22-08-2012, 11:18 AM
NITROUS OXIDE SYSTEMS(NOS)
seminar report on nitrous oxide systems.docx (Size: 1.37 MB / Downloads: 77)
HISTORY
Starting with a bit of history, nitrous oxide was first used in the World War II as enhancement system in the fighter aircrafts. In one of the technology the fighter planes consisted of mechanism whereby the planes could gain additional acceleration when nearing enemy target to increase the chances of hitting the enemy.
Other such nitrous based systems or nitrous oxide enhancement technology was used in the planes which required the desired power output to keep the planes running. The technology was required at high altitudes when the oxygen content in the atmosphere started to lower.
But it is now presently being used as an engine enhancement kit in racing cars and was first used in the NASCAR racing cars. There after it became popular in the underground racing cars and is considered of pride if you have Nitrous system installed in your car. Although such types of underground racing is banned in most of the countries but the installation if nitrous system is allowed.
After a review of a little history lets look into a bit of chemistry. The nitrous based systems have a primary element called nitrous oxide because of which it is called nitrous or NOS or sometimes in short nitro. Its chemical formula is N2O and is the first of the series of oxides that nitrogen forms with oxygen. A part from its use in nitrous based systems, it has also many applications in chemistry. One of its rather strange name is "laughing gas" well nothing to be surprised about because it has some chemical properties that induces laugh in human beings. It has many chemical application like it is used as aerosol propellants and in medicine it is used in surgery and dentistry.
A similar basic technique was used during World War II by Luftwaffe aircraft with the GM-1 system to maintain the power output of aircraft engines when at high altitude where the oxygen content is lower. Accordingly, it was only used by specialized planes like high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, high-speed bombers and high-altitude interceptors.
British World War II usage of nitrous oxide injector systems were modifications of Merlin engines carried out by the Heston Aircraft Company for use in certain night fighter variants of the de Havilland Mosquito and PR versions of the Super marine Spitfire.
History of nitrous oxide for use with cars
Known in the Medical Community as Laughing Gas, Nitrous Oxide is no Laughing Matter when it comes to Speed
Nitrous oxide was originally produced and toyed with for medical usage way back in the late 1700s. While it is still used in today’s medical community and known as ‘laughing gas,’ nitrous is no laughing matter when it comes to increasing the speed of your vehicle. These days it is not uncommon to hear the word nitrous or NOS, which is an acronym for Nitrous Oxide Systems, all around the street and especially at the race track. Put simply; nitrous makes you fast.
Nitrous, which is stored in liquid from in tanks, has a very low boning point and quickly vaporizes when being released into the atmosphere. It is this trait that allows for a reduction in air and fuel charge temperature all while increasing density. So the end result is an increase in the engine cylinder’s volumetric efficiency which creates an over-all boost in power. Though the gas has been around for hundreds of years, its introduction into the automobile world is fairly recent.
INTRODUCTION
What is Nitrous Oxide?
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a chemical compound used as an oxidizing agent to increase an internal combustion engine's power output by allowing more fuel to be burned than would normally be the case. The usage of Nitrous Oxide to enhance engine performance dates way back to World War II where N2O was used in fighter planes to compensate for less oxygen in the atmosphere at high altitudes. One of the first uses of nitrous oxide in cars was by NASCAR racer Smokey Yunick who used nitrous oxide in his car to win races until it was discovered and banned by NASCAR.
Nitrous oxide is colour-less and non-flammable. Apparently it smells somewhat sweet. Dentists use nitrous oxide to as anaesthetic for patients, and its known as laughing gas in the dentistry circles. Its stored in the vehicle in liquid form in a canister. Because of limited storage capacity, usually limited amount of nitrous oxide is stored and the driver uses it sparingly in bursts by activating a button.
Overview
When nitrous oxide decomposes, a single mole will release 1/2 mole of oxygen gas, allowing an oxygen saturation of 33% to be reached. Air, which contains only 21% oxygen, permits a maximum saturation of only 21%. This oxygen combines with hydrocarbons such as gasoline, alcohol, and diesel fuel to produce carbon dioxide and water vapor, which expand and exert pressure on pistons.
Nitrous oxide is stored as a liquid in tanks, but because of its low boiling point it vaporizes easily when released to atmosphere. When injected into an inlet manifold, this characteristic causes a reduction in air/fuel charge temperature with an associated increase in density, thereby increasing the cylinder's volumetric efficiency.
When N2O breaks down in the engine's combustion phase, the oxygen atoms are freed from their bond to the nitrogen atoms in an exothermic reaction, contributing to the overall power increase.
HOW DOES NITROUS OXIDE WORKS?
Combustion is basically igniting a mixture of oxygen and fuel in a combustion chamber with a sparkplug. The resulting explosion produces power. What happens is a nitrous oxide injection system pumps nitrous oxide into an engines intake system. At 296 degrees Celsius, the nitrous oxide breaks down into nitrogen and oxygen. The loose oxygen atom is burned together with the combustion. More oxygen = more power. Its as simple as that.
Of course there are some issues with the proportion of fuel and air and pre-mature detonation that well look at later. Also, why not just inject oxygen instead of nitrous oxide since what we need is the oxygen anyway? Pure oxygen would result in too wild a combustion, resulting in a blown engine. This is because the nitrogen atoms in the nitrous oxide have a function as well. The nitrogen atoms released have a cooling effect on the combustion temperature. It absorbs the heat and helps carry it away.
Wet versus Dry injection kits
I'm sure you've heard the terms "wet kit" and "dry kit." Actually, let me start with a rant on the "kit" part. A kit is a bunch of nitrous components packaged together by any of the usual vendors, and sold as one item. Typically, these are completely devoid of safety devices, so that they can be sold at a cheap price. This is where the "$600 nitrous kit" idea comes from. While these are fine for getting lots of the basic parts, they are horrible from a safety perspective, and can easily damage your motor. Get the appropriate safety devices and add them to your kit, if you go that way. I'll be calling a complete setup a "system" here.
On to the wet and dry discussion. A "wet system" is a nitrous system which mixes nitrous and fuel, and feeds it (in a "fog") into the intake. A "dry system" only feeds nitrous into the intake, and tricks the existing fuel system to add the fuel. In an LS1 car, this is done via the MAF sensing the colder intake temperature as nitrous is fed through it. In an LT1 car, a dry system typically adds adds about 50 psi of pressure to the vacuum nipple of the stock fuel pressure regulator, increasing the fuel pressure to about 90 psi, and driving more fuel through (hopefully upgraded) fuel injectors via the muscle of the add-on fuel pump.
IS NITROUS OXIDE SAFE?
With the increased power being created, how does one control the process so that no engine blown cases will happen? Using wet nitrous shot kits is one way, as it mixes the additional fuel necessary to keep the air-fuel mixture balanced. Ignition controllers are also sometimes installed to retard the spark timing when nitrous oxide is being used, to prevent premature detonation, also known as knocking or pinging. Higher octane fuel should also be used.
Balancing the air-fuel mixture with the extra oxygen provided by nitrous oxide is also a tricky thing. Too lean and youll get detonation problems which will damage the engine. Too rich and youll lose power. But its all fun, tuning your car to the maximum performance. Good learning process.
To end this post on nitrous oxide, let’s have a look at how nitrous oxide can breath new life (and power) into your engine! Enjoy this video clip by Top Gear, where they kit up an old Jaguar with nitrous oxide and pitch it against some newer supercars.
HOW NOS ENHANCES VEHICLE PERFORMANCE?
Like I mentioned nitrous based systems (NOS) where first used in the NASCAR racing of the 1970s primarily to enhance the racing performance. The basic principle behind its use in the racing vehicles is it supports the process of combustion and enhances the engine power. Now the basic thing that we are all aware of is that fuel is combusted in the presence of air and ignites to produce energy to run the vehicle. Pure oxygen is never provided to the engine other wise it will produce too much of energy to completely explode the engine so instead of that, a mixture of fuel and air is combusted in the engine, but when nitrous oxide is also injected into the system then it breaks into nitrogen and oxygen providing the pure oxygen needed to burn the fuel more efficiently thus providing more power to the car.
Now one may think that the extra oxygen could once again produce great amount of energy to blast the engine but this is the beauty of the nitrous based systems i.e. when the oxygen is provided the nitrogen separated from the oxide. Nitrogen being inert in nature doesn't react with any of the other atoms instead it simply produces a cooling effect which takes away much of the heat generated due to combustion of pure oxygen.
seminar report on nitrous oxide systems.docx (Size: 1.37 MB / Downloads: 77)
HISTORY
Starting with a bit of history, nitrous oxide was first used in the World War II as enhancement system in the fighter aircrafts. In one of the technology the fighter planes consisted of mechanism whereby the planes could gain additional acceleration when nearing enemy target to increase the chances of hitting the enemy.
Other such nitrous based systems or nitrous oxide enhancement technology was used in the planes which required the desired power output to keep the planes running. The technology was required at high altitudes when the oxygen content in the atmosphere started to lower.
But it is now presently being used as an engine enhancement kit in racing cars and was first used in the NASCAR racing cars. There after it became popular in the underground racing cars and is considered of pride if you have Nitrous system installed in your car. Although such types of underground racing is banned in most of the countries but the installation if nitrous system is allowed.
After a review of a little history lets look into a bit of chemistry. The nitrous based systems have a primary element called nitrous oxide because of which it is called nitrous or NOS or sometimes in short nitro. Its chemical formula is N2O and is the first of the series of oxides that nitrogen forms with oxygen. A part from its use in nitrous based systems, it has also many applications in chemistry. One of its rather strange name is "laughing gas" well nothing to be surprised about because it has some chemical properties that induces laugh in human beings. It has many chemical application like it is used as aerosol propellants and in medicine it is used in surgery and dentistry.
A similar basic technique was used during World War II by Luftwaffe aircraft with the GM-1 system to maintain the power output of aircraft engines when at high altitude where the oxygen content is lower. Accordingly, it was only used by specialized planes like high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, high-speed bombers and high-altitude interceptors.
British World War II usage of nitrous oxide injector systems were modifications of Merlin engines carried out by the Heston Aircraft Company for use in certain night fighter variants of the de Havilland Mosquito and PR versions of the Super marine Spitfire.
History of nitrous oxide for use with cars
Known in the Medical Community as Laughing Gas, Nitrous Oxide is no Laughing Matter when it comes to Speed
Nitrous oxide was originally produced and toyed with for medical usage way back in the late 1700s. While it is still used in today’s medical community and known as ‘laughing gas,’ nitrous is no laughing matter when it comes to increasing the speed of your vehicle. These days it is not uncommon to hear the word nitrous or NOS, which is an acronym for Nitrous Oxide Systems, all around the street and especially at the race track. Put simply; nitrous makes you fast.
Nitrous, which is stored in liquid from in tanks, has a very low boning point and quickly vaporizes when being released into the atmosphere. It is this trait that allows for a reduction in air and fuel charge temperature all while increasing density. So the end result is an increase in the engine cylinder’s volumetric efficiency which creates an over-all boost in power. Though the gas has been around for hundreds of years, its introduction into the automobile world is fairly recent.
INTRODUCTION
What is Nitrous Oxide?
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a chemical compound used as an oxidizing agent to increase an internal combustion engine's power output by allowing more fuel to be burned than would normally be the case. The usage of Nitrous Oxide to enhance engine performance dates way back to World War II where N2O was used in fighter planes to compensate for less oxygen in the atmosphere at high altitudes. One of the first uses of nitrous oxide in cars was by NASCAR racer Smokey Yunick who used nitrous oxide in his car to win races until it was discovered and banned by NASCAR.
Nitrous oxide is colour-less and non-flammable. Apparently it smells somewhat sweet. Dentists use nitrous oxide to as anaesthetic for patients, and its known as laughing gas in the dentistry circles. Its stored in the vehicle in liquid form in a canister. Because of limited storage capacity, usually limited amount of nitrous oxide is stored and the driver uses it sparingly in bursts by activating a button.
Overview
When nitrous oxide decomposes, a single mole will release 1/2 mole of oxygen gas, allowing an oxygen saturation of 33% to be reached. Air, which contains only 21% oxygen, permits a maximum saturation of only 21%. This oxygen combines with hydrocarbons such as gasoline, alcohol, and diesel fuel to produce carbon dioxide and water vapor, which expand and exert pressure on pistons.
Nitrous oxide is stored as a liquid in tanks, but because of its low boiling point it vaporizes easily when released to atmosphere. When injected into an inlet manifold, this characteristic causes a reduction in air/fuel charge temperature with an associated increase in density, thereby increasing the cylinder's volumetric efficiency.
When N2O breaks down in the engine's combustion phase, the oxygen atoms are freed from their bond to the nitrogen atoms in an exothermic reaction, contributing to the overall power increase.
HOW DOES NITROUS OXIDE WORKS?
Combustion is basically igniting a mixture of oxygen and fuel in a combustion chamber with a sparkplug. The resulting explosion produces power. What happens is a nitrous oxide injection system pumps nitrous oxide into an engines intake system. At 296 degrees Celsius, the nitrous oxide breaks down into nitrogen and oxygen. The loose oxygen atom is burned together with the combustion. More oxygen = more power. Its as simple as that.
Of course there are some issues with the proportion of fuel and air and pre-mature detonation that well look at later. Also, why not just inject oxygen instead of nitrous oxide since what we need is the oxygen anyway? Pure oxygen would result in too wild a combustion, resulting in a blown engine. This is because the nitrogen atoms in the nitrous oxide have a function as well. The nitrogen atoms released have a cooling effect on the combustion temperature. It absorbs the heat and helps carry it away.
Wet versus Dry injection kits
I'm sure you've heard the terms "wet kit" and "dry kit." Actually, let me start with a rant on the "kit" part. A kit is a bunch of nitrous components packaged together by any of the usual vendors, and sold as one item. Typically, these are completely devoid of safety devices, so that they can be sold at a cheap price. This is where the "$600 nitrous kit" idea comes from. While these are fine for getting lots of the basic parts, they are horrible from a safety perspective, and can easily damage your motor. Get the appropriate safety devices and add them to your kit, if you go that way. I'll be calling a complete setup a "system" here.
On to the wet and dry discussion. A "wet system" is a nitrous system which mixes nitrous and fuel, and feeds it (in a "fog") into the intake. A "dry system" only feeds nitrous into the intake, and tricks the existing fuel system to add the fuel. In an LS1 car, this is done via the MAF sensing the colder intake temperature as nitrous is fed through it. In an LT1 car, a dry system typically adds adds about 50 psi of pressure to the vacuum nipple of the stock fuel pressure regulator, increasing the fuel pressure to about 90 psi, and driving more fuel through (hopefully upgraded) fuel injectors via the muscle of the add-on fuel pump.
IS NITROUS OXIDE SAFE?
With the increased power being created, how does one control the process so that no engine blown cases will happen? Using wet nitrous shot kits is one way, as it mixes the additional fuel necessary to keep the air-fuel mixture balanced. Ignition controllers are also sometimes installed to retard the spark timing when nitrous oxide is being used, to prevent premature detonation, also known as knocking or pinging. Higher octane fuel should also be used.
Balancing the air-fuel mixture with the extra oxygen provided by nitrous oxide is also a tricky thing. Too lean and youll get detonation problems which will damage the engine. Too rich and youll lose power. But its all fun, tuning your car to the maximum performance. Good learning process.
To end this post on nitrous oxide, let’s have a look at how nitrous oxide can breath new life (and power) into your engine! Enjoy this video clip by Top Gear, where they kit up an old Jaguar with nitrous oxide and pitch it against some newer supercars.
HOW NOS ENHANCES VEHICLE PERFORMANCE?
Like I mentioned nitrous based systems (NOS) where first used in the NASCAR racing of the 1970s primarily to enhance the racing performance. The basic principle behind its use in the racing vehicles is it supports the process of combustion and enhances the engine power. Now the basic thing that we are all aware of is that fuel is combusted in the presence of air and ignites to produce energy to run the vehicle. Pure oxygen is never provided to the engine other wise it will produce too much of energy to completely explode the engine so instead of that, a mixture of fuel and air is combusted in the engine, but when nitrous oxide is also injected into the system then it breaks into nitrogen and oxygen providing the pure oxygen needed to burn the fuel more efficiently thus providing more power to the car.
Now one may think that the extra oxygen could once again produce great amount of energy to blast the engine but this is the beauty of the nitrous based systems i.e. when the oxygen is provided the nitrogen separated from the oxide. Nitrogen being inert in nature doesn't react with any of the other atoms instead it simply produces a cooling effect which takes away much of the heat generated due to combustion of pure oxygen.