What an clever open crankcase steam engine idea! What that baby needs is a monotube boiler! I love how steam engines produce so much torque at low RPMS!
Ok, if it runs on compressed air, it should also run on steam. Except that then you have to deal with all the condensation/corrosion nastiness of steam. But you can stoke a boiler with anything that burns, or even some big-ass solar mirrors.
@@theq4602 Wrong. You will ALWAYS have condensation at some point. And a blow out valve to purge it properly. THIS thing is nothing more than a bastardized combustion motor. Cute...but useless.
Nice build! I've been doing steam for alternative off grid energy quite a while now. If you need to build a high pressure wood steam boiler I have done that been there.
@@zinniawellness3313 I have a few videos about my wood/steam/electricity combined heat electricity work on my wiscokidd channel but I also have this video on this channel which I also produce, which is the most popular of them: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bTjikSKJUH0.html Thank you for the question, gooday eh K
@@hurvinekspejbl6229 I did not, but Wisco Kidd (above) mentioned he had, and I wanted to see what he had built, as well. This is VERY interesting though, thank you!
@@zinniawellness3313 i have just posted on reddit if steam generator would work like 1kWh, everyone said that i should buy petrol generator, well i dont want one because of buying petrol (expensive) well they sent me link on gasifier - making gas out of wood and using it in generator.
I added a 1/4" threaded bolt to other valve on the cam made the briggs a two stroke and ran it on steam, approx $14. i mowed grass the motor was on a lawn mower. I bought an undercounter autoclave from the hospital, converted it from 480 volt 3 phase to 240 vilt so I coukd run it from my welder plugin. used rubber steam hose to mow with
Looks like you have solved the main problems associated with the steam conversion there Hunter S - no crankcase full of mayonaise for you! Have you considered a monotube flash boiler? It is a far safer option for backyard steam engineers as the quantity of water available to create an explosion is much much less. A cup full of water can make a fair bang but a couple of gallons will leave a crater where you used to be standing - it's all about how much water is at high temperature.
Thought about doing this but,I’ve pondered about how to keep the steam pressure regulated without having to stand there for hours feeding coal beneath the boiler. I think an auger that pulls from a trough,that is triggered by a low pressure switch.
i dont think you can easily control this with coal and wood. for this reason cars were used much later because cars need more instant need for rpm and power while trains can take their time to gather power. by the time steam cars came along they were run using gas, alcohol or oil
pretty nice set up👍 that camshaft look’s like it took some time to get right. wonder there’s anyway to port time these engines like a two-stroke. drill a hole or holes through the side of the block into the cylinder at the bottom of the stroke just above the piston for exhaust. kind of like a valveless and use the -1 intake valve or Chuck the camshaft all together and make a mechanical external steam valve driven off the fly wheel to Open at top dead center seen lots of two strokes done all they do is block off the intake port and run steam right into the spark plug hole and there up and running they’re just tiny and probably won’t make much power with A piston the size of a quarter.
Nice toy... although it is just that..you can turn that alternator but making it charge requires 1 hp for every 25 amps.. this engine's life started out as a 5hp gas engine..but a single acting steam engine doesn't produce much actual power. Like a well designed steam engine.. also you'll have oiling problems( valves, wrist pins , crank journals. Ect..and most important, you'll have major condensation problems (cylinders have to stay very hot to keep superheated steam in a gas form, if you see steam it's back to water vapor and will eventually build up water in the cylinders causing the head to split , crack ect.. don't ask me how i know this ) the outside of the cylinders need to be hogged out and insulated..but even then the aluminium is going to expand way too much.. if they happen to be iron cylinders you could cram insulation between the fins and screw some shim stock over it to hold tue heat in.. along with expansion problems because of the aluminium construction....just think about it... 90-100;pounds of steam pressure (minimum for superheated steam and to get any appreciative power) and the expanding going on from all that heat.. what do tou think will happen to the heads over time.. With all that said I think he did do an awesome build...I just mentioned these problems because I don't want people to think this is the answer for reliable emergency power. Spend the money or at least buy a casting kit and build one that way.. Go to some steam shows and read a lot before you even try to make a boiler... failure to know everything will cancel your stamp..
Funny work, but why not done with the air-compressor and the steam-engine and connect the alternator straight to the petrol engine...it would be much more economical...
Looks great do have concerns that when you put alternator under a load how it will affect engine. If wired to put out 120 240 it’s going to give some drag when under load.
He ran it thru the intake so that the valve would close on the exhaust stroke, improving efficiency by minimizing losses. Running thru the spark plug hole would let steam come out on the exhaust stroke and would be wasted energy that the engine doesn’t get to use
Cold Steam the efficient way to use heat sources to produce electricity and or distilled water explained from basic concept to employment. Two open containers one full of water the other empty connect them at the bottom and water will reach an equilibrium 50 50. If one is sealed except for the connection the other will remain empty because of the vacuum created in the sealed container. Gravity will overcome this vacuum if the containers are taller than 30 feet. If the tanks are 40 feet tall the tanks will reach an equilibrium of water levels at 30 feet leaving ten feet of hard vacuum in the sealed tank. This makes a vacuum pump set we need two of them if we were going to distill water as the cold side open tank is used to collect the distilled water from it as the continuous input of water needs to go somewhere. Each sealed tank has four valves three at the top two of those on opposite sides (B&C) one at the very top (D) one at the bottom on the side (A), water-based vacuum pump operations are, Close bottom tank valve A and top tank valve C. Open top tank valve D. Fill sealed tank through top side valve B. Close valve B and D when full. Open bottom valve A. This primes the system to let the warm water in that will vaporize and run through the system when you partially reopen valve B (to control flow rate) and open valve C to its fullest. For only power generation need one pump set and one vacuum tank so we can have a Hot side and a Cold side one to boil the water and one to have the low pressure/vacuum to draw the steam in through the turbine then the cooling coils then to the tank. At the bottom of the cold side, tank is a return pipe with the one way valve to the heat source the one-way valve prevents expansion back to the cold side and as the hot side vacuum chamber is the only outlet for the expanding water and it is drawn by the vacuum the cycle proceeds. You can combine the two and get power generation and distilled water keeping the return line from the power generation system will let you switch if you don't need distilled water on a continuous basis in large quantities. I am going to make one feel free to make one as well it is open source.
While it works like that. Efficiency on steam will be quite low, and it can't take much pressure before blowing past the spring closed valves. First the inlet valve needs to be arranged for cutoff at around 50% stroke maximum, preferably variable cutoff controlled by a governor for maximum steam efficiency. And then the valve need to be in the head and as little room left as possible for wasted steam. (air compressor style compression clearance) A custom head with built in rocker valve (or push/pull valve) like the westinghouse high speed engines were made would work good. And while cutting away the crankcase and lubing with grease fittings solves the water contamination of oil sump problem, it would requite frequent grease shots. The westinghouse engines had water in the crankcase and floated steam oil on top of it for crank bearing and cylinder lube. And then had drip oilers on the main bearings and grease cups on the valve shaft in the head. The startup condensate relief valves were vented to the crankcase, adding a little water every startup. I have a small westinghouse patented engine built by ACME in NY almost 100 years ago. It has no rust inside from the water, the steam oil coats everything and prevents the water from doing any harm. Anyone serious about steam engine construction should get ahold of some old metal working machines and put together a small foundry furnace. Also get a few steam engine design books. It is very nice to be able to turn wood and water into energy to run things. As well as fun.
erm...... no it won't blow past the valves, because it's fed through the plug hole and in effect it has two exhausts if you look the lobes on the cam are identical coming in at the same time.... so that more or less fucks off all your idea, as for the custom head, it's not needed because steam and hot gas from petrol will be flowing more or less the same, and you will need the gap for the condensed water or else it will blow the fucking head off on the upstroke.... the only improvement i think it needs is a water drain so that when the engine exhausts it prevents water build up in the cylinder, that could be arranged by changing a valve seat with a hole in it drilled through the head to a low point in the cylinder so that when it unseats, the water can be sucked up the pipe by capillery action/vacuum/airflow what have you and get thrown out the exhaust.
yes, a separate inlet valve will let it work on high pressure, using both poppets for exhaust. I think 1200 psi is the normal gas engine cylinder pressure on ignition. As for condensate relief, the combustion space is way more than sufficient unless experience tells otherwise, since it's only a start up issue. An almost zero clearance head will need a gap around the circumference inside to pick up water and a water relief valve to open for a bit on startup. But the smaller the clearance space can be made the more efficient with steam it will be. That's one reason the corliss engines were so much better. I will do some IC engine conversion experiments soon I hope now that I have a boiler. Good winter project. I've had steam interest since about 1978, collected all the steam engine design books I can find. Along with collecting machining and foundry equipment so I can build things from scratch. But finding time to do it becomes an issue. Everything else in life keeps me busy.
alternator isn't even wired up to any load. Other than the lack of lubrication in the bottom end, what happens with a load on the alternator or actually running on steam?
Industrial steam engines of 100-200hp in 1900 often had exhaust cooling and shell cooling to prevent wear due to overheating. Milling the fins on a small one or packing them with nomex fabric would keep heat in though.
Does it require more energy producing the steam than to use gasoline engine of equal power ? I realize that gasoline may not be readily available but wood gasification could be an option and charcoal is a useful byproduct .
very interesting, buy a cheep inverter from harbor frieght make 120 ac and throw the power at some 100 watt light bulbs, you can test the volts and the amps and figure out power out put.
I know this is old, but I've been interested in steam engines to power vehicles. How hard is it to convert a briggs to run on steam and power say... a bike?
+epicdeuce I'm assuming you mean power for the engine, you could run it off of air or build a steam generator or boiler, if you build a boiler don't go cheap, get a relief valve get a good solid heavy tank, steam is a bomb waiting to go off if its not done right. Thats why my current boiler i've been working on is being made from .5 inch thick steal but its also going to be at a 120 PSi, if you get a good almost new air tank or like my first boiler you could use a propan tank, i wouldn't go any more then 50 psi with that though heating and cooling will rot it out pretty quick. Post a vid if you build it!
Yes the engine i used was a 5hp briggs flat head but any 4 stroke will do, as for you honda it depends whats broken, as long as it mechanically still works you should be good to go.
Thanks for answer! The hondas I have are worn out. All of thems spend white smoke everywhere. I will try to make it work like you did, my friend! :) . I have a question: Why did you cut off the ckankcase and use greasing points? Why didnt you use oil as the original engine? Maybe because the oil may mix with the steam? I hope you understand my englisk writing! thanks again!
Really nice work there. Any idea how many RPM you are able to get? Also I'm curious how many horse power you'd be getting out of that, I know you probably don't have a way of finding that bit out, just really interested/curious! That alternator setup would be pretty neat to hook up to a winch and have a bad A steam crane! Lol.
well i think i'm getting around 1000 rpm, and with this air compressor its probably 1.5 hp but when i had a real compressor powering it i probably got 3000 rpm and about 4 hp about, the thing with these engines are their only as powerful as their air/steam supply.
Hey dumb shit, the the compressed air and compressed steam are virtually the same. He's using compressed air in place of steam. Same concept. Damn, always gotta be that one dumb ass that couldn't get it.
steam engine. Hmm looks like a compressed air engine that takes 8hp to run it. Theres no gains in this whatsoever. I can see youve welded double lobes on the camshaft as well. There is no load on the alternator as well, what gives. Am I supposed to assume this motor will run on steam and from what source. Im confused here. Please explain.
ChiefJustice Middleton Steam produced at home. Maybe take what he learnt here and make a double with a custom case and diy top. The load can be calculated later, this would be wonderful for a hunt site generator. Lightbulbs and maybe a satellite phone/gps or even batteries for a solar panel array combo.
The point being he took a shot out gasoline engine and it'll now run off any compressed fluid source looks like it'll put out at least 20 amps at reasonably low rpms with only moderate pressure.
Did you remove the scraper ring? Being its cast iron I would think it would rust up fast an cause probs. If it causes a compression lose I'd use another compression ring being its chromoly it would take awhile to rust if it did at all.