RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Close cycle gasoline engines

[melon <melon@online.no>]

>From another post:
>Hydrogen and methanol fuelcells still require O2, at
>somepoint I need to dust of my chemistry books and
>workout out how much Oxygen is needed. I would imagine
>it wouldn't be higher than two oxygen atoms per hydrogen
>atom.
[...]
>Maybe there is some future in AIP for personal subs,
>if somebody discovers a safe chemical heat source that
>doesn't have a danger of exploding, which could be
>hooked up to a stirling engine.

I intend to (attempt to) run my sub with a crossbreed of a hydrogen peroxide 
(h2o2) turbine, and a stirling engine/hydrogen fuel cell system.

The rough theory is as follows, hydrogen peroxide is a fairly stable liquid.  
It turns into a gas when it comes into contact with a number of things 
(silver, copper), something the designers of "Kursk" found out.  The 
transition from liquid to gas gives you a fair bit of energy to feed a normal 
gas turbine, and also gives you heat, to run a stirling engine.

Coincidentally, the process gives you hydrogen and oxygen, to feed your fuel 
cell, your air scrubbing system etc.

It's a match made in heaven, although some would argue a match that requires a 
lot of piping, tanks, valves and possibly too much mumbo jumbo to be of real 
value. But then again, I am not building a sub because it's the easiest thing 
to do.


Kind regards,

Bjorn Ludvigsen