Cyclone Waste Heat Engine
When the piston reverses to return to top dead center, an exhaust valve needs to open so that the expanded steam from the previous stroke can be released from the cylinder.
The WHE engine has an exhaust valve in each piston actuated by a protrusion on the connecting rod (see figure to right).
The WHE-25 design used a reed valve, which is a piece of thin metal covering the top of the piston (as shown in the figure).
The WHE-DR design replaced the reed with a ball resting in a valve seat in the piston crown.
Journal bearings on the crankshaft and connecting rods and the pistons sliding in their cylinders operate in the hydrodynamic lubrication regime.
The carrying capacity of a journal bearing is a direct function of the dynamic viscosity of the lubricating fluid.
Cyclone Power Technologies had contracted with the Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research (OSU-CAR) for engineering analysis.
As of March 25, 2015 there has been no indication they have made a water lubricated engine pass this 200-hour endurance test.
No independent tests of any WHE model have been reported, but an indication comes from information published regarding the test waste heat recovery system for Bent Glass Design of Hatboro, PA.[9] The system was described as providing up to 10 kW electrical output using a WHE-25 model engine and "will convert over 500,000 BTUs of exhaust heat from the customer's glass manufacturing furnaces into electric power."
[4] This allows for the remaining 66% of the piston stroke to expand the steam, extracting work from it and causing the pressure to drop.
The later cutoff leads to a larger mean effective pressure that will give a larger power output for an engine of a given size operating at a given speed, but also leads to a decrease in efficiency since steam is at a higher pressure when exhausted from the cylinder and less of its energy has been converted to mechanical work.
As a point of comparison, a Caterpillar C13 diesel engine that is commonly used in tractor-trailer trucks has a heat rejection to coolant rating of 128 kW.
Boilers are sometimes called steam generators, and Cyclone Power Technologies has used the term "Combustion Chamber/Heat Exchanger" or "CCHX".
[11] Regardless of the name used, if the system pressure is greater than 15 psi (1 bar) and heat is added, the device is legally a boiler.
The jurisdiction may also require the installation be operated by a licensed stationary engineer, as well as be covered by sufficient liability insurance.
