AC single piston combustion generator for personal power supply

I don't know if this has been invented before or not, but I was thinking about building a gas generating electric motorized bicycle for long distance travel, and this was a simplistic engine design I imagined. I don't know how efficient it would be, but your RPMs would determine the frequency of the AC current, so it might have some usefulness as some other device. It could be a way to create an electronic metronome that kept relatively accurate rhythm. It would also be relatively easy to make one with rare earth magnets, high temperature silicone and a capped off steel pipe, so in a SHTF scenario, this could be a way to generate enough power to charge a phone should you have an AC to DC inverter.

Kudos for thinking outside the box but you'd be lucky if you generated enough power to run the spark/glow plugs never mind get enough juice to do any work.

a reply to: Kukri

I don't know. If you had a long enough pipe and induction coils all along the length of it, you could just have one combustion end and launch the piston vertically upwards, allowing gravity to reset it for you, it could become a fairly efficient system. You could even use a spring and a rod like a pinball machine and launch the piston mechanically.

What if you made the cylinder out of copper? That would get rid of the coil. If you tapped a circuit off each end to the midpoint with a diode in each one, you would get dc current out.

Kind of a variation on the opposed piston engine developed in Germany during the war.....
Helluva good idea, but the execution may take some research into the right materials to make the gen set out of.....
Ceramics come to mind as well as plastics like the stuff they used in the plastic engine made in france long ago by a car maker.....
This idea could produce electricity but the frequency of the occilations may be hard to control.....have to run full out throttle and calibrate for 60 cycles per sec.......

It is a sound engine. RPM would have to be high to make any decent amount of power. Strongest / biggest magnets possible. N & S poles you need alternating of course. Or possibly two different pistons/motors with different magnetic poles. A lot of windings on the coil as well to be most effective, i think that is where the most experimenting would have to be done at.


Oh, you may have a problem with heat and your magnets.

www.kjmagnetics.com...

Good Luck

a reply to: Nechash

I strongly suggest you explore this Nech!

Specifically take note of what happens when energy is applied and stopped very quickly, and don't be hesitant to move into much different directions than what you might be thinking currently.

Might not necessarily lead you somewhere revolutionary, per se, but it starts to go into gray areas.

a reply to: roth1

Yeah, heat would definitely be a big problem if it was too compact. Probably a totally useless idea, but it just came to me, so no real energy wasted.

a reply to: roth1

If one goes with coils, there in no need for magnets in the piston. A steel piston passing through the coils will induce current.... As long as there is a magnetic field acting on it. Magnet could be outside of the heat zone.

a reply to: Nechash

Sounds feasible might have to bank several together.

I see you've sparked some interest, this might turn into an interesting collaboration.

a reply to: butcherguy

I don't know enough about electrical engineering to know if that might work or not, but I can kind of see what you are saying. Have at it, if it works, let me know. ;p

a reply to: stirling

Mechanically, the opposition engine is a work of genius. This really has almost nothing mechanical about it, so it would be useless for the generation of mechanical energy. My favorite engine ever is the pistonless rotary engine. Just watching it work is beautiful.



For the unfamiliar.

a reply to: funkadeliaaaa

Beautiful. ;p

a reply to: Nechash

I wont pretend i understood your egnine design, but it gave me a few ideas

i suppose its by the time you add in the fuel tank, power regulation and also a motor you've added a lot of weight to the bike so it might work as a 'hill boost' thing

But its a good idea if you can get it strong enough so it won't blow your legs off at some point

a reply to: Nechash

you might be able to use the pedals to get it going and then let the magnets take over. You may even be able to use the bike to power an air compressor to multiply or assist the magnet power. ie, travel faster and or further for less peddle power.

originally posted by: Nechash
I don't know if this has been invented before or not.

Looks like someone has already been working on this idea for a few years...

EDIT: just now noticed your idea is a gas powered engine design...

Well close.

Transistor oscillation producing magnetic pulses in coil with which a magnet can interact in reciprocation motion, as a Magnetic Piston; since magnet is moving it can generate electricity, and not only in outside coil but in coils between stationary and bouncing magnets; the magnet can bounce and between two TROS coils, in a way similar to "TROS-inverter" schematic; interesting to see how "piston" gonna run inside a toroidal tube...

Scaled it a little bit, still needa more frequency...or bigger setup...

Just another possibilities of applications for magnetic oscillation following the transistor oscillation; here it's running from single AA bttry, from 12v bttry it could very powerful strokes... can be used in some sort of vibrators or remote touchless drivers

Some tests with magnetic piston on base of transistor oscillation

Looks like a bunch have been tinkering with this idea as well:

magnetic piston engine - YouTube
www.youtube.com...