Recharging small fireless locomotive from solar heated boiler

"Solar to Steam: A Sustainable Reintroduction to Fireless Steam Locomotion"

[deepblue.lib.umich.edu]

I always enjoy your post. This report was very interesting to the point that it evaluates different concepts as it relates to steam locomotion and use of stored energy in water/steam. The report is about a locomotive on rails used as a switcher. I think, my opinion, is that this could be a viable solution to a commuter automobile. To create the potential energy at one's home and charge your car for commuting has merit. The thermal inertia as I like to call it is stored in an insulated pressure vessel and is associated to a battery, a thermal battery. It is like a big thermos keeping your coffee piping hot.

Also, during the last SACA Meet, Karl Peterson alluded to this very concept. However, it is not widely accepted as to what my opinion is stating above about a viable solution.

Further into the development of this concept would be to understand the competitiveness to the electric car that would have the same competitive solution. The solution is to charge your car for commuting at your home or work with the storage in an electric battery. Perhaps we can discuss this in this thread.

Here is a similar solution: Cars that run on compressed air

These cars seem to be in production. They can easily be design to run on stored steam/water. They would have a much greater range than that of compressed air and competitive to the average electric/battery car.

Also, there is synergy with the hot water that can be used in heating applications within the home. In a unique way, it could be considered combined heat and power.

It seems the Minicat compressed air car died years ago.
[oilprice.com]

Mike

If a Steam Car is to take off, it needs some type of break through. This breakthrough needed to get the effort past the excitation stage and into steady burn (economic production). I'm rooting for hydrogen as produced from electricity like the article shows.

A question: does hydrogen produced from the electric breaking effort on a car, is this considered green hydrogen?

I always keep an eye on Mitsubishi. They seam to be attentive to these concepts.

Also, attached what I would call the Rankine-Gibbs concept. The concept is to use electrodes submerged in the boiler water, take the oxygen and hydrogen back down below the boiler. Then burn it right into the boiler pressure vessel. Also, surround the burning chamber with boiler water and create a natural circulation.

Rick

Hi Mike,

To operate an air powered car, you need very high pressure air. Some 40 plus years ago, I worked with high pressure air compressors in the Navy. Actually, I was my division's subject matter expert on those machines --- it was a really dirty job and someone had to be volunteered to do it.

Air compressors are somewhat inefficient and get nauseatingly so as the pressure rises. To get 5,000 psi, we needed 6 stages of compression. The heat developed required 5 interstage coolers, an aftercooler, a frame cooler, and an oil cooler. These coolers were cooled by seawater and were about half as large as the compressor itself. That's a lot of heat to toss away. The versatility of high-pressure air made sense on an aircraft carrier where it could do everything from generate liquid nitrogen and oxygen, boost aircraft elevator speeds, support reactor control systems, and drive the drills in the dentist's office. For a vehicle, not so much.

Regards,

Ken

Compressed air is only useful if you have a ready source of compressed air and a way to heat it up so it lasts a bit longer. That's why it is rarely used.

The fireless locomotive will, of course, accept high temperature recharge from any source. So will a "Concentrated Solar Vehicle" which you can alternatively google with the quotes.

A special advantage is that when you are out at the end of your run and discover you have exhausted your hot water, you can: 1. Heat it up with a fossil fuel burner, 2. Heat it up with electricity from any source including the electric company, batteries, PV cells, a bicycle with a little generator, etc., 3. Heat it up with solar power from a parabolic dish or a parabolic trough, or by dropping your pickup hose down to a bed of magma.

The point is that a steam powered solar vehicle is about the only mode of transportation which can be powered by virtually any energy source, however environmentally friendly or socially acceptable it is.

Please join me in my very long running quest to bring the idea of a CSV to those who think it would be a good idea to use solar power on its way to the earth and back into space. It is just a little annoying to have written many times to the governmental and academic communities with simple, clear notes on how clean and obvious this is without once having a reply. I haven't even been invited to join the Quixote Club.

Karl Petersen

Hi Karl,
It was nice to see you at the SACA Meet.

I have a curious question about CSV and that is can it use regenerative breaking, charge the pressure vessel? This concept would put it on par with an electric vehicle.

Thanks,
Rick

All files from this thread

File Name	File Size		Posted by	Date
Turbine Key.png	345.1 KB	open | download	Rick.H	10/23/2022	Read message
Rankine-Gibbs.jpg	287 KB	open | download	Rick.H	10/23/2022	Read message