Engine Still Not Working                                                                  

I have, again  painted the outside of the vessel with epoxy resin, used aquarium glue to seal the lid and reworked the regenerator push rod seals to make them tighter but I am still having low compression problems. The engine does not produce enough power to run.

I measure that 1.2 foot-pounds of torque  applied to the crank is the force needed to overcome all engine friction and turn the flywheel. Ten pounds of force delivered by the power piston would be in excess of what would be needed to keep the engine running. When room pressure gas changes temperature from 25C to 100C it’s pressure increases by about 5% (constant volume), or a force of about 15psi * 0.05 = 0.75psi. For the 100 square inch piston face, there should be over 70 pounds of force on that piston. With a heated engine and with the piston linkage disconnected, the piston moves through more than it’s designed 1.5 inch stroke, powered solely by the regenerator movement. It is remarkable how fast the regenerator changes the gas temperature/volume; it is pretty much instantaneous. The force delivered by the piston is only a few pounds.

I sprayed the outside of the vessel with soap suds and found a few more small air leaks. I will attempt to patch. I am disappointed with my ability to make an air tight container out of wood. I chose wood because it has good heat insulation properties and is fairly rigid. A metal container would be rigid and airtight but would bleed heat along the regenerator pathway. A plastic container may not be rigid at 100C with fluctuating positive and negative pressures.

My budget and patience is running low. There are plenty of other projects I could work on. If I am to continue with this project then I need to get this engine to function soon.