Concerning the "steam engines": I think that they use a steam turbine. You'll find this kind of turbines also on conventional power plants. Whatsmore they'll problaby use a turbocharger with some modifications. These are my words of wisdom while studying mechanical engineering.
In Germany we have a saying that goes like this: "Umgekehrt wird ein Schuh daraus."
If you translate it word by word you'll get "The other way round it becomes a shoe."
It basically means that the statement turns out to be true for the one who made.
Innovation costs money. Thus big companies are not interested in it as long as they are not forced by the market (consumers or competition).
Opensource in comparison is written by ideological individuals who have a focus on technology.
These people innovate because they want to improve their software and not to make money.
However, as always, only future will show us which concept is/was the better one.
Thought about this long time too as i have a lot of old computer spare parts (aka junk) lying around. However there is a problem i still haven't found a solution for. I don't like the idea of converting 12V DC to 240V AC and then back to 5/12V DC. There are power units to buy but they have a hefty price tag of around 150 Euros (approx. 120$). Does anyone have a circuit layout or some instructions how to modify a standard AT/ATX power supply? Whatsmore it has to be able to transform 10-20V to constant 12V because cars don't deliver perfectly constant 12V DC.
Assuming that the alternator hasn't been removed to give a couple of extra MPG, the extra work needed to recharge the battery to its previous level is going to use some extra fuel.
This is correct.
Whatsmore to say: you will burn up much more fuel starting the engine than having it idle for about a Minute (this depends on your idling speed).
Finally, driving everywhere in the wrong gear is just plain wrong.
What you can do to efficiently save gas is to use a high gear when you have already accelerated and the street is going straight ahead.
You will save much more fuel by constantly keeping your speed with a "calm" foot than accelerating extremely slow.
This is also not to hard to explain physical:
When you accelerate you need force (the force results from the torque - the gears are the lever: M = F*l; F = M/l) generated by your engine (F = m*a).
This force is used over a certain time span (long if you accelerate fast, short if you accelerate slow). Having a certain time and force this will result in work (W = F*t or W = m*a*t).
As you can see work will almost stay the same.
Accelerating fast will give you a short "t" but a high "a". Vice versa for slow acceleration.
Now let's have a look on what's happening when you are going straight ahead.
With a certain speed you have a certain kinetic energy. To keep the speed you'll need to constantly produce energy (E = W = P*t, with P being the engine power (1)) by "accelerating" (you won't recognize it as accelerating because your speed should almost stay the same).
This is where a lot of people mess up and the consumption increases.
For example let's take a constant speed of 30.
Most people will have their speed drop to 25 than accelerate to 35 and than they'll let it drop to 25 again.
But their cars will consume much more fuel because they have to work against the aerodynamic and road resistance in order to accelerate.
If you keep your speed steady your engine haven't got to work so much to bear down the breakaway torque.
To point this up you could put a book on your desk and then drag it for a few centimeters (or inches if you prefer that). You'll recognize that you will need comparative lot of force to move the book but once it is moving it's quiet easy.
I hope i could clear things a little bit up and didn't mess up with the physical explanation because i learnt it all on german.
(1) Torque and engine power are always connected with each other: engine power is the result of the product of torque and revolutions.
always turn engine off when coasting downhill (within reason, not on very long slopes) or towards a red traffic light
You should really reconsider about this one.
Without your engine running your brake booster won't work either.
Imagine running down a hill or towards a traffic light and suddenly a child is running across the street or a car is coming out from a gateway.
You won't be able to react this fast and turn on your engine to regain the full force of your brake booster.
Furthermore it's very likely that your power steering also won't work correctly which will make evasion almost impossible at certain speeds.
Slashdot Mirror
this after visiting the Art Lebedev website.
Maybe they should think about renaming the "Login/Lock For Windows Users" function.
Germans may suck as human beings
Tank you..
Concerning the "steam engines":
I think that they use a steam turbine. You'll find this kind of turbines also on conventional power plants.
Whatsmore they'll problaby use a turbocharger with some modifications.
These are my words of wisdom while studying mechanical engineering.
In Germany we have a saying that goes like this: "Umgekehrt wird ein Schuh daraus."
If you translate it word by word you'll get "The other way round it becomes a shoe."
It basically means that the statement turns out to be true for the one who made.
Innovation costs money. Thus big companies are not interested in it as long as they are not forced by the market (consumers or competition).
Opensource in comparison is written by ideological individuals who have a focus on technology.
These people innovate because they want to improve their software and not to make money.
However, as always, only future will show us which concept is/was the better one.
Hi.
Thought about this long time too as i have a lot of old computer spare parts (aka junk) lying around.
However there is a problem i still haven't found a solution for. I don't like the idea of converting 12V DC to 240V AC and then back to 5/12V DC.
There are power units to buy but they have a hefty price tag of around 150 Euros (approx. 120$).
Does anyone have a circuit layout or some instructions how to modify a standard AT/ATX power supply? Whatsmore it has to be able to transform 10-20V to constant 12V because cars don't deliver perfectly constant 12V DC.
Thanks a lot in advance and best regards.
Assuming that the alternator hasn't been removed to give a couple of extra MPG, the extra work needed to recharge the battery to its previous level is going to use some extra fuel.
This is correct.
Whatsmore to say: you will burn up much more fuel starting the engine than having it idle for about a Minute (this depends on your idling speed).
Finally, driving everywhere in the wrong gear is just plain wrong.
What you can do to efficiently save gas is to use a high gear when you have already accelerated and the street is going straight ahead.
You will save much more fuel by constantly keeping your speed with a "calm" foot than accelerating extremely slow.
This is also not to hard to explain physical:
When you accelerate you need force (the force results from the torque - the gears are the lever: M = F*l; F = M/l) generated by your engine (F = m*a).
This force is used over a certain time span (long if you accelerate fast, short if you accelerate slow). Having a certain time and force this will result in work (W = F*t or W = m*a*t).
As you can see work will almost stay the same.
Accelerating fast will give you a short "t" but a high "a". Vice versa for slow acceleration.
Now let's have a look on what's happening when you are going straight ahead.
With a certain speed you have a certain kinetic energy. To keep the speed you'll need to constantly produce energy (E = W = P*t, with P being the engine power (1)) by "accelerating" (you won't recognize it as accelerating because your speed should almost stay the same).
This is where a lot of people mess up and the consumption increases.
For example let's take a constant speed of 30.
Most people will have their speed drop to 25 than accelerate to 35 and than they'll let it drop to 25 again.
But their cars will consume much more fuel because they have to work against the aerodynamic and road resistance in order to accelerate.
If you keep your speed steady your engine haven't got to work so much to bear down the breakaway torque.
To point this up you could put a book on your desk and then drag it for a few centimeters (or inches if you prefer that). You'll recognize that you will need comparative lot of force to move the book but once it is moving it's quiet easy.
I hope i could clear things a little bit up and didn't mess up with the physical explanation because i learnt it all on german.
(1) Torque and engine power are always connected with each other: engine power is the result of the product of torque and revolutions.
Greetings.
always turn engine off when coasting downhill (within reason, not on very long slopes) or towards a red traffic light
You should really reconsider about this one. Without your engine running your brake booster won't work either.
Imagine running down a hill or towards a traffic light and suddenly a child is running across the street or a car is coming out from a gateway.
You won't be able to react this fast and turn on your engine to regain the full force of your brake booster.
Furthermore it's very likely that your power steering also won't work correctly which will make evasion almost impossible at certain speeds.
Greetings.