Author Topic: Smallest petrol engine  (Read 14818 times)

Offline Bernd

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Smallest petrol engine
« on: January 21, 2011, 05:27:29 AM »
Ok guys here's a challenge. Who will build a working model of this on Madmodder?

http://euts.wordpress.com/2007/06/19/new-mini-petrol-engine/

And who won't go blind trying to do it?

Bernd
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Offline benchmark

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2011, 06:37:55 AM »
hmm , replace watch batteries within 6 years? well lets wait and see. Experience has shown that mechanical devices are more care demanding prone to failure  if neglected than electrical ones.
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Offline NickG

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2011, 06:43:46 AM »
if used as a pace maker, where do the exhaust gases go?! :lol: Imgaine the scene at the petrol station, excuse me, but I'm going to die if you fill that 4 x 4 before I top up my pacemaker!
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Offline Bogstandard

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2011, 07:07:14 AM »
I see UK engineering is still at the forefront.

I am wondering how long it will be before the process is given away to other countries, just like we did with the jet engine and other things in the past, and getting nothing in return, and the countries who were given, or even stole it, benefitted the most.

We are too stupid with things like this in this country.

BTW Bernd, you've just volunteered to be the one to copy it.


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Offline andyf

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2011, 08:13:51 AM »
Bernd, John's into magnetos just now. Tell him you'll do it if he can knock up a magneto for it, to scale  :D

Seriously, though, it looks an amazing bit of kit. I wonder how noisy it is.

Andy
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I've cut the end off it twice, but it's still too short

Offline Pete.

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2011, 12:03:19 PM »
Where would you fill it up? All the petrol stations I know of have a minimum delivery of 2 liters :)

Offline jim

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2011, 12:21:09 PM »
amazing, how does it work :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:
if i'd thought it through, i'd have never tried it

Offline Bernd

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2011, 08:34:46 PM »
BTW Bernd, you've just volunteered to be the one to copy it.


Bogs


I don't know if the "round tuit" list can handle another project.

Besides it'll mean all new tooling and building a valve grinder and all. Just don't know if I'll have the time.


Bernd
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Offline Bernd

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2011, 08:36:33 PM »
amazing, how does it work :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:

It uses real tiny spark plugs. (Sorry couldn't resist)

Bernd

P.S. I wonder were the oil filter is. Probably has a Lucas ignition too.
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Offline fixit

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2011, 10:18:37 PM »
how big is the starter motor or do you push start it !!
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Offline Bluechip

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2011, 03:29:53 AM »

It uses real tiny spark plugs. (Sorry couldn't resist)

Bernd

P.S. I wonder were the oil filter is. Probably has a Lucas ignition too.
[/quote]

Ah well! Gotta be a downside eh ?? Not much hope for it ...

BC

Ooops .. dropped a quote wotsit  :scratch:
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Offline slowcoach

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #11 on: January 22, 2011, 05:52:26 AM »
I see UK engineering is still at the forefront.

I am wondering how long it will be before the process is given away to other countries, just like we did with the jet engine and other things in the past, and getting nothing in return, and the countries who were given, or even stole it, benefitted the most.

We are too stupid with things like this in this country.

Bogs


Well said Bogs, this country has a long history of giving pioneering technology away to other countries, for those countries to turn round and sell it back to us  :doh:

Rob :thumbup:

Offline Raggle

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2011, 11:22:09 AM »
Quote from Bogs
Quote
I see UK engineering is still at the forefront.

Indeed. Dr Kyle Jiang, from a well-known Brummie family :)
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Offline woodguy

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2011, 01:50:50 PM »
......"Microengines have long been proposed but never successfully built due to the intricacies of feature sizes measuring down to 25 μm. The breakthrough came by exploiting developments in Micro Electromechanical System (MEMS) where miniscule metallic structures are fabricated to perform electrical, mechanical and optoelectrical functions. MEMS manufacture demands ±1-μm tolerances and Class 1000/100 cleanroom quality control.

Three variants of microengine have so far been made by the British researchers: a single-piston engine with a gear (see Figure 1(a)), a free-piston engine, and a micro-Wankel rotary engine. The single piston engine and the free piston engine are based on a two-stroke mechanism. These engines are designed to produce from 0.7 to 14 W.

Two-stroke was selected as it allowed the researchers to eliminate macroscopic features of a combustion engine, such as the valve train, that do not scale down well to the microscopic scale.

“[Valves] used in four-stroke petrol engines, for example, would have been impossible to scale down accurately enough to be viable,” explains the project leader, Dr Kyle Jiang. “In a two-stroke engine, however, you can eliminate the need for [valves] by engineering it to be self-sealing so that one [inlet or exhaust port] closes as another opens up.”

Similary, spark plugs have been impossible to replicate at the microscopic scale so the researchers exploited leading-edge materials science to engineer a chemical catalyst to burn fuel at the right moment.

The optimum type of fuel for the microengines is still undergoing research but will be based upon similar chemistries to conventional hydrocarbon fuels such as petrol and propane. Liquid CO2 has thus far been used."

Offline andyf

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2011, 06:52:01 AM »
"........The optimum type of fuel for the microengines is still undergoing research but will be based upon similar chemistries to conventional hydrocarbon fuels such as petrol and propane. Liquid CO2 has thus far been used."

 :scratch: Liquid CO2?????
Something wrong in the article you quoted, methinks. Might help with the carbon footprint, though.

Andy
Sale, Cheshire
I've cut the end off it twice, but it's still too short

Offline woodguy

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Re: Smallest petrol engine
« Reply #15 on: January 23, 2011, 09:23:05 AM »
I assumed they were just using CO2 to test the moving parts and were not actually "running" it.