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Free-piston
A free-piston engine is a linear, 'crankless' internal combustion engine, in which the piston motion is not controlled by a crankshaft but determined by the interaction of forces from the combustion chamber gases, a rebound device (e.g., a piston in a closed cylinder) and a load device (e.g. a gas compressor or a linear alternator). The purpose of all such piston engines is to generate power. In the free-piston engine, this power is not delivered to a crankshaft but is instead extracted through either exhaust gas pressure driving a turbine, through driving a linear load such as an air compressor for pneumatic power, or by incorporating a linear alternator directly into the pistons to produce electrical power. The basic configuration of free-piston engines is commonly known as single piston, dual piston or opposed pistons, referring to the number of combustion cylinders. The free-piston engine is usually restricted to the two-stroke operating principle, since a power stroke is req ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free-piston Linear Generator
The free-piston linear generator (FPLG) uses chemical energy from fuel to drive magnets through a stator and converts this linear motion into electric energy. Because of its versatility, low weight and high efficiency, it can be used in a wide range of applications, although it is of special interest to the mobility industry as range extenders for electric vehicles. Description The free-piston engine linear generators can be divided in 3 subsystems: * One (or more) reaction section with a single or two opposite pistons * One (or more) linear electric generator, which is composed of a static part (the stator) and a moving part (the magnets) connected to the connection rod. * One (or more) return unit to push the piston back due to the lack of a crankshaft (typically a gas spring or an opposed reaction section) The FPLG has many potential advantages compared to traditional electric generator powered by an internal combustion engine. One of the main advantages of the FPLG comes from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Huber (engineer)
Robert Huber (7 July 1901 - 7 April 1995) was born in Freienstein, Switzerland. He attended a primary school in Freienstein from 1908 to 1914 and a secondary school in Freienstein from 1914 to 1916. From 1916 to 1920 he attended a high school in Zurich. From 1920 to 1924 he studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (now ETH Zurich) under Professor Aurel Stodola. Career In 1924, Huber became Technical Director of the Bureau Technique Pescara where he supervised the design of nearly 30 different sizes and types of free-piston engine and acquired the nickname "Mr Free Piston". The first was the AC-2, running on petrol (gasoline). The second was the AC-3, which was similar but ran on diesel fuel. Eighteen types of free-piston engine were built and tested. In 1932, Huber read a book by Professor Lomonosov about diesel locomotives. He also heard of a proposal by Petro Shelest for turbines driven by compressed air. This information gave him the idea of developing the fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Turbine Locomotive
A gas turbine locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a gas turbine. Several types of gas turbine locomotive have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels (drivers). A gas turbine train typically consists of two power cars (one at each end of the train), and one or more intermediate passenger cars. A gas turbine offers some advantages over a piston engine. There are few moving parts, decreasing the need for lubrication and potentially reducing maintenance costs, and the power-to-weight ratio is much higher. A turbine of a given power output is also physically smaller than an equally powerful piston engine, so that a locomotive can be extremely powerful without needing to be inordinately large. However, a gas turbine's power output and efficiency both drop dramatically with rotational speed, unlike a piston engine, which has a comparatively flat power curve. This makes GTEL syste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raúl Pateras Pescara
Raúl Pateras Pescara de Castelluccio (1890 – 1966), marquis of Pateras-Pescara, was an engineer, lawyer and inventor from Argentina who specialized in automobiles, helicopters and free-piston engines. Pescara is credited for being one of the first people to successfully utilize cyclic pitch, as well as pioneering the use of autorotation for the safe landing of a damaged helicopter. Pescara also set a world record (at the time) in 1924 for achieving a speed of in a helicopter. Biography Pescara was born in Buenos Aires and at the beginning of the 20th century, his family left Argentina to return to Europe. Aircraft In 1911, using a workshop that Pescara was involved with, Gustave Eiffel tested a scale model (1:20) of a seaplane (monoplane design) named the ''Pateras Pescara'', designed by Pescara and Italian engineer Alessandro Guidoni, in a wind tunnel. In 1912, the Italian Ministry of the Navy commissioned Guidoni to build a torpedo bomber based on the Pescara mode ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stelzer Engine
The Stelzer engine is a two-stroke opposing-piston free-piston engine design proposed by Frank Stelzer. It uses conjoined pistons in a push-pull arrangement which allows for fewer moving parts and simplified manufacturing. An engine of the same design appeared on the cover of the February 1969 issue of Mechanix Illustrated magazine. Operation There are two combustion chambers and a central precompression chamber. Control of the air flow between the precompression chamber and the combustion chambers is made by stepped piston rods. Applications Applications envisaged for the engine include driving: * An air compressor * A hydraulic pump * A linear generator Prototypes A prototype engine was demonstrated in Frankfurt in 1983 and Opel was reported to be interested in it. In 1982, the Government of Ireland agreed to pay half the cost of a factory at Shannon Airport Shannon Airport ( ga, Aerfort na Sionainne) is an international airport located in County Clare in the Republic o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Alternator
A linear alternator is essentially a linear motor used as an electrical generator. An alternator is a type of alternating current (AC) electrical generator. The devices are often physically equivalent. The principal difference is in how they are used and which direction the energy flows. An alternator converts mechanical energy to electrical energy, whereas a motor converts electrical energy to mechanical energy. Like most electric motors and electric generators, the linear alternator works by the principle of electromagnetic induction. However, most alternators work with rotary motion, whereas ''linear'' alternators work with ''linear'' motion (i.e. motion in a straight line). Theory When a magnet moves in relation to an electromagnetic coil, this changes the magnetic flux passing through the coil, and thus induces the flow of an electric current, which can be used to do work. A linear alternator is most commonly used to convert back-and-forth motion directly into electrical ener ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engines
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power generation), heat energy (e.g. geothermal), chemical energy, electric potential and nuclear energy (from nuclear fission or nuclear fusion). Many of these processes generate heat as an intermediate energy form, so heat engines have special importance. Some natural processes, such as atmospheric convection cells convert environmental heat into motion (e.g. in the form of rising air currents). Mechanical energy is of particular importance in transportation, but also plays a role in many industrial processes such as cutting, grinding, crushing, and mixing. Mechanical heat engines convert heat into work via various thermodynamic processes. The internal combustion engine is perhaps the most common example of a mechanical heat engine, in which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engine Technology
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power generation), heat energy (e.g. geothermal), chemical energy, electric potential and nuclear energy (from nuclear fission or nuclear fusion). Many of these processes generate heat as an intermediate energy form, so heat engines have special importance. Some natural processes, such as atmospheric convection cells convert environmental heat into motion (e.g. in the form of rising air currents). Mechanical energy is of particular importance in transportation, but also plays a role in many industrial processes such as cutting, grinding, crushing, and mixing. Mechanical heat engines convert heat into work via various thermodynamic processes. The internal combustion engine is perhaps the most common example of a mechanical heat engine, in which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opposed Piston
An opposed-piston engine is a piston engine in which each cylinder has a piston at both ends, and no cylinder head. Petrol and diesel opposed-piston engines have been used mostly in large-scale applications such as ships, military tanks, and factories. Current manufacturers of opposed-piston engines include Fairbanks-Morse, Cummins and Achates Power. Design Compared to contemporary two-stroke engines, which used a conventional design of one piston per cylinder, the advantages of the opposed-piston engine have been recognized as: * Eliminating the cylinder head and valvetrain, which reduces weight, complexity, cost, heat loss, and friction loss of the engine. * Creating a uniflow-scavenged movement of gas through the combustion chamber, which avoided the drawbacks associated with the contemporary crossflow-scavenged designs (however later advancements have provided methods for achieving uniflow scavenging in conventional piston engine designs). * A reduced height of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crankshaft
A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting rods. The crankpins are also called ''rod bearing journals'', and they rotate within the "big end" of the connecting rods. Most modern crankshafts are located in the engine block. They are made from steel or cast iron, using either a forging, casting or machining process. Design The crankshaft located within the engine block, held in place via main bearings which allow the crankshaft to rotate within the block. The up-down motion of each piston is transferred to the crankshaft via connecting rods. A flywheel is often attached to one end of the crankshaft, in order to smoothen the power delivery and reduce vibration. A crankshaft is subjected to enormous stresses, in some cases more than per cylinder. Crankshafts for sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piston Engines
A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common features of all types. The main types are: the internal combustion engine, used extensively in motor vehicles; the steam engine, the mainstay of the Industrial Revolution; and the Stirling engine for niche applications. Internal combustion engines are further classified in two ways: either a spark-ignition (SI) engine, where the spark plug initiates the combustion; or a compression-ignition (CI) engine, where the air within the cylinder is compressed, thus heating it, so that the heated air ignites fuel that is injected then or earlier.''Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach'' by Yunus A. Cengal and Michael A. Boles Common features in all types There may be one or more pistons. Each piston is inside a cylinder, into which a gas is int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
