Adelaide Branch |
DECEMBER
MEETING
The
meeting began at around 8PM with 25 people present which included several new
faces and country member Lindsay and family who were in town for the weekend.
Ashley began proceedings by welcoming everyone and mentioned that this was the
third anniversary of the group in South Australia. Dan presented the Treasurers
report and I gave the Secretaries report on correspondence received during the
past month. This included a brochure from HMS in America, the Fueless Engine
article, a letter regarding the paranoia around the Creative Sciences catalogue
and at last the Extraordinary Science magazines, including lots of back
issues!!!! Ashley then continued the meeting with a resume of his recent trip to
Melbourne which included the Cybernet Cafe. He also touched on the subjects of
new books and videos for our library, the Acres catalogue and the upcoming UFO
Conference to be held in Melbourne in February.
George
then gave another talk on his 4th dimensional work which was basically around
shapes that use one surface that “flips” in the middle eg. mobius strip. If
you want anything more in depth than that, ask George! Finally we watched a
shortened version of Howard Menger’s video on antigravity, followed by supper
and a practical demonstration of Georges talk using Ashleys mountain of
tetrahedrons.
HEAT
PUMPS AND FREON ENGINES
In
the April/May/June 95 edition of Extraordinary Science is a letter written by
Charles Bagwell from Erie, Michigan. In his letter he explains why he feels that
a freon engine, or generating electricity from a LTPC system such as espoused by
Lee and Wiseman will not work.
“Heat
pumps that heat and cool your home are one of the most efficient kinds of
machines available. Some even claim a COP of as high as 4. So, a number of years
ago I reasoned that it might be possible to turn some of that efficiency into
rotating mechanical torque. I ran several different kinds of turbines (including
a hand built Tesla type), gear pumps and compressors, on my R-22 heat pump
system. I got mechanical torque out, but not as much as I expected. So, I
decided to figure out on paper why freon did not work as well as one would
expect from a pressurised fluid.
To
shorten an otherwise wordy story, I found that a typical freon, such as R-12 or
R-22, expands roughly 9 times when it changes from a liquid to a vapour. You
would think that was great until you find that water expands 1602 times when it
changes state. One pound of freon is equal to approximately 0.2 cu ft as a
vapour whereas steam takes up 26 cu ft. One cu ft of freon contains 500 BTU’s.
Steam only contains 37. The high BTU content of freon is what makes it a good
substance to transfer large amounts of heat at a relatively low volume, and at
relatively low pressures. However, because of the low expansion factor, freon
does not work well to power any type of pump or turbine. To power a prime mover,
a high expansion substance is needed. I guess that is why old timers chose to
use steam”
LETTER
TO THE EDITOR
After
three years I finally got one! Ian has responded to the unplanned demonstration
which occurred after the December meeting. His letter is reprinted below.
STIRLING
ENGINE (PART 2)
This
month we shall look at how this engine works. The basic principle of operation
is that the pressure of air, or any gas, will increase if heated and decrease if
cooled. The cylinder of a simple engine contains air at atmospheric pressure.
This working gas contained in the engine is alternately heated and cooled, over
and over again. When the gas is heated, its pressure rises, and it pushes
against and moves a piston, thereby doing work. After the piston has been pushed
as far as it will go, the gas is then cooled and its pressure drops, sucking the
piston back to its starting position, at which point the cycle begins again. The
piston continues to go back and forth, reflecting the internal pressure changes
of the working gas as it is alternately heated and cooled. This is a very
simplified explanation of the principle of operation of the engine.
Next
we will look at the engine in a little more detail and follow the gas at each
part of the cycle. The cylinder has an external heat source heating one end of
it and cooling fins or a water jacket surrounding the upper two thirds of it.
Inside the cylinder we have a displacer which is about one third the length of
the cylinder and has a small clearance around its sides. The function of the
displacer is to take up the space of or to “displace’ a volume of gas. A
shaft is connected to the top of the displacer which extends out the cool end of
the cylinder. Next is a piston, with a hole in the middle, which fits over the
displacer shaft and inside the cylinder. If you now follow the drawings, it will
become evident how this engine works. At the start of the cycle, the displacer
is at the hot end of the cylinder and the air is in the cool portion of the
tube. As the air cools, a partial vacuum occurs, drawing the piston back into
the cylinder. The displacer is then moved back to meet the piston, displacing
the cooled air, and forcing it past the displacer into the hot end. As the air
heats up, its pressure increases, and drives the piston back towards the open
end of the cylinder. The displacer is then returned to the hot end, transferring
the air to the cool portion of the cylinder, and the cycle begins again. It
becomes apparent from this that what is happening is that the displacer is
simply moving the trapped gas in the cylinder from the hot end to the cool end,
where it is cooled. The gas, when hot, increases in pressure and pushes the
piston up. The same gas, when cooled, decreases in pressure and sucks the piston
back in. The displacer allows us to move the trapped, working gas rapidly
between the heated end of the tube and the cool end. In other words the
displacer controls the temperature and thus the pressure of the working gas,
enabling us to vary the temperature of the gas even thiugh one end of the
cylinder is constantly hot and the other is kept constantly cool.
Next
month we shall look at some of the history of the Stirling engine.
“SENSIBLE”
DIESEL GENERATOR
Sydney’s
Parliament House has recently converted their standby diesel generator so that
it can economically run for 15 hours per day, 5 days per week, producing
electricity and hot water for the building’s occupants. The 700 KW, V12
Cummins diesel engine was originally installed to drive a generator to provide
emergency power to Parliament House, the State Library, and the Sydney Hospital.
The machine was only run once a week to check that it was in working order.
To
minimise air pollution, the engine was converted to natural gas. The
conventional and expensive conversion normally requires a spark ignition to be
fitted which means spark plugs, coils, distributors and new heads. To avoid this
expense, this machine was converted by providing a gas feed into the fresh air
induction system and leaving the engine running on diesel. The extra fuel
available from the gas makes the engine run faster, but the governor reduces the
diesel feed so that the preset revolutions are maintained. This results in the
engine burning about 90% gas and 10% diesel.
The
cooling water for the engine, at about 90 degrees C, is passed through a heat
exchanger to transfer this heat into the building’s hot water system. A second
heat exchanger transfers heat from the exhaust gas, which leaves the engine at
around 500 degrees C. This exchanger takes 80% of the available heat and leaves
only enough heat to create sufficient stack velocity to remove the exhaust gas.
The two heat exchangers recover about 800 KW of what would otherwise be waste
heat and use it to heat the building’s swimming pool, showers and in the air
conditioning system.
The
project cost $300,000 while savings of $140,000 per year gives a payback period
of just over two years. It’s good to see the “establishment” actually
doing some of the things we talk about, with a result that is both
conservationally and economically sound.
ZINC
AIR BATTERIES
Although
zinc air batteries can triple the range of electric vehicles, they don’t
respond well to speedy recharging. A company from Israel, the Electric Fuel
Ltd., plans to overcome this problem with an off line refuelling / generation
infrastructure. Electric Fuel’s zinc air batteries consist of 66 cassettes.
Each one houses a zinc anode and two cathodes that extract oxygen from the air
to supply the electrochemical reaction.
Refuelling
station machinery extracts the spent cassettes and inserts the recharged ones.
The used modules go to a regeneration plant where electrowinning turns the zinc
oxide back into zinc. The German Post Office is running a pilot programme with
50 vehicles.
COMMERCIAL
FUEL VAPOUR SYSTEM
This
article from the August 19th. 1995 New Scientist magazine shows that fuel vapour
systems are still hanging around in the commercial area - they just won’t go
away!! (thank goodness) Small cheap utility engines, such as those used in
lawnmowers, can typically cause up to 50 times more pollution per kilowatt than
a car engine. In other words, a 3 kilowatt lawn mower can emit as much pollution
as a 150 kilowatt Jaguar. An American company has found an answer to the problem
by using a carburettor that works like a wick on a candle. In the evaporative
carburettor, air passes over a fine petrol soaked screen. The fuel evaporates
into the airstream, and the resulting vapour is fed into the combustion chamber.
The screen or wick is a multi-layered sandwich of laser perforated metal discs.
The
inventor of the evaporator is retired British aero engineer Jack Pedersen, who
now acts as a technical consultant to Combustion Innovations of Stamford,
Connecticut. Pedersen and his colleagues initially tried to attract interest in
their evaporator from the car industry, but although promising test results were
achieved from a converted Ford Tempo, no interest has been shown to adopt the
system by car manufacturers. (surprise, surprise!!!) However, Briggs and
Stratton have begun testing the unit as an option for cleaning up small engines
because it is cheap. The evaporator costs about $15 to manufacture and fit, with
the price being even less when the cost of a conventional carburettor is
subtracted. By comparison a catalytic converter for the same engine would cost
$25 and still only reduce emissions by 30%. Tests of the evaporator have shown
carbon monoxide levels in the exhaust to be less than half those proposed for
future legislation by the EPA in the U.S. Levels of Nitrogen and Hydrocarbons
were also well within the proposed limits.
DIRECT
INJECTION SYSTEM
Mitsubishi
Motors is claiming a world first with a new engine in which the fuel is injected
directly into the cylinder first without first being mixed with air. The result
is a dramatic improvement mileage and power. The new engine relies on four key
developments: an intake port that directs air straight into the cylinder; a high
pressure fuel pump; a fuel injector that controls the atomisation and dispersion
of the fuel spray; and a piston with a shallow, curved hollow in the head. This
results in a stratified air -fuel mixture that is very lean overall but very
rich in the vicinity of the spark plug to ensure stable combustion. This allows
air-fuel ratios of up to 40:1 under cruising conditions.
Mitsubishi
estimates fuel consumption could be cut 40% when idling, and 25% for city
driving. The injection of the gas also serves to cool intake air, allowing the
compression ratio to be increased to 12:1, up from the 10.5:1 from
Mitsubishi’s comparable conventional engine. this produces an estimated 10%
increase in torque and power output.
“ELECTRONIC”
STEAM ENGINE
The
following article came off Internet and is about an engine in which small
quantities of water are turned into steam by the use of a magnetron (as found
in microwave ovens). I don’t know anything about the inventor or his device
but thought the idea was worth presenting for those people who are working in
this area.
“The
principle involved can be demonstrated by the following test: Place a few drops
of water into a clear plastic 35mm film roll holder and put the cap on the film
roll holder. Place in a microwave oven and turn the oven on. The 'pop' is the
result of the water turning suddenly into steam.
The
engine I have invented is far more efficient than any other steam engine because
the efficiency of the magnetron in turning water into steam. In fact, the water
droplet 'explodes' very much like air/gasoline explodes in a conventional
internal combustion engine. This engine was first tested in 1992.
I am however unable to invest the required capital to produce a more
sophisticated model and therefore unable to patent it. Even though I may not be
able to profit from this technology, it is too good to be kept to myself and I
would like to spread it around so that others may be able to use it.
The
following is an outline of how to construct the device and a few cautions:
PARTS
NEEDED:
1.
Magnetron from medium power microwave oven.
2.
Small 4-stroke single cylinder lawn mover engine or similar engine with 'old
style' points and ignition system.
3.
Automotive alternator with built-in rectifier and regulator, also a 12 volt auto
battery.
4.
"Trigger" mechanism from an aircraft "strobe" landing light.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.
The magnetron fits into the spark plug hole.
2.
The distributor points are modified so that the contact is closed when the
piston is at the top dead center and this
contact is used to activate the aircraft strobe
mechanism.
3.
The high voltage from the strobe is connected to directly fire the magnetron
which in turn produces steam which moves the piston.
4.
The engine turns the alternator which keeps the battery charged, which supplies
the electrical power for the magnetron.
CAUTION
AND TIPS: WARNING!!!
DANGER!!!!
1.
Be careful around the magnetron. KEEP IT SHIELDED WITH METAL. IT CAN CAUSE SEVERE BURNS THAT MAY NOT BE READILY
VISIBLE WHEN THEY FIRST OCCUR.
2.
The 'strobe' trigger delivers a very high voltage which can jump to ground. WEAR
RUBBER SOLED SHOES AND INSULATE WELL.
3.
Be sure to modify the distributor points so they close at the top dead centre.
Timing advance depends on the power of the magnetron used and the amount of
water. Try
different carb jet sizes -- drill out if needed.
4.
Due to variables, don't expect high engine speeds without a little
experimentation.
5.
Start with a fully charged battery or your alternator won't work.
6.
The energy produced is in excess of the power required to run the alternator but
until you get the RPM up, and the parts working in harmony, it may be best
to use a battery charger instead of an
alternator.
7.
An easy way to measure net power output after you have the alternator on line is
to run a few 12 volt lights from the battery.
You will see that the battery stays charged even
with the lights on and the motor keeps on going.
8. Although I have not tried it, the idea of vaporizing water
with microwaves should also work well in a converted turbine.”
******
From: Pat_Pelletier@mindlink.bc.ca (Pat Pelletier)
******
FUEL SAVER DEVICE
This article appeared in the Financial Review on 3/10/95. This scenario seems to occur all too often with this type of device, which leads us to the familiar question of is it being suppressed or didn't it work in the first place?
NEXT
MEETING
This
will once again be held on the second Friday of the month, this time being:
FRIDAY JANUARY
12th
This
month we will have a talk by Des Chilton on the PURIFINER, an engine oil
filtering system which enables 160,000 Km between oil changes.
FREE ENERGY