Phil Hosken's Be-Tec engine
I attended a very thought provoking talk in Liskeard last week given by Phil Hosken, chairman of the Trevithick Society. The subject was Bio-Fuels and how they might used to provide an environmentally sound power source.
Since then, my thoughts are in a state of constant provocation.
Phil set the scene for ethanol by explaining how Brazil, with a surplus of sugar beet, has adopted ethanol as a partial substitute for petrol. The US is also developing it for use in internal combustion engines. Henry Ford intended it for use in all his early models Model T Ford, reckoning a farmer like Henry’s dad could produce enough ethanol from an acre of ground to run a Model T for 15,000 miles a year. Hitler relied upon ethanol and the Volkswagen Beetle was designed with this fuel in mind. This may have influenced the Brazilians interest in the fuel as the Beetle was built there until 2003.
Ethanol was virtually the only fuel in the early days of motoring until the oil companies set up their supply infrastructure and encouraged western civilisation to use fossil fuels.
The time is now ripe for this to change. Ethanol has advantages over methanol, which is highly poisonous, and if the fuel and induction systems are upgraded to avoid platics or fibre washers with stainless steel fittings, conventional internal combustion engines can run quite happily on it. In fact, due to the latent heat properties, alcohol based fuels have a much gentler combustion. Ethanol has been used for years as an anti-knock agent in high-compression engines. Engines run cooler and higher power outputs are possible, often since a higher compression ratio can be used – unleaded petrol has an octane of 95, ethanol rates as 112.
Lotus has an Elise that runs on ethanol and Ford has shown the Focus FFV that runs on 85% ethanol. and Saab has sold c20,000 flexi-fuel cars in Sweden. Unleaded petrol currently contains about 5% ethanol so the change is already upon us. In the US you can brew up your own ethanol and have a personal consumption allowance of 10,000 gallons. In the UK ethanol production is closely controlled by Customs & Revenue. The powers that be in the UK are convinced we’ll drink it and becoming degenerated. Consequently, the UK is in danger of lagging behind developments
Phil’s Be-Tec engine is designed to take the maximum advantage of ethanol as a fuel. It’s a double-acting Rankine cycle engine (i.e. high pressure gas is applied to both the top and bottom of the piston) and uses a sophisticated engine management system to control the opening of the valves. It’s also a flat twin design with a small high pressure cylinder and a large low pressure cylinder so that the gas gets used twice. The forces and pressures on the piston are finely balanced to provide a smooth running, noiseless engine that – get this! – needs no variable speed transmission since torque is produced across the whole range of engine speed, especially at low throttle openings.
High pressure gas is generated in a water tube boiler, something akin to a coffee espresso machine in that only the final ceramic section of tubing is under pressure. The volume of water under pressure is much smaller than in a locomotive-type boiler. With modern technology and materials, this engine could be made viable. In fact, in the early days of the motorcar it was seen as the most promising powerplant but once the oil companies had achieved their dominant position development languished. Sound familiar?
Phil points out that not only can we grow our own ethanol (instead of shipping it across the world with the risk of environmental disasters) but when used in the Be-Tec and efficiency of about 50% should be achieved. Currently, petrol engines offer 30% since a lot of heat is wasted. Start up times from cold with a water tube boiler are about 30 seconds .
Unlike LPG or liquid hydrogen, there’s no highly pressurised storage vessel and – I mention it again because I think this is the real clincher – the Be-Tec engine doesn’t need a heavy transmission. Exhaust CO2 is deemed to be neutral CO2 since it has come directly from growing plants and will be absorbed by them again. Water vapour is the only other emission. Okay so that’s a green house gas but there are no nitrous oxides and ethanol produces no soot.
To get a better idea of how the Be-Tec engine works, click on the following images and study the enlarged pictures closely.
Phil Hosken is developing the Be-Tec zero emissions engine with the Welsh Assembly at the University of Swansea. Whitehall couldn’t get their act together to do anything about it but our Celtic soul siblings can!
Since then, my thoughts are in a state of constant provocation.
Phil set the scene for ethanol by explaining how Brazil, with a surplus of sugar beet, has adopted ethanol as a partial substitute for petrol. The US is also developing it for use in internal combustion engines. Henry Ford intended it for use in all his early models Model T Ford, reckoning a farmer like Henry’s dad could produce enough ethanol from an acre of ground to run a Model T for 15,000 miles a year. Hitler relied upon ethanol and the Volkswagen Beetle was designed with this fuel in mind. This may have influenced the Brazilians interest in the fuel as the Beetle was built there until 2003.
Ethanol was virtually the only fuel in the early days of motoring until the oil companies set up their supply infrastructure and encouraged western civilisation to use fossil fuels.
The time is now ripe for this to change. Ethanol has advantages over methanol, which is highly poisonous, and if the fuel and induction systems are upgraded to avoid platics or fibre washers with stainless steel fittings, conventional internal combustion engines can run quite happily on it. In fact, due to the latent heat properties, alcohol based fuels have a much gentler combustion. Ethanol has been used for years as an anti-knock agent in high-compression engines. Engines run cooler and higher power outputs are possible, often since a higher compression ratio can be used – unleaded petrol has an octane of 95, ethanol rates as 112.
Lotus has an Elise that runs on ethanol and Ford has shown the Focus FFV that runs on 85% ethanol. and Saab has sold c20,000 flexi-fuel cars in Sweden. Unleaded petrol currently contains about 5% ethanol so the change is already upon us. In the US you can brew up your own ethanol and have a personal consumption allowance of 10,000 gallons. In the UK ethanol production is closely controlled by Customs & Revenue. The powers that be in the UK are convinced we’ll drink it and becoming degenerated. Consequently, the UK is in danger of lagging behind developments
Phil’s Be-Tec engine is designed to take the maximum advantage of ethanol as a fuel. It’s a double-acting Rankine cycle engine (i.e. high pressure gas is applied to both the top and bottom of the piston) and uses a sophisticated engine management system to control the opening of the valves. It’s also a flat twin design with a small high pressure cylinder and a large low pressure cylinder so that the gas gets used twice. The forces and pressures on the piston are finely balanced to provide a smooth running, noiseless engine that – get this! – needs no variable speed transmission since torque is produced across the whole range of engine speed, especially at low throttle openings.
High pressure gas is generated in a water tube boiler, something akin to a coffee espresso machine in that only the final ceramic section of tubing is under pressure. The volume of water under pressure is much smaller than in a locomotive-type boiler. With modern technology and materials, this engine could be made viable. In fact, in the early days of the motorcar it was seen as the most promising powerplant but once the oil companies had achieved their dominant position development languished. Sound familiar?
Phil points out that not only can we grow our own ethanol (instead of shipping it across the world with the risk of environmental disasters) but when used in the Be-Tec and efficiency of about 50% should be achieved. Currently, petrol engines offer 30% since a lot of heat is wasted. Start up times from cold with a water tube boiler are about 30 seconds .
Unlike LPG or liquid hydrogen, there’s no highly pressurised storage vessel and – I mention it again because I think this is the real clincher – the Be-Tec engine doesn’t need a heavy transmission. Exhaust CO2 is deemed to be neutral CO2 since it has come directly from growing plants and will be absorbed by them again. Water vapour is the only other emission. Okay so that’s a green house gas but there are no nitrous oxides and ethanol produces no soot.
To get a better idea of how the Be-Tec engine works, click on the following images and study the enlarged pictures closely.
Phil Hosken is developing the Be-Tec zero emissions engine with the Welsh Assembly at the University of Swansea. Whitehall couldn’t get their act together to do anything about it but our Celtic soul siblings can!
Including using ethanol, this power plant follows the mostly closed-cycle and other elements which have been the basic steam car design since about 1905. This is pretty sound engineering and the limitations are 1: having a perfect (sealed) condensing scheme, 2: assuring expansive use of steam for economy, 3: regenerating all possible heat loss back into the system, and 4: also getting low emissions on light off and shutdown of the burner. Many of the goals such as "zero" emissions, getting 30% overall efficiency and tractability on a normal driving cycle have not been achieved in over a century since these goals have been recognised. None of the steam car systems I or my acquaintences have built between 1917 and 2010 are yet able to do this, though we keep the torch lighted and carry on. Check it out at steamautomobile.com and firedragon.com/~kap
ReplyDeleteFor alternate fuels, I believe that ethanol is well suited for IC engines since they will run on it, while other biomass fuels which will not work in IC engines are best used directly in ways where they do not need conversion to liquid fuels with unavoidable loss in the process. Wood waste or bagasse has always fired process heating and steam generation for power on site where the waste is generated, and can be used in vehicles for the same enterprise if a little ingenuity is applied. This removes the conversion and shipping expense of creating liquid fuel by distillation, cracking or gasification or the Fischer-Tropsch process. The petroleum companies all know these things and are simply making the most of the commerce they control. Since theirs is not the commerce of alternate fuels, we all buy petrol at the pumps. Personally, I would not drive my modern steam car nor my IC car on the E85 ethanol readily available here at the pump. Why? My multi-fuel IC car gets more miles per penny on petrol without ethanol which is still available at one dealer, than all the alternatives. Now, that's economics!
Thanks for your informed comments Karl. Your point about economics is particularly thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteI believe the internal combustion engine actually has a healthy future but using different fuels e.g. hydrogen or ethanol. I also believe we haven't heard the last of the steam engine and that it could still be a viable form of - er - well locomotion seems a good word.
Environmental issues are being used as a very good way of making us feel guilty and persuading us to part with our hard earned cash - well, they would be if some of us had guilt complexes and lacked bullshit detectors.
Most new technologies require a pay back of some sort and the current business model with product life cycles and carefully phased technological improvements depends on us throwing away the old and embracing the new on pretty much a constant basis. The resources simply aren't around to allow this to continue.
I think we are losing sight of sustainability. Can we power our vehicles in an environmentally sound way whilst retaining the means to repair them and keep them going beyond their current design life of 12-15 years?
I don't believe we really have an energy shortage, just a perceived (and unreal) lack of choice.