{"id":4994,"date":"2011-12-15T19:34:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=4994"},"modified":"2011-12-15T19:34:34","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T02:34:34","slug":"horizontal-or-vertical-in-the-air-or-on-the-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/horizontal-or-vertical-in-the-air-or-on-the-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Horizontal or Vertical, in the Air or on the Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 2008 ScienceDaily <\/em>story <\/a>was brought to light recently in the Minimalist Airplane Study Group, a Yahoo group dedicated to academic research on small aircraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an advance toward introduction of an amazing new kind of internal combustion engine, researchers in China are reporting development and use of a new and more accurate computer model to assess performance of the so-called free-piston linear alternator (FPLA).\u201d<\/p>\n

Their study of the FPLA, which could provide a low-emission, fuel efficient engine for future hybrid electric vehicles, was published in the August 27, 2008 issue of The American Chemical Society’s Energy & Fuels<\/em>, a bi-monthly, peer-reviewed journal.<\/p>\n

Qingfeng Li, Jin Xiao and Zhen Huang explain in their paper <\/a>that the FPLA has only one moving part and is an engine designed to generate electricity. \u201cIn the device, a piston in a cylinder shuttles between two combustion chambers. Permanent magnets on the piston generate electricity by passing through the coils of an alternator centered on the cylinder. The engine can burn a variety of fuels, including natural gas and hydrogen, and seems ideal use in a future world of climate change and possible fossil fuel shortages, they suggest.\u201d\u00a0 This would seem suited to internal and external combustion approaches.<\/p>\n

The team was working on an improved computer model to evaluate the performance of their device and to \u201cguide engineers in the construction of the engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Free-piston linear accelerator. Think about this with a Halbach array.<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite a \u201clook\u201d that would suggest (at least to this uninitiated observer) a rough plunging back and forth beween the two ends of the assembly, computer simulations \u201cshowed that the FPLA could
\naccelerate three times faster than other internal combustion engines and burn fuel in ways that minimize air pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Electricity\u00a0generated by the alternator could be shared by distributed motors in electric\u00a0vehicles, including aircraft.<\/p>\n

This is of interest because several\u00a0other developers are coming forward with fuel-driven range extenders for\u00a0automobiles, and because, serendipitously, Oregon State University researchers\u00a0are building a series of wave generators <\/a>to be installed off the Oregon coast,\u00a0which use a linear system very much like that of the Chinese researcher\u2019s\u00a0hybrid motor.\u00a0 Imagine the possibilities with a Halbach array <\/a>as the linear generating source.<\/p>\n