Alternative to gasoline engines: What about steam engines? I understand that they used to work very well.?

Question

Steam engines in cars: fired by propane

used to work very well

Answer 1

Right before they died out the Doble steam car had most of the problems worked out. The car could start out cold and be up and running in less then a minuet. The car still passes the emission standards of today, it got 15 mpg despite weighting over 5,000 pounds.

Saab had a steam generator it was intended to produce 160 horsepower, and was about the same size as a standard car battery.

But you have to train a lot of people to service, the infrastructure for spare parts.

Until gasoline goes way up in price and the price for other fuel goes way down steam is just a dream.

Answer 2

??That would be a downgrade - steam engines are not so efficient as the combustion engines!

Answer 3

Believe me, I'm not saying you're wrong, but...

Besides startup time, the other big issue with them has always been the need to frequently replenish the water that feeds the boiler.

Help me out, engineers-- would it be possible to use a closed circuit with something like a refrigerant, and make the heat source nuclear?  Not for steam, but using a Carnot cycle.

Answer 4

They were actually fired by kerosene, but that's not really relevent.  The biggest problem with steam powered cars is that they must have a boiler and there are some serious safety issues with steam boilers.  At a minimum, you should expect to have your car inspected by boiler inspectors once a year.  This is a much more complicated, time consuming, and expensive proposition than the current auto inspection programs you are used to.

Answer 5

Using propane defeats the point. All we're going to do is move of one limited CO2 producing fuel and onto another.

Answer 6

I'm not sure they'd ever be approved by EPA for safety reasons, you're carrying a tank of flammable gas next to a boiler full of extremely hot water vapor. In an accident the results would be ugly, even compared to today's cars. Any maker would have to prove the technology was at least as safe as current cars and it still requires propane which is a hydrocarbon the same as oil. The resulting emissions are either CO2 or carbon monoxide, depending on the amount of oxygen present during combustion. If you could generate steam in a non-polluting way that didn't use hydrocarbons then it would be much more attractive.

Answer 7

steam engine still have issues compared to internal combustion engines, that have yet to be resolved. the biggest one being the issue of boiling the water and getting the car going on a cold morning. an internal combustion engine can get going right after you start the engine, where as a steam engine needs the boiler hot, and producing steam before you can get going.

the second issue you have is the boiler itself. you need one with enough capacity to power the car rolling down the interstate, and yet not so much that it takes forever to get the water boiling. you also have steam under high pressure, and boilers have been know to vent rather violently.

the third issue you have is the burner system. you need one that will light off straight away when starting the car, but wont burn fuel sitting overnight like a water heater or furnace pilot light does.

Answer 8

Used to take them 30 minutes to build up enough steam to start moving.

Answer 9

uh think about it? dont they all run on gas basically, you cant just get steam. you have to boil with water and heat. and how do you get heat. gas or fossil fuel. thats what we're running out of!