Steam Engine Construction Set

Introduction

Steam engines are a robust energy source which played a main role in the industrial devolution, and may now be a viable candidate as an engine of the post-industrial revolution. Tinytech in India manufactures steam engines for various industrial swadeshi applications, primarily in India. We believe that steam engines, coupled to flash steam generators, are also relevant as an appropriate technology choice in the 'developed' world. As such, we are proposing an open source steam engine project, to deliver an appropriate technology, modern steam engine:

• Open design
• Scalable in power from 5 to 100 horsepower
• May utilize electronic valving for mechanical simplification
• May be coupled direcly to linear dynamo - feasibility study required

In particular, Factor e Farm is interested in utilizing these steam engines in the LifeTrac line of tractors, cars, and solar turbine electrical generators.

Design

Link title==Engine==

Typical Engines

Typical steam engine cylinders are made from cast iron. (What is the best metal to use for a steam engine?) Given that water is the working fluid, lubrication is required in the cylinder. (Is there any way to prevent corrosion otherwise?)

• Cylinder - cylinder is made from cast iron.
  • To cast this cylinder from scrap iron, use a (how many?) pound melt, and use a simple melting furnace such as (here?)

The simplest way to cast a cylinder

Green Steam Engine

An alternative engine design that may be worthy of further evaluation can be found [1] here. It looks as though o-rings are used in place of traditional tight tolerance cast iron cylinder boring. Presumably this method is only good for low pressure and temperature steam. The linkage and valve system is highly innovated and would require no precision machining.

• Discussion of the Green steam engine:http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/green-steam-energy/ It does indeed seem that the o-ring method of sealing is incapable of handling high steam temps and pressures and the design is therefore inherently inefficient.

• Marcin says: I looked at this in detail 2 years ago, and purchased plans. When I asked for references of people who built this engine, the inventor did not provide me with any. I became suspicious about the effectiveness of the engine. Since then, I've heard reports from several sources that longevity and performance are questionable. In summary, if this worked as stated, we would see a large number of implementations on the internet. Since these are not to be seen, it does not appear to be a promising design.

Boiler

A simple boiler implementation involves a Babington_Burner heating the inside of a 6 inch metal pipe of 1/8" wall thickness. A 100 foot long coil of 1/2 inch steel tubing is placed inside this coil, and an electronically-controlled Valve delivery system (note: in steam engine case, the 'solar boiler' in last link is replaced by the above 100-foot coil of steel tubing.

Materials

• Stainless steel tubing at McMaster Carr, $130 for 100 feet of 1/2" tubing - type 304 stainless - item number 8989K67 at http://mcmaster.com
• 200 psi pressure relief valve - source?

Boiler Fuel: For transportation vehicles some biomass fuel energy densification is required. Pyrolisis fuels without elaborate processing look prmoising here is a brief summary of some methods http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Program/307/biomasstoDiesel/RobertBrown&JenniferHolmgrenpresentationslides.pdf http://www.biomasscombustion.com/horizontal_grate_technology.htm

Stationary applications can probably get by with a simple style grate biomass boiler. http://www.biomasscombustion.com/horizontal_grate_technology.htm

Design Evolution

• Initial design, 1.8.09 -

3D Initial Model 1/19/09

Bill Of Materials To Date

QTY Description Price Location

• 1 Cylinder 38.03 [2]
• 1 Piston 3" x 5/8" Cold rolled Steel 9.97 [3]
• 1 Shaft 1" 13.01 [4]
• 2 Plate 1/2"x6"x6" 17.71 [5]
• 1 Flywheel 8"x2.5" Cold Rolled Steel 74.3 [6]
• 1 Eccentric 4.5" x .5" Cold rolled 13.95 [7]
• 2 .5" Dia Pin 1.75" Long 6.29 [8]
• 1 Lower Connecting rod 5/8"x1"x6" 9.91 [9]
• 4 3/4"x1.5' Threaded Rod 14.64 [10]

Baseplate TBD Stuffing Box TBD

• 1 6' Sch 80 Steam Pipe 43.7 [11]

TOTAL 241.51

Example of Fully Integrated Steam Energy System

Description of this system by author and excellent background info on homepower steam http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/JF/JF_OTHER/BIG/Reciprocating%20Steam%20Engine.pdf

Apparently Skip Goebel thinks similar to me about electronically controlled steam engines taken from http://www.mail-archive.com/sustainablelorgbiofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg01818.html

Fwd from [EMAIL PROTECTED]:

Two things that I see on the very near horizon that puts steam back on top both efficiency and cost wise in bio fuels.

 First is catalized refractory.  For years, I have been getting a wonderful

catalytic reaction using 'cera-blanket' as a liner in my wood burning fireboxes. Now, by layering a layer of perforated firebrick, behind that a layer of cerablanket, behind that thin steel plate that is perforated and an airgap behind that with casing on the other side. This allows air to be pumped from the casing thru the blanket and then thru the perf brick. We are talking small amounts here of air, but enough to ignite and glow. It is similar to indoor propane heaters used today(ventless).

 With such a reaction between the esters and carbon monoxide burning in such

a way as to really put out the i.r. rays, The firebox is improved in many ways. Including smaller amount of headroom from fuel pile to cieling. This allows fuel pile to be surrounded by the high radiation/refraction refractory. In doing so, the fuel pile distills quite easily, and requires far less incoming air thru the grate which is a big source of nox. The gasses driven off the fuel pile can now be reignited in a controlled situation and where most beneficial.

  Of even bigger benefit, is this kind of firebox can utilize wood 3' or even

longer. This signifigantly reduces material handling energy and cost (hogging). It also makes hand firing feasable. That means a lot in third world countries.

  The biggest news for steam is electric valves.  Finally, they are

commercially available. Volvo will put them out in a year. Valve timing on a piston type steam engine is everything. Without getting too fancy already, I manufacture engines that eat far less steam than a turbine up to about 500hp. The cost is less than half also.

  If I can operate the valve via electric sylinoid instead of mechanical, I

have infinite adjustment on cutoff and expansion which allows for perfect governing and a consumption rate of 10-15lbs per hp, vs 50-70 on a turbine. Again, this is in the up to 500hp bracket, but in the real world, biomass falls into this catagory. Only the big lumbermills do it larger and they are not everywhere. And....they are more user friendly and cheaper.

  I am making the statement now that the catalytic refractories and the

electric valving will become the foundation for new technologies in the combustion of bio fuels. If you do the math, you will see that the fuel rates come close to diesel engines, but without all the hassles. Boilers are more versatile as diesel engines are limited to mainly motive powers and electricity is the main one. While a boiler can give you the means of production and manufacturing. This means a genuine return on investment.

  ...it could be that the grant process will become history. :)

Skip Goebel Sensible Steam International www.sensiblesteam.com www.apin.com.pe

Electronic Solenoid Valve Info: http://www.gwlisk.com/tech_info.html

Tooling Requirements

Metal Casting

• see Foundry for more details

Waste vegetable oil furnace design http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/oilburners03.html Foundry.pdf Pattern_Making.pdf

www.budgetcastingsupply.com http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/furnace/furnace.html www.creativecastingco.com www.host33.com/casting www.backyardmetalcasting.com www.emainc.com/radnor/sand.htm http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~dw120996/..._of_metals.htm

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Lathe

• • Romig bed lathe type - from Multimachine -
  • Simple prototype, $486 in materials BOM:
    • 2 bearings, $50
    • 2 mouning plates, 1/2"x6" angle - $40
    • 4 Shaft Collars - $20
    • 2" shaft - $20
    • DOM tubing, 3", 2" ID - $15
    • 8 3/4" bolts for table - $16
    • Chuck plate - $40
    • Bolts for chuck - $20
    • Nuts and bolts for DOM - $5
    • XY table - $70 off shelf at Enco - [12]
    • Tool post - $10
    • table plate - $30
    • 2 bags of cement, 80 lb each - $20
    • sand, gravel - $10
    • TOTAL - $316
  • High performance, 2/1000" accuracy with proper technique, stock parts, 1000 lb radial and 200 lb axial load capacity

Flash Steam Generator

• • Coil bending jig - $400
  • Stainless steel coil, 150 feet - $200
  • Babington fittings and metal - $100
  • Dremel tool - $40
  • Dremel micro drill press - $40

Open Source Steam

Steam power is not taught in general. For mastering this topic, we need a Steam Power Reading List.

• I have some of this material from Tom Kimmel, of Kimmel Steam Power
• Mike Brown offers a reading list here

Letters and Communications

Letter to VK Desai of Tinytech Plants -

Dear VK,

Can you share your knowledge of steam power with us?

In order to make our solar turbine a success, we need to build the steam engine at low cost - in house. If I do my own labor, use our machine shop, and use casting in house, then the price for the engine parts should be about $150 for a 3 hp engine. Do you think that is realistic?

Please share with me your basic design. Simple drawings on the back of an envelope would do. I am smart at studying design. Please just give me the essentials and material specifications.

Please respond, or put your notes up directly at:

http://openfarmtech.org/index.php?title=Steam_Engine_Construction_Set

If you have any pictures of steam engines in fabrication, please share.

Sincerely,

Marcin

Response from Mike Brown Steam engines

Nick,

Skip Goebel is in Peru, do you have the DVD he did on building a prototype boiler?

I doubt if your solenoid valve will last six months on a steam engine.

Sorry, we don't get involved in other people's engineering projects (we average two emails like yours a day).

Best wishes, Mike

nick raaum wrote: Mr. Brown, I have been working lately on developing a simple horizontal uniflow steam of 3" x3.5" bore and stroke that is controlled by an electronic solenoid valve and a small programmabale logic controller. My full intention is to power this engine with a gasifier monotube style boiler and utilize the exhaust in a 750 gallon thermal storage tank for home heating purposes. In my research in this project I found reference to Skip Goebel's work through your site.

that Skip Goebel may already be building a boiler of similar design, if possible could you give me his contact info? I would also be interested to know if you have given any thought to developing an electronically valved steam engine? I intend to try an asco 1/2" direct acting steam valve that claims to cycle at 800cycles/min for a million plus cycles. I intend to run my engine at 100rpm which in theory may give my controll of the cutoff ratio in increments of .25. This obviously will not be efficient but I want to try the concept first. Perhaps you know more about what this actually would take? In any case I do appreciate your time to read this email and I hope you keep up the good work in small scale steam power development.

Sincerely, Nick Raaum

seek out mike brown steam engins on google

Skip Goebel Sensible Steam Peru s.a.c. Lima, Peru Lima 51 996 984 741 US· 559 922 2410 www.sensiblesteamperu.com

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From: nick raaum <raaumn@hotmail.com> To: info@sensiblesteamperu.com Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:22:16 AM Subject: Wood Fired Monotube Boiler

I came across your site in studying the works of Skip Goebel in home powered steam systems. I intend to build a 3kW cogeneration DC system for home and experimental use. All my research leads me to conclude that Mr. Goebel may have pioneered this idea the furthest and I would be interested in purchasing any information that he has made available on the subject.

I'm not unfamilar with steam, I worked 2 years as Mechanical Engineer at a 400MW coal fired power plant, but am now envisioning working on something a little more decentralized. In any case I strongly feel the case for more self sufficient energy systems is here and given the fuel flexibility and reliability of the steam engine I wish to pursue this idea further. My plan is to construct a simple monotube fired 3kW mechanical valve steam engine to charge my DC battery bank and thermal storage tank. After I am comfortable with this design I would like to investigate the potential improvements of using a low cost programable logic controller for boiler control. Additonaly I am looking for a a high speed durable solenoid valve and the right steam valve to investigate the possibility of electronically conrtolling steam into the engine.

Right now I am thinking that I could use a control loop to continously vary the cutoff ratio of the steam engine for my governor. This would optimize efficiency by running with the lowest allowable cutoff ratio. In any case it seems at least feasible to think that in the future steam engines efficiencies can be improved by better steam control which is one more reason that this technology attracts me. So if Sensible Steam has any information avaialable by Skip Goebel on steam engine system construction and experiences with it I would be very eager to hear more about it how to get it.

Sincerely, Nick Raaum

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Development Team

• Nick Raaum - Project Manager. He works at a coal power plant, but his visions are different.

• Marcin Jakubowski

Links

• $300/hp steam engines in production, Peru - [13]

Steam Engine History:

• http://www.egr.msu.edu/~lira/supp/steam/
• A History of the Growth of the Steam Engine: [14]
• A Catechism of the Steam Engine:[15]

Steam Engine Primers/Groups:

• http://www.pioneer.net/~carlich/RSE/RSEprimer.html
• http://www.the-nerds.org/Steam-101.html
• Promising forum with large library of working steam engine plans: http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/

Engine Plans/Products:

• http://www.pioneer.net/~carlich/RSE/RSEengines.html
• http://www.nearfutures.com/products.htm
• http://www.greensteamengine.com/products.htm
• Triple Expansion Steam Engine Prints: http://www.carferries.com/triple/
• Lindsey Publications:http://www.lindsaybks.com/prod/sub/engines.html
• http://www.grahamind.com/
• http://quasiturbine.promci.qc.ca/Presse/SteamMuller050721.pdf
• These guys claim 30% efficiency on their non compunding multi cylinder steam engine http://www.energiprojekt.com/?product
• 3kW steam engine for $1375: http://www.thesustainablevillage.com/servlet/display/products/byCat/71/441/2557/
• Lots of Plans: http://www.john-tom.com/html/SteamPlans.html
• A nice simple double engine plan: http://openfarmtech.org/images/e/e0/MichelNiggelTwin.pdf

Misc:

• Vegetable Oil Based Lubricant:http://www.steamenginelube.com/chelesic.htm
• Homebrew Steam Engine Generator:http://www.otherpower.com/steamengine.shtml
• Steam Engine Manuf. Links: http://cedesign.net/steam/steam-links1.htm
• Oil Free Steam Engine Design for Vehicles: http://six6.region-stuttgart.de/sixcms/media.php/773/23_Platell_P.pdf
• Flash Steam Engine, Could this be advantageous http://www.huzar-power.com/steam_engines/revival/flash_steam.htm

Engineering Specs:

Nick R. says, what are the limits to lathe boring diameters in cast iron? This [16] method of construction looks simple and attractive if it could be scaled up enough?