So how is the Ristau Motor different and why is it better?
It really does boil down to efficiency. In order to cycle effectively under extremely low pressures, a processor must capture the working fluid(air) in order to process it. Capturing or encapsulating the working fluid traditionally requires many complex moving parts such as with a reciprocating engine or a flexible chamber like many Stirling engines. Complexity is the enemy of mechanical efficiency. Every belt, gear, valve etc. introduces resistance to the system. On the other side of the scale, an overly simplified processor like a basic turbine is only efficient at high pressures. At low pressures working fluid flows right through the blades without forcing the turbine to cycle. Since combustion engines and turbines are common power plants I will relate and compare them with the Ristau Motor in the following chapters.
The Ristau Motor incorporates the benefits of encapsulating the working fluid like a reciprocating engine with the mechanical simplicity of a turbine. The Ristau Motor has rigid chambers that expand and contract but gears , valves and belts have been eliminated. Having a rigid chamber allows the working fluid to move through the system at a very slow rate but still convert pressure into useful mechanical work. Encapsulation of the working fluid in a chamber capable of expanding and contracting also allows it to be compressed which magnifies the pressures produced when the working fluid is heated.
The Ristau motor cycles in a circular motion perpendicular to its shaft like a fan or turbine rather than reciprocating like a common engine. Constant motion without changes in direction decreases waste. Friction is the antithesis of efficiency. Friction surfaces cannot be eliminated but they can be minimized: The configuration of the Ristau Motor eliminates the need for complicated timing mechanisms including all of the gears, valves, belts, etc associated with them. The Ristau Motor is capable of cycling continuously with a simple pressure variance. This isn’t to be confused with perpetual motion! It reacts to air pressure like other common machines including windmills, turbines or engines.
Here is anothre rapid-fire list of benefits: Given its extreme simplicity, production of the Ristau Motor will cost less than any other engine or turbine of the same output with fewer possibilities of mechanical failure. The configuration of the Ristau Motor allows torque to be applied to the shaft at a constant rate (no power stroke). The Ristau Motor is efficient at low RPM. It does not need momentum to get to the next power stroke like in an engine and does not suffer a reduction of efficiency caused by blow-by at low RPM like a turbine. The Ristau Motors ability to operate at low RPM under low pressures without requiring an explosive force allows it to excel where other systems fail.
Understanding why the Ristau Motor is superior to current energy production or usage methods requires understanding some basic physics. If you are a physicist you can skip the next few chapters.
The goal with both energy production or use is energy conversion efficiency or simply “efficiency”. Efficiency in its most basic form is energy in vs. energy out. If you put 100 units of energy into a system and get 100 units out, the system is 100% efficient. If you put 100 units of energy into a system and get 90 units out, the system is 90% efficient, so on and so forth. Energy is neither created nor destroyed (first law of thermodynamics) but it is converted. Breaking things down just a little bit further, what is desired is to change energy into work (force times distance) with as little loss of energy as possible in the conversion.
Force has magnitude and direction making it a vector quantity.
Example 1: If you want to move an object forward the most efficient way to do it is to apply net force in the direction of movement.
Example 2: If you want to rotate an object the most efficient way is to apply torque (the cross product of the lever-arm distance and force) perpendicular to the lever-arm.
Armed with the above information it is easy to understand why something like a reciprocating engine is so inefficient and why something that is considered highly efficient like a turbine could still be improved.
THE RECIPROCATING ENGINE
The average gasoline powered reciprocating engine is only 20-30% efficient meaning that 70-80% of the available energy is wasted. The following are contributors to the waste:
- Unused heat energy escapes as exhaust.
- Given the angular forces at work There is never a point where the force applied is at a 90 degree angle to the drive shaft (ideal).
- A four stroke engine is only applying power to the drive shaft a fraction of the time and never at an ideal angle.
- There are numerous sources of friction from rings, pins, seals, valves (break pressure), cams, gears, shafts, belts etc.
- If you are dealing with multiple cylinders, each piston is dragging the other pistons into position during its power stroke reducing efficiency.
In conclusion, at its best, the reciprocating engine is inadequate and limited in its potential to become more efficient.
As you can see from the above illustration; A shaft has to complete two full rotations in a four stroke cycle. During those two rotations, power is applied to the shaft only 1/2 of 1 rotation! At the top and bottom of that 1/2 rotation the power applied to the shaft is effectively zero meaning there is meaningful power applied to the shaft only a small fraction of the time.
THE TURBINE
Gas turbines can be particularly efficient—up to at least 60%—when waste heat from the turbine is recovered by a heat recovery steam generator to power a conventional steam turbine in a combined cycle configuration. In other words, you can make a turbine pretty efficient but it’s complicated. When the turbine is used solely for shaft power, its thermal efficiency is around the 30% mark. The efficiency of a turbine drops dramatically below 1,000rpm. Raising the temperature and compression can achieve higher efficiency but introduces structural/mechanical problems with the heat vs. the composition of the turbine.
- With axial flow turbines the force is parallel to the axis. when it interacts with the blades the force is at an angle to the axis but still far from ideal.
- For work to be done, the working fluid has to flow through the turbine blades rather than being encapsulated and processed like in a reciprocating engine. A flow-through design is inadequate when attempting to process small amounts of energy.
In conclusion, a turbine has detrimental shortcomings and overall is just as inadequate as a reciprocating engine. There are many different engines and turbines as well as innumerable configurations of each. All of them have their own challenges. To reiterate; the challenge is efficiency. How to make the energy put into a system as close as possible to the power that can be taken out of a system.
CIRCLING BACK
So it’s back to the basic building blocks. Complexity is the enemy of efficiency. Every conversion, linkage, change in direction etc involves waste. If complexity is the enemy of efficiency then simplicity is its friend. In its most basic form if work is to be done a force needs to react with an object to produce motion. The most basic system available to convert force into work is a lever and fulcrum/shaft. Waste in the form of friction cannot be eliminated completely (For example, in order to make a shaft rotate, it needs to be anchored by some kind of hub which presents a source of friction). As noted earlier, the best angle for torque to be applied is perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The force applied is likely going to be a working fluid. By the way, gases like air are considered working fluids.
A water wheel is a very basic design with high efficiency, few moving parts and the proven ability to do work extending back centuries. Even so, just like the problem with the piston arm, the force (gravity) is only perpendicular to the axis at one point in its rotation meaning that higher efficiency can still be achieved. The first version of the Ristau motor was actually a submerged water wheel that rotated with the introduction of air to its blades. Unfortunately the water wheel design has limited applications and multiple disadvantages from an efficiency standpoint. Starting with this basic model there are multiple ways to improve efficiency. One is the ability to take advantage of compression. In order to take advantage of compression the working fluid needs to be encapsulated. The problem with encapsulating the working fluid is that it requires a chamber that expands and contracts (think of a piston in its cylinder) and assuming it is a rigid chamber, the expansion and contraction requires friction surfaces which reduce efficiency. Since friction can’t be avoided, the smallest friction surface in relation to the volume of working fluid processed is in the form of a sphere. Luckily, at this very basic level, conceding minimal waste still present in the system, the attributes listed above are what compose a Ristau Motor.
The Ristau Motor has physical attributes that, once seen, seem like the only logical way to make a highly efficient processor. Unfortunately as this is online and available worldwide the extent of what can be shared about the Ristau Motor design is limited. It’s a sad reality that if something can be copied (especially for a profit) it WILL be copied. It is just a matter of time. During the presale, the only picture that will be made available online is the one below.
The motor in the picture above is a demonstration unit. The commercial version is slightly larger with a much larger shaft. While the demonstration motor was being built it was discovered that it was capable of much higher torque than originally anticipated. Specs and assembly information will be provided to manufacturers at the conclusion of the presale when standard UIN are made available for purchase.
A video of the first test on an alpha model Ristau Motor has been posted below.
While different in appearance, the proof of concept unit in the video was able to show a consistent rotation under pressures well below what can be achieved with other kinds of processors. The Ristau Motor in the video is cycling off of .5 to 1psi of air which as you can hear in the video was simply provided by a regular air compressor. As you can see, placing a hand over the exhaust port is enough to completely stop the flow of air at that pressure. Compare this to the pressures generated by relatively small temperature changes outlined in What is Low Spread Geothermal.