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Non Steam Discussions
Re: EFFICENCY - 16 years ago
Meandering back to the main point of this thread: Harry, you said "150000lbs of algae can be recovered from one acre this is about 11500 gal of fuel." What time frame does this yield need? What is used as a food source, since the growth will exhaust the nutrients in the water? Algae does not grow well in really clean water. Any figures on cost of running this? Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: EFFICENCY - 16 years ago
Biofuel has a place in the scheme of things, as long as it's reasonable, i.e. doesn't need tax dollars to make it viable. It is a sulphur-free fuel, getting rid of a real pollutant. Diesel designed his engine to run on peanut oil; it was Benz that had the petroleum interest and steered the work to run on kerosene. A practical approach is using a plant like jatropha, which will grow on poorby TH - SteamStuff
Re: EFFICENCY - 16 years ago
For those of you that think the government will help with the energy situation, read this. Who do you think created this mess? As for the catfish idea, it's not bad, but will require a balancing act with a lot of process monitoring (cost). The cats need food (algae?) and oxygen. Exhaust gas from a power plant (high CO2, depleted O2)=lots of algae and dead catfish. I've been to theby TH - SteamStuff
Re: EFFICENCY - 16 years ago
The end of easily recoverable oil and natural gas is overstated. I just leased the mineral (gas) rights to my home for $12,900 up front plus a royalty. Up to ten years ago this field was deemed worthless, thanks to new technology it's one of the biggest producers in North America and will be for decades. North Dakota has huge reserves, so does Pennsylvania, where they have been drilling for ovby TH - SteamStuff
Re: MIT Papers pertaining to steam powered automobiles - 16 years ago
Caleb Thanks for the files. This brought back a lot of memories of cranking out my own bachelor's thesis. I even knew one of the advisers on the pump paper. Heck of a note: MIT has this thesis from 1917, but they lost mine from 1974. The Henry Ford Museum has a Corliss engine from the 1850's they run daily. Unfortunately since they had a fatality a while back they do not use steam anyby TH - SteamStuff
Re: Mike Brown steam car project - 16 years ago
To put those costs in perspective, I am working on a motor mount for a Mazda crossover. The dies to make the four pieces in the assembly have cost $550,000 to date. That does not include the rubber insert work. This is for an assembly that fits in your hand. Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: Mike Brown steam car project - 16 years ago
My great-grandfather built a steam-powered freight wagon in Iowa in 1890. For myself I want to follow in his footsteps and get something built that works well. I have no illusions of changing Detroit (I dealt with the Big 3 as a supplier for 18 years, no hope there). This is for me. If I can get someone to run with my ideas, fine; if not, I won't cry over it. If I can help Harry and the restby TH - SteamStuff
Re: cyclone engine - 16 years ago
In 1980 I worked on a project making stainless steel fibers to reinforce castable refractories. This stuff was used to make pouring spouts for cast iron and steel ladles, holding flowing metal at up to 3000F, far more demanding than lining a firebox. They went broke, but others are making similar fibers. This will work better than trying to support your castable refractory with wire mesh.by TH - SteamStuff
Re: cyclone engine - 16 years ago
Andy Refractories will stand up to a lot if chosen well. I used to dump a hundred tons of liquid steel into a ladle from 30 feet high, so they can take a load. Have you tried the fiber batt furnace lining types? They should stand fatigue very well. Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: Mike Brown steam car project - 16 years ago
Are plans for George's engine available? I can't tell from the SACA store online list if any of them are his. Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: cyclone engine - 16 years ago
Hi Harry It was neat to see your display at the SAE congress in Detroit. I got a real kick seeing the double takes when "It's a steam engine" came into the conversations. I tried to steer some of the college kids your way; it would do them good to see that not everything new is fuel cells or hybrids. I spoke to my brother the ceramics engineer about your need for high temp refraby TH - SteamStuff
Re: Bower and Bell engine - 16 years ago
Brian This sounds like what I am looking for. I'm looking to power an alternator for a hybrid small pickup. Any idea yet about efficiency? Can you measure steam consumption rates? Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: LSR Steam Car - 16 years ago
I remember MHD was a hot idea in the 60's, with Avco-Everett and the Soviets doing a lot of work. Other than some Congressional-pork type university work I haven't seen anything on this in a long time. Where can I find some info on the current state of the art?by TH - SteamStuff
Reliable steam products - 16 years ago
Have any of you any experience with plans or engine castings supplied by Reliable Steam? I am interested in the small turbine in particular, but the intermediate V-4 may work for my needs. I assume since they link to us they are reputable. Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: CONSENSUS? - 16 years ago
Since about half of the posts on this page were related to climate change, biofuels and the like it seemed appropriate. My question remains, is anyone familiar with the Reliable steam turbine design? Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: CONSENSUS? - 16 years ago
Ok, time to climb on my soapbox... Despite Al Gore's prize and all the Time, Newsweek and other dire warnings, I am flatly convinced the whole theory of human-induced climate change is all politically motivated baloney. Why, you may ask? Two points, the first being the mechanism. While everyone blathers about the greenhouse effect, try to get someone to explain what that actually is. It's ligby TH - SteamStuff
Re: SACA Berrien Springs Meet - 17 years ago
Just checking, is the park on old US 31 near Andrews University? I haven't been up there since 1987. Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: SACA Berrien Springs Meet - 17 years ago
Due to scheduling I can only come on Saturday. Are there any events planned? Harry, I missed meeting you at SAE in April, will you be there Saturday? I want to talk some more about truck engines and chainsaws. Tomby TH - SteamStuff
Re: Condenser Question. - 17 years ago
Home ac units only see air pushed or pulled by a fan, so except for the occasional rock from the lawn mower they never see serious debris. Auto radiators have all sorts of crud from the road thrown at them, so they have to be far more rugged. The trade off is less efficiency, but since the one goal is to cool the house at the least cost in energy, and the other is to keep the engine from burninby TH - SteamStuff
Re: Biodiesel and Africa - 17 years ago
Global warming is a pile of politically inspired crap. My degrees are from Carnegie Mellon and MIT so I may be just a little better able to judge than Sheryl Crowe. To date I see no one bringing the data to the table that will end this argument. To wit: show that there is a measurable change in the Earth's albedo, and that this change is the direct result of human activity. NO ONE has done thiby TH - Miscellaneous Technical
Re: 911 WTC collapse - 17 years ago
A few points about this subject: Steel gets much weaker above 1550F, that's why steel is rolled or forged orange to red hot. Once the beams holding up the building got above that temp they could not hold the structure up. Since the heat was not uniform in the fire, it would make sense that the initial collapse would be staggered, just like the Minneapolis bridge failure started at one placeby TH - Miscellaneous Technical
Re: cyclone engine - 17 years ago
Hello Harry I was curious if you have current interest from the chainsaw group (Homelite, Poulan, etc) or the outdoor equipment folk like MTD. I think the large-chainsaw market for the pro loggers could be a good place to start, since large logger-type saws are a relatively small market, but a low-noise, low-emission saw would be an easy sell in Oregon or California. Since two-strokes are thby TH - SteamStuff
Re: Got 1/2" Inconel tubing, will travel? - 17 years ago
My Lord, what a waste! This is serious overkill for what you are doing. I would honestly suggest putting this stuff on Ebay or another site, and use the proceeds to buy more normal tubing. Even the 304 is better than you need. Seriously, you will have a tough time bending and brazing this stuff. If you were building a gas turbine it might make sense, but no one in the commercial steam industby TH - SteamStuff
Re: Observations of performence, ,,,new/old - 17 years ago
Ken, I'm sorry to have to say you still oversimplified the problems of car design. I'm a steel metallurgist making auto parts for Tier 1 suppliers for all the car companies, and on top of all the problems you mentioned for design there is another whole area of needs: government regulations. Safety rules directly conflict with economy rules, but Congress doesn't care. At the SAE congress I satby TH - SteamStuff
Re: cyclone engine - 17 years ago
Harry I stopped at your booth at the SAE congress, but couldn't get back for an extended chat. I'm sorry I didn't get to see the weedwacker run. Will you have any units running at the Chicago show? There was a truck-size motor at the booth; is that running or a mockup? With the new California standards coming up, chainsaws and other small outdoor equipment motors should be a good market to sby TH - SteamStuff