The Man Behind the World's Smallest V-12 Engine [video]
youtube.com
youtube.com
Cheapest: Harbor freight's "Storm Cat" $129, 2-stroke, 700W, 91 dB, 63cc, 38.2 lbs, 18.3 W / lb, 1818 Wh / Gal.
Best power / weight, most efficient: Honda "EU2000i" $1000, 4-stroke, 1600W, 53 dB, 98cc, 46 lbs, 35 W / lb, 6737 Wh / Gal.
Quietest: Honda "EU3000is" $2000, 4-stroke, 2800W, 49 dB, 196cc, 134 lbs, 20 W / lb, 5939 Wg / Gal.
Lightest: Honda "EU1000i" $800, 4-strike, 900W, 53 dB, 50cc, 29 lbs, 31 W / lb, 5700 Wh / Gal.
(there are ~33440 Watt-hours of energy available in a gallon of gasoline).
The most recent innovation seems to be the inverter/generator. It means that the engine does not have to run at any specific speed to get 60 Hz, so it can be run slow to make it quiet. Perhaps an extension to this could be the generator equivalent of a "hybrid"- supply power from a battery to cover surges, but use the engine to supply the average usage.
It will be interesting if any recent work on engine design ends up in small generators. For example, there is the OPOC engine from the Bill Gates backed startup http://ecomotors.com
You would think there would be more competition from micro-turbines, but I don't think they scale down so well. There is this 2.6 kW "Dynajet" micro-turbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa8kS8EZWmQ
Edit: also.. what ever happened with small fuel cells? http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2013/01/31/why-a...
Here (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/19/science/putting-a-darwinia...) is an old story about a group who used genetic algorithm to design a more efficient diesel engine.
>using a Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 supercomputer with 32 processors it took more than two weeks of continuous operation to find an optimal set of parameters.
>Dr. Senecal's test engine consumed 15 percent less fuel than a standard engine while producing one-third as much nitric oxide and half the soot.
Unfortunately I have no idea if anything ever came of this or not. I can't find anything. It'd be incredibly sad if this actually worked and then was never implemented.
This was done just with a dumb genetic algorithm on 2000 era computers, a population size of 5, run for 50 generations, and only tweaking a handful of parameters. I believe there is more potential in stuff like this.
(Also: Big News! Douglas Self has been updating the Museum of Retro Tech again)
This guy built a fully functional scale model of a Ferrari 310 including the V12 engine all from photos. He built every part. He tuned the car so that it makes the sound of the "Ferrari Music."
It's also incredible.
What I found interesting and inspiring is the time and passion that he puts in what he does. I really hope to still have something that makes me so passionate when I will be 72. It's a great way to live your life.
I'm into black smithing, which is an even more rare type of craftsmanship. There are all sorts of resources online. Check out ABANA [http://abana.org/] to start. But whatever it is that you're into there is bound to be someone else into it. Try the SCA [http://www.sca.org/] if you want some really old-school stuff.
And that's probably why he's the only one.
Some places I've hung out that are directly on topic:
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/forum.php
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/forums/3-General
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/
As a warning to the HN community who are a little neophilic, machinist web sites are much like ham radio web sites and numerous other technical hobbies, in that the cruder and less trendy the web design, the more likely the content is worth reading and vice versa. If the site includes something as trendy and modern as jquery or runs on node.js then its almost certainly content free and vice versa. So just brace yourself for the culture shock, ok?
I occasionally think about rebuilding my site with 21st century web technology, but I haven't convinced myself that it adds more value to my work than producing more and better documentation. I have an infinite list of things to understand, design, build, and document. Chasing web tech trends competes for the available time.
I design and implement embedded software for optical metrology and fabrication equipment all day, so I have no technical barrier to web tech, just a lack of interest.
I can't think of a single hobbyist site that I get information from that has improved after a tech refresh. It's like a signal that the maintainer's interest in the hobby is waning, and no further content should be expected.
free web hosting, and it would cut down the time it takes to produce documentation.
Here are some examples of great projects from masters of their crafts that do not have trendy web design and have been "on the web" for a long time:
http://www.lisaboyer.com/Claytonsite/Claytonsite1.htm
You might like the first link other than operating about six orders of magnitude higher frequencies and solid state instead of hollow state.
The first example doesn't have any CSS or javascript at all! But there is a lot of excellent content on those examples.
The early adopter syndrome is if someone has been doing this stuff since the turn of the century, they're quite likely to continue doing stuff that works. This creates a self selection effect.
(I posted a link to it a year ago in a comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6116806#up_6117341 )
Re. the Ferrari, that one definitely has signs of being a Otto cycle engine.... Exhaust gases, loud, etc.
In that category it might be even still bigger than a pneumatic LEGO engine[2], but still an incredible feat in craftsmanship.
The spark in his eyes shows a passion that I - sanely, if that´s possible - envy.
Though I am sure there are plenty of passionate, talented engineers around, just like him, it's just the world that changed and it's not all bad.