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Steam related discussions.
Ted Pritchard Falcon - 1 year ago
Hello all: I did a search on this form for "pritchard" and was surprised to find zero hits. I was wondering if anyone knows what became of his car after he brought it to the USA to demonstrate it. Dan.by dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: High or low pressure? - 8 years ago
An IC engine works at about 8:1 compression rate. Ambient air being 14.5 lbs/Sq in, that means peak pressure is around 120 lbs/Sq in. For a steam engine to even approach the size of an IC engine, you would need at least about 150-160 lbs/Sq in steam, right about were steam locomotives operate. Steam locomotives ran fine at that pressure with 200 year old technology. Where do you come up with 40 lbby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Insulating steam engine cylinders and steam lines - 8 years ago
Caleb: Do you have more information on the British land record burner? I'm kinda working on a porous ceramic burner myself, and would like to know what they're problems were. Thanks!by dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: california steam bus project - 8 years ago
Interesting stuff. One thing that occurred to me is that most steam development programs put a lot of effort into the expander, as if that was where all the engineering challenges are, when in fact it seems the boiler is the big hurdle. Looks like engineers decide that "hey, it's just a pipe coil, no mistery here", but in fact building a monotube that will efficiently and effectivelyby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: california steam bus project - 8 years ago
So if the fuel consumption was high, no bus operator would have adopted the steam bus unless mandated by government. Typical government project, sinking money into something no one wants. When will it end? Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Porous Ceramic Burner - 8 years ago
There is a bunch of zirconia foam sold on ebay as filters for casting metals. Bought a couple, gonna try rigging a burner see how well it works. Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Insulating steam engine cylinders and steam lines - 8 years ago
It's a Detroit conspiracy ;-)by dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: freesteam (open source library) - 8 years ago
Andy: I will take a look at these. Thanksby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Porous Ceramic Burner - 8 years ago
Interesting patent. The foam mentioned in the report (ZrO2) is actually an off the shelf (sorta) item. I gotta try this burner somehow. Did you see the NOX readings? The pancake arrangement is interesting. Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Insulating steam engine cylinders and steam lines - 8 years ago
To tell you the truth, it makes no sense. There are guys in their garage converting two cycle engines, that know more about steam than these guys. Hard to understand why they insist on a design that was obsolete in Watt's time. Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Porous Ceramic Burner - 8 years ago
here is a link to the paper online Compact Porous Burner and Heat Exchangerby dullfig - SteamStuff
Porous Ceramic Burner - 8 years ago
Hello all: I found this paper on combustion in porous ceramic. It seems that a burner made of porous ceramic has a lot of interesting benefits, like flameless combustion, 1:30 turn down ratio, and 10 times the power density of open flames. They built an experimental boiler (they call it heat exchanger) that puts out 30kw of power in a unit that is aprox. 16" in diameter buy 6" tall. Tby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Insulating steam engine cylinders and steam lines - 8 years ago
Makes me feel sorry for Steam power in general. gives it a bad name. Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Insulating steam engine cylinders and steam lines - 8 years ago
They probably did it on a DOE grantby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Insulating steam engine cylinders and steam lines - 8 years ago
Did a little digging. Q2Power is a trademark of WHE Generation corp, formerly known as (wait for it) Cyclone Power! Tada! Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Insulating steam engine cylinders and steam lines - 8 years ago
Caleb: Is that a completely uninsulated, 3 cylinder single acting radial engine with rotary valve? wow. Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Gardner-Serpollett - 8 years ago
Wow that motorcycle is really compact. I mean the steam generator. I wonder how fast it went. Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: Gardner-Serpollett - 8 years ago
Apparently the Serpollet would idle all the time while running. If I understand the schematic correctly, it had a donkey pump that pumped fuel and water. So technically the coils would have been empty only when cold Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Gardner-Serpollett - 8 years ago
Hello: I was just wondering, it seems the Gardner Serpollett flash boiler was mostly empty of water, and I was hoping someone here would know how fast it would heat up from a cold start. Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: california steam bus project - 8 years ago
Hey Jim, you've done some interesting stuff in your life one of these days we should get together over a cup of coffee and talk steam stuff. Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: california steam bus project - 8 years ago
So it was a moving target basicallyby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: california steam bus project - 8 years ago
no one bites? does anyone know the backstory to this project? why did it just die? Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
time to steam up - 8 years ago
Hello all: Ok, I know this is a back of the envelope, naive calculation, but on the other hand, I think it's a useful excercise. So here goes. The SES boiler weighed something like 110lbs of steel. If we asume a firing rate of 750,000 lbs/hr, and a specific heat for steel of .11btu/lb/deg, that means you can heat the coils from ambient to 100 deg in 2 seconds, right? So my question is, inby dullfig - SteamStuff
california steam bus project - 8 years ago
Hello all; I'm curious what happened to the california steam bus project. The documentary has glowing praise, the final report says it met it's goals, and yet I do not see steam busses on the street... Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: throttle losses? - 8 years ago
Jim: Boy did I step in it! I suppose I was talking automation as in "single button start" automation. You know, like get in the car, press one button, and wait for everything to be ready. I agree with you, the White had many well thought out mechanical automation features that worked well. And I wouldn't mind owning a White myself Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: throttle losses? - 8 years ago
Jim: It's looking to me more and more to me (aside from the fact that everything was mechanical and not automated), the White was a more advanced car than the Doble. Your thoughts? Danby dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: throttle losses? - 8 years ago
Jim Crank Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > May I suggest you take a serious look at the > throttle in a White steam car. > After using them all, this one is by far the best > one. > Jim Well thought out.by dullfig - SteamStuff
Re: separate boiler and superheater? - 8 years ago
Ken: I see. So the normalizer preheats water that's going into the boiler anyhow so the heat is not lost. Do Doble's then have oversized superheaters and control final temp with the normalizer or is the normalize a "just in case"? Danby dullfig - SteamStuff