Posted on 06/16/2008 10:01:03 AM PDT by Red Badger
A turbine engine may be the Ultimate "Omnivorous" engine.
In the near future it may not if you can get the fuel, but can you burn it.
Their are drawbacks, Without a recouperator to send the heat back through the engine, efficiencies are incredibly low.
Another problem. As a hobbyist, you probably could build a piston engine on a lathe and bridgeport and it will run, but I wouldn't try it with a gas turbine. But when it comes to balancing at the RPM's he is talking about, you need VERY expensive equipment. Another issue is liberation. Little engine parts breaking loose if not designed robustly enough are literally deadly, as they fly though the outer case at you.
If you can't tell, I spent some time in the arena, and that is as far as I go, but at this point consider me from Missouri....
"Detroit can do this tomorrow" ...Ya well there is a story about one manufacturer that tried that, auto tolerances and all.... the Proto engine burned up, IMHO I not think this gent has any real exposure to the gas turbine arena, it is not as easy at it looks....
Me too. My dad was an engineer on the Chrysler Turbine project. Some ideas are just ahead of their time, I suppose. But it would be great to make it finally happen.
The H2 he claims wowed the GM engineers was just an H2 with a Duramax diesel dropped in it.
No reason for GM engineers to swoon.
The guy has yet to show anything new as far as I can tell.
See #25
I wish I knew enough to comment on this with some intelligence but I don’t. I have little aptitude for mechanics.
However, I honestly believe the solution to our energy crisis will derive from new technologies in the near future. This sounds too good to be true but one of these days it’s going to work and change the world as we know it.
I am an optimist when it comes to technology.
1963 Chrysler Turbine. I've seen it at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. It was even made into a movie called The Lively Set.
The problem with the 60 MPG Hummer is that Turbines take a while to spool up, so while it may only take a few seconds to charge the SuperCapacitors, it will take a minute or more to fire up the turbine.
Also, turbine engines are not cheap, so expect a $250,000 60 MPG Hummer. I've always wondered why over-the-road Tractor-Trailer rigs or train locomotives didn't use Turbine-Electric engines. The cost of the engine over a diesel, and the reduced fuel milage over a diesel were the reasons I've been told.
Other than that, I forsee fistfights at the back of fast food resturaunts, as all of these biodiesel drivers fight over the 20 gallons of used fry oil.
http://www.dailyindependent.com/nationalnews/local_story_155062921.html
$120,000 gone and the electric Lincoln still doesn’t work.
“He took a lemon Hummer doubled the mileage of 9 to 18 using french fried oil. You also might have seen his work on Pimp My Ride where he took the show pick of a ‘65 Chevy Impala, converted the bad boy car to run on biodiesel, doubled the mileage to 25 mpg and increased the hp from 250 to 800. Are you interested? Hell, thats not all. The Impala drag-raced the sassy $100,000 Lamborghini at Pomona Raceway and blew the Italian spaghetti off the road.”
All he did was put diesel engines in these vehicles. Why is everyone amazed?
http://thecsquare.blogspot.com/2008/01/johnathan-goodwins-100mpg-lincoln.html
“He took a lemon Hummer doubled the mileage of 9 to 18 using french fried oil. You also might have seen his work on Pimp My Ride where he took the show pick of a ‘65 Chevy Impala, converted the bad boy car to run on biodiesel, doubled the mileage to 25 mpg and increased the hp from 250 to 800. Are you interested? Hell, thats not all. The Impala drag-raced the sassy $100,000 Lamborghini at Pomona Raceway and blew the Italian spaghetti off the road.”
All he did was put diesel engines in these vehicles. Why is everyone amazed?
There are plenty of small off-the-shelf turbine generators already built, mostly for commercial aircraft. They are Auxilliary Power Units, and are used to provide backup electrical and hydraulic power in the event of engine power loss, and on the ground to run the ground systems until the main engines are spooled up.
Again, the problem is cost of the turbine.
No doubt the guy’s a mechanical genius and a true believer (which always kind of worries me) in what he’s doing. I have to take stuff like this with a big ol’ grain of salt, however:
“He installed a Duramax in the Hummer and plopped a carbon-fiber tank of supercompressed hydrogen into the bed. The results were impressive: A single tank of hydrogen lasted for 700 miles and cut the diesel consumption in half. It also doubled the horsepower.”
Maybe it’s just a limitation of my understanding of the laws of thermodynamics and such, but I fail to see how adding a little hydrogen gas to the mix can improve diesel engine fuel economy that much. I’d like to see some measurements of his fuel economy done under controlled conditions by a disinterested third party.
He should also be aware that firing up a big turbine engine “for a few seconds” to charge capacitors or batteries is an extremely inefficient way to use it. A much smaller turbine operating at a constant speed and throttle opening would be much more efficient.
Not really.
To a leftist it’s about the consumerism and the actual use of wealth to make life better for those who can.
This was demonstrated in their outrage at the Tahoe Hybrid.
It isn’t about the gas mileage. It’s about someone driving around in some huge vehicle - that’s what p1$$es them off.
I’m even willing to veer into the conspiracy theory that it’s about limiting family size as well. I’m open to comments on this conjecture.
We only got to see the movie version (I think it was white) for a day, but we had one of the originals to drive for a week. It was only a 4 seater, so one of us kids had to ride the “hump” in the back seat. Pretty cool at the time!
Yep, those parts are BS, imo.
I don’t see anything new in the Lincoln whatsoever.
http://www.thisisjustcool.com/cool-people/johnathan-goodwin-the-mpg-rock-star/
“Jonathan Goodwin, the auto conversion phenom who likes to tinker with Hummers and Lincolns and make them behave downright green. His current project is converting the ultimate gas guzzler — 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV convertible — into potentially a 100 MPG hybrid.
“It will run a 120 miles just on pure electric power,” he said, adding that the car will contain two dozen lithium ion batteries operating at 426 volts. A small diesel will recharge the batteries power a large generator to provide the juice. He’ll also use regenerative braking to help keep the batteries charged.
In fact, the batteries will be so powerful, they can provide “Vehicle to Grid (VTG)” electricity to power buildings when the car is stationary, claims Goodwin. One wonders about the safety of such a power-laden vehicle. Expense, too. Goodwin says VTG technology was developed in the early 1990s from the development of electric cars”
amazing how people will spend thousands in order to save tens. than they complain that they can’t afford an ything.
Whipping a home-brew up in your garage is easy. Getting a car/engine combo to pass the full EPA/NHTSA certification is another.
50,000 miles with NO Maintenance except toping fluids and then pass the EPA test, change the fluids and run another 50,000 miles NO Maintenance and pass the test again.
When he does that with one of his “designs’, then you can pat him on the back.
Nice afternoon read, thanks!
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