A nickel in my pocket? "Lobrid"

[DarbyWalters]

It would be nice to develope a solar panel that heats the Radiator Fluids and/or Oil while your vehicle sits at work...would be basically free after the initial cost. Then for night time you could run a battery to the same solar panel to heat thru the night. Also during the day, the extra battery could be recharged by its own solar panel to get ready for the night.

Needed: Two Solar Panels and One Deep Cycle Battery for homebase.

[2TonJellyBean]

Wouldn't it be nice if the engine block could be super-insulated and still be serviceable?

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by 2TonJellyBean

Wouldn't it be nice if the engine block could be super-insulated and still be serviceable?

Velcro

[JanGeo]

Just insulate the engine compartment with spray foam insulation and close it off with a belly pan on the bottom. It would help retain more heat and make the block heater more efficient. Actually the ideal way would be a an inline heating element that could heat the coolent quickly just as you are about to start the engine which minimizes the wasted lost heat during the night. Even one that super fast heated the coolent after you started it up while still plugged into the Grid - bring coolent temp up to 150 or more in a few minutes . . . hummm would take a few kilowatts of power. Maybe a big insulated water coolent tank inside the vehicle where there is room and better insulation plus the leaking heat would warm up the cabin too. Man I tell ya with the 50 and 60 degree temps here in Newport RI I already see much slower heat up times in my xB. Time for a 1/2 radiator block.

[bones33]

Use PCM Phase Change Material. I figured (guessed) 64lbs of paraffin melting/freezing at 133F would heat a 300lb engine to like 120F from 60F. Somebody with more engineering time and resources please adjust these figures.

Anyway, put this inline with the coolant hose and waste coolant heat would be stored for a faster warm-up. Taking advantage of the heat of fusion (phase change) of paraffin should yield a pretty inexpensive heat storage device.

[brucepick]

Prius has some kind of vacuum lined tank to store the heated coolant for faster warmup. So I've heard.

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by brucepick

Prius has some kind of vacuum lined tank to store the heated coolant for faster warmup. So I've heard.

Yep In a thermos type bottle.

Anyway, put this inline with the coolant hose and waste coolant heat would be stored for a faster warm-up. Taking advantage of the heat of fusion (phase change) of paraffin should yield a pretty inexpensive heat storage device.

Unfortunately, it will work both ways... If you've got hot liquid paraffin - it will stay around it's freezing point of ~56C for a long time as it slowly freezes due to a high latent heat (heat required for a phase change). BUT, if it's allowed to completely cool - all of that heat for the phase change will be lost to the paraffin heat sink. Taking that much longer to warm up....


Autospeed had an article awhile back about using a paraffin thermal heat sink on an inter cooler. But they cautioned that it was only suitable if you didn't go beyond 56C for long periods of time.


From the angle: How to make this work.... You need some logic, and some control. Place the paraffin heat sink on a bypass line with a valve. If the engine is cold, and the heat sink is <56C - close the valve. If the engine is cold and the heat sink is >=56C - open the valve. If the engine is at operating temperature and running - open the valve. If the engine is off - close the valve (to prevent thermal siphoning - also depends on physical location).

Okay, I know it's more complicated - but it resolves the issue of longer warm ups on complete cold starts... You can likely store a lot more heat in a smaller volume compared to the Prius thermos system too

[2TonJellyBean]

Imagine an asbestos wrapped block... it'd heat up quick and stay warm many hours between drives.

The foam idea would be fun... the blaze would look great on youtube!