STEAM ROTOR ENGINE and STEAM AXIAL PISTON ENGINE
A steam rotary engine (rotary-type steam engine) is a unique power machine, the development of which has not yet received proper development.
On the one hand, various designs of rotary engines existed back in the last third of the 19th century and even worked well, including for driving dynamos for the purpose of generating electrical energy and powering all kinds of objects. But the quality and precision of manufacturing such steam engines(steam engines) was very primitive, so they had low efficiency and low power. Since then, small steam engines have become a thing of the past, but along with the truly ineffective and unpromising piston steam engines, those with good prospects steam rotary engines.
The main reason is that at the level of technology of the late 19th century, it was not possible to make a truly high-quality, powerful and durable rotary engine.
Therefore, of the entire variety of steam engines and steam machines, only steam turbines of enormous power (from 20 MW and above), which today produce about 75% of electricity in our country, have survived safely and actively to this day. High-power steam turbines also provide energy from nuclear reactors in missile-carrying combat submarines and large Arctic icebreakers. But these are all huge machines. Steam turbines dramatically lose all their efficiency as their size decreases.
…. That is why there are no power steam engines and steam engines with a power below 2000 - 1500 kW (2 - 1.5 mW), which would effectively operate on steam obtained from the combustion of cheap solid fuel and various free combustible wastes, in the world.
It is in this empty field of technology today (and an absolutely bare, but commercial niche that is in great need of a product supply), in this market niche of low-power power machines, that steam rotary engines can and should take their very worthy place. And the need for them in our country alone is tens and tens of thousands... Especially small and medium-sized power machines for autonomous power generation and independent power supply are needed by small and medium-sized enterprises in areas remote from large cities and large power plants: - in small sawmills, remote mines, field camps and forest plots, etc., etc.
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Let's look at the factors that make rotary steam engines better than their closest relatives - steam engines in the form of reciprocating steam engines and steam turbines.
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— 1)
Rotary engines are positive displacement power machines - like piston engines. Those. they have low steam consumption per unit of power, because steam is supplied to their working cavities from time to time, and in strictly dosed portions, and not in a constant, abundant flow, as in steam turbines. That is why steam rotary engines are much more economical than steam turbines per unit of output power.
— 2)
Rotary steam engines have a shoulder of application of the acting gas forces (torque shoulder) significantly (several times) greater than piston steam engines. Therefore, the power they develop is much higher than that of steam piston engines.
— 3)
Rotary steam engines have a much longer stroke than piston steam engines, i.e. have the ability to convert most of the internal energy of steam into useful work.
— 4)
Steam rotary engines can operate efficiently on saturated (wet) steam, without difficulty allowing a significant part of the steam to condense into water directly in the working sections of the steam engine. rotary engine. This also increases the efficiency of a steam power plant using a steam rotary engine.
— 5
) Steam rotary engines operate at speeds of 2-3 thousand revolutions per minute, which is the optimal speed for generating electricity, as opposed to too low-speed piston engines(200-600 rpm) of traditional locomotive-type steam engines, or from too high-speed turbines (10-20 thousand rpm).
At the same time, technologically, steam rotary engines are relatively simple to manufacture, which makes their production costs relatively low. In contrast to steam turbines, which are extremely expensive to produce.
SO, A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THIS ARTICLE — a steam rotary engine is a very effective steam power machine for converting steam pressure from the heat of burning solid fuel and combustible waste into mechanical power and electrical energy.
The author of this site has already received more than 5 patents for inventions on various aspects of the design of steam rotary engines. A number of small rotary engines with power from 3 to 7 kW have also been produced. The design of steam rotary engines with power from 100 to 200 kW is currently underway.
But rotary engines have a “generic drawback” - a complex system of seals, which for small engines turn out to be too complex, miniature and expensive to manufacture.
At the same time, the author of the site is developing steam axial piston engines with opposed - counter-movement of pistons. This arrangement is the most energy-efficient variation of all possible schemes for using a piston system.
These motors in small sizes are somewhat cheaper and simpler than rotary motors and the seals they use are the most traditional and simplest.
Below is a video of using a small axial piston boxer engine with counter-movement of pistons.
Currently, such a 30 kW axial piston opposed engine is being manufactured. The engine life is expected to be several hundred thousand hours because the steam engine speed is 3-4 times lower than the engine speed internal combustion, in the friction pair “piston-cylinder” - subjected to ion-plasma nitriding in a vacuum environment and the hardness of the friction surfaces is 62-64 HRC units. For details on the process of surface hardening using the nitriding method, see.
Here is an animation of the operating principle of a similar axial piston boxer engine with counter-moving pistons
The history of the development of the steam engine is described in sufficient detail in this article. Here are the most famous solutions and inventions from 1672-1891.
First developments.
Let's start with the fact that back in the seventeenth century, steam began to be considered as a means of drive, all sorts of experiments were carried out with it, and only in 1643 Evangelista Torricelli discovered the power effect of steam pressure. Christian Huygens, 47 years later, designed the first power machine, powered by the explosion of gunpowder in a cylinder. This was the first prototype of an internal combustion engine. Abbot Hautefey's water intake machine is based on a similar principle. Soon Denis Papin decided to replace the force of the explosion with the less powerful force of steam. In 1690 he built first steam engine, also known as a steam boiler.
It consisted of a piston, which, with the help of boiling water, moved upward in the cylinder and, due to subsequent cooling, dropped again - this is how force was created. The whole process took place in this way: a furnace was placed under the cylinder, which simultaneously served as a boiler; When the piston was in the upper position, the furnace moved back to facilitate cooling.
Later, two Englishmen, Thomas Newcomen and Cowley—one a blacksmith, the other a glazier—improved the system by separating the boiler and cylinder and adding a tank of cold water. This system operated by valves or taps, one for steam and one for water, which were alternately opened and closed. Then the Englishman Beighton rebuilt the valve control into a truly clock control.
Application of steam engines in practice.
Newcomen's machine soon became known everywhere and, in particular, was improved by the double-action system developed by James Watt in 1765. Now Steam engine turned out to be complete enough for use in Vehicle ah, although due to its size it was better suited for stationary installations. Watt also proposed his inventions in industry; he also built machines for textile factories.
The first steam engine used as a means of transportation was invented by the Frenchman Nicolas Joseph Cugnot, an engineer and amateur military strategist. In 1763 or 1765, he created a car that could carry four passengers at an average speed of 3.5 and a maximum speed of 9.5 km/h. The first attempt was followed by a second - a vehicle appeared to transport guns. It was tested, naturally, by the military, but due to the impossibility of long-term operation (continuous operation cycle new car did not exceed 15 minutes) the inventor did not receive support from the authorities and financiers. Meanwhile, the steam engine was being improved in England. After several unsuccessful attempts by Moore, William Murdoch and William Symington based on Watt's car, Richard Travisick's rail vehicle, commissioned by a Welsh coal mine, appeared. An active inventor came into the world: from underground mines he rose to the ground and in 1802 introduced humanity to a powerful a car, reaching a speed of 15 km/h on flat terrain and 6 km/h on the rise.
Preview - click to enlarge.
Steam-powered vehicles were increasingly used in the United States: Nathan Reed surprised the residents of Philadelphia in 1790 with his steam car model. However, his compatriot Oliver Evans became even more famous, who fourteen years later invented the amphibious vehicle. After the Napoleonic Wars, during which “automotive experiments” were not carried out, work began again on invention and improvement steam engine . In 1821 it could be considered perfect and quite reliable. Since then, every advance in steam-powered vehicles has definitely contributed to the development of future automobiles.
In 1825, Sir Goldsworth Gurney organized the first passenger line on a 171 km section from London to Bath. At the same time, he used a carriage he patented, which had a steam engine. This marked the beginning of the era of high-speed road carriages, which, however, disappeared in England, but became widespread in Italy and France. Such vehicles reached their highest development with the appearance in 1873 of Amédée Ballet's "Reverance" weighing 4500 kg and the "Mancel" - a more compact one, weighing just over 2500 kg and reaching a speed of 35 km/h. Both were harbingers of the kind of performance technology that became characteristic of the first “real” cars. Despite the high speed steam engine efficiency was very small. Bolle was the one who patented the first well-functioning steering system, and he arranged the control and control elements so well that we can still see it on the instrument panel today.
Preview - click to enlarge.
Despite the tremendous progress in the development of the internal combustion engine, steam power still ensured a more even and smooth running of the car and, therefore, had many supporters. Like Bolle, who built other light cars, such as the Rapide in 1881 with a speed of 60 km/h, the Nouvelle in 1873, which had a front axle with independent suspension wheels, Leon Chevrolet launched several cars between 1887 and 1907 with a lightweight and compact steam generator, which he patented in 1889. De Dion-Bouton, founded in Paris in 1883, produced steam-powered cars for the first ten years of its existence and achieved significant success in doing so - its cars won the Paris-Rouen race in 1894.
Preview - click to enlarge.
The success of Panhard et Levassor in the use of gasoline led, however, to the fact that De Dion switched to internal combustion engines. When the Bolle brothers took over their father's company, they did the same. Then Chevrolet rebuilt its production. Steam-powered cars were disappearing from the horizon faster and faster, although they had been in use in the United States since before 1930. At this very moment production stopped and invention of steam engines
It began its expansion at the beginning of the 19th century. And already at that time, not only large units were built for industrial purposes, but also decorative ones. Most of their customers were rich nobles who wanted to amuse themselves and their children. After steam units became a part of society, decorative engines began to be used in universities and schools as educational models.
Steam engines of modern times
At the beginning of the 20th century, the relevance of steam engines began to decline. One of the few companies that continued to produce decorative mini-engines was the British company Mamod, which allows you to purchase a sample of such equipment even today. But the cost of such steam engines easily exceeds two hundred pounds sterling, which is not so little for a trinket for a couple of evenings. Moreover, for those who like to assemble all sorts of mechanisms on their own, it is much more interesting to create a simple steam engine with their own hands.
Very simple. The fire heats a pot of water. Under the influence of temperature, water turns into steam, which pushes the piston. As long as there is water in the container, the flywheel connected to the piston will rotate. This is a standard diagram of the structure of a steam engine. But you can assemble a model with a completely different configuration.
Well, let's move on from the theoretical part to more exciting things. If you are interested in doing something with your own hands, and you are surprised by such exotic machines, then this article is just for you, in which we will be happy to talk about various ways of how to assemble a steam engine with your own hands. At the same time, the process of creating a mechanism itself gives joy no less than its launch.
Method 1: DIY Mini Steam Engine
So, let's begin. Let's assemble the simplest steam engine with our own hands. Drawings, complex tools and special knowledge are not needed.
To begin with, we take from any drink. Cut off the lower third from it. Since the result will be sharp edges, they must be bent inward with pliers. We do this carefully so as not to cut ourselves. Since most aluminum cans have a concave bottom, it is necessary to level it. It is enough to press it tightly with your finger to some hard surface.
At a distance of 1.5 cm from the top edge of the resulting “glass”, you need to make two holes opposite each other. It is advisable to use a hole punch for this, since it is necessary for them to be at least 3 mm in diameter. Place a decorative candle at the bottom of the jar. Now we take regular table foil, crumple it, and then wrap our mini-burner on all sides.
Mini nozzles
Next, you need to take a piece of copper tube 15-20 cm long. It is important that it is hollow inside, since this will be our main mechanism for setting the structure in motion. The central part of the tube is wrapped around the pencil 2 or 3 times to form a small spiral.
Now you need to place this element so that the curved place is placed directly above the candle wick. To do this, we give the tube the shape of the letter “M”. At the same time, we bring out the areas that go down through the holes made in the jar. Thus, the copper tube is rigidly fixed above the wick, and its edges act as a kind of nozzle. In order for the structure to rotate, it is necessary to bend the opposite ends of the “M-element” 90 degrees in different directions. The design of the steam engine is ready.
Engine starting
The jar is placed in a container with water. In this case, it is necessary that the edges of the tube are under its surface. If the nozzles are not long enough, you can add a small weight to the bottom of the jar. But be careful not to drown the entire engine.
Now you need to fill the tube with water. To do this, you can lower one end into the water, and draw in air with the other as if through a straw. We lower the jar into the water. Light the candle wick. After some time, the water in the spiral will turn into steam, which, under pressure, will fly out of the opposite ends of the nozzles. The jar will begin to rotate in the container quite quickly. This is how we made our own steam engine. As you can see, everything is simple.
Steam engine model for adults
Now let's complicate the task. Let's assemble a more serious steam engine with our own hands. First you need to take a paint can. You should make sure that it is absolutely clean. On the wall, 2-3 cm from the bottom, cut out a rectangle with dimensions of 15 x 5 cm. The long side is placed parallel to the bottom of the jar. We cut out a piece of metal mesh with an area of 12 x 24 cm. We measure 6 cm from both ends of the long side. We bend these sections at an angle of 90 degrees. We get a small “platform table” with an area of 12 x 12 cm with 6 cm legs. We install the resulting structure on the bottom of the jar.
It is necessary to make several holes around the perimeter of the lid and place them in the shape of a semicircle along one half of the lid. It is advisable that the holes have a diameter of about 1 cm. This is necessary in order to ensure proper ventilation internal space. A steam engine cannot operate well unless sufficient air is supplied to the fire source.
Main element
We make a spiral from a copper tube. You need to take about 6 meters of soft copper tubing with a diameter of 1/4-inch (0.64 cm). We measure 30 cm from one end. Starting from this point, it is necessary to make five turns of the spiral with a diameter of 12 cm each. The rest of the pipe is bent into 15 rings with a diameter of 8 cm. Thus, at the other end there should be 20 cm of free tube.
Both leads pass through vent holes in the lid of the jar. If it turns out that the length of the straight section is not enough for this, then you can unbend one turn of the spiral. Coal is placed on a pre-installed platform. In this case, the spiral should be placed just above this platform. The coal is carefully laid out between its turns. Now the jar can be closed. As a result, we got a firebox that will power the engine. The steam engine is almost made with your own hands. Left a little.
Water container
Now you need to take another paint can, but of a smaller size. A hole with a diameter of 1 cm is drilled in the center of its lid. Two more holes are made on the side of the jar - one almost at the bottom, the second above, near the lid itself.
Take two crusts, in the center of which a hole is made with the diameter of a copper tube. 25 cm of plastic pipe is inserted into one cork, 10 cm into the other, so that their edge barely peeks out from the plugs. A korok with a long tube is inserted into the lower hole of a small jar, and a shorter tube into the upper hole. We place the smaller can on the larger can of paint so that the hole in the bottom is on the opposite side from the ventilation passages of the large can.
Result
In the end it should be next construction. Water is poured into a small jar, which flows through a hole in the bottom into a copper tube. A fire is lit under the spiral, which heats the copper container. Hot steam rises up the tube.
In order for the mechanism to be completed, it is necessary to attach a piston and flywheel to the upper end of the copper tube. As a result, the thermal energy of combustion will be converted into mechanical forces of rotation of the wheel. There is a huge amount various schemes to create such an external combustion engine, but in all of them two elements are always involved - fire and water.
In addition to this design, you can assemble a steam one, but this is material for a completely separate article.
Throughout its history, the steam engine has had many variations of embodiment in metal. One of these incarnations was the steam rotary engine of mechanical engineer N.N. Tverskoy. This steam rotary engine (steam engine) was actively used in various fields of technology and transport. In the Russian technical tradition of the 19th century, such a rotary engine was called a rotary machine. The engine was characterized by durability, efficiency and high torque. But with the advent of steam turbines it was forgotten. Below are archival materials raised by the author of this site. The materials are very extensive, so only a part of them is presented here so far.
Test scroll compressed air(3.5 atm) steam rotary engine.
The model is designed for 10 kW of power at 1500 rpm at a steam pressure of 28-30 atm.
At the end of the 19th century, steam engines - “N. Tverskoy’s rotary engines” were forgotten because piston steam engines turned out to be simpler and more technologically advanced to manufacture (for the industries of that time), and steam turbines provided more power.
But the remark regarding steam turbines is true only in their large weight and overall dimensions. Indeed, with a power of more than 1.5-2 thousand kW, multi-cylinder steam turbines outperform steam rotary engines in all respects, even with the high cost of turbines. And at the beginning of the 20th century, when ships power plants And power units power plants began to have a capacity of many tens of thousands of kilowatts, then only turbines could provide such capabilities.
BUT - steam turbines have another drawback. When scaling their mass-dimensional parameters downward, the performance characteristics of steam turbines sharply deteriorate. The specific power is significantly reduced, the efficiency drops, despite the fact that the high cost of manufacturing and high revs main shaft (need for a gearbox) - remain. That is why - in the area of power less than 1.5 thousand kW (1.5 MW), it is almost impossible to find a steam turbine that is efficient in all respects, even for a lot of money...
That is why a whole “bouquet” of exotic and little-known designs appeared in this power range. But most often, they are also expensive and ineffective... Screw turbines, Tesla turbines, axial turbines, etc.
But for some reason everyone forgot about steam “rotary machines” - rotary steam engines. Meanwhile, these steam engines are many times cheaper than any blade and screw mechanisms (I say this with knowledge of the matter, as a person who has already made more than a dozen such machines with his own money). At the same time, N. Tverskoy’s steam “rotary rotary machines” have powerful torque from very low speeds, and have an average speed of rotation of the main shaft at full speed from 1000 to 3000 rpm. Those. such machines are suitable for either an electric generator or a steam car ( car-truck, tractor, tractor) - will not require a gearbox, clutch, etc., but will be directly connected with their shaft to a dynamo, wheels of a steam car, etc.
So, in the form of a steam rotary engine - the “N. Tverskoy rotary machine” system, we have a universal steam engine that will perfectly generate electricity powered by a solid fuel boiler in a remote forestry or taiga village, at a field camp, or generate electricity in a boiler room in a rural settlement or “spinning” on process heat waste (hot air) in a brick or cement factory, in a foundry, etc.
All such heat sources have a power of less than 1 mW, which is why conventional turbines are of little use here. But general technical practice does not yet know of other machines for recycling heat by converting the pressure of the resulting steam into work. So this heat is not utilized in any way - it is simply lost stupidly and irretrievably.
I have already created a “steam rotary machine” to drive an electric generator of 3.5 - 5 kW (depending on the steam pressure), if everything goes as planned, soon there will be a machine of both 25 and 40 kW. Just what is needed to provide cheap electricity from a solid fuel boiler or process heat waste to a rural estate, small farm, field camp, etc., etc.
In principle, rotary engines scale well upward, therefore, by placing many rotor sections on one shaft, it is easy to repeatedly increase the power of such machines by simply increasing the number of standard rotor modules. That is, it is quite possible to create steam rotary machines with a power of 80-160-240-320 kW or more...
But, in addition to medium and relatively large steam power plants, steam power circuits with small steam rotary engines will also be in demand in small power plants.
For example, one of my inventions is “Camping and tourist electric generator using local solid fuel.”
Below is a video where a simplified prototype of such a device is tested.
But the small steam engine is already cheerfully and energetically spinning its electric generator and producing electricity using wood and other pasture fuel.
The main direction of commercial and technical application steam rotary engines (rotary steam engines) are the generation of cheap electricity using cheap solid fuel and combustible waste. Those. small-scale energy - distributed power generation using steam rotary engines. Imagine how a rotary steam engine would fit perfectly into the operation of a sawmill, somewhere in the Russian North or Siberia ( Far East) where there is no central power supply, electricity is provided at an expensive price by a diesel generator powered by diesel fuel imported from afar. But the sawmill itself produces at least half a ton of sawdust chips per day - a slab that has nowhere to put...
Such wood waste has a direct path to the boiler furnace, the boiler produces steam high pressure, the steam powers a rotary steam engine, which turns an electric generator.
In the same way, it is possible to burn unlimited millions of tons of agricultural crop waste, etc. And there is also cheap peat, cheap thermal coal, and so on. The author of the site calculated that fuel costs when generating electricity through a small steam power plant (steam engine) with a steam rotary engine with a power of 500 kW will be from 0.8 to 1.
2 rubles per kilowatt.
Another interesting option for using a steam rotary engine is to install such a steam engine on a steam car. The truck is a tractor-steam vehicle, with powerful torque and using cheap solid fuel - a very necessary steam engine in agriculture and the forestry industry. When using modern technologies and materials, as well as the use of the “Organic Rankine cycle” in the thermodynamic cycle will make it possible to increase the effective efficiency to 26-28% using cheap solid fuel (or inexpensive liquid fuel, such as “furnace fuel” or used engine oil). Those. truck - tractor with a steam engine
and a rotary steam engine with a power of about 100 kW, will consume about 25-28 kg of thermal coal per 100 km (cost 5-6 rubles per kg) or about 40-45 kg of sawdust chips (the price of which in the North is free)...
There are many more interesting and promising areas of application of the rotary steam engine, but the size of this page does not allow us to consider them all in detail. As a result, the steam engine can still occupy a very prominent place in many areas of modern technology and in many sectors of the national economy.
LAUNCHES OF AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF STEAM POWER ELECTRIC GENERATOR WITH STEAM ENGINE
May -2018 After lengthy experiments and prototypes, a small high-pressure boiler was made. The boiler is pressurized to 80 atm pressure, so it will maintain a working pressure of 40-60 atm without difficulty. Put into operation with a prototype model of a steam axial piston engine of my design. Works great - watch the video. In 12-14 minutes from ignition on wood it is ready to produce high pressure steam.
Now I am starting to prepare for the piece production of such units - a high-pressure boiler, a steam engine (rotary or axial piston), and a condenser. The installations will operate in a closed circuit with water-steam-condensate circulation.
The demand for such generators is very high, because 60% of the Russian territory does not have a central power supply and relies on diesel generation. And the price of diesel fuel is growing all the time and has already reached 41-42 rubles per liter. And even where there is electricity, energy companies keep raising tariffs, and they demand a lot of money to connect new capacities.
I live on coal and water alone and still have enough energy to go 100 mph! This is exactly what a steam locomotive can do. Although these giant mechanical dinosaurs are now extinct across much of the world railways, steam technology lives on in people's hearts, and locomotives like this one still serve as tourist attractions on many historic railroads.
The first modern steam engines were invented in England in the early 18th century and marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Today we return again to steam energy. Due to its design, the combustion process of a steam engine produces less pollution than an internal combustion engine. In this video, watch how it works.
What powered the ancient steam engine?
It takes energy to do absolutely everything you can think of: ride a skateboard, fly a plane, go shopping, or drive a car on the street. Most of the energy we use for transportation today comes from oil, but this was not always the case. Until the early 20th century, coal was the world's fuel of choice, powering everything from trains and ships to the ill-fated steam airplanes invented by American scientist Samuel P. Langley, an early competitor of the Wright brothers. What's so special about coal? There is plenty of it inside the Earth, so it was relatively inexpensive and widely available.
Coal is organic chemical, which means it is based on the element carbon. Coal is formed over millions of years when the remains of dead plants are buried under rocks, compressed under pressure and cooked by the Earth's internal heat. That's why it's called fossil fuel. Lumps of coal are truly lumps of energy. The carbon inside them is bonded to hydrogen and oxygen atoms by bonds called chemical bonds. When we burn coal in a fire, the bonds break and energy is released in the form of heat.
Coal contains about half as much energy per kilogram as cleaner fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene—which is one reason why steam engines must burn so much.
Are steam engines ready for an epic comeback?
Once upon a time, the steam engine reigned supreme - first in trains and heavy tractors, as you know, but eventually in cars. It's hard to understand today, but at the turn of the 20th century, more than half of the cars in the United States ran on steam. The steam engine was so advanced that in 1906, a steam engine called the Stanley Rocket even held the land speed record - a heady speed of 127 miles per hour!
Now you might think that the steam engine was a success only because internal combustion engines (ICEs) did not yet exist, but in fact steam engines and ICE cars were developed simultaneously. Since the engineers already had 100 years of experience working with steam engines, the steam engine had quite a head start. While manual crank engines broke the hands of hapless operators, by 1900 steam engines were fully automated - and without a clutch or gearbox (steam provides constant pressure, unlike the piston stroke of an internal combustion engine), very easy to operate. The only caveat is that you had to wait a few minutes for the boiler to heat up.
However, in a few short years, Henry Ford would come along and change everything. Although the steam engine was technically superior to the internal combustion engine, it could not match the price of production Fords. Manufacturers steam cars tried to change gears and market their cars as premium, luxury products, but by 1918 the Ford Model T was six times cheaper than the Steinley Steamer (the most popular steam engine at the time). With the advent of the electric starter motor in 1912 and the constant improvement in the efficiency of internal combustion engines, it was not long before the steam engine disappeared from our roads.
Under pressure
For the past 90 years, steam engines have remained on the verge of extinction, while giant beasts have been rolled out for display. vintage cars, but not by much. Quietly, however, in the background, research has been quietly moving forward - partly because of our dependence on steam turbines for electricity production, but also because some people believe that steam engines may actually be superior to internal combustion engines.
ICEs have inherent disadvantages: they require fossil fuels, they produce a lot of pollution, and they are noisy. Steam engines, on the other hand, are very quiet, very clean, and can use almost any fuel. Steam engines, thanks to their constant pressure, require no gearing - you get maximum torque and acceleration instantly, at rest. For city driving, where stopping and starting consumes huge amounts of fossil fuel, the continuous power of steam engines can be very interesting.
Technology has come a long way since the 1920s - first of all, we now masters of materials. The original steam engines required huge, heavy boilers to withstand the heat and pressure, and as a result, even small steam engines weighed a couple of tons. With modern materials, steam engines can be as lightweight as their cousins. Add a modern condenser and some kind of boiler-evaporator, and you can build a steam engine with decent efficiency and warm-up times that are measured in seconds rather than minutes.
IN last years these achievements have combined to create some exciting developments. In 2009, a British team set a new steam-powered wind speed record of 148 mph, finally breaking the Stanley rocket's record that had stood for more than 100 years. In the 1990s, Volkswagen's R&D division called Enginion said it had built a steam engine that was comparable in efficiency to an internal combustion engine but with lower emissions. In recent years, Cyclone Technologies claims to have developed a steam engine that is twice as efficient as an internal combustion engine. To date, however, no engine has found its way into a commercial vehicle.
Moving forward, it is unlikely that steam engines will ever move away from the internal combustion engine, if only because of Big Oil's enormous momentum. However, one day when we finally decide to take a serious look at the future personal transport, perhaps the quiet, green, gliding grace of energy of the couple will get a second chance.
Steam engines of our time
Technology.
Innovative energy. Currently, nanoFlowcell® is the most innovative and most powerful energy storage system for mobile and stationary applications. Unlike regular batteries, nanoFlowcell® is supplied with energy in the form of liquid electrolytes (bi-ION), which can be stored away from the cell itself. The exhaust of a car with this technology is water vapor.
Like a conventional flow cell, the positively and negatively charged electrolytic fluids are stored separately in two reservoirs and, like a conventional flow cell or fuel cell, are pumped through a converter (the actual element of the nanoFlowcell system) in separate circuits.
Here the two electrolyte chains are separated only by a permeable membrane. Ion exchange occurs as soon as the positive and negative electrolyte solutions pass each other on either side of the converter membrane. This converts the chemical energy bound into the bi-ion into electricity, which is then directly available to electricity consumers.
Like hydrogen vehicles, the "exhaust" produced by nanoFlowcell electric vehicles is water vapor. But are the water vapor emissions from future electric vehicles environmentally friendly?
Critics of electric mobility are increasingly questioning the environmental compatibility and sustainability of alternative energy sources. For many, electric vehicle drives are a mediocre compromise between zero-emission driving and environmentally harmful technologies. Conventional lithium-ion or metal hydride batteries are neither sustainable nor environmentally compatible - neither to manufacture, nor to use, nor to recycle, even if the advertising suggests pure "e-mobility".
nanoFlowcell Holdings is also often asked about the sustainability and environmental compatibility of nanoFlowcell technology and bi-ionic electrolytes. Both the nanoFlowcell itself and the bi-ION electrolyte solutions needed to power it are produced in an environmentally friendly manner from environmentally friendly raw materials. During operation, nanoFlowcell technology is completely non-toxic and does not harm health in any way. Bi-ION, which consists of a low-salt aqueous solution (organic and mineral salts dissolved in water) and actual energy carriers (electrolytes), is also environmentally friendly when used and processed.
How does a nanoFlowcell drive work in an electric vehicle? Like gasoline car, the electrolyte solution is consumed in the electric vehicle with nanoflowcell. Inside the nanobranch (the actual flow cell), one positively and one negatively charged electrolyte solution is pumped across the cell membrane. The reaction - ion exchange - takes place between positively and negatively charged electrolyte solutions. Thus, the chemical energy contained in the bi-ions is released in the form of electricity, which is then used to drive electric motors. This occurs as long as electrolytes are pumped through the membrane and react. In the case of the QUANTiNO drive with nanoflowcell, one reservoir of electrolyte liquid is enough for more than 1000 kilometers. Once empty, the tank must be replenished.
What kind of “waste” is generated by an electric vehicle with nanoflowcell? In a conventional vehicle with an internal combustion engine, when burning fossil fuels (gasoline or diesel fuel) produces hazardous exhaust gases - mainly carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide - the accumulation of which has been identified by many researchers as a cause of climate change. change. However, the only emissions emitted by a nanoFlowcell vehicle while driving are - much like a hydrogen-powered vehicle - almost entirely water.
After the ion exchange has occurred in the nanocell, chemical composition bi-ION electrolyte solution remained virtually unchanged. It is no longer reactive and is thus considered "spent" as it cannot be recharged. Therefore, for mobile applications of nanoFlowcell technology, such as electric vehicles, it was decided to microscopically evaporate and release the dissolved electrolyte while the vehicle is moving. At speeds above 80 km/h, the waste electrolytic fluid reservoir is emptied through extremely fine spray nozzles using a generator driven by drive energy. Electrolytes and salts are pre-filtered mechanically. Release of currently purified water as vapor cold water(microfine mist) is completely compatible with the environment. The filter is changed approximately every 10 g.
The advantage of this technical solution is that the vehicle's tank empties when driving normally and can be easily and quickly refilled without the need for pumping.
An alternative solution, which is slightly more complex, is to collect the spent electrolyte solution in a separate tank and send it for recycling. This solution is designed for similar nanoFlowcell stationary applications.
However, many critics now suggest that this type of water vapor, which is released during the conversion of hydrogen in fuel cells or from the evaporation of electrolytic fluid in the case of nanodiversion, is theoretically a greenhouse gas that could have an impact on climate change. How do such rumors arise?
We consider water vapor emissions from the perspective of their environmental significance and ask the question of how much more water vapor can be expected as a result of the widespread use of nanoflowcell vehicles compared to traditional drive technologies and whether these H2O emissions could have a negative impact on environment.
The most important natural greenhouse gases - along with CH 4, O 3 and N 2 O - are water vapor and CO 2. Carbon dioxide and water vapor are incredibly important in maintaining the global climate. Solar radiation that reaches the earth is absorbed and heats the earth, which in turn radiates heat into the atmosphere. However most of This radiated heat escapes back into space from the earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and water vapor have the properties of greenhouse gases, forming a "protective layer" that prevents all radiated heat from escaping back into space. In a natural context, this greenhouse effect is critical to our survival on Earth—without carbon dioxide and water vapor, Earth's atmosphere would be hostile to life.
The greenhouse effect only becomes problematic when unpredictable human intervention disrupts the natural cycle. When humans cause higher concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, in addition to naturally occurring greenhouse gases, it increases the heating of the earth's atmosphere.
Being part of the biosphere, people inevitably influence the environment and, consequently, the climate system, by their very existence. The constant increase in the Earth's population since the Stone Age and the creation of settlements several thousand years ago, associated with the transition from nomadic life to agriculture and animal husbandry, has already influenced the climate. Nearly half of the world's original forests and forests have been cleared for agricultural purposes. Forests, along with the oceans, are the main producers of water vapor.
Water vapor is the main absorber of thermal radiation in the atmosphere. Water vapor makes up on average 0.3% by mass of the atmosphere, carbon dioxide only 0.038%, which means that water vapor makes up 80% of the mass of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (about 90% by volume) and, accounting for 36 to 66% - the most important greenhouse gas that ensures our existence on earth.
Table 3: Atmospheric contribution of the most important greenhouse gases and absolute and relative contribution of temperature rise (Zittel)
