Herbert Easterly auxiliary truck heater. Final technical report
The objective of this work was to continue the development of the Herbert Easterly heater apparatus for vehicles, such as semi-trailer tractors in order to fully establish its technical feasibility and provide the basis for its commercialization. This heater is auxiliary to the vehicle`s primary heating system. With the engine off it heats both the vehicle engine to a temperature at which it starts easily and the vehicle passenger compartment. Specifically, this heater is automatically ignitable, operates directly from the vehicle diesel fuel supply and preheats the vehicle engine fuel prior to combustion. During the course of this work nine different versions of prototype heaters were designed, constructed and tested. All designs were based on the ideas and principles outlined in the Easterly patent. Each successive version incorporated design and fabrication improvements relative to the previous version. The final version, Prototype 9, utilized a multiple water jacket design to capture additional heat from the combustion gases prior to exhausting to the atmosphere. This final prototype exceeded the performance of a commercially available Webasto DBW-2010 using the same commercial burner as the one used in the Webasto unit. The time required to raise the heater fluid temperature by 120{degree}F was 23% less (20 minutes compared to 26 minutes) for Prototype 9 compared to the commercially available unit. In addition a prototype heat exchanger for preheating engine fuel was designed, fabricated and tested. It was also determined that the Prototype 9 auxiliary heater could operate at 85{degree}F for approximately 6 hours on a fully charged 12 volt marine battery rated to deliver 500 cold cranking amps.
- Research Organization:
- Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville, TN (United States). Center for Mfg. Research and Technology Utilization
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG01-89CE15348
- OSTI ID:
- 10105699
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/CE/15348-T8; ON: DE92004434; IN: MCTR 1291-01
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 9 Dec 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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