I like it. In fact, I like almost anything better than
that policy wonk's paradise, the "hydrogen economy."
M.
=============================================================
--- On Sat 02/12, Jones Beene < [EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:
From: Jones Beene [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: vortex-l@eskimo.com
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 14:47:21 -0800
Subject: More on liquid air engines
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<DIV>Imagine a super-efficient and ecologically sound 2-cycle engine... yet...
surprise, surprise... an internal combustion engine with no intake
manifold ! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John Steck should get a "laugh" out of this. How can a real engine have no
intake manifold?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ans: It is powered by a "form" of liquid air. The cryo-liquid is injected
directly into the cylinder at TDC and expands upon irradiation. Much of the
engine can even be made of injection molded engineering plastic, as it can
operate at around 500 degrees F.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Just for some factitious *Laughs,* let use nitrous oxide as our
"whipping boy" i.e. fuel. In reality, the fuel would not be
nitrous per se, but it would be a similar NOx mixture, which is more light
sensitive but might contain 60-80% N2O and would be used at a colder
temperature
than where nitrous liquefies.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>IOW the fuel mix would be designed to rapidly decompose into oxygen and
nitrogen upon laser irradiation. Some small amount of CO2 is tolerable,
perhaps 5% of what a gasoline engine would emit. This fuel/oxidizer compound
liquid would have a much smaller energy content, compared to gasoline, but
could
produce similar net torque in an actual engine because of a very beneficial
expansion ratio, lack of normal air intake and parasitic compression
losses, and exceptional Carnot efficiency. A laser or even RF can
be used as this engine's spark plug, depending on the fuel composition.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Nitrous oxide, N2O, is a colorless gas that was first discovered by a
clergyman and so must have been a gift from God <G> Priestley made N2O in
his garage... err, stable... from simple ingredients like iron powder; and so
could millions of future laymen make our nitrous-like fuel in the next decade
in
their garages at night, using off peak power.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>For the next 250 years or so the primary use of N2O has been dentistry and
recreational enjoyment. Many famous people (of their time) including clergy,
royalty and dignitaries worldwide used to inhale the Priestlly-Davy nitrous
oxide for recreational purposes, so it is not particularly toxic. Ecologically,
nitrous is about as close to real "air" in composition as it gets in the
molecular world. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It was once know as factitious air. An excellent choice ! especially
for a Madison Ave-type sobriquet, one can imagine. If we can keep the
additives low, perhaps we can keep the name!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When the decomposition reaction of this liquid occurs in the
combustion chamber of an automobile, 3 moles of gas would be produced from 2
moles of sprayed liquid, providing an extra boost to the piston over the normal
800-1 ratio, as well as liberating heat, unlike other cryo-fuels like LN or
liquid air. The expansion ratio should be much more favorable than normal. It
also has a number of other benefits. The oxygen provides efficient combustion
of
any tiny amount of hydrocarbon additive (butane?), the nitrogen buffers the
increased cylinder pressure controlling the decomposition, and the latent heat
of vaporization of the N2O reduces the exhaust temperature. We could probably
keep the exhaust gases closer to regular air by taking carbon out when this
fuel
is made.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Of course N2O is occasionally injected into the fuel lines of racing cars
to give more power to the engine and to give the car exceptional acceleration,
so there is a long history of this. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Here the purpose is different, of course, and again the fuel would not be
nitrous, per se... we might want to add in a touch of LP or methane to initiate
the decomposition reaction, if necessary. Yes, that is some of the
dreaded-carbon, but one can imagine that, as an interim measure, the net result
would be a reduction in net carbon released per unit of torque by a
humongous ratio maybe 20-1... we can use this kind of reduced carbon technology
with hundreds of millions of Chinese needing future powered transport.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>...giving us a much longer "grace period" before runaway... </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Say "adieu" to CO2, Gracie... OK George, Adieu to CO2</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Factiously yours,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Jones<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>
<p>
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