Here's an interesting alternative car engine

[Speck Tater]

It's an EXTERNAL combustion engine that burns ANY fuel. (Any flammable fuel, that is.)

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/570864.html

Not long ago, Harry Schoell's invention of a new, clean-burning engine got the kind of brush-off reserved for newfangled contraptions promising to revolutionize a mainstay. Recall the skepticism surrounding the horseless carriage, he likes to say.

After all, Schoell was claiming, and still does, that his Cyclone Green Revolution Engine, which can run on almost any liquid or gaseous fuel and uses water instead of motor oil, would one day replace the internal combustion one used for more than 100 years.

...

The company's stock is traded over the counter (Pink Sheets: CYPW). Last week, Cyclone got a major boost when Raytheon, a major defense technology company, awarded a research and development contract to the company.

---

A note to conspiracy theory buffs who complain that their favorite perpetual motion machine or water-burning engine was supressed by big business.

Notice how this revolutionary engine:

A) does not violate any laws of physics, and
B) Was not suppressed by big business, but encouraged and financed by big business.

That's how the market really works.

[Redstone]

1. Well, it may indeed be time to re-visit the steam engine, given the advances

in materials technology over the last 60 years. Not to mention, maybe the Stirling engine?

And hey, good job with your notes at the end of your post. Saying those things clarified that this guy isn't a whacknut.

Redstone

[Greyskye]

2. I was just about to reply that it looks like a modified version of the Stirling engine

At least in some of the basic concepts. Materials improvements have definitely made the Stirling more feasible then it was when it was first conceived.

[Speck Tater]

3. I think it's actually a steam engine.

Welcome back to the Stanley Steamer.

http://www.bayberryclassics.com/Pages/vintage/06Stanley.htm

[Redstone]

4. I couldn't see the video on the company website, but yes,

the moniker of "waste heat engine" would seem to indicate some kind of Stirling technology.

I find the Stirling engine fascinating; if they weren't so expensive to build, I'd like to put one at the warm/cool interface of a pond sometime to see how well it could drive a generator to make electricity. Free source of power, anyone?

Redstone

[Speck Tater]

5. NOT Stirling engine, 6-cylinder radial steam engine

Generating 2.5 horsepower per cubic inch of displacement in the cylinders.

Here are some photos:

http://www.cyclonepower.com/no_vibration.html
http://www.cyclonepower.com/compact_size.html

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. Dean Kamen's lab "Deka" has done some significant work on Stirling engine technology

http://www.dekaresearch.com/coreTech.html

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/08/01/100138830/index.htm?postversion=2007073110

Have you driven a Fjord lately?

Think's zippy little Web-enabled, carbon-free electric driving machine could help reverse 100 years of automotive history, writes Business 2.0 magazine.

Business 2.0 Magazine
By Todd Woody, Business 2.0 Magazine assistant managing editor
July 31 2007: 10:29 AM EDT

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Three pinstriped London investors stand outside an electric car factory in the green fields of the Norwegian countryside, waiting their turns to test-drive a stylish two-seater called the Think City.

But first, Think CEO Jan-Olaf Willums takes the wheel. While the moneymen fiddle with their BlackBerrys, Willums, looking slightly rumpled like the academic he once was, turns the ignition, and the stub-nosed coupe silently rolls toward an open stretch of pavement. Suddenly he punches the pedal, and the car takes off like a shot, the AC motor instantaneously transferring power to the wheels. The only sound is the squealing of tires as Willums throws the little car into a tight turn and barrels back toward his startled guests.

...

The iconoclastic inventor, who made his first fortune developing medical devices, has spent more than $40 million creating Stirling engines that can tap almost any fuel source, from restaurant grease to cow dung. He wants to equip the City with one, extending its range by hundreds of miles.

Kamen met Willums about a year ago and later visited Think in Norway. "He's a fun, gregarious, good guy," Kamen says. "Next thing I know, I'm getting sucked into this, and he's sending me a car, and -- son of a bitch -- I've got this car here and I'm putting a Stirling engine in!"



...

[Greyskye]

9. Thanks for those!

Having Dean Kamen involved really ups the credibility level of anything he's associated with. OK, so the Segway was ahead of its' time - the technology is still incredible! The wheel-chair he developed based on Segway technology is a work of genius - I'm truly in awe of the man and his accomplishments.

http://www.ibotnow.com/

[tinrobot]

6. I can see it as a solar power generator.

One application would be to use the sun to create the heat source for the engine, which would then run a generator. Might be less expensive and more efficient than solar panels.

[Greyskye]

8. This is being done w/ Stirling engines at the focal point

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2008/solargrid.html

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Currently, they're more efficient, but more expensive than PV

http://www.stirlingenergy.com/
http://www.stirlingenergy.com/downloads/12-February-2008-SES-Press-Release-SES-Stirling-Energy-and-Sandia-National-Laboratories-set-New-World-Record-for-Solar-to-Grid-Conversion-Efficiency.pdf

http://www.infiniacorp.com/applications/clean_energy.php