Lukitzo21

I'm planning on making a nitro engine run on water for a science fair, I'm thinking small HHO generator pushing HHO into the intake and for lubrication maybe vaporizing vegetable glycerin since it can vaporize easily and pump int the gas intake or vise versa put it into the intake, and as for ignition since the glow plug needs to react with the alcohol to ignite maybe connect a wire to the positive terminal of the glow plug and the negative into the block for constant operation, please give me ideas for HHO Lpm, tuning, lubrication, and whatever you think would make this work best, I know HHO ignition is possible in a nitro engine because I've seen it the main problem is lubrication

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

I don't know about all the rest, but be prepared that a glow plug draws a lot of power; that is, around 3 amps. For full time glow power, you will need a quality "C" or better yet a "D" size battery. Or, since it is a science experiment, you could rig up an A/C power supply, converted to 1.2 to 1.5 volts DC. Just make sure your converter can supply 5 amps for a safety/durability factor. Alternatively, if you are a "glow" flyer, or know someone that is, you could use your field box power panel to keep the glow plug energized. They sell onboard glow power setups that energize the glow plug only at idle. They use nice little compact glow plug connectors that you can buy separately. You might find one of them handy. Just using an alligator clip to the center of the glow plug doesn't work well due to vibration, plus the fact that it could easily short to ground. (This lets all the magic smoke get out of the system, sometimes spectacularly.)

Then of course you could always go to spark ignition. They sell little spark plugs the same size as glow plugs, and you can buy the CDI ignition system for around 60 bucks.

If you do the project, please give us video or a web link.

Good luck,
AV8TOR

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

One other thought here. You will need to use a ringed nitro engine. Many "nitro", or glow engines these days are either "ABC" or some variation thereof. These engines have no piston rings, and the proper fit of the piston in the cylinder for both sealing and durability is highly dependant on engine operating temperature. If the temperature is off, (or even the fuel mixture), the piston will either not seal well, or can stick in the bore, ripping the con rod apart. Since you have no idea what your temperatures might run, AND your lubrication might be questionable, you will need to use a more conventional ringed engine for your experiments.

AV8TOR

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Well, ya got me "on a roll" here. Another thought, this one about the lubrication aspect. A glow engine needs a bare minimum of 10 percent oil, with 16 to 22 per cent being much more common. A gasoline engine however, uses much less; sometimes as little as 2 per cent if using quality synthetic oil. This is because gasoline engines are designed with ball and roller bearings throughout. They now make purpose built gasoline engines down to 10cc (.61 ci). Actually I think there might even be some .40 size gas engines out now too. For your project, I would use one of the 10cc gas engines. If it being "glow" is a parameter of your project, you can buy an adapter if necessary to be able to run a glow plug. I have run gasoline engines up to 62cc on a glow plug.

AV8TOR

Lukitzo21

Thank you for ur insight, I do have a power supply i can use for the glow plug, and I think I would be able to get it to run on hydrogen but as u said lubrication is a big problem because it'll only fun for a minute or two before blowing up haha, I'll look into a 10cc gas engine as u said I just wanted to see if I could use a nitro engine since I had one laying around, and I will make some videos for you if you'd like I have a YouTube channel with a few videos rn only one on HHO engine though

1QwkSport2.5r

I think you'll have more trouble setting up the delivery system for the hydrogen keeping the system sealed and safe from core or explosion. I would worry more about that than nearly anything else. For lubrication, you could easily add a nipple fitting to the backplate and set up an oil injection setup easily enough. I'm thinking along the lines of a hospital IV dropper setup. Pardon my non-technical writings.

Lukitzo21

I already have a hydrogen generator that is sealed with gasket maker and a bubbler for backfire protection, but could you elaborate on the oiling? What would I use and how much should spray?