Tran Le Phuoc (Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry) built a system to prevent water from entering the exhaust pipe, spark plugs, separating water and gas, etc., which helps motorcycles operate for more than 20 minutes when flooded.
When he first entered Saigon, Phuoc (a student of the Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering) had to walk a motorbike many times when it was raining heavily and the road was flooded. Witnessing the scene of many elderly people and women struggling to walk through the flood, Phuoc wondered how to overcome it.
In early 2022, Phuoc tinkered with the principles of vehicle operation to design an anti-flood system. He thinks that the spark plugs and the exhaust are the first two parts that affect the car's shutdown. When water enters the car, the spark plugs will be affected first due to the lack of ignition. This results in the vehicle shutting down, causing water to enter the exhaust.
Tran Le Phuoc (left) introduces the anti-flood system integrated into motorbikes with students from the same school. Image: Ha An
Phuoc researched and manufactured a spark plug cap made of flexible rubber material with a tight design to increase water resistance. Exhaust pipes are changed to operate compared to conventional products. He designed according to the principle of the closed box upside down into the water. Then the water will not flow inside. From this principle, Phuoc manufactures an exhaust pipe with three different compartments, with the same operating mechanism as the upside down principle so that the internal pressure is always greater than the external pressure. Water will not get inside the exhaust pipe, or there is very little, when one chamber is full, it will flow through another. The exhaust will not have a vent like traditional cars, but attach a removable screw to drain the water, ensuring the inside is sealed. According to Phuoc, the design of other exhaust pipes will not affect the vehicle's operation.
To increase the resistance to flooding, he designed a water separation system in the form of a tube placed in front of the car's fuel tank. When water is flooded through the fuel tank, the water and air separation system will work to separate the water from the outside air separately so as not to affect the operation of the machine. When the water is separated, it will flow through the container equipped with the sensor switch. "When there is water, the one-way pump will push water from the inside out to prevent the water tank too much from being sucked back into the combustion chamber," Phuoc said.
With this system, a motorcycle that is turned off can still be restarted when flooded. According to Phuoc, the system meets the requirements of flooded cars in apartment basements or when people leave cars in flooded houses. The product can help the car go through the flooded area without shutting down. In case the car stops, they just need to pull it up to the end of the flood and still be able to restart and run normally.
The author tested immersing the car engine in a water bath for more than 20 minutes and still starting the engine.
Testing the anti-flood system in Phuoc's car. Video: NVCC
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Truong Quang Vinh, electrical and electronics expert, deputy director of the International Training Office, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology highly appreciated the research product. He said that the product has the perfection of a motorcycle model with a water and exhaust gas separation system to prevent flooding. Water tank testing proves the product works well.
However, according to him, in order to be applied in practice, the product must be suitable for the user experience because adding a new system to the vehicle will increase the cumbersomeness, affect motorcycle regulations and risk unsafety. .
Assoc. Prof Vinh said that there should be a professional agency to evaluate the applicability of the solution to match the technical standards of Vietnam.
Ha An
