BMW TurboSteamer

BMW’s Group Research and Engineering division has come up with something new to squeeze out every ounce of performance from a combustion engine. Let’s have a look at BMW’s Turbosteamer.

As you all know, most of the energy potential in fuel is lost through means of heat. Alot of this heat exits the engine through the exhaust gas. What if we could harness the heat in the exhaust gas to produce more power for the engine?

The heat in the exhaust gas heats up some through a heat exchanger fluid and this fluid becomes steam. This steam is used to power the engine. More than 80 percent of heat in the exhaust gases can be converted back into usable energy this way.

Click the diagrams on this page to show enlarged versions. The diagrams above show the exhaust gas path and the steam paths somewhat but in a test environment. We’ll look at more detailed diagrams of the parts involved below when equipped in a car.

This results in reducing fuel consumption by 15 percent, and an additional 14 horsepower and 15 lb-ft of torque for BMW’s inline-4 1.8 litre engine. And it doesn’t cost you anything as it is recycled from the exhaust gas heat.

Steam passes through an expansion unit connected to the crankshaft and that is what provides the car the additional power.

Currently it’s fitted on a 3-series with a 1.8 litre 4-cylinder engine as the 4-cylinder block leaves enough room in the engine bay for the additional components like the expansion unit to be installed. BMW is still working on designing the system to be small enough to fit onto any model.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • timmy on Dec 11, 2005 at 9:35 am

    dude, i want that for my MyVi!! go go go!!! =p

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • MyBoy on Dec 11, 2005 at 9:40 am

    Impressive. :)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • HumanSanzz on Dec 11, 2005 at 9:45 am

    If i am not mistaken,my bio teacher told me that human is the most efficient machine in this world.What we eat was used up completely (come out is shit) and the energy produced is more than 70 to 80%.This is because energy lost through heat and sounds was minimized.

    errr wat i typed MAY BE is crap.Lolz.Ahhhhhhz I missed my bio class very much..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
  • Stevarac on Dec 11, 2005 at 9:52 am

    I'm not sure what this article is about.

    I guess it is still a "environment friendly "steam engine.

    Use 15% less fuel …….. BUT….

    Use 150% more maintenance cost

    WHAT A BEEMER BLUNDER.

    Just use it in a steam roller.

    JKR & Samy Vellu …WHAT U THINK.

    BOLEH PAKAI KAH INI ENGINE ?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
  • neurra on Dec 11, 2005 at 10:06 am

    this is wicked.. i wonder who the heck came out with an idea like that.. must be real inspiration for him to have thinked about it..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Holyday on Dec 11, 2005 at 10:20 am

    Stevarac,

    Harnessing the power of heat for extra power has always been around but never really looked into in the commercial industry. In fact in the racing industry, they have been harnessing BRAKING HEAT to get more power to the engine.

    Your argument of 150% of more maintenance cost is really baseless. Calling this a blunder even before actual implementation is really jumping to conclusions. When the 1st cars were made, they kept overheating. I believe they will find solutions to the problems they face, if any.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • cameron on Oct 03, 2014 at 7:59 pm

      “brake harvesting” and related energy recovery systems do not actually use the heat of friction created by the brake to convert energy. The energy recovered, is recovered through the rear axle, and is used to technically engine brake the car. The reason it is called “brake harvesting” is because the time period in which the braking takes place, is better used by using less friction created at the brake and more mechanical braking, which can then be converted to a useful energy source, i.e. Electricity. KERS (kinetic energy recovery sytem) is the most appropriate name for this type of energy recovery.
      Finally to my understanding the heat generated by brakes has never been directly used to convert thermal energy to any other useful source.

      http://www.wired.com/2010/10/flywheel-hybrid-system-for-premium-vehicles/
      This link shows a schematic of how the system works quite well i think.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Flamesz on Dec 11, 2005 at 11:54 am

    Not humans:)

    There are more efficient animals. Mammals that hibernate are more efficient than humans.

    The some mammals eat their own faeces(waste) to squeeze out whats still left to ensure nothing is wasted.

    Examples or efficient animals: camels(months without water), crocodiles( can withstand fasting for 1 year)

    As for cars,

    I suppose this is a logical step to increasing the efficiency of an internal combustion engine in view of the world today. I would like to see a hybrid+ the type of technology BMW is developing. you could decrease the capacity of the engine while maintaining power thus, saving fuel.

    Come to think of it, they also should harness the heat from the radiators combining the cooling system of the engine with the steam thingy then you'll really get a more efficient engine.

    my 2.5 cents.

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  • cbljkkj on Dec 11, 2005 at 12:57 pm

    The technology that is shown here is revolutionary if BMW makes it work. More than 70-80% of gases and power is dissipated as heat therefor making it a rich resource to channel into energy.

    What I read is that BMW is going to make so it can be retrofitted, so there may be hope for us. This will also help cars fully make use of all the energy being produced rather than waste the heat that is dispersed.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • How nice, Germans would go: "One of our national cars ….. "

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  • Stevarac on Dec 11, 2005 at 6:43 pm

    Holyday

    This Beemer idea of recycle the heat into a source of energy is basic. But looking at the diagram , it easily uses few expander , superheater and

    steam generators. All this need pampering ma. That why I GUESS it could cost

    a bomb to jaga & pls don't take my 150% seriously ?? Lightened up .. he he he..

    On the other hand , the sacred idea of squeezing every single ounce of energy in a car has been researched and tested and I believe still continue.

    But don't you think the hybrid car is a much better & simpler idea of using car rolling momentum energy through electric motor.

    It is a matter of time when more cars are made this way as the cost decreases.

    Proton >> apa macam ? AMT + Hybrid for Waja replacement models???….

    Tahu tak apa. Tak tahu tanya.

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  • clark_kent on Dec 11, 2005 at 6:53 pm

    Lesser heat emmision = a step to reduce greenhouse effect.

    Recyclable exhaust heat = lesser fuel consumption (imagine if all the cars in the world is fitted with one of these) = world energy crisis slowed down A BIT

    conclusion: 10 points for Beemer, zero for Proton/Perodua >:) muahahaha

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Is this a good news during high oil price? Or a good solution for the problem?

    This is same goes with the hybrid technology.

    It is expensive because you pay extra for the extra technology. You don't just buy a car with 2000cc engine, but you buy the car with 2000cc engine equipped with the hybrid (or turbosteamer) technology.

    And as usual the majority buyers are the riches who care about the environment. While we the middle-classer keep using the same old technology. The Toyota Prius is famous among the Hollywood celebreties…..

    and not among middle class buyers (since we can't afford it)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Form 5 Student on Dec 11, 2005 at 9:44 pm

    Sophisicated technology…..

    what if it's on a Hybrid Car????Use less petrol….very economy and enviromental friendly…

    Even if the oil prices isn't that high….we should think about our environment too……Of course,our own health.

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  • Charger on Dec 11, 2005 at 11:52 pm

    Next thing you know, they wanna turbocharge even the steam engine. -_-'

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • haiz felt pity for local automobile manufacturer….not only no new technology but still using 20 years old technology. look at how those europe fella doing their job..so admired ler…

    To: humansanzz, no need to show off some of ur bio info here lar as it is really crap.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • HumanSanzz on Dec 12, 2005 at 1:23 am

    lolz i really has little knowledge abt bio.better than nic lar.In bio class only look forward to sex subj.Still remember form 3 1st bab mar????Interesting at that time ride???haizz luckily din fail bio.Thx god.

    To Flamesz:

    thx man for telling us that there r so many animal which is more efficient than human.I really din think of them.Thx for ur info.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • sinleong on Dec 12, 2005 at 4:56 am

    How does the heat are coverted back for usage? Will they become oxygen?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Pentan Sakua.... on Dec 12, 2005 at 6:17 am

    Yeah…coool technology. But when comes to our shore it will cost us an ATOMIC BOMB…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • infinity on Dec 12, 2005 at 8:19 am

    when i read the article,i was thinking…"this concept is so simple, yet y not any tom, dick and harry think of it??"

    normal engines, heat is a type waste..(like wat our faeces is to a car)…but now BMW let the car eat back their shit to produce energy..hahahaha..really smart la..in fact, they can combine this technology into a hybrid car also..lagi smart..this is totally evironment friendly la..another plus point for BMW

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  • gegaoff on Dec 12, 2005 at 9:07 am

    is a good move, so can reduce the petrol consumption… but it will be better that can come out a mass production's solar energy base car.

    ya ya, is still a long way to go…

    cheers…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • hehehaha on Dec 12, 2005 at 9:20 am

    Good idea… In fact it's a great one…German engineering… Simply astonishing…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • make me thinking, this is the next step before water take over petrol..like the steam train long long time ago..it seem like back to future.???

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • wow …a combine cycle for a car ;

    This stuff is not new ..combine cycle's are widely used in power plants but the cost are deemed too high for automotive purposes

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  • looking at the diagram, I somehow feel funny, why have engine rediator in the engine, the heat from rediator could be use too ma. ??!! why do so complex thing like taking the heat from the exhoust when U can take from the engine inself, via the rediator. ??

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • zongtwi a.k.a. speed on Dec 13, 2005 at 2:49 am

    This is really impressive. But Paul, I think you've misquoted something. It's not that it reduces fuel consumption by 15%, it increases efficiency of the engine by 15%, which makes sense, since less heat produced is wasted. The amount of fuel used is still the same, unlike hybrid engines, which switches to the electric motor at cruising speeds where no fuel is used.

    And,

    edw said,

    December 12, 2005 @ 11:51 am

    looking at the diagram, I somehow feel funny, why have engine rediator in the engine, the heat from rediator could be use too ma. ??!! why do so complex thing like taking the heat from the exhoust when U can take from the engine inself, via the rediator. ??

    ————————————————————-

    There are two major heat source from the engine, one is heat from the cylinder head around the combustion chamber, and one is the hot exhaust gasses produced from combustion. In normal engines, the radiator is used for the cooling cycle for the cylinder head, the coolant and water mixture is used to dissipate heat from that area and it will then flow to the radiator where the oncoming airflow will cool the hot coolant mixture. This then will flow back to the cylinder head area which completes the cycle. The hot exhaust gasses which comes from the exhaust manifold goes through the catalytic converter, through to the back of the car and comes out from the exhaust pipe. This is where most of the heat from the combustion process is lost to the atmosphere. What BMW is proposing to do is to harness this loss of heat and convert it back to mechanical energy, via steam, which would increase the power output and torque of the engine.

    From the diagram, there are three cycles, the cooling cycle, the hot temperature cycle, and the low temperature cycle. The hot temperature cycle is the major cycle which takes the heat from the exhaust gasses (before they go to the catalytic converter) and converts it to mechanical power. The cooling cycle cools the cylinder head. The low temperature cycle is the secondary cycle that is used to stabilise the overall temperature of the system. The steam from this cycle takes the heat from the cooling cycle, and the exhaust back box and also converts this heat to mechanical power. The steam then goes to the radiator to be cooled and completes the cycle again. Putting that in one phrase, the system harnesses most of the heat generated by the engine, not just from the exhaust gas.

    But there are alot of things that concerns me. First and foremost, I'm pretty sure that the coolant used for the cooling cycle needs to be a specialised and re-engineered coolant, because there is no way they can be enough heat transfer between cycles using the current types of coolant. The same goes to the steam to be used, I'm sure it needs to be a specialised mixture with certain types of additives etc. Another thing is since most of the heat from the exhaust gasses is reused, this means less EGR (recirculated exhaust gas) is available. This implies that it can only be used for normal fuel injected engines. It can't be used for stratified injection (FSI engines like VW's) or direct injection engines (GDI), and definitely can't be used for automated ignition engines (HCCI). Furthermore this system is forecasted to only be available for volume production in the next 10 years, which shows that there are still loads of things to be developed before it is deemed viable for public use.

    http://www.mwerks.com/artman/publish/bmw_news/art…

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  • zongtwi a.k.a. speed on Dec 13, 2005 at 3:02 am

    Ahah…as usual, panjang gile aku tulis. But just would like to add a bit more…

    infinity said,

    December 12, 2005 @ 12:19 am

    when i read the article,i was thinking…”this concept is so simple, yet y not any tom, dick and harry think of it??”

    ————————————————————–

    The concept is really simple, and is used extensively in power plants. And as Mr. H22A said, it was deemed too expensive for automative purposes. And here, we can see why. I'm quite certain (don't quote me on this, as this is purely my own assumption) as in any research and development activity, that the amount of cash BMW invested into this research project is very high, and the return is relatively small (15% efficiency increase with only 14hp added). I'm sure all the other OEMs saw this as a major turn off, and rather concentrated their efforts to research into diesels, hybrid technology, and emission reduction methods (FSI, GDI and HCCI engines).

    Just to put things into context, the Bugatti Veyron's massive quad-turbo 8litre W16 engine produces a total of 3000hp of power. But only 1000hp is transmitted to the tyres to move the huge beast. The other 2000hp is lost due to thermal dissipation, lost to the atmosphere. If this system were to be used by the Veyron, with a 15% increase in efficiency, the power increase to the tyres should be around 140hp. In this case, I personally think it would be worth using this system.

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  • albagmane on Dec 13, 2005 at 3:10 am

    wow.. an amazing breakthrough! bravo bmw!

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  • Turbo is using this principle. Last 2-3years I heard of this idea from our new straits time.It is from the Lotus engineers. I think it is not efficient enough.That's why till today we don't see any progress for scale of economic production.

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  • ferox on Dec 13, 2005 at 11:01 am

    Forget trying to save the environement. End of the world is near! Everyone run for your lives!

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  • tromen on Dec 13, 2005 at 5:19 pm

    mmmm… good engine… complete combustion with steam… good to reduce NOx (nitrogen oxide) will decreased if temperature decreased…. must take care the temparature… it will produce fog…

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  • anonymous 17 on Dec 13, 2005 at 7:24 pm

    hmmm….sounds impressing. look's like the bmw is serious on producing environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficiency car.

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  • CarNut on Dec 14, 2005 at 5:46 am

    i think the reason for the existance of radiators is because cars cannot run cold or hot, it must be at a optimum level. if all the heat were to be transfered to make steam, the engine would run too cold.

    the radiator would make lousy heat source for the application above since the radiator's heat is so low (as compared to the exhaust), the pressure produced would either be too low or too slow.

    another point to ponder is the cooling of exhause gasses. high performance cars want the exhaust gasses to excape as quick as possible to reduce resistance in the system. but by using this heat to power the steam engine inside, the trade-offwould be increased back-pressure, thus lowering the efficiency of the engine. the secret would still be to find the best compromise for both system to work together in order to achieve the most optimum output.

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  • hamsaplo on Dec 14, 2005 at 8:00 pm

    Hey bro, germany punye temperature is quite low, ask them to test it here in malaysia and see whats result?

    Malaysia hot country lar bro, isi minyak oso rugi coz high temperature make petrol less dense. Put hot gas into an already hot engine under the hot sun, u think the engine can tahan kar? doubt so!

    Anuwau hope they know what they doing

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  • Selipar on Dec 15, 2005 at 1:06 am

    hmmm…i'm thinking about total technology integration of:

    diesel/petrol + turbocharge (recycled exhaust energy) + steam(again recycled exhaust heat energy) + hybrid (fuel cell) = wallaaa!!

    how many fuel reduction & power boost it could be?

    But for sure the cost would be boombastic!!

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  • rexis on Dec 15, 2005 at 5:10 pm

    Nice try BMW, sometimes, a technoloy breakthru require you to look back into very fundamental highschool physic, no high tech theory required here, only engineering design.

    If you put too many things into one piece, you create a maintanence nightmare. So your maintainance for your diesel/petrol + turbocharge (recycled exhaust energy) + steam(again recycled exhaust heat energy) + hybrid (fuel cell) = wallaaa!!

    You won't mind to add an intercooler and solar roof too :)

    Btw actually hybrid is electric motor la, fuel cell usually only for pure electric car.

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  • rexis on Dec 15, 2005 at 5:20 pm

    My eyes blurrr once i look into a post more then 15 lines long like one of our brother posted up there. So i break my post into 2…

    Talk about electric car, that would be where the future heading. Electric motor is so much more durable then internal combustion motor. Just think about an ice-box compressor can easily run for 20 years without oil change and maintanence. Except maybe you need to recharge gas once a while.

    Electric Motor + Battery = nearly indestructible car engine that require little or no maintanence. You dont even need a gear box.

    Maybe the battery is the bottleneck here, so the range of EV is very limited, but we can make it like an expandable slot, sth like RAM in PC, you can expand it once more powerful battery available, or when you have enough cash..

    Not my 2cents, i read this somewhere else :p

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  • nice job BMW.. salute!!!

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  • Blackice on Dec 19, 2005 at 9:35 am

    Actually, zongtwi a.k.a. speed junkie, an 8l engine at 6000rpm produces about 2100HP, not 3000HP. Half of that is lost or redlined, so it has an astonishing ~50% efficiency. Then again, it has 4 turbochargers.

    If the veyron used one of these, well… fuel economy would be the great benefit (but i don't VW want to revise the Veyron AGAIN).

    That said, this technology is great. I just hope they can get it working (I mean, having two engines in a car produces a timing problem, and that would really suck).

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  • Peter Rupp on Jan 04, 2006 at 7:27 am

    The person who identified a 150% increase in maintenace was probably working in the right direction, despite not having proof. Steam engines have traditionally required massive maintenance efforts, are heavy and trouble-prone. Updating this old technology to bring it in line with current materials, and reliability (failure rates) will ultimately come with a lot of effort to work out the bugs that will inevitably will pop up. But why even try? For this type of system to work, the primary engine has to remain inefficient to produce the massive amount of waste heat needed to drive the steam turbines in the first place. Also think of the complex exhaust heat exchanger, water/steam recovery system, and the complex turbine/engine drive connection. Additionally, it takes time to turn water to steam, so effiencies only increase after a significant time period >20-30 minutes of continuous driving. And…you have to make this all work as reliable as the Honda Accord.

    On the other hand, current hybrids – Toyota in particular – and hydrogen are really the way to go in the future. Toyota apparently has a more cost efficient method of production than other companies, and I suspect prices will continue to fall. The problem is that as soon as gas prices slide, the US government will most likely allow car companies to lax off on their mpg/emission standards…rolling back the technology yet again.

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  • oussama on Jan 09, 2006 at 3:42 pm

    how you can leave the smoke don't go out from the car

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  • oussama on Jan 09, 2006 at 3:42 pm

    do you have any car work without an a gas

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  • Ion Nemes on Nov 13, 2009 at 11:19 pm

    In January 1974 a similar engine and a cycle were first patent registered in
    Romania 1974-77187 by myself.It was my first invention in the engine field ,I was a very young engineer ,I had no money for fees and my patent application was rejected.
    Because the Perfid Albion sold us to bolshevics, Romania was under communist rule and all possible patent were granted to a state company ,no
    private person could own a patent.
    That is the reason my invention got lost.

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  • Shawn on Sep 06, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    Those boxes could be made out of stainless steel for lab testing, and iron for production, and rust through in 15000 miles. It wouldn’t pay for itself.

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  • vivek on Sep 12, 2014 at 2:48 pm

    i like the BMW m4 most

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