Honda is investigating ways of recapturing heat energy lost through a car’s exhaust to help generate electricity and power an electric motor for a new generation of ultra-efficient hybrid cars. Conventional internal combustion engines waste a lot of energy in creating heat, but by applying a ‘Rankine cycle,’ a process where hot exhaust gases are used to heat up a water reservoir and create steam to spin a turbine, electricity can be generated. This electricity can then be used to charge up an array of batteries and help power a hybrid-electric powertrain.
Engineers have been using a Honda Stream as their test vehicle, a compact crossover sold in Japan and parts of Europe powered by 2.0L direct-injection petrol four-cylinder. The car was fitted with a new cylinder head with insulated exhaust ports, an evaporator built into the catalytic converter, a high-pressure water reservoir plus a generator and condenser.
Read Article