1864 Atmospheric engine
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:08 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTV5xsExw9Y
Youtube description of operation:
Halfway through the video he brakes the flywheel with his hand to show how the governor system drops the piston sooner, and it fires more often to keep the speed up. Again, this is hit and miss, but not Otto cycle.
Youtube description of operation:
The key is the one way clutch. There is no crankshaft. The piston goes up and down and when it is fired up, it ratchets that wheel, putting energy into the flywheel. Another key take away is that the efficiency is purportedly very good since the piston is not restricted in motion in any way by a crankshaft, so all energy goes as linear motion.This is a 3/4 replica of the patent drawing for the Otto & Langen atmospheric engine.
This is a free piston engine that was designed to run on early "producer gas", while this one runs on hydrogen.
The cycle is controlled by the cams that only operate when a power stroke is required. The cams are started when the piston rod reaches the bottom and causes the pawl to engage the spinning ratchet. The first event is that a lever opens the intake valve and pushes the piston rod up about 4 inches to draw a charge into the cylinder. This then ignites, driving the piston up against air in the upper end of the cylinder. The resulting air pressure above the piston then produces the downward power stroke, spinning a one-way clutch to turn the output shaft.
After the energy has been transferred to the output shaft, the piston gradually descends as exhaust gas exits the lower end of the cylinder.
Otto & Langen continued developing this engine for many years, producing about 5000 of them. It was low power, but very fuel efficient, since the free piston allowed full use of the energy in the explosion. The biggest of these was only 3 hp, standing 12 feet tall, and requiring a very heavy foundation to handle the pounding recoil.
Halfway through the video he brakes the flywheel with his hand to show how the governor system drops the piston sooner, and it fires more often to keep the speed up. Again, this is hit and miss, but not Otto cycle.