Solar steam engine #1

Solar steam engine #1

Music:
Song 1: Sydney's Skyline by ALBIS
Song 2: Foundation by Vibe Tracks
Song 3: Zoom by Vibe Tracks
Song 4: Escape by Eveningland

[storytimefarther]

Precisely approximately more or less exactly.... you sir are a ledgend....

[wynnjames]

Had this idea 20 years ago my design was different in that it was a vacuum insulated pressure vessel with quartz sight glass and a carbon rod in the pressure tank
there is a recessed cone shaped void in the carbon rod so that you would be hitting the center of the rod not just the surface and you can gravity feed the water to maintain your back pressure with a check valve. Furthermore don't forget the importance of mirrors you could drill a hole in the center of your dish and instead of having your pressure vessel in front of the dish it is behind the dish using parabolic mirrors

[PigMine]

The problem with that steam engine is it has a two-way valve so the forces balance or cancel each other until a major difference in pressure. You need to put a one way valve system on it so air can only flow in one direction

[timmsmiithgm]

I love it: "the center of mass is precisely, approximately, more-or-less exactly..." So, you used to be a politician?

[donovandelaney]

The first one was in 1866. Tesla tried it and failed.

[MrCountrycuz]

pressure cooker painted black and exposed to the your heat ray should do the job.

[zetacon]

Dude, all you really need is to talk with a knowledgeable thermal engineer and many of your bad guesses will no longer be necessary.
You figured out the thermal coefficient of aluminum and water. Why did you stop there? The pressure/thermal properties of many materials are freely available online. Start there and find appropriate materials for your parts. By the way, when steam leaves your primary heating chamber (receiver), you must be sure to insulate your line all the way to your steam engine intake. A great deal of energy is lost by cooling if you fail to do this. Second, ditch that reciprocating leaky mess and go straight to a very efficient Tesla turbine. You won't regret it. You will need a small pressure tank between the receiver and the turbine to allow for pressure smoothing and volume adjustments. Remember, each stage of your system must be checked for energy losses. This goes all the way to your generator!. You can botch up the whole project by loosing a little here and a little there. Using steam can be a very interesting and enjoyable energy transfer medium. But, the main drawback is being diligent to reduce ALL losses in the whole system. If you choose to continue using glass, be absolutely sure you are using pyrex high temperature glass, like the type used in baking. NO more low-temp untempered crap. Steel works very well. Just blacken a small patch with soot from a flame to accept your solar energy . Keep it very thin. Use rock wool as the insulating blanket around your steel receiver. Use copper tubing from the steel receiver all the way to your Tesla turbine jet injector. Insulate this tubing with rock wool covered in aluminum foil. Remember to thermally insulate the part that holds your receiver or it will bleed off a huge amount of energy right at the receiver! Best to hold it with two hose clamps outside the insulation blanket. Do the same with the copper tubing going to the turbine. Follow this advice and you will have half of a good electric generating system. The other half is the generator and regulator and beyond.

[williamwest]

Precisely approximately more or less exactly. We went to the same engineering school, I see. Let everyone decide what can't be done, then go out and do it.

[roberttso]

I think your mirror is too small. 1kW/m^2. You need to size the mirror to the engine power (assuming a good value for efficiency) you expect to get.

[thomvogan]

Why didn't you just use a steel cannister painted black to focus the rays on, an old propane cannister comes to mind.

[ralfboecker]

Solar power iradiation on 1m² is about 1kW power, so with estimated 10% low pressure steam engine efficiency you might get out 100W of mechanical power. --- However, todays photovoltaic modules provide 15~20% electrical efficiency --> 150~200 W/m² at < 150 US$ budget ==> Not easy to win that competition...

[tritile]

"precisely, approximately, more less exactly"

[mickbrumer]

Love your work, but you had me laughing with the line, "Precisely, approximately, more or less exactly"

;) good video thanks

[ZenThruAnger]

Just watched your video and found it quite inspirational to my own thought projects of combining various alternative energy production and storage methods. That system would be great for pumping water, say for a small water tower or for a even larger one in a tier pumping system. Thanks for the inspiration!

[NOMAN]

who said the back yard mechanics and inventors were dead. =+1 sub : )

[maddhatter]

"precisely, exactly, more or less exactly" nice quote, very confidence inspiring.

[JERELSALSERO]

iets snap ik niet, die fles heeft alleen een afvoer van stoom, hoe vul je water toe? waarom gebruik je niet een oude snelkookpan met in en uitlaat van koperen spiraal waar die warmtestraal op gericht wordt? + toevoer water met eenrichtingsklep. (uitgaande dat waterleiding hogere druk krijgt dan uitlaat stoom..

[WarblesOnALot]

G'day,

Yay Team !

I spent a while with Alfoil and a Satellite Dish, but I was pyrolising Wood scraps and Sawdust into Methane and Hydrogen..., feeding a little 4-Litre "Gasometer"...

I made a Playlist of the experiments, if you backtrack me to my Channel it's,

"The SunGas Project...".

What I found was that the slightest Cloud, Wind, or even a hazy day made that day's "Run" a waste of time.

Unlike Photovoltaic Systems, anything which is Solar Thermal demands Clear Air, Visibility Unlimited, Nil Wind.

So, sadly, I concluded that as a practical anything much beyond cooking a Potato as a Party-Trick, on the right day ; Solar Thermal Systems are fascinating but useless diversions..

Such is Life,

Have a good one.

;-p

Ciao !

[normoloid]

Steam engines are notoriously underpowered and complex.
Steam turbine on the other hand is one of the simplest ways to benefit from steam, that's why most of world's energy is produced with turbines.
With those temps that a parabol can produce, there is no problem whatsoever to run a subcritical turbine.


But then again, is it worth the efficiency boost when compared to solar stirling, which is by far to simplest way to get energy, with very low maintenance and running costs, and easily outliving even steam turbines when comparing lifetimes as well as adaptability..

[speakstheobvious]

How big would this have to be to run the average house? TV, PC, Starlink, Kitchen appliances, Light bulbs, etc?