Turbosteamer


A turbosteamer is a term used by BMW to describe a combined cycle engine. Waste heat energy from the internal combustion engine would be used to generate steam for a steam engine which would create supplemental power for the vehicle. The turbosteamer device is affixed to the exhaust and cooling system. It salvages the heat wasted in the exhaust and radiator and uses a steam piston or turbine to relay that power to the crankshaft. The steam circuit produces and of torque at peak, yielding an estimated 15% gain in fuel efficiency. Unlike gasoline-electric hybrids, these gains increase at higher, steadier speeds.

Timescale

BMW has been the pioneer of this concept as early as 2000 under the direction of Dr. Raymond Freymann, and while they were designing this system to fit to most current BMW models, the technology didn't reach production.

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