Testing and Results
Refrigeration Unit
During previous tests, the refrigeration unit reached the desired temperature of 3 degrees Celsius and did not go beneath the desired value. During the final tests, for gasoline, it can be seen from Figure 3, that the temperature of the refrigeration unit was declining at a mostly steady rate then suddenly increased again. From Figure 4, the test with propane shows that the refrigerator unit then began to increase with time. The results from this are inconclusive. The team assessed the unit afterward and believe that the excessive vibration may have caused the valve to malfunction and that the conduction rod which transfered heat to the unit to have been damaged.
Note: due to technical difficulties with LabVIEW all of the previous results recorded from tests were lost. All results for tests shown below were done using a Multimeter to measure temperatures from thermocouples and a stopwatch. The test time for gasoline was 128 minutes and 26 minutes for propane. It was also found after all tests had concluded that only one cylinder had been operating during all tests on the engine.
Figure 3: Refrigeration Unit Temperatures for Gasoline
Figure 4: Refrigeration Unit Temperatures for Propane
Water-Heating Unit and Distiller
During the test, the water-heating unit and distiller were both running at the same time. The distiller produced 219 g of water in 2 hours. It should noted that more water would have been distilled had there been a higher exhaust temperature. The water-heating unit was tested for both propane and gasoline. The results are shown in Figures 5 and 6. The water-heating unit stayed beneath the maximum temperature of 100 degrees Celsius fulfilling specifications, but it should also be noted that exhaust temperatures were low so the unit was not fully put to the test.
Engine Exhaust Temperatures
During the tests, only one cylinder was working. Due to that, exhaust temperatures were about 200 degrees Celsius less than normal. The results from the test for gasoline are shown below in Figure 1. The exhaust temperature from the engine manifold was
around 430 degrees Celsius. For the propane, shown in Figure 2, it can be seen that the exhaust burned at a slightly less temperature of 420 degrees Celsius.
Figure 1: Exhaust Temperatures for Gasoline
Figure 2: Exhaust Temperatures for Propane
Figure 5: Water Tank Temperatures For Gasoline
Figure 6: Water Tank Temperatures for Propane
