Message-ID: <39EF1026.4CC1C23A@regandesigns.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 10:15:50 -0500
From: Brent Regan <brent@regandesigns.com>
To: Lancair List <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Subject: Re: TSIO-550 Heat vs.Fuel Consumption Revisited
Reply-To: lancair.list@olsusa.com
Mime-Version: 1.0

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Zerbach's evil twin speaks! It is as if Cyrano de Bergerac were to put on a
false mustache and walk into the town square thinking "nobody will recognize
me now!". Give me a break!

My "ulterior agenda" is to shine the light of reason and fact into the dark
and illuminate those who dwell there. To that end, here are some facts:

Ceramic coatings do work and they have their place in certain high
temperature applications. They do not produce a 29% improvement in fuel
economy. Perhaps 2.9% under certain conditions.

Ceramic coatings increases combustion temperatures as they reduce the flow
of heat from the charge to the cylinder head and piston crown. Hotter
combustion temperatures decrease detonation margins (promote detonation) and
increase the formation of NOx emissions. Detonation will quickly damage the
coating.

NOx cannot be removed by a catalytic converter. Catalytic converters "burn"
CO and HC to form CO2 and H2O  (mostly).

Zirconia oxide  does have a low thermal conductivity (8 BTU in/hr-ft2) BUT
it is combined with other ingredients, frequently metals, to form a matrix,
dramatically increasing the coatings thermal conductivity. These matrix
coatings have granular surface with a lot of surface area per square inch of
coating. Imagine crumpling a sheet of paper into a 1 inch ball. The ball
would have a projected area of about .7 square inches but would still have
the surface area as the full sheet of paper. More area means more heat
transfer and higher bulk thermal conductivity. Coating thickness is also
inversely proportional to heat transfer. Thinner insulation, higher heat
transfer.

In the early 80's I developed a ceramic coated rotor for a Mazda 12A racing
engine. That engine was used set the qualifying and track record at the 24
Hours of Daytona. The performance improvement due to the coating was small,
about 10 Hp or 3%, but significant in a racing environment. The coating was
not durable enough to survive the 24 hour race intact so a conventional
engine was installed for the race. Coating failure during operation would
destroy the apex seals (rotary engine piston rings) and score the walls of
the combustion chamber.

Things that seem too good to be true..............

Regards
Brent Regan

(AKA: Brent, B. Regan, Regan, Mr. Regan and "That big ugly guy")


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