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- Researchers have developed a new engine
that works so efficiently that electric companies may have to pay customers
back. That might be wishful thinking, but within the next few years, the
unique engine design could power everything from refrigerators to heating
systems and cars.
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- According to a report in the latest Nature,
the new engine draws upon some old principles -- first incorporated in
the Stirling engine, invented in 1816. Both the Stirling and the new Backhaus-Swift
engines create energy utilizing pressurized gas.
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- The thermoacoustic Backhaus-Swift engine,
named after its creators Scott Backhaus and G.W. Swift of the Los Alamos
National Laboratory, works using helium.
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- Backhaus explains that helium is contained
in the engine, like a steel balloon. At certain points, the helium is heated
and then cooled.
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- The changes in temperature create acoustic
energy in the form of sound waves, similar to the way stereo speakers amplify
sound. The power produced can be used to run an acoustically-powered appliance,
drive a piston engine or generate electricity which can be diverted to
even more gadgets and gizmos.
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- Backhaus says because the engine has
no moving parts it requires little, if any maintenance.
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- "It doesn't need to be oiled and
it's relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture, since it's constructed
out of welded steel pipe," explains Backhaus, who adds that the engine
is also environmentally friendly.
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- "One of the first industrial applications
of the engine will be to conserve natural gas released during oil drilling,"
says Backhaus. Currently oil companies burn the gas just to get rid of
it, which wastes energy and adds to pollution. The Backhaus-Swift engine
will enable drillers to capture the gas on site and then sell it as fuel.
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- "The new engine is a major breakthrough
that is going to change the world," says Dr. Steven Garrett, a researcher
at Pennsylvania State University.
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- Garrett believes the engine could be
used to power solar collectors in homes, car electrical systems, solar
ice makers in third world countries, home air conditioners and energy-producing
refrigerators. He says appliances that can run on the engine will probably
be on the market in about five years.
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