Re: Low RPM, high torgue engine for cogeneration.
->
-> CH> That's why it's all on paper (or bytes!), and not a wrench has be
-> CH> turned.  To see if the project is practical.
-> Where is this information available, the bytes tha you are referring
-> And what would be the cost of trying to do a project like this?
Well, some of them are right here.  I am thinking of people in the
high performance field, like John Lingenfelter, Harvey Crane, Joe
Sherman...  All these guys have built many, many engines - and some
are for pretty odd projects.  They truly know the internal combustion
engine, and are open minded enough to be able to consider *everything*.
-> Although, I don't think any fossil fuel is going to be the answer,
-> however, I have made my living in the quest for it. Natural gas is
-> probably always going to be the cleanest burning of all of the fossil
-> fuels.
There are a number of practical advantages, no storage being the
largest.  And, this may well turn out to be one of those things that
just can't be made to work.  The key to it all is wringing out the
last bit of efficiency, and using all the various energies created,
mechanical and thermal.
-> A good propane or natural gas engine can have the same
-> durability if it is optimized for their use and then run at the
-> optimum speeds for torque and power.  I have seen big natural gas
-> engines offshore, that are Catepillars that are actually diesel
-> engines that are converted to use the natural gas that is available
-> coming off of the wells that are producing on the platforms that
-> they live on. Cat does the conversion on their own engines and are
-> available as the same engine series but they start th number with a
-> big G instead of big D. There are several of the eng manufacturers
-> of the big power plants who do this,Waukesau is anoth They don't
-> ever seem to wear out, they run for years and years. Most of the
-> time 24 hours a day, while doing those years and years. Only
-> emergencies or unusual conditions will cause a shut in on t
-> compressors, and you surely don't want the generator to go d
I suspect they re-use the diesel because they don't need/want to
re-invent an engine for a similar purpose.  Some of the aftermarket
parts for the Chevy 350 could bring it close to the strength needed
for diesel use.  Certainly enough for 24/7 natural gas use at lower
RPM.  We shall see...
Thanks for the comments!
-c-
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