The Steamboating Forum

Hello all!

I'm a biomedical engineer from New Jersey with a great interest in steam. I'm currently working on a prototype rotary steam engine design based on an Imperial Russian engine which I'm 90% certain was classified soon after its invention and used in torpedoes for some time. As such, there is very little information on it, so this is pretty much me reinventing the engine. The long term plan for this engine design is to power a hybrid sail/steam launch. But thats probably a couple of years down the line. I'm hoping to have the prototype finished in a couple of months. I look forward to interesting discussions!

Welcome to the forum, and best wishes on your work.

As I am sure you know, there have been hundreds of attempts to produce a workable rotary steam engine, and virtually all have failed to achieve reasonable sealing for any length of time. Perhaps some modern materials can solve the inherent problems associated with sealing a rotary steam engine.

Most steam driven torpedoes (and gas-steam torpedoes) used reciprocating piston engines or true turbines. I would think a rotary engine steam torpedo would be workable, as the seal wear issue would not be an issue with a power plant life of only a few minutes.

Thanks!

Most rotary steam designs I have seen have some sort of extendable, movable paddle which rubs against the cylinder wall. They often rub harder as steam pressure increases due to unbalanced forces. This particular design has balanced forces and rigid paddles. The back-pressure seal is provided by separate rollers. I suppose this all would make more sense if I included some drawings? I'll have to see about getting some preliminary sketches out of my Solidworks design. In any case, I don't think the engine would experience wear in the main working parts past the initial break-in period: start out by machining it about 10 or 20 microns oversized, and run it for a little while. I'll start a thread in the Engine room and post some drawings later on this weekend.

Al