Steam Powered Underwater Jet Engine 323
Bob Vila's Hammer writes "An Australian engineer, Alan Burns invented a very efficient underwater steam powered jet engine. "Steam that is produced from a petrol or gasoline fueled boiler emerges at high speed from a rearward-facing ring-shaped nozzle into a cone-shaped chamber. Shock waves created as the steam condenses are focused by the chamber to blast water out of the back. Besides powering watercraft pretty efficiently, it can also be used as an extremely robust pump. Pretty Cool."
Direct link to a picture of it (Score:5, Informative)
*nix.org [starnix.org] -- Latest article: "IBM Set to Replace AIX with Linux"
Neato (Score:5, Funny)
Guesses... (Score:5, Insightful)
(1) Efficiency could peak at 300HP designs - it may be that any larger becomes horribly inefficient. Since it relies on squeezing compressed air and steam into an open tube, there might be a point at which there simply is to much room for the reaction to take place in given an incoming water velocity.
(2) The design may not be completed - possible design flaws may limit this versions' abilities to scale up.
(3) They may simply not know how big it can scale if their simulator isn't powerful enough to run a detailed simulation of a larger engine.
Re:Guesses... (Score:5, Informative)
The reason the motor has an upper scaling limit is probably because as the size of the central tube increases, the ratio of bubbles to water would decrease.
It seems likely that as in turbojet engines, the motor's efficiency would increase along with an increase in the motor's forward speed.
My understanding of the system may be lacking (I've only been able to see the diagram, just like everyone else), but I just don't see any "shock waves" occurring, being used, or needed for the engine to work.
This has been your cowardly anonymous tech reviewer, AC.
Re:Neato (Score:5, Funny)
Also, the article says that part of the engine was demonstration was to shove large amounts of lard and cardboard through it, so I would say Yes it is a machine potato gun... so long as your potatos start out underwater. (no water, no jet)
hmmm. as an afterthought, have you ever heard about the Archerfish? [gamarine.com] It's a firefighting boat which uses a jet ski engine to get to the fire, and then reroutes the engine through the firehose to put out the fire. Secondary propulsion allows the boat to manouver in firefighting mode.
If you fitted a grille over the intake of the super water jet engine, you could put out the fire with a more powerfull blast from a more reliable engine and not have any disadvantages like slugging the burning marina with underwater potatoes and sucked up fish.
(one more thought)
since the water is only 3 or 4 degrees warmer after it exhausts from the blast chamber, would trout that has been killed by being sucked up by the engine be in one piece and good to eat if you turned around and began to scoop up your trail of dead sucked up fish? It would be the simplest fishing trip since the invention of dynamite.
Re:Neato (Score:2)
Re:Neato (Score:2, Insightful)
No. Its described as 'macerating' anything solid it takes in. Basically, you'd get trout soup out of the other end. But then what would you expect - the thing works by injecting a stream of steam into water at faster than sound speeds. That's gotta be worse than just knocking em on the head with a shockwave or two...
Re:Neato (Score:2)
Re:Neato (Score:2)
Ever seen what cavitation does to ship propellers? Go to a shipyard and have a look at a propeller that has been in service for 5-10 years.
After that you will think again about coolness and neetness of cavitation...
Re:Neato (Score:2)
But I think I could see (without actually breaking out the physics texts) why this wouldn't scale up well; I think the chamber would have a pretty fixed maximum scale.
Calcium Carbide makes a great potato gun fuel; I can't think of anything I'd rather use. It's portable.
Re:Neato (Score:3, Funny)
Todman shoved large quantities of lard and cardboard into the inlet without the pump suffering any ill effects. It could even mix materials used by the food industry.
Re:Neato (Score:2)
And also, will it shoot potatos?
Certainly. Pealed and boiled, ready for mashing (on impact)
Re:Neato (Score:2)
Re:Neato (Score:2)
Not to mention that some airports will not grant access to single engined aircraft. This is the case when the flight path is over a city. If your 'plane has two engines, and one of them breaks down during takeoff or landing, the other should be enough to get you either back to the strip for an emeergency landing, or away from the city before you crash. If your single engine breaks down, the city dwellers just have to hope you can glide to a big field before you crash.
Re:Neato (Score:2)
from the article (Score:5, Funny)
COWBOYNEAL NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Re:from the article (Score:3, Funny)
usefull (Score:2, Informative)
U s e f u l (Score:4, Funny)
Re:U s e f u l (Score:2)
Hmm... supercavtation stuff coming soon... (Score:5, Interesting)
btw, super cavtation is where you make the nose of your _insert_vessel_here_ blunt but it goes so fast that the vapor pressure drops until the vessel (usually a torpedo / bullet / whatever) would be in an airbubble (technically steam bubble! - though there are dissolved air that boils into the bubble too) that it creates itself (and maintains) and hence has no liquid drag for the rest of the vessel (as in, besides the blunt nose).
The engine I read about was actually reacting seawater directly with aluminum shavings and expelling hot steam (or something like that). I am pretty sure there were something else but I can't remember what it was (I don't think it was iron-rust, though, for all of you thinking of thermite). Anyway - neat stuff; should change underwater combat a whole lot.
should get myself one of those to go war(ship) driving
Re:Hmm... supercavtation stuff coming soon... (Score:4, Informative)
Of course, it's also rocket powered. :)
Re:Hmm... supercavtation stuff coming soon... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Hmm... supercavtation stuff coming soon... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, both this and supercavitation are cool, but they aren't going to play well together. The whole point of supercavitation is that it keeps (liquid) water away from the hull. This guy pretty much needs to inhale as much water as it can get.
You might be able to get away with mounting a ring of jets around the hull near the aft along with (or in place of) the control surfaces, but I'm guessing you'd still get into trouble with the extra turbulence.
is it really feasible? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:is it really feasible? (Score:5, Funny)
Clearly the best part is... (Score:2, Insightful)
I especially like the part about no moving parts... Moving parts are good to avoid in all cases, when possible... They wear and need replacement. Nice one!
Also it provides warmth to nearby fish (Score:5, Funny)
Junkyard Wars / Scrapheap Challenge (Score:3, Funny)
Nifty (Score:2, Funny)
Tim: Ahhhhh... This is great, all we need now is a bit more power. [Grunt] I'll just set it to 500 knots.
*click*
*foom*
Jill: Gargle gargle gargle
Tim: Jill? What are you doing? You know, going underwater in the hot tub isn't good for your ears. Are you listening?
I guess that's a bit off topic... Meh...
SPUJE? (Score:2)
Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
As long as were speculating, imagine an even more effective weapon, a ship loaded full of missiles and rocket launched drone strike aircraft (so no human pilots risked. Yes I'm aware that such aircraft might be say, half as effective as human piloted planes but if they cost 1/4 as much to build its a MUCH more effective weapon. It could very well be cheaper to turn out somewhat dumb long range missiles and semi-reusable drones by the thousands, with no additional pilot training needed. The "pilots" would be a group of technicians behind consoles far from the battle, with embedded computing in the planes doing most of the flying, the human being just to pull the trigger. Without all the risks of training pilots and maintaining aircraft (the planes would be stored in sealed containers until needed, with a small set used for training) and the fact that these planes don't need nearly the quality control in manufacturing (if you lose 10% of them in a mission due to shoddy construction but they cost half as much or less to build its definitely worth the trade off) you'd have a better solution than at the present.
Why isn't this done already? Well, in the 1970s and earlier where most of the present airplanes were designed, communications technology and computers were not good enough or reliable enough. Today, most of the money is spent on operations and on a couple of new aircraft. Also, the current leadership is made up of pilots, who don't want to be replaced by scrawny pasty faced techs sitting at control stations. Finally, there's a current bandwidth problem : military communication satalleits don't have the capacity for the hundreds or thousands of video links needed.
landing on the flight deck (Score:2, Funny)
Re:landing on the flight deck (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
1. The article says it is quiet, but doesn't specify if this is because noise is ultrasonic, or the process is just plan quiet. Regardless a ship doesn't avoid submarines by being quiet. It avoids submarines by using bloody huge active sonar, propulsion noise hardly matters, a ship still makes a lot of noise carving through the water, unlike a sub it is not completely covered in the same medium, but two (air, water).
Also torpedoes do not home on noise (aka passive sonar), they home on returned "pings" from active sonar, who cares if they know where the torp is, if they have no hope of out running it.
The article doesn't speculate that this will necessarily make ships faster. It will certainly mean less drydock mantainence, and better reliability from the drive.
2. Until they develop completely unjammable communication links between machine and pilot, with zero possibility of being hijacked by the enemy, there will always be a need for manned aircraft.
Even if we get sentient un-manned aircraft, would you trust it carrying a bomb? Would you want to take responsibility when it decides to bomb a school?
3. On the contrary I think many of them would love to do something to stop their men from being killed, so long as they don't lose control of air defence. eg: SAM sites were proposed to be run by the army, so the airforce fought tooth and nail when it was suggested that interceptors, etc were unnecessary.
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Interesting)
As for jamming : a high frequency beam is directed from an antennae dish on the plane to a satellite. As long as the satellite is intact, and knows approximately where the aircraft is it can effectively ignore all other sources of EMF. There is absolutely no way to jam this kind of link(short of detonating nukes in the atmosphere, or as of yet nonexistant conventional emp weapons.). Physical destruction of the satellite is a possibility...a very powerful missile or laser on the ground could do it. Still, a more sophisticated system would use other remote aircraft circling in the sky as communications relays, again not jammable. And anyways, if the comunications are jammed of course it won't fire any weapons, instead going to some preprogrammed contingency (perhaps circle or fly low to the ground til it needs to return to base?)
As for sentient unmanned aircraft...well, at that point I think I'd be more worried about losing control of the world entirely rather than a few random bombings. Once sentient computers are possible it is pretty reasonable to assume humanity's trek is effectively over. (whether or not humans go on living, they won't be relevant)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
Although it has been a long time since I was in the Navy dropping torpedoes from a P-3 Orion, at that time the torpedoes were quite capable of passive accoustic guidance. This is still true, as a quick google search will show. Active sonar is used only when a target has been acquired.
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
killingry (Score:2)
buckminster fuller, who coined many terms, among them synergy, came up with two words to describe application of technology - killingry and livingry
ok, they're not as hip sounding as synergy, but i'm sure you get what they mean - and buck fuller devoted his life to creating livingy such as the geodesic dome and his many other inventions
so why, i wonder, when the article in new scientist has nothing to say about 'defense' applications are there so many posts like yours inthis thread about using this invention in military applications? to quote george w bush out of context, you're either with us or against us - on the side of livingry or on the side of killingry
Hmmm - Torpedo engines (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hmmm - Torpedo engines (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm - Torpedo engines (Score:2)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
An aircraft carrier with hydorfoils? I've gotta say, just the mental image of that is pretty amazing.
Can you imagine surfing on the wake from a nuclear-powered hydrofoil aircraft carrier?
Typo? (Score:2)
Actually I believe you meant to use the comma, not the period.
"CAPITAIN! Incomming enemy planes! They've got missles locked and ready to fire!"
"How far away are they?!?!"
"1.700 nautical miles!!"
"Damn! WE'RE FINISHED!"
Also, please be kind and link to your references [navy.mil]. I'm more likely to read if I don't have to copy and paste. Besides,
Some interesting facts from that page:
Range:
Combat: 1,089 nautical miles (1252.4 miles/2,003 km), clean plus two AIM-9s
Ferry: 1,546 nautical miles (1777.9 miles/2,844 km), two AIM-9s plus three 330 gallon tanks
Ceiling: 50,000+ feet
Speed: Mach 1.7+
So any carrier which carries the FA-18 Hornet is pretty well protected. IANANM (I am not a Navy Man), but how many of the carriers have the FA-18s on them?
Re:Typo? (Score:2)
Re:Typo? (Score:2)
SAMs can be defeated in several ways.
Chaff & flares as decoys.
Jamming, so it cannot see/identify a discrete target.
Destruction of its ground based radar while the missile is in flight. It loses track and gets lost.
A missile has a 'cone' in front where the seeker (radar or IR) is effective. Sometimes, jinking just right, at the right moment, you can cause the missile to 'lose you'. Not a threat anymore.
Overwhelming the launchers with multiple targets. A ship may have many missiles, but only a few launchers. Especially with a side on attack. The launchers on the opposite side of the ship may not be able to track a target coming from the other side.
If SAMs were utterly reliable, the air forces of the world would have a MUCH tougher time than they do now.
Re:Typo? (Score:2)
All of them. [navy.mil] (If not -18's, they have -14's which are still pretty potent for air defense)
In addition, a carrier does not cruise alone. It is the centerpiece of a full battle group, with many other ships, whose duty is often to protect the carrier.
logical progression (Score:5, Funny)
Diesel Powered -> Nuclear Powered -> Wood-fired subs!
Re:logical progression (Score:2)
If it makes as much difference to boats as.... (Score:2, Informative)
Personal watercraft (Score:2)
What's the catch? (Score:5, Insightful)
* Cheap to produce
* Incredibly robust (no moving parts)
* Efficient (although they don't give any numbers)
* Safe(r) for the environment
* Multiple uses (pumps)
* Scales well in a small package
Without seeing any numbers, it sounds like it beats the pants off of outboard engines. My 70HP Evinrude has been rebuilt twice because of sand-suckage, and standard jet impellers are too inneficient.
So what's the catch? I want to see some real numbers. If there's no catch, then I hope and think this thing will revolutionize the small-craft market.
Ugh, I need my first coffee (Score:2, Funny)
The real question... (Score:2, Funny)
"The steam drive can also function as an extremely robust pump. It can shift water, sewage or oil, and in a demonstration for New Scientist, Todman shoved large quantities of lard and cardboard into the inlet without the pump suffering any ill effects."
So the real question is when will someone make one big enough to become the first under water roller coaster?
Furthermore:
"It doesn't simply mix -- it macerates," says Todman".
Hmmm... macerates... "to soften and cause to disintegrate as a result"... oh well... just don't turn it up all the way
Part throttle efficiency (Score:2)
You also couldn't reverse the thing the same way you reverse a normal vessel, but, hey, just run a small set of pipes to the front and a miniature one of these jet gadgets and you've got instant bow thrusters :)
Re:Part throttle efficiency (Score:3, Insightful)
But with an engine that small and no mechanical or electrical linkage needed to the actual engine - just turn the whole thing around.
You could use it like an outboard/sterndrive affair
On tug craft you could use several to replace the current bucket prob designs.
On large ships you could use banks of these along the hull. If they can orient them then you can spin the vessel in its own length, move it sideways, offset the forward and stern banks to assist the turning. Stopping would be easier as a big stern prop is horribly ineffecient in reverse, but turning the engine pods around would not effect them (Probably - not sure if reverseing the water flow over them may make them less effecient). Want to avoid a collision, just turn them sideways under way and shove yourself out of the way sideways.
The beaty IMHO is this thing is so simple all you need is a pipe and valve to regulate the steam from a central boiler, and a control system to turn it.
This could potential make for very agile vessels.
apparently an idea whose time has come (Score:2)
Interesting, this sounds very much like the Windhexe story [slashdot.org] which was posted a couple months ago.
How does it get started? (Score:3, Insightful)
In the same manner, you won't have a "neutral" since it probably can't be turned off and on rapidly for docking maneuvers, et al. Perhaps it could use buckets like a jetski (or any jet aircraft using clamshell reversers), but I wonder how well it reacts to a high backpressure created by such a device....
Maybe we'll get to see some of that great KABOOM action when these things explode or when two boats collide!
Helooo??? (Score:4, Informative)
Engineers should be forced to study railroads, they were the high-tech of 150 years ago, and they actually invented many things, most especially modern telecommunication networking!!!!
Re:Helooo??? (Score:2, Insightful)
My theory is that the steam mixes with the bubbles, and given the low caloric density of air, these will expand rapidly, leading to a volume increase and therefore providing extra boost. Further down, they mix with cold water and become cool again, but then it's already out of the jet. Should make for interesting current patterns...
undware (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Blood on the Nozel (Score:2)
new quote? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:4, Funny)
"d'uh"
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:5, Interesting)
Imagine if the drive which produces steam is not desiel or petrol, but nuclear!
Enough "air" and steam for everybody.
Moreover, imagine if the sub doesn't use neutral bouyancy but flies through the water [slashdot.org].
One thought though, if you're doing 90 knots underwater when the sea is full of debris [slashdot.org], you might want really good maps and a kick ass gps+VR rig to guide you through the canyons, because I doubt sonar will be able to image for you fast enough.
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:2)
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:2)
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:2)
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:2)
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:3, Insightful)
The speed of sound in air is over five hundred miles and hour. I don't know what it is in air but if you assume that it is half again as fast in either direction, then it cannot be less than two-hundred and fifty miles per hour, nor more than seven-hundred and fifty miles per hour at the high end.
If things are workable at the low end, the high end is fine. Therefore, the low end is the 'danger zone.' Assuming an active sonar range of one mile. Now, submariners don't like using active sonar, it's analogous to a soldier standing in an empty field at night and shouting, 'shoot me!!'
Be that as it may, working with the assumption that the submariners use it, it is fairly safe to assume that any system they use for detecting objects in their path would be used to provide the most proactive solution to the problem of not running into things possible.
Basically, if you were doing 90 knots when you turned on your sonar system, in a place with potential hazards at close range, you might not like it, but assuming you spent all your time pinging like crazy, it is safe to assume that you would have advanced warning on objects in the distance because your sonar data would let you catalog them before they became a threat to you.
Note also that GPS systems use radio waves which don't work well at all when transmitted through water.
Be that as it may. It is of course true that VR-goggles and GPS techology are both very cool.
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:2, Insightful)
1. The speed of sound in water is actually faster than in the air (it is related to density).
2. Pay attention to the anticipated speed that they feel can be accomplished with the engine. 90 knots is faster than most torpedoes (ignoring the rocket propelled supercavitating ones). The users of this engine may not care too greatly about being noticed since they can outrun just about anything which could attack them.
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Super Powered Submarines! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Super Powered Submarines -- Heck no, SCUBA ! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:just a note (Score:5, Funny)
I'll let you figure this one out yourself....
Re:just a note (Score:5, Informative)
Bill Hamilton [hamjet.co.nz] invented the jetboat back in the 1950s. It uses an impeller (not a propellor) to provide thrust.
Boats driven by jets are useful since they have better water clearance and can be used in shallow waters. Edmund Hillary (of Everest fame) took a fantastic boat trip up the Ganges river, as far up the headwaters as they could go, which turned out to be pretty far...
Such technology would be fantastically useful in the Florida Everglades for example, where conventional outboard motors wreak havoc with marine life, particularly the dugong.
If anyone ever gets to New Zealand on vacation, make sure to go on the Shotover Jet [shotoverjet.co.nz] boats. They do a full 360 at high speed; can't do that with a conventional craft.
STF
Re:Skeptical... (Score:3, Informative)
Well, there are a lot of jet powered boats on the water right now. This is just a new way to create the pressure necessary to move the water and push the boat forwards. Guessing off the top of my head, I'd say that making a retrofit to existing jet-powered boats would not be a big problem at all.
Also, how big is the motor? It might be far too cumbersome to fit in anything less than a 20 foot boat. How much does it weigh?
Boilers can be pretty small - definitely no larger than the engines that currently take up space (and I'm referring to inboard motors as opposed to outboards). If you're referring to using a reservoir to hold the water to be boiled, why not just use the lake / river / whatever water to boil? True, salt water boils at a higher temperature, requiring more energy to create the steam, but I'm sure that if the boiler is powerful enough to creat the amount of steam it needs, it could handle that extra energy.
I bet you could also make an outboard version.
RTFA (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Now there are two ways... (Score:3, Interesting)
Which seems a little disappointing. I liked it better thinking of a contraction of "masticate" and "lacerate"
Re:Now there are two ways... (Score:5, Funny)
Kinda makes me think of the "Bass-O-Matic" commercial on Saturday Night Live...
Re:How does it start? (Score:2, Insightful)
That's the exact same thing I was just wondering. The best way for me to find out is to go build one and try it! I'll be sure to make a website once I do it, and after that, I'll try to stand up to the litigation from Pursuit Dynamics
Seriously though, it looks like there's a small venturi at the exit of the steam chamber which would focus the steam backwards and start the process. Also, if you don't have steam pressure (any time the boiler is off overnight), the water will flow in the steam supply line. When you start it, the steam probably pushes the water out, generating a small current that builds as the engine starts working.
Re:How does it start? (Score:2)
When I fish, the throttle is rarely full-open.
Mind you, the invention would still be awesome for ocean-traversing ships, where constant thrust for long distances is the rule of thumb. I just don't see the value for the small bass boat.
Re:Poor wales and dolphins... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Poor whales and dolphins... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Poor wales and dolphins... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Poor wales and dolphins... (Score:2)
Boy am I suprised this isn't American technology. Afterall, we did invent the SUV!
No diff. (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure those sonar tests are the reason for those beached whales. If the only way to avoid your ears and brains being blasted to pulp is to get out of the water, you do it, whether you weigh 20 tons or not.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:No dammage to the environment ?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sigh. Let's look at some numbers, shall we?
Volume of water going through (arbitrary example) 20cm dia steam-powered jet engine at 10m/s: 3.14*.10*.10*10 = 314 litres
Volume of water in 1 square kilometre of 20m deep ocean at 20 degrees: 20 thousand million litres.
Time to traverse 1km in boat at 10m/s = 100 seconds = 31,400 litres of 4 degree warmer water.
Mix 31,400 litres of 4 degree warmer water with remaining 19999968600 litres.
OH DEAR GOD, NO! IT'S 0.00000628 DEGREES WARMER!WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!
So, if 1000 boats all simultaneously traversed the same 1km square section of water, the water temperature would be temporarily raised 0.0628 degrees.
Well, better discard this invention and go back to conventional petroleum powered motors, for surely they are the safest, most environmentally friendly way to proper water craft.
(This dose of reality brought to you today by the concept of common sense. Please try some.)
Wow. (Score:2)
God, that was fucking beautiful. Sorry for the OT, but I just had to congradulate publicly.
Re:No dammage to the environment ?!? (Score:2)
How do you think current boat engines are cooled? (hint: with water). Already, most of a boat engine's energy ends up heating the surrounding water.
PWC... (Score:2)
or perhaps a sub.
Next, you'll be referring to your car as your PRIC (Personal Ride-In Carriage)...
Either that or you'll be talking about 'monetizing' the damn things. Makes me feel dirty just mentioning the word.
Re:"petrol or gasoline" (Score:2)
Petrol is sold by British Petroleum, gasoline is sold by Arco.
Hope that clears up any misunderstanding.