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Steam has a place. It has been in use for 200 years and still in use. The best application is in stationary applications, mainly power generation. it isn't as good in mobile applications. Hydrogen fuel cells and electric are better options for cars.
Stationary works because you don't have to carry any water anywhere.
I can't see this as useful at all for passenger cars. Low efficiency plus carrying a bunch of extra weight - and weight that changes greatly over time. That makes it more difficult to have consistent handling.
There were several steam cars, not just the Stanly Steamer. Probly the most advanced was the Doble, as late as 1925. It required less time to build up steam and used less water to do it.
If you have ever driven a steam car it would be a memorable experence. No noise, untold amounts of power. I have several friends that are into steam. Yes, water is the big problem.
It is for sure possible to build a car that can run on steam. It could burn your trash at the same time. Problem is that big business crooks can not make money off of selling water.....They will try to block any efforts made to use steam and not gasoline.
Problem is that big business crooks can not make money off of selling water.....They will try to block any efforts made to use steam and not gasoline.
rubbish. first you would still have to buy fuel for a steam powered car, second a service station can make money selling water also.
and to those who think steam engines are big and bulky, again i say rubbish. many a steam powered drill or shovel had fairly small engines. in fact any automobile engine, with the possible exception of the mazda rotary engine, can be used as a steam engine. the only real issue is heating the water quickly enough to make it viable for cold weather use, and getting enough range to compete with gasoline powered vehicles.
rubbish. first you would still have to buy fuel for a steam powered car, second a service station can make money selling water also.
and to those who think steam engines are big and bulky, again i say rubbish. many a steam powered drill or shovel had fairly small engines. in fact any automobile engine, with the possible exception of the mazda rotary engine, can be used as a steam engine. the only real issue is heating the water quickly enough to make it viable for cold weather use, and getting enough range to compete with gasoline powered vehicles.
Well Nuclear Fusion (not to be confused with Fission) is the perfect source for making steam so maybe in the future it could be the electric battery charger and steam engine hybrid alternative.
Well Nuclear Fusion (not to be confused with Fission) is the perfect source for making steam so maybe in the future it could be the electric battery charger and steam engine hybrid alternative.
well yes and no. the only issue there is the waste issue.
Ted Pritchard's steam car is not at all choosy about the fuel it runs on. It will accept petrol, but it doesn't insist on it. Kerosene will do. So will diesel. Or, what is more interesting, it will run quite happily on vegetable fuels such as alcohol, which can be made easily and in ,large quantities from sugar cane, or on vegetable oils. Any fuel derived from crops is, of course. infinitely renewable.Another possible fuel is low-grade petrol of the kind that can be produced from coal. The Pritchard engine has low pollution emissions for two reasons. One is that it does not sufrer from the knocking problems of the internal combustion engine, so it does not need lead in its fuel. The other is that it gives better combustion.In an internal combustion engine there is a wide range of temperatures inside the combustion chamber. Near the walls it is comparatively cool, so combustion is incomplete, and carbon monoxide forms. Closer to the centre of the combustion chamber it is relatively hot, and this results in the formation of various oxides of nitrogen, particularly as the combustion gases have already been heated by compression. Oxides of nitrogen in car emissions are the major cause of photo-chemical smog. None of these conditions occur in the Pritchard engine. The two litres of water used to generate steam in the Pritchard power unit are condensed in a radiator and used again. A 16 litre reserve tank is refilled only occasionally. Compare this with the 90 litres water tank of the Stanley Steamer, which had to be filled about every 300 kilometres. The steam generator supplies steam to drive the engine proper, a two-cylinder 90' vee. Described as a one-stroke, it has steam inlets at both the top and bottom of the cylinders, so that the piston is driven on both the upstroke and downstroke. This particular cycle gives the two-cylinder one-stroke engine just as many power strokes as a conventional eight-cylinder four-stroke engine.
And then put on ice as no one was interested in investing into "new" technology. This thing looks about as fuel efficient as early 80s diesel Mercedes and about mas much, if not more, omnivorous.
Only in DC where there is an abundance of hot air...
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