G'day Guys,
After reading a thread on the FL forum about using the wind for compressed air I decided to go and do some research on engines from the past which would suit the task. In that thread a guy in the US has made a SS 4 cylinder 2x2 side by side compressor which is one beauty of a compressor. Anyway in my research I found the old radial engine would fit the bill nicely and to date I've never seen one made for a wind based air compressor.
This image is shown on the wiki site
As one can see with a few mod's to the head arrangement this style of engine would be a smooth runner. I had a steel billet at work rusting away that measured 177.8 diameter and when faced 110mm long. Today being xmas day and with the sun shining I spend about 6 hours on the mill roughing down the crankcase. With the material being EN35A it is pretty tough on tools and only small cuts could taken. Anyway got a 5 sides roughed down and in the morning I'll put up a facing tool and do the final cuts ensuring all 5 sides are within 0.001". for the barrels I do have a few old engine crane rams which will be purfect for the barrels. I'll bore a seat on each face and put a O-ring groove on the seat and use 4 off M10 tie rods to clamp the head and barrel for a air tight seal. For the pistons I'll make my own and use some chrome leather soaked with silicon grease for the piston rings.
Stripped one of engine crane rams today and they are no go for barrels as I didn't realise the outer case wasn't the ram bore. So looks like i'm stalled until I get back to work and grab some 75mm ID hydraulic honed bore pipe off a mate. With the crankcase size I can get away with a 100mm stroke and with using a 75mm bore that will work out to 1.178 litres. Not a bad size I reckon and I now doing some research on making this a 2 stroke diesel that will run on a diesel/vege oil/sump oil mix.
.... with a 100mm stroke and with using a 75mm bore that will work out to 1.178 litres. Not a bad size I reckon and I now doing some research on making this a 2 stroke diesel that will run on a diesel/vege oil/sump oil mix.
Neat machining project! So is it going to be an air compressor or an engine?
And yes the correct formula for cylinder volume is (3.1415 R² * hight) so that gives a 100 mm stroke by 75 mm bore 5 cylinder engine a swept volume of (100 * 3.1415 * 37.5²) * 5 = 2208932 mm³ or roughly 2.2 liters.
Hi Bryan,
I am administrator of The Flap Turbine is a novel type of vertical axis turbine and I am planning to build a turbine which will generate compressed air as you described. I am planning to build a radial compressor as shown in my web page Radial Engine. and as you described here. My question is, have you completed your compressor? Have you connected it to a wind turbine?
Hi Bryan, I am administrator of The Flap Turbine is a novel type of vertical axis turbine and I am planning to build a turbine which will generate compressed air as you described. I am planning to build a radial compressor as shown in my web page Radial Engine. and as you described in here. My question is, have you completed your compressor? Have you connected it to a wind turbine?
Hi Bryan,
I am administrator of The Flap Turbine is a novel type of vertical axis turbine and I am planning to build a turbine which will generate compressed air as you described. I am planning to build a radial compressor as shown in my web page Radial Engine. and as you described here. My question is, have you completed your compressor? Have you connected it to a wind turbine?