[Gasification] PRECIR STIRLING ENGINES

[jim mason]

then came the hybrid ic/steam scenarios, whereby the waste heat from
the ic was used to generate steam, and the steam used to push on the
opposite side of the ic piston.  everyone was excited about the
efficiency potentials, but the mechanical coupling and steam in oil
and oil in steam problems were messy.  some marine engines ran on the
hybrid scenario successfully in the early 20th c.

i believe the savior of any of these "sensitive to power variations"
heat engines might be the hybrid mech/electric car.  whether trying to
get a stirling to actually just work, trying to mine waste waste from
an ic back to shaft power, or make traditional gasifiers work on cars,
the mech/electric hybrid allows for much closer to constant load
scenarios on the heat engine.  incremental additions from secondary or
tertiary generation are much easier to add back into the pool as
electric, than through rpm matched mechanical means.  the difficulty
of getting waste ic heat back to hte mechanical shaft is what has
killed nearly all of the many ic waste heat mining scenarios proposed
for vehicles over the last century.

personally, i think "stirling" is a synonym for "indulgent geek money
pit".  but my friends who work on stirlings also think "gasifier" is a
synonym for "indulgent geek money pit".   not surprisingly, both camps
believe they can solve the long standing problems and thereby redeem
their favorite horses in the end.

my money (and time), for better or worse, remains on the gasifier and
traditional ic.

the waste heat of an ic is much easier to use as heat input to a
coupled thermal fuel production process, than to couple it to either a
mechanical or electric secondary route as in the examples above.  much
of the attraction of the gasfiier to me is its unique fit and ability
to "solve", or at least contribute meaningfully to, the waste heat
problem of the ic.

but to be able to partake of this ready solution, you need to first
solve the gasifier problem and make them actually usable.  welding
wire continues to burn daily towards this elusive end . . .

j




On Feb 7, 2008 7:00 AM, Thomas Reed <tombreed at comcast.net> wrote:
> Dear Tom Miles and All:
>
> In the beginning was little Tommy Watt and his mother's kettle.  This
> generated the idea that steam from an externally heated boiler could
> apply pressure to a piston, and the age of steam was born and the Kelvin
> cycle is still used for boiler-steam power.
>
> Then came Mr. Stirling who wondered if yu could use gas as the pressure
> element and he invented the Stirling engine which works - sort of.
>
> Then came Dr. Otto who wondered if you couldn't actually burn a clean
> fuel INSIDE the piston/cylinder and thus was born the internal
> combustion spark ignited engine.
>
> Then came Rudolph Diesel who thought that with sufficient compression of
> air and injection of the fuel that you could burn almost anything inside
> the cylinder.  Mr. Diesel even ran on powdered coal.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> There are still people who think that the advantage of *external*
> combustion of ??? can compete with the *internal* combustion of prepared
> fuels inside the cylinder/piston.  The first thing they want to buy is a
> propane torch or woodgas generator to supply the controlled amount of
> heat.  I fear they are dilusional.
>
> TOM REED
>
> BEF/BEC
> _______________________________________________
> Gasification mailing list
> Gasification at listserv.repp.org
> http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_listserv.repp.org
> http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org
> http://info.bioenergylists.org
>



-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jim mason
website: www.whatiamupto.com
current project: mechabolic (http://www.mechabolic.org)
announce list: http://lists.spaceship.com/listinfo.cgi/icp-spaceship.com