Jump to content

Compressed air engine - my senior project


wheezy

Recommended Posts

My senior project was to build a compressed air engine. I thought it turned out pretty cool and wanted to share it. It has no valves. There is a notch in the piston that controls the flow of air to the cylinder.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b338/wheezytoo/engine001.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b338/wheezytoo/engine003.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b338/wheezytoo/engine005.jpg

 

It ran about 750 rpm at 90 psi.

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b338/wheezytoo/th_engine006.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The class was me581. I was in a group of 4 and we had to choose to build and test either a compressed air engine or sterling engine. We choose the compressed air since it produced a lot more power. Originally we were gonna have a valve but the professor did not want us to do that. Thats how we came up with the piston being a valve.

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b338/wheezytoo/cycle.jpg

 

The image on the left is at the top of the stroke. Air flows through the notch in the piston, then through the tubing and into the cylinder which drives the piston down. The middle image shows both intake and exhaust closed. The right image shows the exhaust open.

 

We had to make a few changes to get it to run. First we added weights to the flywheel. Next we moved the cylinder away from the shaft which made the exhaust hole activate sooner and the intake would not be open as long.

 

The piston and cylinder were made by the people that work at the machine shop in scott lab. We made the flywheel with cnc and a mill. We had a budget of $250 and came in just under that.

 

Now I need to find a job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...