Steam Challenge update
Can steam-power supplant the petrol engine?
Inspiration: steam car
Recent boiler and dynamometer tests revealed a small problem with boiler efficiency in the steam turbine-powered machine. Resolving this has, in turn, resulted in a problem packaging the drivetrain within the current body design. A revised installation is being devised that does not adversely affect the aerodynamic performance of Inspiration or its power output – both factors critical to reaching the projected top speed of more than 200mph.
However, the project team is conscious that 2006 is the anniversary of the current land speed record for a steam powered car – held by Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley Steamer, and established in 1906.
Project manager Frank Swanston said: “Unfortunately, setbacks are inevitable with such a technically complex project as this. We are still working as hard as ever to complete the car this year and attempt the records.”
What is the Steam Car Challenge?
The British Steam Car Challenge was conceived with the aim both of breaking the land speed record for steam powered vehicles and creating excitement in the arena of alternate fuels. The organisers hope that the project will generate interest among the next generation of engineers and designers to work toward cleaner and safer forms of transportation, both public and private.
The first mention of a steam powered vehicle will usually conjure images of ancient tiller steered motor cars and pre-war rail engines. It was during the early nineteen hundreds that the petrol engine gained dominance in the personal transportation marketplace. Many ascribe this shift to market and business pressures rather than technological advancements or lack thereof. A big argument for this shift is the dominance of the steam turbine in the power generation sector of the economy.
While not exactly new in concept, steam-powered vehicles have potential that today’s internal combustion engines lack. The compact size and robust power density figures make internal combustion engines attractive, but their drawbacks also stem from their popularity, according to the steam enthusiasts. It relies on highly refined hydrocarbon based fuels, while the external combustion engine isn't fuel-specific, so any fuel can be used, including the cleanest fuel, direct sunlight.
Leading edge technologies have been employed to make the record attempt possible, according to the project leaders. The development phase includes over 18 months of proof-of-concept and research work on the steam generation and power delivery systems.
The team and supporters hope to bring another land speed record to Britain. The car is being designed and constructed in the UK, and the first of two record attempts will be made in the UK.
Andrew D said:
Argh! What's the point! Steam isn't a fuel! 
You've got to make the steam, and whatever is used to make the steam can be used to make electricity, so why use steam! With steam you've got to lug the generation equipment around with you, which is inefficent and stupid!
The end goal is mechanical/kinetic. Are they proposing that LPG -> Steam -> mechanical is more efficient that LPG -> electrical -> mechanical, perhaps ? Just wondering
Andrew D said:
Argh! What's the point! Steam isn't a fuel!
You've got to make the steam, and whatever is used to make the steam can be used to make electricity, so why use steam! With steam you've got to lug the generation equipment around with you, which is inefficent and stupid!
You can only break the record for steam power using steam!
Andrew D said:
Argh! What's the point! Steam isn't a fuel!
You've got to make the steam, and whatever is used to make the steam can be used to make electricity, so why use steam! With steam you've got to lug the generation equipment around with you, which is inefficent and stupid!
Steam could be a fuel, but then you'd also need a fusion reactor and that (when it's invented), wouldn't fit inside the bodywork - that's for sure! Go bloodly fast though..
Andrew D said:
Argh! What's the point! Steam isn't a fuel!
You've got to make the steam, and whatever is used to make the steam can be used to make electricity, so why use steam! With steam you've got to lug the generation equipment around with you, which is inefficent and stupid!
It's like mountaineering, if you have to ask what the point is you will never know.
flossythepig said:Really? So you're not allowed to run on candy floss at all then?
You can only break the record for steam power using steam!
My point is that steam has to be generated within the vehicle, and thus any steam vehicle has to carry generation equipment and is therefore heavy and inefficent in comparison to a stored-energy vehicle (fuel cell). The problem isn't the ability to generate energy within a vehicle, the Veyron's good for 1000PS, it's that it's difficult to generate efficiently within the vehicle using renewable sources. So if you want to use renewables, stored energy vehicles are the order of the day.
Thus steam doesn't get round the renewables problem, so it's not really better than gasoline, so what's the point?
Andrew D said:
You can only break the record for steam power using steam!
My point is that steam has to be generated within the vehicle, and thus any steam vehicle has to carry generation equipment and is therefore heavy and inefficent in comparison to a stored-energy vehicle (fuel cell). The problem isn't the ability to generate energy within a vehicle, the Veyron's good for 1000PS, it's that it's difficult to generate efficiently within the vehicle using renewable sources. So if you want to use renewables, stored energy vehicles are the order of the day.
Thus steam doesn't get round the renewables problem, so it's not really better than gasoline, so what's the point?
Because they want to...
cazzer said:I presume that you're referring to the oxidiser in a Hydrogen Fuel Cell (although it's generally pure hydrogen gas that's used, which is probably not wise - Hindenburg anybody?
How bad for the environment is the process of making Hydrogen Peroxide....
(it is related)
). The actual process of producing hydrogen is comparatively clean, unfortunately it takes a lot of electrical power to do it, which is generated by big smokey power stations! BOOOO!
The premise of fuel cell vehicles, however, is that you can't really run a car off it's own windmill or fusion reactor, but you can make hydrogen fuel from electricity generated by a windmill, etc. It's essentially a mechanism for cars to be powered by renewable energy sources.
Peter Pellandine built his Pelland Steamer with the intention of setting a new steam land speed record. The car was relatively conventional, being powered by a three-cylinder double acting engine in a 'broad-arrow' configuration.
He made a number of attempts to set a record, but was repeatedly thwarted by technical problems. The car now resides at the Holker Hall Museum in Cumbria.
www.speedrecordclub.com/features/steam/steam2.htm
Andrew D said:
How bad for the environment is the process of making Hydrogen Peroxide....
(it is related)
The actual process of producing hydrogen is comparatively clean, unfortunately it takes a lot of electrical power to do it, which is generated by big smokey power stations! BOOOO!
The premise of fuel cell vehicles, however, is that you can't really run a car off it's own windmill or fusion reactor, but you can make hydrogen fuel from electricity generated by a windmill, etc. It's essentially a mechanism for cars to be powered by renewable energy sources.
No actually I meant H02
Andrew D said:
[quote=cazzer]Hindenburg anybody?
I am sure they are not planning to coat the car in what is effectively solid rocket fuel as doping material.
I think this steam car challenge is not about finding an alternative to petrol, it is about the more steampunkesque pistonheads of this world being the same as the rest of us and taking part in their particular passion by trying to set a record.
Reciprocating engine (normal diesel/petrol) is really inefficient (something like 5%!) compared to this.
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