Nitinol Engine Design: Exploring Efficiency and Power Harnessing Techniques

[AamsterC2]

So I'm starting to do some tests with nitinol (order about 5 feet of wire just to do some basic tests and get a feel for the material before I go any further). I've seen a few variations on different types of motors that are powered by nitinol and am wondering if they all have the same efficiencies or if one is the most effective as well as what the best way to harness power with nitinol would be. For those of you who don't know nitinol is a mix of nickel and titanium that has the ability to be bent quite easily but when it reaches a certain temperature (which varies depending on the ratio of nickel to titanium) it will quickly and powerfully return to it's original shape

 

[berkeman]

So I'm starting to do some tests with nitinol (order about 5 feet of wire just to do some basic tests and get a feel for the material before I go any further). I've seen a few variations on different types of motors that are powered by nitinol and am wondering if they all have the same efficiencies or if one is the most effective as well as what the best way to harness power with nitinol would be. For those of you who don't know nitinol is a mix of nickel and titanium that has the ability to be bent quite easily but when it reaches a certain temperature (which varies depending on the ratio of nickel to titanium) it will quickly and powerfully return to it's original shape

You do understand that the motor is not powered by the nitinol, rught? It's powered by whatever is forming the hot and cold reservoirs that the heat engine runs off of.

powered by nitinol

Googling Nitinol Engine brings up lots of hits about "Free Energy". That is a forbidden topic here at the PF, so I hope that's not where you are headed with this.