Sections: Official News Dec 12th, 2005 27 Comments 
Yet another interesting development within the BMW Group’s Research and Engineering department. This time those crazy pencil pushing engineers have turned to our old friend steam to further enhance the efficiency of the internal combustion engine:
Using an innovative concept, BMW Group Research and Engineering has succeeded in harnessing the biggest and as yet untapped source of energy in the car: Heat. Combining an innovative drive assist with a 1.8 liter BMW four-cylinder engine on the test rig reduced consumption by up to 15 percent while generating nearly 14 additional horsepower. At the same time, up to 15 lb-ft more torque was measured. This increased power and efficiency comes free of charge. The reason is that the energy is derived exclusively from the waste heat present in the exhaust gases and cooling system and doesn’t cost you a single drop of fuel. The research project meets all the conditions espoused by the philosophy of BMW Efficient Dynamics – lower emissions and consumption combined with more dynamic driving and performance.
Up to fifteen percent greater overall efficiency for the gas engine.
The Turbosteamer – as the project is known – is based on the principle of the steam engine: Fluid is heated to form steam in two circuits and this is used to power the engine. The primary energy supplier is the high-temperature circuit which uses exhaust heat from the internal combustion engine as an energy source via heat exchangers. More than 80 percent of the heat energy contained in the exhaust gases is recycled using this technology. The steam is then conducted directly into an expansion unit linked to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine. Most of the remaining residual heat is absorbed by the cooling circuit of the engine, which acts as the second energy supply for the Turbosteamer. This innovative drive assist verifiably increases the efficiency of the combined drive system by up to 15 percent. “The Turbosteamer reinforces our confidence that the internal combustion engine is undoubtedly a technology fit for the future,†comments Professor Burkhard Göschel, Member of the Board of Management responsible for development and purchasing at BMW AG.Adequate space in today’s vehicle concepts.
The development of this new drive assist has reached the phase involving comprehensive tests on the test rig. The components for this drive system have been designed so that they are capable of being installed in existing model series. Tests have been carried out on a number of sample packages to ensure that a car such as the BMW 3 Series provides adequate space. The engine compartment of a four-cylinder model offers enough space to allow the expansion units to be accommodated.System ready for volume production within ten years.
Ongoing development of the concept is focusing initially on making the components simpler and smaller. The long-term development goal is to have a system capable of volume production within ten years.The big picture: project BMW Efficient Dynamics.
BMW Group Research and Engineering has demonstrated the medium-term perspectives of the project BMW Efficient Dynamics. “This project resolves the apparent contradiction between consumption and emission reductions on the one hand and performance and agility on the other,†is how Professor Burkhard Göschel summarizes the core concept of the programme. The BMW Group is committed to the principle that a reduction in consumption amounting to a few percentage points over the entire model range exerts higher overall effects on the general population than high percentage points for a niche model. BMW is focusing on making the latest technologies for reduced consumption accessible to as many people as possible.
Lucas Dec 12th, 2005 Link
They must have solved some pretty tough packaging problems to come up with this. As a steam engineer myself, this concept of using steam for power seems simple enough, but having one small and efficient enough to make a differnce in a car is quite a feat!
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Nathaniel Salzman Dec 12th, 2005 Link
Super interesting! It totally makes sense to make good use of the residual heat produced by the normal combustion engine. Getting an extra 15% efficiency basically for free is pretty sharp. I wonder what you would do with the system in extreme temperatures though. If the ambient air is too hot to effectively pull the heat back out of the water, or the outside temperature is cold enough to freeze the water in the system, it could run into trouble. That’s easy enough to overcome though, I suppose.
Groovy stuff though. Dissapointing that it would take them 10 years to put it into production. There’s something romantic about steam power – but when it translates into straight horsepower, it turns down right sexy.
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Jason Dec 12th, 2005 Link
Looking at their diagram (and not being a steam engineer), it appears that they are using steam drive to basically act like an extra piston on the crankshaft, thereby making a 4 cylinder car work like a 5 cylinder car, w/out having to use the gas for the fifth cylinder. Nifty.
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PaulG Dec 12th, 2005 Link
Yep – a technically impressive achievement – I must agree and I don’t want to take away from the effort it will have taken to achieve this.
But how much longer do petrol engines really have? 15% isn’t much for something that will take 10 years to appear.
Just seems to me like we are flogging a dead horse…
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Z4MINI Dec 12th, 2005 Link
Interesting. There aren’t too many improvements that will improve fuel consumption, torque and HP all at the same time.
Well, we are seeing the convergence of diesel and 4-stroke design as well as ICE and electric motors…so why not throw steam into the mix as well?
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Jonathan Dec 12th, 2005 Link
To PaulG: Combustion isn’t the only method of creating energy that generates excess heat as a byproduct. Fuel cells, for example, generate a considerable amount of byproduct heat.
While this system is designed around current combustion engines, I am sure the concept could easily be adapted to other technologies as fuel-cell cars and other alternatively-powered automobiles enter the marketplace.
I think it’s actually a very smart move by BMW – both relevant in the present, and looking forward to the future.
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David Dec 12th, 2005 Link
Everything old is new again! Kudos to BMW for going down this path. Now imagine a hybrid-diesel-Turbosteamer. 50 mpg on a 7 series anyone?
To Nathaniel, I don’t think they’re using water as the fluid in this case. Probably something with some antifreeze/coolant properties (my speculation).
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blalor Dec 12th, 2005 Link
While this system is designed around current combustion engines, I am sure the concept could easily be adapted to other technologies as fuel-cell cars and other alternatively-powered automobiles enter the marketplace.
I was under the impression that fuel-cells (eg. hydrogen?) were an energy source that gets converted into electricity, not used for internal combustion. In that case, this so-called “fifth cylinder” that would also provide power to the crank wouldn’t have a crank to power. Which isn’t to say that reclaiming that heat energy wouldn’t be beneficial, but I don’t think this technology (as it’s described) would be applicable to non-IC engines.
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Tim Dec 12th, 2005 Link
Interesting technology. I too was a little disappointed that they are talking 10 years before this type of technology would hit production. If they essentially have it “working” in a 3 series today, will it really take ten years to shrink the components down that much?
Also interesting is that the system promises an improved engine efficiency of around 15%, which is arguably comparable to what hybrids currently produce, without the extra weight of batteries, etc.
How about this for a hybrid: Hydrogen, steam, gasoline. What’s next? Solar panels on the roof?
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CeridianMN Dec 12th, 2005 Link
Once you have the battery in place adding solar panels and a circuit to charge it would not be a far cry. I think any car that converted energy to electric for a major part of it’s functioning would probably benefit from solar cells.
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Nathaniel Salzman Dec 12th, 2005 Link
To Nathaniel, I don’t think they’re using water as the fluid in this case. Probably something with some antifreeze/coolant properties (my speculation). Ah, but that is precisely the problem – they have to use water to get STEAM. The anti-freeze solution in normal engine coolant is there precisely to prevent the water from boiling (as well as freezing). Water has chemical properties completely unique to it – such as it’s expansion when freezing, that it exists naturally in all three of its physical states (ice, water, vapor) on earth, and it’s very unique ability to create vast amounts of pressure as steam. That third quality – the ability to expand to 1600 times its original volume when superheated – is what allows steam-power to work in the first place. When you dissolve other solutions into water to move its freezing point (such as ethalene glycol in anti-freeze), you change it’s boiling point as well. That I know of (and I’m no expert – I’m coasting on high school science project research and college chemistry as I write this), there aren’t really any other stable substances whose vapor form has similar properties for producing power. Boiling and then recondensing water in and out of some sort of anti-freeze solution would get very tricky as well. The steam-assist would have to be a completely seperate system from the cooling of the engine (which I think it is, looking at the diagram), otherwise you run into major cooling problems. For example, if it’s an all-inclusive system, in extremely cold weather, you run into the problem of freeze-expansion breaking fittings or the engine overheating from lack of coolant flow before it melts again- the same reason you don’t run just straight water in your radiator now. But even with the steam-assist on its own closed system, you still have to deal with your liquid freezing – and your options are limited if you want to make steam (which is why you can’t just put anti-freeze in the fluid). Likewise, in a combined system in very hot conditions, the coolant gets too hot and litteraly boils off, then you run the same risk of overheating the engine. This is again why you don’t run straight water in your radiator – but you have to if you want to make steam. Even on a closed, seperate system though, hot conditions would sap the effeciency of the steam-assist system itself as it would have much harder time shedding the heat back out of the steam to condense it. All of these are issues I bet they’ve already solved – I’m just really interested to know HOW. Maybe in those temperature extremes, the system simply shuts off, or there is a pre-heating system for the cold. It’s cool stuff.
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Alan Dec 12th, 2005 Link
As long as you still have wheels, even a full fuel cell car will still need to have an electric motor that converts electricity into motion. If you have the motor turning the wheels (or drive-shaft, if you have 1 motor to turn 2 or 4 wheels instead of individual motors for each drive wheel) you can still have essentially a steam turbine at the end of the motor.
You don’t need a cranshaft to latch on to, you just need something turning, but the cranshaft is the easiest thing in an internal combustion engine.
And don’t forget its also 15 more hp, so you could undersize the engine in addition to the extra 15% efficiency. Unless you’re just using the system to get more power out of less.
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O(=^=)O Capn Dec 12th, 2005 Link
I am surprised that no one has mentioned MINIs in this whole thing.
15% isn’t a whole lot…
Yeah well a 15% pulley sure is… can you say wow!
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Mike Dec 13th, 2005 Link
only one question:
Can I make my car go “Chooo Choooo” as I sail down the highway?
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Nathaniel Salzman Dec 13th, 2005 Link
15% isn’t a whole lot…
Actually, 15% increase in efficiency is a pretty big deal, especially without having to add any energy to the system to get it. You can’t get 100% effeciency because of friction and entropy. Well put-together systems do well to get into the 60%-75% range, so a 15% makes a really big deal – especially without having to add any energy back into the system (such as a supercharger that needs a minimum amount of hp to turn in the first place).
I’m still dissapointed that they’re saying 10 years. It doesn’t sound THAT complicated.
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Greg W Dec 13th, 2005 Link
Well BMW is at it again and it ain’t even April 1st. Did you guys get those BMW adverts that came out on April 1 every year claiming they had installed some new fangled option? Well some of the older ones have turned out to be true! But I still can’t understand why they are spending millions on technology from the 1800/1900’s. Sure when the 800 million people in China each have a car petrol is going to be used up real quick. So why are all the big corporates not developing cars that can run on water – yes H2O the dreaded dihydrochloric oxide. I see on the web that some home inventors have actually gotten cars to run on the stuff – and its free!
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Jason Dec 13th, 2005 Link
I would imagine that the 10 year mark is going from their current “we’ve got it working in one car, but it took us 60-70K to do it, and it only works in a narrow range of environments (40-80 degrees outside temp, and we can only run it for a couple of hours at a time.”
Going from that experimental model to a production level engine mod/add on probably would take ten years if they were going to do it intelligently. Body design changes are easy (or at least easier) compared to engine changes, which I think most would agree that adding a steam turbine power plant addon would qualify as.
But a Mini with a steam driven supercharger, or that fifth cylinder powering the crankshaft, that would cause what hair I have left to stand on end. (In a good way)
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tony T Dec 13th, 2005 Link
“Hydrogen, steam, gasoline. What’s next? Solar panels on the roof?”
Easy – why not strao a large sail to the roof – and use the wind…..
Or, why not get two large mamaels – horses, zebras, cows – whatever, to pull the car along…
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tony T Dec 13th, 2005 Link
“Sure when the 800 million people in China each have a car petrol is going to be used up real quick.”
We’ll all be in big trouble long before that – the 2 billion chinese and 1 billion Indian people on the planet all getting hold of 2 stroke moped bikes way before they can afford cars will kill us all with the pollution and the global warming effect.
We’re doomed I tell ya… doomed
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Jonathan Dec 13th, 2005 Link
I was under the impression that fuel-cells (eg. hydrogen?) were an energy source that gets converted into electricity, not used for internal combustion. In that case, this so-called “fifth cylinder†that would also provide power to the crank wouldn’t have a crank to power. Which isn’t to say that reclaiming that heat energy wouldn’t be beneficial, but I don’t think this technology (as it’s described) would be applicable to non-IC engines.
Yes, fuel cells produce electricity, but since we’re talking about a moving object, that electricity is still going to have to be converted to physical work at some point in order to propel the car.
So the fundamental principle is the same…you have a power source producing physical work, and you generate additional physical work by capturing excess heat from said power source and using it to produce steam.
It might not be called a crankshaft, but there’s still going to be something in there that turns.
I wasn’t suggesting that this concept exactly “as engineered” in this example would bolt right onto a fuel-cell car and work, but “as described” it’s quite applicable to non-IC technologies if you don’t get attached to the specificity of things like cylinders and cranks and take a wider view.
Even if it’s only 90% applicable to the new technology, that’s still enough to rebut the “this is rubbish because petrol will soon be obsolete” argument. I have no doubt that the lessons they learn refining this concept now will bear fruit in the future.
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KE3VP Dec 14th, 2005 Link
There are still working patented carburators available to increase fuel mileage in large displacement engines to 70+ MPG. Why not use them? (Oil company profits)
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alpinamike Dec 15th, 2005 Link
Locomotive MINI pullman, instead of the burp it will be a wistle…lol
I need to get a conductor hat :) -alpinamike
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MarcuS Dec 15th, 2005 Link
I am assuming that the 15% gain in efficiency is AFTER they have taken into account the extra weight all this equipment requires (and the water)? Its great technology-wise to reuse energy, but it doesn’t seem too practical. Can you imagine trying to get this system fixed after the 50K warranty goes out? Talk to the Toyota Prius folks of breakdowns & cost out of warranty—painful.
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Jim R Jan 20th, 2006 Link
I once saw in the adirondak museum, New York, a steam boat which did not use water as it’s working agent. Instead it used napthalene.
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Jim R Jan 20th, 2006 Link
Excuse me. It wasn’t naphthalene it was naptha. Aparently naptha used to be another word for petrol. Not the petrol we think of today. It was crude based, however produced different then modern fuel. Naptha used to fuel the burner and at the same time be steamed in the boiler. Talk aabout dual purpose
I guess if they called it naptha instead of petrol. There wouldn't be all the taxes.
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