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!!!Ping!!!
Posted on 10/25/2006 7:13:52 AM PDT by Red Badger
You'll like this ....http://www.turbinecar.com/top.swf
Nope. More like the gas turbine engine......
It wasn't a failure, it was very much a success, unfortunately, big oil and the Big Four shelved the idea and took the cars back, pretty much destroying the majority of them, the few remaining examples are in museums, but it had a very successful run. Unfortunately they did with the Chrysler turbine what GM did with the EV1 (leased out to people, then recalled them). The Chrysler Turbine was very efficent for its day, doing a then outstanding 30 mpg in city driving, with some minor tuning capable of 45+mpg. That in a vehicle that weighs as much as a modern hearse.
"I think you blew a seal."
"Just fix the damn thing and leave my personal life out of this!"
/kooky song mode
Cool, as long as a portal is near my house, but not in y bak yard. Maybe the next town over, in someone elses back yard.
>Gravity is not the problem. It is fully restorative. >Maybe there is another word to carry that meaning...
The other word is actually 'conservative'!
Gravity is a conservative force, in that it conserves energy.
What is the proper Republican stance on gravity, a conservative field?
We should be in favor of gravity.
Without it, people keep flying off the handle, like democrats.
Nat gas is up 60 cents today. Retail gasoline has finally declined a few cents in Fairbanks just in time for the wholesale gasoline index to pop up ten cents. We got some snow a couple days ago that stuck and it is fun to watch the chechakos try to drive their Trans-Ams and 454 Silverados the first day--a good day to stay home.
There have been dozens of alternative engines devised as a means of propelling cars and trucks, but none of them have every panned out, except maybe the Wankel which has had some limited success. As a rule they almost always have big caveats attached, such as not operating efficiently over the necessary speed range (think turbines), and/or requiring materials and or machining which either don't exist or are extremely expensive. Turbine engines could be good in a hybrid type arrangement, where the engine would only be connected to a generator, and run at a constant speed. Turbines, however, while conceptually simple, in practice are very complicated despite the lack of internal moving parts, and expensive.
And then there's the inertia of the huge installed base of reciprocating-piston internal-combustion engines, and the equipment that makes them. Due to a century of engineering experience with them, they can be made durable, robust, compact, and possibly most important, fairly cheaply despite the vast array of moving parts. Would you want to be the first to buy a completely new engine design in production?
I thought the same thing at first, but their design appears to be heating the air after the compression phase, so that shouldn't be an issue. Not sure about the thermodynamics of it, though presumably they have thought that through. I suspect the shortcomings of the engine will be in the practical details - materials, durability, range of speeds for efficient operation, and so on.
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