5 ms·

I would be excited to see an engine based on solenoid and using magnets as springs. Has anyone ever tried to make a cylinder whose piston is composed of a highl

I would be excited to see an engine based on solenoid and using magnets as springs. Has anyone ever tried to make a cylinder whose piston is composed of a highly durable magnet at one end, which is encased in a coil. The bottom is basically a magnet which repels the piston, and a mechanical spring is also used to keep the process going. When the fuel will ignite and expand there will be a huge change in EMF, perhaps that could be used to charge a capacitor which can then offload it more slowly into a battery. In this way mechanical parts are reduced and frictional losses are kept at a minimum since I am not driving a crankshaft, which then feeds into a dynamo with gearing. I've heard about solenoid engines, but has anyone ever undertaken something like this? I am sure that tons of people must have this in their heads, but has anyone also used a tesla coil with a variable AC to control the motion of the piston? That is we can also remove the bottom magnet and the mechanical spring. This would be something awesome to make, and I wonder if it is feasible to do so. One of the biggest worries would be the lack of appropriate magnets. Neodymium (NdFeB) start losing magnetic strength above 60 C and it becomes completely demagnetized before 90 C. So, one of the reasons why someone hasn't done this might be lack of an cost effective alloy which can remain magnetized at those temperatures. I really can't think of another reason.

jacquesm 16y ago
Vibration tends to demagnetize magnets as well.
- todayiamme 16y ago
  Sorry. I forgot to add that. On the other hand I think that material science will have the answer to this sooner or later. It will be really hard to make substances that can resist getting demagnitized due to jiggly-jiggly motions#, but maybe someone will come up with a way to make a crystal of domains that can stick together under extreme conditions. By the way, there is another design possibility over here the piston can be the coil and casing can be a liquid cooled magnet. We could transfer the current using graphite, or something. However, I doubt that the cost vs. benefit scenario will be on our side. Thanks for correcting me! # Yes, that's a technical term :) [edit: I don't know if it is out of line, but a post you wrote (http://jacquesmattheij.com/content/adhd-ritalin-and-evolution http://jacquesmattheij.com/content/adhd-ritalin-and-evolutio...) nearly drove me to tears. You are an amazing father and human being. I just wanted to thank you on your son's behalf.]
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    re. your edit, that's an oldie, but unfortunately still relevant.
jasongullickson 16y ago
I'm working on a design in the same ballpark as this, and I found that NASA has something similar as well (if not a bit more mechanically complicated than my design); I couldn't find a nice overview but I did find a couple of links to PDF's describing the test and analysis of their sterling-powered linear-alternator design: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940019829_1994019829.pdf http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/1994001... http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19920022018_1992022018.pdf http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/1992002... ...and a bit of an overview on the sunpower site (partner) http://www.sunpower.com/lib/sitefiles/pdf/publications/Doc0083.pdf http://www.sunpower.com/lib/sitefiles/pdf/publications/Doc00...
- todayiamme 16y ago
  Wow. Thanks a lot for the links! They are awesome! It will take me time to go through them properly as there are some concepts in them which I don't know about. (I just graduated out of high school a few months ago) Do you mind if I email you questions about what I've read? I have lots and lots of them. Thanks again. P.S. - I am quite dumb. I tend to ask stupid questions so please take that into account. :)
  - jasongullickson 16y ago
    I'm no expert either, but you're welcome to drop me a line and I'll do my best to help. You can reach me using the contact form here: http://www.gullicksonlaboratories.com/about/ http://www.gullicksonlaboratories.com/about/

jacquesm 16y ago

Vibration tends to demagnetize magnets as well.

todayiamme 16y ago
Sorry. I forgot to add that. On the other hand I think that material science will have the answer to this sooner or later. It will be really hard to make substances that can resist getting demagnitized due to jiggly-jiggly motions#, but maybe someone will come up with a way to make a crystal of domains that can stick together under extreme conditions. By the way, there is another design possibility over here the piston can be the coil and casing can be a liquid cooled magnet. We could transfer the current using graphite, or something. However, I doubt that the cost vs. benefit scenario will be on our side. Thanks for correcting me! # Yes, that's a technical term :) [edit: I don't know if it is out of line, but a post you wrote (http://jacquesmattheij.com/content/adhd-ritalin-and-evolution http://jacquesmattheij.com/content/adhd-ritalin-and-evolutio...) nearly drove me to tears. You are an amazing father and human being. I just wanted to thank you on your son's behalf.]
- jacquesm 16y ago
  re. your edit, that's an oldie, but unfortunately still relevant.

jasongullickson 16y ago

I'm working on a design in the same ballpark as this, and I found that NASA has something similar as well (if not a bit more mechanically complicated than my design); I couldn't find a nice overview but I did find a couple of links to PDF's describing the test and analysis of their sterling-powered linear-alternator design: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940019829_1994019829.pdf http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/1994001... http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19920022018_1992022018.pdf http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/1992002... ...and a bit of an overview on the sunpower site (partner) http://www.sunpower.com/lib/sitefiles/pdf/publications/Doc0083.pdf http://www.sunpower.com/lib/sitefiles/pdf/publications/Doc00...

todayiamme 16y ago
Wow. Thanks a lot for the links! They are awesome! It will take me time to go through them properly as there are some concepts in them which I don't know about. (I just graduated out of high school a few months ago) Do you mind if I email you questions about what I've read? I have lots and lots of them. Thanks again. P.S. - I am quite dumb. I tend to ask stupid questions so please take that into account. :)
- jasongullickson 16y ago
  I'm no expert either, but you're welcome to drop me a line and I'll do my best to help. You can reach me using the contact form here: http://www.gullicksonlaboratories.com/about/ http://www.gullicksonlaboratories.com/about/