Latest Green Tech Drive eco: with steam power?
| 25 July 2009
The phrase 'steam powered' doesn't necessarily conjure thoughts of green tech. Thats all about to change. Although officially known as a Rankine Cycle heat regenerative external combustion engine, The Cyclone Engine - when 'boiled' down to its core function - is a steam engine, albeit a new age, high efficiency, compact and powerful steam engine.
There's no need to shovel coal into the fire-tube boiler, or even stock up on gallons water. The Cyclone Engine is capable of running on virtually any fuel (or combination of fuels) including bio fuels, while emitting far fewer pollutants than traditional gas or diesel powered internal combustion engines.
The [CE] is actually an external combustion engine, so the fuel heats water - in a closed loop system - which is turned into steam by the heat from the combustion, which in turn drives the pistons in the engine.
And because the combustion is external, there are many more choices of fuel type, such as; bio diesel, palm oil, cottonseed oil, algae, used motor oil and fryer grease to name a few. Not only are these bio fuels, but they're able to be produced locally, reducing environmental impact further; doing without the need for transportation.
The [CE] further reduces its carbon footprint by its simplicity; it's a one-piece unit that does without the plethora of complicated components like your standrd car engine, therefore eliminating many subsystems, reducing cost, size and weight, while increasing the efficiency and reliability of the engine. Controversially, the Cyclone Engine doesn't require:
- A catalytic converter or exhaust muffler/baffler
- An oil pump or motor oil
- A transmission/gearbox or transmission fluid
That's right folks... no gearbox!.
Because the [CE] produces such enormous amounts of torque - over 850ft/lbs (1152Nm) of starting torque - the gearbox can be completely removed. As you can imagine, such huge amounts of torque would be perfectly suited to the heavy transport industry; not only would this greatly reduce environmental impact, but have a knock-on effect on the price of transporting goods up and down the country.
The starting torque of the Cyclone Engine is even higher than that of an electric motor of comparable size, but the real advantage comes from the energy storage.
An electric car currently requires large amounts of expensive batteries, and that would mean a costly refit too, assuming were to be retro-fitted.
However, our cars are already equipped to power such an engine as the [CE] - we just need to change the petrol for biodiesel.
How it works...
(courtesy cyclonepower.com)
HEAT PROCESS
1. Fuel is atomized and injected into the patented centrifugal combustion chamber (shown as lifted off the engine block for better viewing), where a spark ignites the fuel-air mixture into a flame that spins around the heat coils. Thermocouples (not pictured) control the duration of combustion to keep the heat in the combustion chamber at a constant temperature.
2. Water contained in the coils becomes super-heated steam (up to 1200°F) in as little as 5 seconds from start up which is (a) piped to the cylinders, (b) where it enters through a patent-pending valve system (not pictured). Note, valve timing mechanisms regulate how much steam enters the cylinders – the longer the cut-off the greater the torque and acceleration.
MECHANICAL PROCESS
3. Steam enters the six radial-configured cylinders under pressures up to 3200 psi to push the pistons down in sequence. Note, no motor oil is used – water is both the working fluid and engine lubricant. Also, because of the valve design, the engine starts without the need of a starter motor.
4. The rotating action of the pistons connected through a patent-pending spider bearing (not pictured) turns the crank shaft. Note, because the greatest amount of torque occurs at the first rotation, the shaft can be directly connected to a drive train without a transmission.
COOLING PROCESS
5. Steam escapes the cylinders through exhaust ports and (a) enters the patent-pending condensing unit where it turns back into water, and (b) collects in a sealed pan at the bottom of the condenser. Note, this is a closed-loop system – the water does not need to be replaced or topped-off.
6. Blowers spin fresh air around the condenser to speed the cooling process.
REGENERATIVE PROCESS
7. (a) Air which has been pre-heated from the condensing unit, (b) continues up to a second heat exchanger located in the exhaust port of the combustion chamber, further pre-heating the air used for combustion while also cooling the exhaust fumes (to about 320°F).
8. A high pressure pump (not pictured) pipes water from the collecting pan to the heat coils (a) via heat exchangers surrounding each of the cylinders (only one pictured), and then (b) to the center of the coils to start the heat cycle again.