QwikBoost™ Raises Engine Performance
mall Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) Phase I and II contracts from NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center aided Mainstream Engineering Corporation of Rockledge, Florida,
in its development of a unique, low-cost additive that increases the performance
of air conditioners, heat pumps, refrigerators and freezers. QwikBoost™
works by increasing the cooling capacity of refrigerant. It travels through
a refrigeration system much as a lubricant circulating through a system.
QwikBoost™ is effective because of its high affinity for liquid hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon refrigerants. When combined, these elements create a significant heat solution (heat gained or lost when two or more chemicals are mixed to form a solution). This solution heat increases the available cooling capacity of the refrigerant during evaporation, providing an increase in the performance of the system. Once the additive is introduced into the system, it remains active for the life of the system and does not need to be replaced.
QwikBoost™ debuted at the 1998 International Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Exposition. The compound is now commercially available in a packaged, handy three-ounce can (pressurized with R-134a) for automotive air conditioning applications.
Performance and capacity improvements were demonstrated in HFC-134a refrigerator/freezer
systems and in HFC-134a automotive air conditioning systems using this
blend. Increases in cooling capacity ranging from 5 to 10 percent were
demonstrated in an automotive air conditioning system operating with a
10-percent concentration of this additive in the lubricant. Increased
automotive air conditioning cooling capacity means faster automobile cool-downs
and greater cooling capability—a feature that meets the reduced capacity
requirements of new automobile air conditioning systems operating with
R-134a refrigerant.
Lubrication and compressor life tests were also performed and confirm that the QwikBoost™ solution does not adversely affect system lubrication or compressor life. Lubrication tests (Falex Pin and Vee Block Test) performed by an independent laboratory showed that adding this solvent to a lubricant resulted in reduced wear properties compared to using lubricant alone. Also, more than 100,000Êhours of compressor life tests were performed on reciprocating, scroll and rotary compressors. These tests indicated that QwikBoost™ reduced the accumulation of wear metals in the lubricant.
Energy efficiency and environmentally friendly benefits of this new compound earned its commercial developer and manufacturer, Mainstream, a Tibbetts Award—a prestigious national award given by the Small Business Administration for significant technological accomplishments and associated business successes—during a White House ceremony last year in October.
This technology was originally developed for advanced heat pumps for spacecraft heat rejection systems. One of the evaluation systems, based on a chemical/mechanical heat pump, led to the development of this performance-enhancing additive.
For more information, contact E. James Chern at Goddard Space Flight
Center. Call (301) 286-5836, E-mail: engmin.j.chern.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
.
Or contact Nancy A. MacLennan, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
program, at Goddard. Call (301) 286-6705, E-mail: nancy.a.maclennan.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
Or contact Larry Grzyll at Mainstream Engineering Corporation. Call
(407) 631-3550, E-mail: lrg@mainstream-engr.com
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.
This inexpensive additive developed from spacecraft heat rejection systems
increases engine performance.
|
ONCE
THE ADDITIVE IS
INTRODUCED INTO THE SYSTEM, IT REMAINS ACTIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE SYSTEM AND DOES NOT NEED TO BE REPLACED. |
