Sometime back I read about the efficiency of Diesel-electric railroad locomotives vs. Diesel locomotives with gearboxes and hydraulic couplings. The conclusion was that the geared transmissions were usually more efficient, but the electric transmissions had a place on the largest freight...
In the recent discussion on the StarRotor engine, I suggested that Claw Pumps could have advantages over gerotors in engines. I've expanded on it slightly here:
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Claw_20Pump_20As_20Rotary_20Engine#1079494717
And here's a diagram of a Claw Pump...
patprimmer said
While the power consumed to drive a turbocharger is not as obvious, it is NOT free as many imply. It does increase back pressure which works against the piston on the exhaust stroke.
Has anyone attempted to send the high-pressure exhaust through the turbine, and release the...
I agree that the Star Rotor has obvious advantages over scroll compressors including the placement of ports. Which got me to wondering: why are scrolls preferred to gerotors for gas compression? They're mechanically and conceptually simpler.
The best I could figure is that there is more gas...
StarRotorMan,
It is possible to construct a scroll compressor without an orbiting motion as shown in the second animation on this page: http://user.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~tmorisi/morisita.html
This isn't saying that one geometry is necessarily better than the other, but I suspect the same could...
I have some questions about StarRotor too.
Why doesn't http://www.starrotor.com work? I have to go to http://www.starrotor.com/indexflash.htm
Why do you need seperate rotors for compression and expansion? Couldn't you use one side of a gerotor for compression, and the other for expansion...
D'oh! An automatic transmission. That's accurate. Something along the lines of a diesel-electric locomotive's transmission. But I don't think diesel-electrics have been optimized the way I've been thinking. Many people are upset by the amount of noise and exhaust they produce when they're...
"Braked speed" is not an accurate description. The idea is to produce exactly the amount of power you use. If you need 10 full-compression power strokes per second, that's the goal. Ditto if you need 50 full-compression power strokes per second.
I appreaciate the dialogue, by the...
Where would the horrific fuel wastage come from? The power generated from slowing the engine to the required speed seems rather small. You could store it in a capacitor, but I doubt it would be worth the effort.
It seems an obvious idea to me. The next logical step after the current crop of...
This question was inspired by a display of antique "hit and miss" engines. In these engines, every power stroke gets the maximum fuel/air charge, but they don't fire on every cycle. Throttled engines, of course, fire on every cycle, but they seldom use the optimum fuel/air charge...
The more I read about Beare's engine, the better it looks. I had a look at its US patent ( 5,713,314 ). I then looked at the oldest "prior art" patent it referenced (1,237,696 ) from the year 1917. Funny thing is, they look pretty much the same. All the major parts are there...
Hmmm. It seems that the truly insane engineers are all designing model airplane engines. This page has a diagram of a 4-stroke engine with a cylinder which doubles as a rotary valve: http://www.wildcatfuel.com/engines_rcv58.html
This page has photos of a related engine, where the piston moves...
Thanks for the interesting comments, everybody. Retracnic makes a good point that piston valves could add friction and complexity. But I look at dual camshaft engines with four valves per cylinder, and can't help thinking they're pretty complicated too.
Isn't one reason for having two exhaust...
Metalguy,
I'd prefer a piston valve to a rotary because pistons are so well established, and because lubrication, cooling, and sealing should be similar to power pistons.
Also, you wouldn't want a continuously rotating valve; you'd want one which would pause at the fully opened and fully...
Forgive me if this is a newbie question. "Piston valves" were the preferred type in steam engines. Why were they unsuitable for internal combustion? Can modern materials make them usable?
I can think of several advantages of sliding piston valves:
1. The valve can remain fully...
