Steam Power

[kcarring]

note: I did a search and couldn't find a thread - if there is one - please delete and ignore this thread/message

I was really impressed today, I got to check out my friends steam genny. It is 1.5 hp, and runs beautiful, it is modelled after a 5 cylinder aircraft motor with each cylinder firing once per revolution. It sounds like a minature Harley and idles down so nicely. A true work of art, wow.

Steam. Gotta love it. Been around forever, yet so few are interested in it these days, odd huh? For rural areas at least, it certainly is amazing.

Some interesting tid bits i picked up from Mike Brown Solutions

In the U.S., more than 86% of electricity is generated using steam as the working fluid, nearly all by steam turbines. Fuel source can be either liquid or solid, such as used crankcase oil (liquid) or ground-up corncobs (solid). Natural gas can also be used. Media hype about the "non-polluting electric car." - what about the coal-fired power plant belching dust into the air to create that electricity? And peak demand when people plug in there cars after work. You may never have to replace the steam engine itself. One steam engine in England ran 24 hours a day from 1800 to 1950. The exhaust from steam still contains some usuable heat. The steam engine is most practicle for all applications under 250 hp - that is where steam turbines come in at. The other item that is frequently overlooked is that, while an internal combustion engine may be 28% efficient, the energy required to produce the fuel renders the gasoline engine less efficient than the steam engine. A 1hp steam engine may be purchased for $1200, and makes a great energy supplying solution for off grid applications.

[FRC]

Steam Car

I had an old Popular Mechanics, or Mechanics Illustrated, or one of those and
it had a story about a steam car using a converted marine engine. My concept,
after seeing that was for a hybrid version. The steam would power a generator
for electricity, a microvave oven would heat water to generate the steam. The
vehicle could be either electric or steam driven, and there might be less input
of fuel needed. You would have to experiment with different combinations to see what would have the best efficiencies.

FRC

[Bhargav]

Research Direction

I think it will great to research a Huge solar fresnel lens creating steam and a steam engine with regenrator attached to it ...

I had an old Popular Mechanics, or Mechanics Illustrated, or one of those and
it had a story about a steam car using a converted marine engine. My concept,
after seeing that was for a hybrid version. The steam would power a generator
for electricity, a microvave oven would heat water to generate the steam. The
vehicle could be either electric or steam driven, and there might be less input
of fuel needed. You would have to experiment with different combinations to see what would have the best efficiencies.

FRC

[rickoff]

note: I did a search and couldn't find a thread - Steam. Gotta love it. Been around forever, yet so few are interested in it these days, odd huh?

I suspect that you would find the Friction Steam Boiler thread here quite interesting. While it centers around a method developed by Lloyd Tanner of generating super-heated steam with heat derived from friction rather than burned fuel, steam systems, engines, and turbines are extensively discussed. It is a fairly large thread, currently having 16 pages and 459 posts, but you can use the forum advanced search feature to look for posts that specifically use any of the words "steam, engine, or turbine." If you combine the search words with a search under my user name, and under Renewable Energy, you would find all relevant posts that I wrote regarding these subjects. Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Rick

[Jbignes5]

Great information Rickoff...

Yeah Rickoff is right. That friction steam heater is probably your best bet. Although the microwave heating system sounds very interesting as well.... But then you have to maintain the magnetic shielding well in that kind of system. If it develops leaks you could fry people. For safety sake I would go with the friction heater.

[Cherryman]

Yeah Rickoff is right. That friction steam heater is probably your best bet. Although the microwave heating system sounds very interesting as well.... But then you have to maintain the magnetic shielding well in that kind of system. If it develops leaks you could fry people. For safety sake I would go with the friction heater.

How about induction heating?

[kcarring]

I suspect that you would find the Friction Steam Boiler thread here quite interesting. While it centers around a method developed by Lloyd Tanner of generating super-heated steam with heat derived from friction rather than burned fuel, steam systems, engines, and turbines are extensively discussed. It is a fairly large thread, currently having 16 pages and 459 posts, but you can use the forum advanced search feature to look for posts that specifically use any of the words "steam, engine, or turbine." If you combine the search words with a search under my user name, and under Renewable Energy, you would find all relevant posts that I wrote regarding these subjects. Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Rick

That is cool !!! Wow, thanks for that. I'll have to look into this some more. Wondering how many amps of juice he consumes to produce the friction steam versus what he'd get out of it... steam engines do actually require quite the volume of steam...

MY buddy's setup involves a neat concept in that he dug a "bunker" in the Earth, lined it with a special mix of concrete and rebar, and then it connected it to air inlet pipes. on top is a steel housing. In this way he starts a fire that is very large, and deep in the ground thus quite insulated. He has not had to restart the fire in over 3 months, and he only does that to clean it out. He can literally throw shovelfuls of wet grass and leaves on it. He's even figuring out a gasification system for methane (bottom) and also a gas scrubber for emissions (very top). Pretty cool.

[kcarring]

I think it will great to research a Huge solar fresnel lens creating steam and a steam engine with generator attached to it ...

That is how it is essentially how it is already done, either parabolic or fresnel. Just not directly, as eclectic salts are first molten, stored at high temperatures underground, then used to boil water for turbines. Most power plants do use steam turbines outside of the combustion process.

Solar thermal energy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now they are considering the Stirling as well, here:

EERE News:

Steam turbines are not entirely scalable. I tried to build one 6 years ago from a set of plans in Mother Earth news and I nearly killed myself. Turbines must have DRY steam. Steam engines are more applicable in under 2-300 hp systems.

[kcarring]

Albany Fire Department Steam Heater?

A while back I saw a video of a Fire Department (Albany?) that had a steam system wherein the water entered a rotary turbine of a strange sort, it had inlets and outlets, and through friction alone, (no added heat) it made enormous heat by compressing the water somehow. To heat the building. Now that I think back, and have read about Tesla's style turbine, and of George Wiseman's similar take on the concept, I would like to revisit that video, or see any other info, if anyone knows what I am talking about. Thanks

[Jbignes5]

Yup Albany is right near me.

Since Tesla was based out of NY city he routinely visited the whole of NY state. Albany is sorta close to NY city. Well just north of it I think. It wouldn't surprise me that people in NY are familiar with Tesla's work. I first heard about Tesla in high school and started my research way back then. Of course it was hard to follow at that time because it conflicted with what they were teaching in school at that time.

The friction heater looks very interesting indeed. But your suggestion of induction heating is also a very clever idea. How about the heating circuit of Mary Ainsley? It would be very interesting to incorporate many of the ideas being explored on this forum as well. It is reported that the circuit is way over unity but I'll let that be your call. I make no such assertions but it does seem to be a very smart way to get heat production as well. The circuit is sorta like induction heating but with a twist. Check it out....

Also if you get any more information about the Albany firehouse I might be able to drop by and ask about it. Maybe even make a video of the tour.. Lol.. Like I said I am about 150 miles from there and it would be only a short drive to get there.

[kcarring]

Albany Fire Department Steam Heater

Also if you get any more information about the Albany firehouse I might be able to drop by and ask about it. Maybe even make a video of the tour.. Lol.. Like I said I am about 150 miles from there and it would be only a short drive to get there.

I see that Ash's site has some good information on it here.

Cavitation Heaters

[Cherryman]

That is how it is essentially how it is already done, either parabolic or fresnel. Just not directly, as eclectic salts are first molten, stored at high temperatures underground, then used to boil water for turbines. Most power plants do use steam turbines outside of the combustion process.

Solar thermal energy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now they are considering the Stirling as well, here:

EERE News:

Steam turbines are not entirely scalable. I tried to build one 6 years ago from a set of plans in Mother Earth news and I nearly killed myself. Turbines must have DRY steam. Steam engines are more applicable in under 2-300 hp systems.

Here it is being used:

A proffessional solar dish powering a Stirling generator (Filled with hydrogen)

Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. (SES) :: A Global Leader in the Utility Scale Solar Electric Market

And here is some DIY with a fresnel :

Solar Power Steam Engine 3 Fresnel Lens Greenpowerscience - Video