Webasto announces new fuel saving vehicle heating system
One of the major causes of wasted fuel and excess emissions in cold climates is engines that get started many minutes before driving off in order to warm up. Actually it's not that the engines actually need to warm up, they will operate just fine when cold. It's the occupants of the vehicle and the windows that need to be heated. No one wants to get into an ice cold car and frosted or fogged windows are an obvious safety hazard. Vehicle heating systems operate by running hot engine coolant through a liquid to air heat exchanger and then route the heated air to the vehicle interior. When the engine is cold, there is no heat to transfer to the air. The answer, for most people, is to waste gas while the car sits in the driveway and let things heat up. Now, there might be another solution.Supplier Webasto has developed a liquid heat generator that they claim dramatically speeds up the time it takes to heat the engine coolant. The generator uses an impeller spinning in the coolant to heat it by means of the sheering forces in the liquid. In principle, a driver should be able to start the car and drive off with warm air much sooner. The only question is how much extra load does it put on the engine while it's running and does it continue to run after the coolant is heated. If it does, the extra load would increase fuel consumption and negate any enviornmental benefits.
[Source: Webasto]
New Technology in Vehicle Heating Systems
from Webasto
Faster Vehicle Warm up and Defrosting; Fuel Savings and Less Pollution an Added Benefit from Liquid Heat Generator® Technology
FENTON, Michigan – Date – Near-instantaneous heat for driver comfort and improved safety from optimum defrosting capabilities in cold-weather climates will soon be a reality in the automotive industry – due to advanced technology being developed by global automotive supplier Webasto.
The Webasto Liquid Heat Generator® (LHG) will be an independent, on-demand engine heating system that is a major technological departure from the process the industry has used universally since the early 20th Century to produce heat to warm vehicle interiors.
"According to J.D. Power's 2007 HVAC Quality and Satisfaction Survey of vehicle owners, heaters not getting warm enough/fast enough was ranked seventh overall of total vehicle quality problems," said John Thomas, general manager Thermosystems Division of Webasto Product North America. "Not only was this the first time that this problem made the top 10, it was also the only one item directly impacting driver and occupant comfort. As new engine technologies designed at improved fuel efficiency take effect we can expect that this problem will only get worse."
Comprehensive testing of LHG has shown remarkable improvements in warm-up speed, defrosting performance and time-to-comfort of vehicles started from cold. Actual results depend on the vehicle, but typically LHG produces heat so quickly that defrosting starts in less than half the time current automotive systems need and often is completed before a conventional vehicle shows even the first signs of defrosting. The end benefit is two-fold – better heating than is now available in the general automotive industry, yet achieved without wasteful costs and emissions of idling engines in sitting vehicles (through the use of remote start, for instance).
Two OEMs have already shown interest in the LHG technology and what it offers consumers in an age of high-efficiency engines.
Fuel Efficiency and Customer Dissatisfaction with Heating/Defrosting Performance
The search for better fuel economy has led to significant improvements in engine efficiencies with associated reductions in heat lost from the combustion process. But, as conventional automotive heaters use this "waste" heat to warm the vehicle's interior, an undesired side-effect has been reduced heating and defrosting performance. This is particularly true of diesel engines where so little waste heat is produced that even 30 minutes of driving in cold conditions may not generate enough heat to warm the occupants satisfactorily.
More and more consumers are unhappy with how quickly the cabin will warm up, how well it stays warm and, from a safety point of view, how well it defrosts the windows.
To offset this heater under-performance many consumers resort to idling or remote-starting their vehicles before driving away, a practice already outlawed in many New England states. "Idling vehicles for long periods of time before driving down the road wastes money and fuel, puts unnecessary extra emissions into the air and it's bad for engines," said Thomas. "LHG technology produces heat so quickly that these undesirable idling habits become completely unnecessary."
How Liquid Heat Generator Works
LHG starts heating engine coolant the moment the engine is started. LHG immediately churns coolant violently by an impeller rotating within a toroid, the consequent vortices creating shear and friction, which heats the fluid.
This technology was first developed to create dynamometers to test and measure the power output and function of British naval ships' engines, but has since been widely adopted in so-called water-brake dynamometers by engine manufactures in automotive, marine and other fields. Yet unlike a dynamometer, where the heat is dumped as a by-product of the measuring process, LHG harnesses the heat for use by the vehicle's heating and ventilation system.
Market Acceptance
LHG is currently in the advanced development stage. Concept verification and testing with OEMs have confirmed the product's performance and feasibility – and the concept has been released for application engineering, vehicle integration and testing.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 7:22PM (3/05/2008)
An alternate approach would be to increase alternator voltage to 15V during engine warm-up if the heater controls are set to defog the windscreen. The additional power would be used for electric heating elements in the ventilation ducts serving the ports at the bottom of the windscreen. Additional elements would heat the side and rear view mirrors, sections of the front side windows as well as the rear window.
Rapid space heating is less critical for safety but it is for comfort. It can be accelerated by switching to an electrically powered (efficient) water pump that can adjust total coolant flow volume independently of engine speed. A system of active flow distribution valves serving the ventilation system's heat exchanger and the main radiator would replace the traditional passive wax thermostat.
Note that additional fuel consumption may be required to maintain high exhaust gas temperatures in spite of the increased heat loss to the coolant - catalytic systems in the exhaust are only active above their light-off temperatures.
The proposed changes sound complex but they would not require an additional device to be attached to the engine's peripherals belt.
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Mulad 8:16PM (3/05/2008)
The VW Jetta TDI came with an auxiliary electric heater to help heat up the car's cabin, primarily since the diesel engine doesn't heat up as quickly as a gasoline engine does. It's hardly instant heat, but it helps.
A block heater or coolant heater would also help, though they'd have to be plugged in.
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Vince 10:35PM (3/05/2008)
See the Prius. It pumps coolant into a canister on car shutoff. Pumps it back into the engine on car startup, instant reheats up to a few days. Great idea, much lower emissions and instant car heat in one. Why cant Detroit do this.
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cjmjcrlm 6:41AM (3/06/2008)
Quote from the article "The generator uses an impeller spinning in the coolant to heat it by means of the sheering forces in the liquid." Are you sure about this statement? I work for a company that services Webasto units on a regular basis. They are basically fuel furnaces (not generators) that are tapped into the engines cooling system. They have a coolant transfer pump that circulates the heated coolant. They are usually connected to the vehicles heater hoses and affect the operation of the engine none whatsoever. They also offer a unit that is an air handler only, similar to how a gas furnace would operate in you home.
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cjmjcrlm 6:46AM (3/06/2008)
My bad on the prior post. I see this is something new they are working on. Sorry for questioning the article.
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Guenther 5:31PM (3/06/2008)
So this heating device used electricity from the already severely taxed electrical system? Brilliant! If this wasn't from Webasto, I'd call it a hoax. The best solution for a warm interior, windshield and engine is a pre-heater that runs on engine fuel. They're also great at reducing engine wear at cold start.
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marcus 2:56AM (4/27/2008)
Cars for cold climates should just have a low cost 110v heater with a timer which you plug in when you get home from your commute. Set the timer to 20 min. before you leave in the morning and presto: warm car, no wasted fuel.
I do this already with a portable but a built in would be safer and easier.
Sears used to have these to install under the dash.
Why create so much more complexity when simple solutions exist?
For those without access to and outlet, a deep cycle battery and 12v electric heater would do the trick.
Another thing which my mother does is use an inverter to run a small 75 watt heating pad on her lap. Works like a charm. Cheap and simple.
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Alex 6:08AM (7/29/2008)
There are 2 heater manufacturer: Webasto and Eberspaecher, but you can choose only the car, not the heater (decided by OEM as mercedes, renault etc. ).
Anyway W. and E. are very similar in save the fuel.
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