> A turbine would be interesting but if I recall they are not particularly fuel > efficient,
IIRC, all combustion engines are about equally efficient, at optimum loading. (Whatever that is for the technology.) Turbines have poor throttle response, and poor efficiency at lower throttle. Wouldn't matter here. So, an optimally-sized turbine running at one load point, that of charging, should fit the need well. Input and output tuned acoustically, for minimal noise, at the single load point. High RPM means high energy density, therefore small. Turbine can run on shitty fuel, no need for a Volt-like insistence on running the engine periodically just to keep the fuel from going stale. > and the gearbox would be needed to get it down to generator speeds. No gearbox. Design a permanent-magnet generator that can run directly at turbine speed. No brushes, no spinning wire to fly apart. Like I said, there would be some up-front engineering costs, significant ones, but the _result_ would be magnificent. -- Jim _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
