Steam powered RX-8
09-05-2008, 01:42 PM
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Steam powered RX-8
Well, sort of. How about half of a rotary engine powered by steam! This company is using the rotary as a test bed for a concept. This article is from back in May but I missed it. They have currently stated it works though. Interesting. The article isn't full of detail but after some study here's how it works.
The basic breakdown is that one rotor runs normally on gasoline. The heat from the exhaust of this rotor runs through a heat exchanger where it heats up water in a closed loop system to a boil where it creates steam. This steam is then sent to the other rotor to turn it. The steam exits this rotor and goes through a heat exchanger of it's own to condense it back into water before going back to the exhaust heat exchanger to start the process all over again.
My question is, how did they deal with the center exhaust ports? They had to have taken the engine apart and blocked off the intake and exhaust ports of one rotor. I also wonder how they got the expansion they needed with steam? The engine has 2 expansion points, one on each side of the rotor. This means that in a perfect world you could have a rotor with no compression dish as well as an intake and exhaust valve on both the top and bottom of the rotor at the same time. This would mean the rotor does twice the work of stock. I suspect they didn't go to this extreme. I would guess they rigged it up so steam enters the intake ports but where it exhausts is the real question. Their whole goal at this point is to just prove the concept works though rather than optimizing it. I'm sure they'll get to that point.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05...hybrid-system/
The basic breakdown is that one rotor runs normally on gasoline. The heat from the exhaust of this rotor runs through a heat exchanger where it heats up water in a closed loop system to a boil where it creates steam. This steam is then sent to the other rotor to turn it. The steam exits this rotor and goes through a heat exchanger of it's own to condense it back into water before going back to the exhaust heat exchanger to start the process all over again.
My question is, how did they deal with the center exhaust ports? They had to have taken the engine apart and blocked off the intake and exhaust ports of one rotor. I also wonder how they got the expansion they needed with steam? The engine has 2 expansion points, one on each side of the rotor. This means that in a perfect world you could have a rotor with no compression dish as well as an intake and exhaust valve on both the top and bottom of the rotor at the same time. This would mean the rotor does twice the work of stock. I suspect they didn't go to this extreme. I would guess they rigged it up so steam enters the intake ports but where it exhausts is the real question. Their whole goal at this point is to just prove the concept works though rather than optimizing it. I'm sure they'll get to that point.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05...hybrid-system/
09-05-2008, 01:43 PM
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whoa, that's different!!
09-05-2008, 02:04 PM
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Some steam locomotives had a small amount of steam oil added to the water supply. Since this is a closed loop water system, this would be very easy to do. Think of premix on the steam rotor that never has to be refilled.
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