Ah, the second Golden Age Of Steam:

[tiktok]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...eenergy.energy



Say "steam power" and you conjure up images of Stevenson's rocket, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the heyday of the Victorian railways – romantic, but hardly the stuff of a clean, cutting-edge technology.

But steam could be about to make a comeback thanks to a company that is trying to make the internal combustion engine more efficient.

[ibobunot]

With a methane collector you could power the truck with Taco Bell/Truck Stop food.

..

[stantheman]

There's some students currently trying to create a microwave steam energy device that works on the same principal as the old steam engine but with modern technology thus making everything smaller and equally more efficient.

[Nick JD]

Another good reason why electric cars are more efficient. Internal combustion engines make better heaters than movers.

Still, all these things with fossil-fuel efficiency are like putting a warm jacket on a dead body.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by Nick JD

Another good reason why electric cars are more efficient. Internal combustion engines make better heaters than movers.

It'd be interesting to see how efficient electric cars are when the efficiency of the power plant is factored in. There's certainly a lot of heat produced at a coal burning plant.

[Tele Fan]

Originally Posted by ibobunot

With a methane collector you could power the truck with Taco Bell/Truck Stop food.

..

Stop at White Castle and you could fuel the world.

[sixstringbastard]

It's much easier to have a degree of pollution management at a centralized location instead of tens of millions of locations.

Originally Posted by tiktok

It'd be interesting to see how efficient electric cars are when the efficiency of the power plant is factored in. There's certainly a lot of heat produced at a coal burning plant.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by sixstringbastard

It's much easier to have a degree of pollution management at a centralized location instead of tens of millions of locations.

Absolutely!

However, there's still no such as a free lunch. Now, a hydro, solar or wind plant--that would seem to represent another step up in efficiency.

[Ironwolf]

Originally Posted by tiktok

Absolutely!

However, there's still no such as a free lunch. Now, a hydro, solar or wind plant--that would seem to represent another step up in efficiency.

But they don't want you to build those either. Hydro kills fish, solar requires transmission lines that ruin the view, and wind power kills bats and birds.

[popthree]

Originally Posted by Ironwolf

and wind power kills bats and birds.

surely we can find a good use for the dead birds and bats

[Guitar_Ninja]

Wouldn't it be easier to just move to a catalytic carburetor?

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by Guitar_Ninja

Wouldn't it be easier to just move to a catalytic carburetor?

...less than two years after commercial introduction of the first catalytic carburetor, in 1932, tetraethyl lead was introduced as an additive to raise gasoline's resistance to spontaneous combustion, thereby permitting the use of higher compression ratios. Also in that time, the price differential between a thermal calorie of gasoline and kerosene was ended. Tetraethyl lead had the effect of poisoning catalytic carburetors. Many modern gasolines appear to have additives for "cleaning" which perform the same effect by producing varnishes or gums in the presence of water, which of course, is not a recommended use.

Famed NASCAR mechanic Smokey Yunick spent many years working on a high fuel economy "vapor carburetor". The detailed operation is not widely disseminated, but the general principle is to heat the fuel with waste engine heat to enhance vaporization and improve the fuel's combustion characteristics. This was reasonably effective compared to normal carburetors of the time, but had implementation difficulties. During the years he was developing it, the average production engine moved from centrally located carburetors to electronic fuel injection, wherein the fuel is delivered right to the intake port. This dramatically reduces fuel condensation and puddling in the intake manifold and runners, making Smokey's design a solution to a problem which no longer existed so it was never commercially developed.

http://wikicars.org/en/Carburetor

[Guitar_Ninja]

I still think it would be easier. NASA released a design for a catalytic carburetor five or six years ago that would be very easy to modify into modern designs.

[Buckocaster51]

350° C steam? That's pushing 700° F.

They must be getting that heat real close to the engine.

Nothing that comes out of the tailpipe or flows through the radiator is anywhere near that temperature.

Not saying it can't be done, but it has to be much more complicated than running the exhaust pipe and coolant through a heat exchanger.

Good to see people thinking out of the box.

Now, I'll read the article to see what I missed.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by Guitar_Ninja

I still think it would be easier. NASA released a design for a catalytic carburetor five or six years ago that would be very easy to modify into modern designs.

It probably would be very easy...for a staff of mechanical and automotive engineers with significant funding. Unless it requires rare metals, aerospace design tolerances and voids the warranty of anything it's attached to.

Maybe you're thinking of this?

[blue metalflake]

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

350° C steam? That's pushing 700° F.

They must be getting that heat real close to the engine.

Nothing that comes out of the tailpipe or flows through the radiator is anywhere near that temperature.

Thats what I was thinking. No problem in getting lots of hot water - like a CHP plant on wheels, but what to do with it is another question.

[e-merlin]

Originally Posted by ibobunot

With a methane collector you could power the truck with Taco Bell/Truck Stop food.

..

Originally Posted by Tele Fan

Stop at White Castle and you could fuel the world.

You guys should try my tuna salad...