Metal: The fuel of the future?

Originally posted by moonwilson
I dunno about this. When metals burn- they burn HOT. Real hot. Hot enough to burn through other metals. What are you going to build the engine out of- ceramic? And how are you going to store, transport and distribute materials that spontaneously combust when they come into contact with oxygen?

Burning hot is good! Therefore less is used for each cycle - approximately a third of the volume of petrol that is used. The total energy output using metal or petrol would be the same, meaning the engine temperature rise would be the same.

A similar material is already transported and pumped - Titianium Dioxide. It is used in the manufacture of paint. It is transported the same way as petrol. The paint factories I have been to have careful static control and air-raid style sirens to evacuate the surrounding villages should there be a release.

Originally posted by readerone
reply to post by LightFantastic

 

it always looks better on paper .

getting it done is quite a diffrent matter .

Yes I agree. But the fact is we have to do something unless we discover that oil creation is a continuous and fast process. Even in that case we have to do something about the pollution.

Originally posted by readerone
l
frankly , getting a powder to travel thru fuel lines is a nightmare.
and this stull will explode and burn if you have leaks or need to remove a blockage ... not to mention what happens with fitting and sharp turns...

Oh my , this is an adventure .

Why I am I again answering questions that are on the first few pages of the pdf?

Can the nay-sayers read the PDF first before commenting. It explains:
- How the metal is transported into the engine
- Why it wont just explode on contact with the air in a leak.
- What emissions there will be.
- Why the engine won't melt
- etc

I do understand why people might not know the properties of nano-scale powders however.

Of course if you have questions that aren't in the PDF, especially the first few pages, I will answer them if I can.


[edit on 29/9/2009 by LightFantastic]

reply to post by LightFantastic


my dear friend , I love this technology .
...I NEED IT TO WORK ...

lets cheer for a moment , shall we .

lead asid battery's weight a ton , and change nearly 99.9% of the input energy into loss's long befor it ever does anything like controlled rotation or motion .

gasoline is the best input to out put .... and it is only about 10% effectent ... and that does not include the forces needed to create it .

the best input to out put from sun to spin in alcohal... and you don't have aircraft flying around useing alcohal , or cars running around useing alcohal .

nano metal has the energy to weight of gas , and can -energy sink hydrogen gas/vapor .... but hydrogen is a heart attack making from sun to spin .... but hydrogen is still better than gasoline .

on a conceptual level , it is clear that nano metal is better than solar or bio-deisel , but its a long way from alcohal .

what it is conceptualy ... is air craft , and vehical fuel; weight to energy ! thats the good news ...
the bad news ... your not going to be shoveling this stuff into a locamotives boiler ...

cartridges and academic 'study the process' ... B.S. will never leave the class room or the lab .

I need this stuff to work , or I need air breathing hydrogen fuel cell's to change hydrogen directly into electrical ( which is still not as good as gasoline by weight/energy at this point ) for robotic applications .

frankly... this is imposable technology ... I can't see it ever working .
....but....
its all in the math ! you look at the math , and it doesn't make any diffrence what can or will work , the weight to energy tells me , this is the fuel of the future .

what we see today is hopeless and not workable... but it is the finger pointing at the new world .

its all in the math , this is the way , the truth and the light... and the best direction to follow for aircraft and vehicals ... it matters little that what they have today is hopeless and stupid...

Originally posted by readerone
reply to post by LightFantastic

 

I need this stuff to work , or I need air breathing hydrogen fuel cell's to change hydrogen directly into electrical ( which is still not as good as gasoline by weight/energy at this point ) for robotic applications .

For good power to weight with current technology you should look at Direct Ethanol/Methanol Fuel Cells Heliocentris

To make walking robots more efficient you should investigate using springs to replicate the achilles tendon and use as few powered joints as possible.

You should also look at Festo Pneumatic Muscle



[edit on 29/9/2009 by LightFantastic]

reply to post by LightFantastic



For good power to weight with current technology you should look at Direct Ethanol/Methanol Fuel Cells Heliocentris

To make walking robots more efficient you should investigate using springs to replicate the achilles tendon and use as few powered joints as possible.

You should also look at Festo Pneumatic Muscle


I have been all over the heliocentris site , and for the life of me , I can't figure out what it is they are selling .

it is a 50watt to 1.5kwatt something , but what the voltage , or amps are , the input fuel req's are , what its size is ...

or even how it works ...

you got me?

its my guess , its a alcohal to hydrogen genarator .
but I don't know , there is nothing on the site that tells you ( or me ) what is being sold .

------------------------------------------------

the idea of a counter force spring is very common , as old as the hills , the idea honda used with such good success ... and ...
forces every design down a single bowling alley to the same 9 pins .

the basic concept requires more space than I have here... but let me try .

the human arm has 2 sets of soft tissue and a bone ( derrr , but lisen : let me define the problem)
--------------------------------
1) flex : the primary lifter . causing the two bones connected at one joint to bend . muscle type; digital : strong , not so controlable .
2) reflex : opposition resistive controller b) recoil and return . counter force to flex , for speed , lenght and force . muscle type ; analog : not so strong , highly controllable .
3) substructure : set ; lenght , orbitale of rotation , axis of least motion. foundation of maximum weight , range of motion defined , change of motion problem .
---------------------------------
let me save you 5 years and give you three idea's

1) linar accuators are both a bone and a muscle .
you can put a linar flex/reflex /bone in all three locations , whereas a tissue/tissue/bone structure is limited by the device limitations and its concepts

2) the plane defined by the joint , need not use universal joints , whereas the linar accuators ahve not fix'd a relationship to ends as a bone does .

3) angular relationships of the accuators are not limited to parallel as is a human arm .

-----------------------------------------------

in short , if you follow those three ideas to their logical conclusion . you will slap your forehead nine times ...

and have more Ah -ha moments than I can say .

when your a walker junky , and need your next fix .

pm me , or start a thread , and lets talk walker

Originally posted by readerone
I have been all over the heliocentris site , and for the life of me , I can't figure out what it is they are selling .

it is a 50watt to 1.5kwatt something , but what the voltage , or amps are , the input fuel req's are , what its size is ...

Sorry I thought Heliocentris were selling Direct Alcohol Conversion cells now and they aren't. They are only selling hydrogen cells at the moment. The cells are typically 5VDC each. The basic 50W cell is 5V @ 8A continuous and runs on hydrogen. You can put them in series or parallel as required.

The Direct Methanol/Ethanol cells just require an alcohol supply, which is cheap and easy to come by but they aren't available commercially just yet.

See Engadget. Stuck with the military as usual...



[edit on 2/10/2009 by LightFantastic]

frankly I only need 6 hours .... if they can give me a alcohal fuel cell that gives me power for 6 hours at a shot , that would be the bomb .

I can wait for it to go commerial , I just need to know it is comming to go into production...

Originally posted by readerone
frankly I only need 6 hours ....

How much power do you need on average for the 6 hours?

reply to post by LightFantastic


my test robot used 28vdc , and runs fine at about 20 amps , it can go up to 25 amps , and run on 3 or 4 if its not doing anything intresting...

anything less than 20 , anything more than 10 .

but we are talking about a 100 pound walking robot that can carry 200 pounds for short periods , or nominal 20 pound weight .

reply to post by readerone


You would need four of the Samsung devices on the Engadget link for your needs, which isnt too bad - approx 4kWh - to operate for 6 hours.