The future lies in steam

It is imperative to understand the meaning of innovation before proceeding. Innovation is toppling the conventional and bringing something very different into practice. Innovations should eliminate a problem completely. Internal combustion engines were innovations of the last century in the field of transport; they revolutionized transport. Whatever the automobile manufacturers claim as ‘innovations’ today are mere developments. Common Rail Direct Injection for instance was a development in diesel engine and turbocharger was just an upgrade. But at the end, the engine was a burning a little less amount of diesel to produce better power output and reduce pollutants from exhaust to some extent; nevertheless they are polluting and they don’t solve the problem of emissions. The real innovations in IC engines date back to the days of Rudolph Diesel.

Tata claims that Nano is a revolutionary concept, making cars affordable to everyone. First of all, such a revolution happened 80 years back, when Citroen 2CV was introduced. It was truly the farmer’s car. Secondly, Nano does not solve a problem to qualify as an innovation. It just exploits the greed of the people. If Nano is a success, it will displace public transport and aggravate the problems of emissions and traffic congestion. Six Nanos, carrying 24 passengers will occupy the space on the road as much as a bus that carries 60 people. The same amount of Nanos will consume one litre of diesel every 20Km (atleast on paper) each i.e. 6litre of diesel to carry 24 guys for 20Km. But a bus will consume a maximum of 5litre of diesel to carry 60 people across 20Km. Fortunately, everyone has realized that Nano is nothing but a crappy four wheeled Auto Rickshaw.

A guy named Ted Pritchard modified his Ford Falcon, replaced the IC engine with a steam engine and drove the car on road in 60’s. It may sound like going back to the 17^th century. But it is not. It was a more efficient engine unlike the coal powered cars manufactured before 1920s. It did not have huge boiler, characteristic of old steam cars. One cannot distinguish between a conventional Ford Falcon and Pritchard’s by appearance.

Video of Pritchard’s steam car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJq2Hc_mXFI

As a result of improvements in technology and invention of composite materials, we have more advanced external combustion engines. For example, the award winning Cyclone engines have water sealed inside the engine. The water is recovered and used again and again; There is no need to topple the engine with water; i.e. No boilers are required to run this steam engine. Secondly, the engine has been tested with different fuels ranging from biodiesel to powdered coal, with modifications only in combustion chamber, which means, a vehicle powered by this engine can run on any type of fuel. The most important part is if there is enough heat in the chamber to transform the water in the engine into superheated steam, then the engine will run. It should be possible to run this engine with a thermal fluid.

The following link takes you to the experiment done in the 80’s in the US, during oil crisis. http://automotivetribune.com/?tag=solar-thermal-hybrid-vehicle

They stored heat in a thermal fluid, using solar thermal energy and filled it in heat insulated tank to power a steam engine. If it was possible with a conventional steam engine, I believe that a versatile engine like the cyclone engine can be also modified to do that. It is possible to replace Petrol pumps with solar thermal stations with biogas heaters for backup. Hot thermal liquid like synthetic oil can be filled up in tanks instead of petrol. If it happens, it will be a real innovation.

Cyclone power’s website: http://cyclonepower.com

Electric vehicles can be considered as true innovations. But they depend on electricity for charging, which again is mostly generated by polluting powerplants in India. Moreover, batteries do not have a lifespan of more than 7 years and they cost a lot to replace. Even within the 7 years of their life, batteries become inefficient and consume more electricity while charging, storing less amount of energy. Hybrid vehicles burn fuel and cars powered by compressed air have not been successful so far. It seems, a solar thermal vehicle can offer the solution for emissions. But bringing them to reality depends upon sheer political will and the willingness of the automotive manufacturers to replace their existing IC engines.

Similar experiments are being conducted throughout the world. But what are we, the ones aspiring to become a superpower doing? What have we innovated in this area? Simply nothing; We love to drive a car to our IT companies to show up. We love to stay comfortable with our jobs, though we have the knowledge and competence to innovate. We love to watch 24 hr news channels and loathe the corrupt politicians. But we do nothing. We don’t even cast our votes. We don’t want to become entrepreneurs. We want others to innovate and buy them when they hit the market.