Recent content by thorpie

So if we 1 - made our spaceship a large parabolic dish, say 1 km across, 2 - with the dish pointed away from our current star towards our destination star, 3 - with a small atmosphere in the dish, 4 - with a solar receiver on the rear that receives concentrated solar energy sufficient to...

Hello Theoretically any ball that bounces 1.225 metres high is in the air for one second. This is fairly precise, +/-4% time variance is +/- 10 cm height variance, so bouncing to a height of 1.13 metres is 0.96 seconds and to a height of 1.32 is 1.04 seconds. The theory is at least dependent...

Hello The attached diagram shows a group of 6 hexagons rotating inside a larger hexagon. I have never seen such rotation before and didn’t envisage it until I drew it. Just out of curiosity I was hoping someone could advise of any documentation on such rotation. I cannot see any substantial...

Power to the helix Power to the helix could be provided from many sources, so long as it keeps constant rotational velocity while under or not under load.

Hello A wheel rolling on a shallow rotating helix can be used to provide off vehicle power to a moving vehicle. Does anyone know of any applications where this is used, or know of any research into the matter? Thanks

As does any engine without a fly-wheel

So it undertakes the four functions of intake, compression, combustion and exhaust. A two-stroke engine undertakes two of the four functions in one stroke, a four stroke engine undertakes one function in one stroke. The single stroke undertakes the four functions in one stroke. I do not...

Hello ishak460 The thumbnail in the original post is an animated gif file that displays the engine functioning.

Engine at 4500 - 5000 rpm (BSFC of 408 g/litre). 26" external diameter bicycle wheel at 168.7 rpm gives 21 km/hr. Reduction needed 26.7:1. I can get 2.5:1 from the chain drive, if necessary. So I need somewhere in the range 11:1 to 27:1 from the gearbox. Single stage planetary's go up to...

Bicycle, but I am aiming at the best assistance possible from 1 litre of fuel over 1,000 km. I need the right terrain, with just 2 gradients, 0.8% downhilll (unpowered, 90% of the time) and 5% uphill (powered, 10% of the time). With the right terrain this provides a constant speed of 21 km/hr...

I would like to know whether a gearbox (reducer) designed for an electric motor is suitable for the same powered 4-stroke engine. The most common, and therefore inexpensive, gearboxes are on drills, either cordless or wired. A small 4 stroke engine gives a maximum power of 750 watts...

A more fundamental question remains firstly though. On Sunday I ascertained that the design has two possible firing cycles, it can either fire at the end of the stroke (as shown in the animation) or during the compression in the middle of the stroke. Firing in the middle of the stroke seems to...

I do not have a clue. I thunk this up on Thursday 31st July, did the calculations in the attached spreadsheet on Friday, and did the conversion to code and graphic in VB on Friday night. I thunk it up because I am looking for an engine for a pushbike. I was thinking of options for an engine...

I got curious about a single stroke engine design that popped into my head and made the attached animation. . It does not look to me like it would have any use but curiosity value. In fact it does not appear to have any redeeming features whatsoever - two crankshafts that speed up and slow...