At 04:29 PM 8/14/2012, Michael Foster wrote:
The piston rings are rubber O-rings. There's no way in hell that
the helium in the noble gas mixture will stay in the cylinder for an
appreciable length of time.
Helium is notoriously fugitive and will escape from virtuall any
container not made of solid glass
or metal. O-rings just aren't going to work in their engine unless
the noble gas mixture can be
replenished frequently.
Both the new patent application and John Rohner's descrpition
http://pesn.com/2009/07/18/9501554_Plasma_Transition_Process_motor_system/
say there is a gas cannister so that the engine can be recharged on the fly :
The same volume of gas mixture is used for reaction over and over
again for an extended period of time. Loss of gas mixture is not
considered because of the increased pressure during the power stroke
and the vacuum during the non power stroke. So any gas leaking past
the sealing rings of the pistons will be very small. The PlasmERG
controller also has a refuel action to keep this from being a field
problem. PlasmERG's fuel cans look like the air conditioner refueler
"freon " cans used to refill a car air conditioner. They are screwed
in and used as needed.
.....
They also sense cylinder reaction power output, so they know when to
"refuel"; and they expect to be able to do this automatically on the run.
