Hydraulic heat engine

[Low-Q]

any way you cut it is going to have poor conversion.
solar pannels for sunlight and an old steam engine for plain heat will
do far far better.
fritznien

I think so too. I have been told that steam engines is one of the most efficient technologies for converting heat energy into mechanical work, and is far more efficient than gasoline and diesel engines, and even higher efficiency than electric motors - when taking the whole chain of energy conversion and transportation from the power plant, till the power outlet which charges the electric car into account.

What if all cars had a butane burner which ran a steam engine - converting 70% of the heat into mechanical work, instead of loosing 70% energy as heat from a gasoline engine? Or what if the heat loss from a gasoline engine could be recycled into mechanical work like they did with the Corsair fighter and old fishing boats. They injected water mist directly into the combustion chambre to increase the efficiency by 30% - they combined the efficiency of the steam engine, and the flexibility from a gasoline engine.

I remember the fishing boats left the harbor. You could hear the engine say "thud. thud, thud, thud, thud", but when the boats reached open sea, and the engine was hot, I heard the water injection which changed the sound; "thud, thud, thud, thud, thcknock, thcknock, thcknock, thcknock". Then the fishermen could stay at the sea for longer because the engine became more efficient.

The Corsair figheter used water injection to escape the enemy if the plane did not have enough power to fly faster.

This is off topic, but very interesting

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[fritznien]

I think so too. I have been told that steam engines is one of the most efficient technologies for converting heat energy into mechanical work, and is far more efficient than gasoline and diesel engines, and even higher efficiency than electric motors - when taking the whole chain of energy conversion and transportation from the power plant, till the power outlet which charges the electric car into account.

What if all cars had a butane burner which ran a steam engine - converting 70% of the heat into mechanical work, instead of loosing 70% energy as heat from a gasoline engine? Or what if the heat loss from a gasoline engine could be recycled into mechanical work like they did with the Corsair fighter and old fishing boats. They injected water mist directly into the combustion chambre to increase the efficiency by 30% - they combined the efficiency of the steam engine, and the flexibility from a gasoline engine.

I remember the fishing boats left the harbor. You could hear the engine say "thud. thud, thud, thud, thud", but when the boats reached open sea, and the engine was hot, I heard the water injection which changed the sound; "thud, thud, thud, thud, thcknock, thcknock, thcknock, thcknock". Then the fishermen could stay at the sea for longer because the engine became more efficient.

The Corsair figheter used water injection to escape the enemy if the plane did not have enough power to fly faster.

This is off topic, but very interesting

Vidar

who tells you these things?
steam locomotives ran about 10% effiecient when we changed to diesels
coal fired power plants around 30%
marine diesels 50%
combined cycle gas turbies over 60%
water injection is used on gas engines as an intercooler, the effect is a cooler denser charge
that alows higher compression and more output from a given size engine and octane rating.
the only reason to use steam in a car is that it alows a wide range of fuels and fuel qualities.
remember carrnott rules.
fritznien

[Low-Q]

who tells you these things?
steam locomotives ran about 10% effiecient when we changed to diesels
coal fired power plants around 30%
marine diesels 50%
combined cycle gas turbies over 60%
water injection is used on gas engines as an intercooler, the effect is a cooler denser charge
that alows higher compression and more output from a given size engine and octane rating.
the only reason to use steam in a car is that it alows a wide range of fuels and fuel qualities.
remember carrnott rules.
fritznien

Probably someone who did not tellme the full story. I did reat about steam powered engines, and the steam turbine is the most efficient. I can read there is about 70% efficiency in a steam turbine. Therefor it is widely used in powerplants to create electricity.

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[fritznien]

acording to wiki its 75%
but that iis steam to mechanical power.
when you consider the whole plant coal to eletricity its down in the low 30,s.
fritznien

[Low-Q]

acording to wiki its 75%
but that iis steam to mechanical power.
when you consider the whole plant coal to eletricity its down in the low 30,s.
fritznien

When everything taken into account, no machine is very efficient.
You seem to know this stuff quite well, so I have a question for you:
A regular gasoline engine gets quite hot when it's not water-cooled. The temperature will rise to way more than 100 degrees celcius. Do you think this heat qould be used to make high pressure steam to run either a turbine- or a rotary (Wankel, G-rotor style) steam engine? Could this increase the engines efficiency?

I have in mind that if the temperature is too high in the engine, the gasoline/air mixdure will detonate rather than burn, so ignition and injection timing and temperature control would be quite neccessary.

What do you think?

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