Flash boiling steam engine

Abstract

Increasing the efficiency of internal combustion engines and reducing their pollution is the key issue nowadays. As a result, researchers have focused their attention on energy recovery either thermal or kinetic. In terms of thermal energy recovery, this can be done with promising results, especially as most of the potential energy of the fuel is lost as heat. Energy recovery can be done either using the Clausius-Rankine cycle or the Organic Rankine Cycle, the use of thermoelectric generators that would convert thermal energy directly into electricity, Sterling engines or even steam engines. In this paper, we propose a steam engine in which water vaporization takes place directly in the cylinder. The engine, unlike the classic locomotive engines is working in a closed cycle. The condensate is preheated and re-injected into the engine. Such an engine has the advantage of a known, cheap manufacturing technology and simple maintenance. A steam engine efficiency of only 10% of the energy dissipated on the exhaust would provide a global increase in engine efficiency by about 3%, taking into ac-count that about 30% of the potential energy of the fuel is dissipated on the exhaust.