Steam Engine Design

Walt,

To convert a Diesel combustion engine to a steam engine one only requires a second diesel pump. A seperate water tank fitted with the pump and a new set of injectors.

The water injector can be timed together with the diesel injector.

The heat of diesel combustion creates flash steam which also steam cleans the cylinder walls so a a ceramic sleeve needs inplacing if wear is to minimised.

To convert the spark plug engine to a steam engine, one first needs to insert ceramic sleeves into the cylinders.

Then one trickles water through the carbuereter air intake.

Combustion shall still take place so long the water is not overdone.

The heat of combustion creates flash steam.

The heat of the steam is contolled by the amount of fuel to water mix i.e, richer fuel mix greater the heat more steam.

DaS Energy - that is using steam to boost the expansion factor of an internal combustion engine.

We started the thread talking about ways to convert an IC engine into an External Combustion engine. Think Stanley Steamer, Doble, using a boiler to make steam. It is possible to convert IC engines into not very efficient steam engines and it is usually done either with small 2 cycle engines or with deisels because the crankshaft of the diesel and the pistons move more like those of a steam engine.

Thanks TAGANAN,

To covert ic engines into external combustion one could use DaS Valve in series conected to Steam line having entry where the spark plugs go.

The Das Valve was completed as a self filling steam boiler fed by gravity.With water level no higher than the DaS valve when full. This valve contains no more than pipe and floating balls.

These first were used when converting Steam pressure to a recycling Hydro turbine in order to do away with maitenance issues occuring with Steam turbines. (Ionic liquid replacing turbine water to stop boil off)

They are now used in DaS internal combustion Hydro turbine. (see General)

Also we found using recycling active gas (hot-cold) much greater pressure than Steam is attained at a far far lower heat requirement. Example> Water 20c to 550c is 160 Bar pressure. Hydrogen 20c to 70c is 700 Bar pressure.

Cooling the gas is acheived by standard vehicle radiator.

Cheers Peter

Walt, why don't you read #80 and #83 . If you know just a little bit about force transmission , you have to agree that a piston - connecting rod- crankshaft is not the most efficient way to do it. If you just want to make something new, consider #80 and #83. If you supply the steam and cooling , the rest would not cost you anything.

Johann,

Did you not recieve my mail in your CR4 mailbox? I made mention in it of some medical problems I am currently dealing with. I'm not sure what it is and neither do the doctors but I do well to put in a couple of hours a day at anything more strenuous than typing on this keyboard. Even thinking too hard I break into a cold sweat. The symptoms are very malaria like. Consequently I have to plan ahead and make every minute count. Having started on this project and set my course I am not likely to change it unless acted upon by a fairly great outside force. I have already married the sheet metal from a 29 Chev PU to an 83 Toyota Tercel floorpan and running gear. This has taken the last two years. The steam engine idea came to me over the winter and so did the snow, which broke down my flimsy garage and other outbuildings. I am almost ready to begin again. When I do I will build as I go. If I reach a point where I can see this current steam idea will not work then I will look for another way to go.

Shadetree-I understand your situation. Instead of using steam to run your motor, how about using your motor to run a steam engine? IC motors waste an awful lot of heat. If you can capture the heat from the block for a warmup and then the heat from the exhaust, you can make enough steam to have a good hybrid. Please tell me, whatever happened to the Lear Turbine? P.S. modern steam engines derive major power from the condenser! If you can figure out how to put a condenser on a car, you may almost double the output of the steam engine.

Mike,

It's my understanding (from someone else posting somewhere on this board) that the Lear turbines were tried in busses but that it didn't work out or wasn't commercially viable. Sorry I'm too lazy to look it up but you can probably google it.

As to the steam engine; it's waiting it's turn and for the weather to clear. My work area is semi-exposed and I'm getting a little too long in the tooth to be more than a fair weather sailor.

I am, however, just about ready to roll out my previous project. I'll post pictures in a few days and see what kind of reaction I get.

This is exactly what I am working on now, see # 67. I have done the first test of the steam generator, without water jacket pre-heat, and got steam in less than one minute. As soon as my video camera gets here I'll do a timed temp measurement to determine how many BTU's are produced, and get it recorded.

CFECO - Keep going, but keep it simple. This is going to be tough enough as it is. New development takes a lot of trial and error. Be very careful with steam. Have huge relief valves and safety blowout plugs pointing to a safe place. Steam can get away from you very quickly. I wouldn't try to have the steam propel the vehicle, that takes too much energy. Just have the steam run all the support equipment ( alternator,air conditioner, power steering, etc, and a generator and batteries for hybrid drive). Finding a steam engine is going to be a good trick. Don't try to make one, they're too complicated. The closest you could get for trial purposes might be an air motor, like an impact wrench. Lube is just one of the many problems in the wonderful world of steam. Good luck, and keep us up to date.

CFECO - If you have a machine shop and are good at machining a steam engine is not all that hard to build. I have no shop and have no talent for machining, but my father was a great machinist. Look at Mike Brown's Steam Engines and they are fairly simple. The Tesla Turbine could be made from steel plates/blocks of various sizes. The Green steam Engine has plans and some parts which can be ordered. From what I have seen it is the traditional piston/cylinder that might be most difficult, mainly due to the crankshaft and valve cams.

Out of curiosity what type of boiler are you using and what is it's size and HP rating? If I had to pick one it would be a Lamont type water-tube boiler. Same power in a smaller size and water-tubes are safer.

Taganan - I have machining experience but will outsource the critical work to professionals. I am using a water-tube boiler to recover waste heat from an ICE,and so far I've tested the first prototype, and got steam in under one minute. As soon as I can record (video cam on the way) results, I am set up to measure BTU's produced from the first model. I am sure there is a lot more left, as the ICE exhaust was still very hot leaving the tailpipe, and I only had one coil of tubing in the "boiler", I am sure I will need multiple parallel runs of tubing.

Sounds similar to what BMW or Mercedes was trying to do to utilize the waste heat of the IC engine to boost the power. I am more of a purist and think IC is inherently polluting. What type of steam engine have you decided on and to what purpose will it be used, running accessories, making electricity or as a booster engine? I looked at the Cyclone, the Green Steam Engine, the Lysholm expander and the Tesla Turbine, all rotary power, but have not been able to find out which is the best design. Not enough details online.

I would be interested in your progress.

The plan is, to have the steam drive accessories at this time. I am going to start by running the steam through an air drill motor to determine how much power I can get. I know the ICE is polluting and I would like to go pure steam, but this project has a time line that is running short, so I need to use as many off the shelf components as I can. As I said previously, I should have a measurement of BTU recovery this week, which will be documented on video.

CFECO: Why use an old fashion tube boiler when you can make one far simpler and more efficient. Years ago I read how this boiler works. You would have to put dimensions to it depending how much steam you need.

Use a thin wall copper tube , 3,4, or 5 in dia. about 6 in long close both ends. Mount the water supply pipe through one end about the same length as the copper tube end is capped , drill small holes the full length at least 6 rows "60 degree ".That is mounted stationary. Outside mount the ring burner depending on the fuel liquid or gas , also stationary. Now fire up the burner experience will tell you how many seconds later to turn on the water. Some how you have to connect that copper tube to your moter via belt or gear. One lever could control heat and water input from minimum to maximum and one notch to kill the burner and few seconds later shut off the water. I think it's obvious you need a pipe connected at the other end of that copper tube to get the steam to your motor. Do I need to explain why that copper tube should spin.

Off subject a bit but here is a company that seems to have a handle on some really good ideas and it runs on steam-sort of. Take a look. It runs cleaner than IC engines and doesn't need a transmission, oil pump or catylytic converter. It can be built is all different sizes. This could really cut our dependency on big oil because almost any fuel will run it. Check it out! http://www.cyclonepower.com/video.html