A diesel with double turbo loader is above 50% efficiency. You will
never get there with a sterling motor in a reasonable temperature range.
Key is to extract all kinetic energy in a gas explosion what cannot be
done with a sterling motor. But you can run a sterling motor even with
burning aluminum.
But if you stay in a jam your COP goes to minus infinite...With all
motors except electric that can just switch off.
Starters for normal motors waste a lot of gasoline, so it is not
recommended to switch off for short (<15 seconds) stays except with
tuned electronics.
J.W.
On 04.01.2022 15:37, Jones Beene wrote:
The most interesting new - but actually old - engine development (esp.
for those who think LENR has a future in transportation) is the
re-emergence of the Stilrling design. This engine design and the
Brayton cycle, in general, never made the grade for commercialization
- before now, at least.
Change is in the air... so to speak. Unfortunately China, once again,
is making large engineering gains while we seem to be playing catchup.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202112/1243157.shtml
Quote: "the basic prototype of China's first large-bore Stirling
engine successfully conducted the recent performance test... at a
rated power of 320 kilowatts with a power conversion efficiency of 40
percent, making it the most powerful Stirling engine known around the
globe."
There are few if any diesels which can return 40% efficiency but China
got there on the first prototype,
The reason that the piston-Sterling could potentially augment LENR is
not well appreciated either. Basically it is because the Brayton cycle
is inherently *closed-cycle*. The Stirling can be either piston or
turbine based, but the piston config is what LENR can possibly
optimize with few changes.
IOW the closed-cycle is one way to expose a metal catalyst to a flow
of hydrogen without combustion of the hydrogen itself.
Thus, if the working gas contains even a small percentage of hydrogen
and the piston crown is coated with nickel/palladium alloy, then extra
heat could potentially be extracted - on top of the external heat of
combustion which occurs else where in the design, The LENR would be a
booster, so to speak,
Will China be the first to realize this ? They did after all, report
on replicating Arata and that was a decade ago.
Jed Rothwell wrote:
H LV wrote:
We don't really know how steam engines would have evolved because
they were out-competed by diesel engines.
As I recall, the last attempts to compete with Diesel engines was with
steam turbines. This source says the Union Pacific actually made two
steam turbine locomotives, and tested them, in 1939 and 1962.
--
Jürg Wyttenbach
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