I think this is true.VincentG wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2024 1:52 pmI think this is the unicorn forest Matt always talks about.The added energy has increased pressure, but temperature? Possibly, but this is apparently not essential. So how, or in what way is the engine "running on" i.e. powered by a temperature difference?
Explain the mechanism where pressure increases without a temperature increase.
Isn't the fact of the matter that a temperature diffential is needed to start the process?
How would an ambient heat powered engine start running without first having colder air to heat with ambient energy?
You need a "base temperature" or ground energy level to add energy to for expansion.
And to return to.
But it is still the heat added after that that actually powers the engine, expanding the gas and doing work.
You've more or less just provided a kind of artificial "ground state" or base "equilibrium" to launch the process.
The point, however, is, the ambient heat is not "flowing through" to heat up whatever cooled down the working fluid. The cooling step is, or potentially could be a one time affair.
Now, I have a suspicion there is some "gotcha" hiding somewhere that would foil this plan making such a scheme impossible. So, I keep listening to and carefully considering counter arguments, but, so far... experimentally, the "flow through" hypothesis, as far as I can tell, is unsubstantiated.
Blocking the flow does nothing to stop the engine. Often it actually appears to improve performance
Measuring the "waste heat" is also a big zero. Nothing to measure. Possibly I'm seeing NEGATIVE waste heat. i.e. the engine seems to be taking in heat from both ends, much like a Vuilleumier cycle heat pump.
Not that uncommon or unusual a phenomenon actually. Heat can be used as an energy source to produce refrigeration.
You need, of course, SOME starting temperature of the working fluid to add the energy or heat to to produce expansion.
But the gas expands and returns. The heat goes in as heat and goes out as "work".
So yes, it seems to be true, or a fact, that you need a start temperature and a higher temperature heat source to start the process. Just how much a temperature difference needs to be maintained afterwards? Not much apparently. Not externally anyway. Of course, the internal energy of the working fluid, presumably, continues to fluctuate.
It is really quite difficult and a bit strenuous to think in terms other than heat as a "flow" like a river running through the engine.
In my experiments I'm supplying plenty of heat, and the heat is apparently going into the engine, but not much coming out anywhere.
At this point I'm really moving past theorizing and debate into designing engines based on new principles. Finding ways to retain and fully utilize the heat/energy rather than trying to move it through the engine to the "sink" as quickly as possible.
Also the "absolute zero" the colder the better idea is also a fallacy.
If the engine is utilizing two heat sources for energy input. One hot and the other hotter!