Lets say that you had a small boat and you wanted a secondary source of power. What ideas are there that weigh less than 20 lbs?
You could by a propeller on a shaft that attaches to a lithium ion drill? But you likely wont get vary far.
Which brings me to the idea of steam?
So lets say that the shaft and propeller above weigh 10 lbs. Could they be connected to a steam motor that weighs 10 lbs so that the total weight on the transom is only 20 lbs?
So your main source of power konked out and you still have gasoline. And there is an abundant supply of water you are floating on?
So you would have two infeeds to prime. The water to the boiler from the lake and the line to the gas tank?
In theory it should take very little gasoline to make the steam? And once it is started it would be extremely efficient? Some kind of material that retains the heat under the flame before the boiler might help it be more efficient? For example a ring of ceramics or some type of "stoneish" material? Captures the heat that would otherwise escape to the side?
The gearing could be such that it spins that shaft very fast on little power?
And what about computer controlled? The system should be made more so with mechanical controls or design that limit the need for computer control? Follow the lead here? Anything a computer would be tasked to control should be handled by the structured design? Different engineering principle?
So would it even need to be a constant flame? Or could an equilibrium be made so that it never really has to reach a really hot operating temperature? Follow the lead there? Energy is lost because it gets too hot and you don't want that? (And what if that idea where incorporated into an automotive engine? Why loose energy to heat? Why not design it so that you don't have to waste energy produced to cool it? In the case of the above, that is a safer system for a human to interact with.
So the steam drives a piston?
Would it really need to be that way?
Couldn't the steam drive a turbine? Again, a steam turbine would have less parts, and therefore be lighter.
Is there such a thing as a turbo type feature with a steam engine? I know the idea sounds impossible like it is a jarred stupid idea. But some way that air can enter such a turbine to make it run more efficient? Or perhaps cooler? How far does the steam have to travel past the turbine "area" before an air inlet can be designed? What if the rising hot air past the turbine could be recirculated? Or better yet the idea of stacked turbines? Whereby a turbine is placed above the main turbine to capture the heat?
But would such a system create a negative backpressure element to the main power? And if so could it be designed so that isn't true?
So in an era where you have electric cars with a battery that weighs 1700 whopping pounds! 1700 whopping pounds?
You just can't tell me that a steam engine powered car of the above configuration type parameters wouldn't be better than that?
I mean there has to be someone out there than can make a steam engine weigh less than 1700 pounds? I mean like a fraction of that?
*****'
So you don't hear those electric cars do you? I hope they don't try and make them noisy like the Biker Bikes are! I mean enough of that.
What happens there? The noisy bikes make the quiet bikes more dangerous to drive?
Who needs their children to hear the town drug dealer drive past their school on a motor that sounds like it fell out of WW1? "Oh, sweety, Pimp Daddy is here to pick you up from school? Say's he brought treats for your friends today. Everybody make sure to show some respect for PD today."
© 2023 Thomas Paul Murphy
A good search term might be "Little known advances in Steam Engine Technology"
Pss. In theory if you cooled the motor with water that was then fed into the steam engine, somehow it would take less energy to come to steam than if it wasn't preheated by using it to cool? And therefore energy is saved?
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