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