US Patent # 6503072 -Unity Uniflow Rotary Engine - Alternative Energy Production

Description

Unity Uniflow Rotary (UUR) Scalable Steam Engine - U.S. Patent # 6503072 for the application of a scalable Power Plant for Decentralized Power Generation.
The UUR is an external combustion rotary steam engine that is completely scalable. It consists of only 10 parts; 3 “virtual” cylinder heads, 2 “virtual” pistons, output shaft, output dual nest, rim and 2 end plates. There are no discrete seals and there are no linked mechanisms. It operates on saturated steam and the pistons are free-floating within their chambers.
Contrary to popular belief, steam power is not dangerous or outdated. Monotube boiler coils are very safe and look nothing like the old boilers of the early 20th century. Second, the unique delta properties of water make it ideal for use in power generation. When water becomes steam, the expansion ratio is a dramatic 1:1500. This is exactly why power plants still use large steam turbines to generate electricity. The problem has been that steam turbines are not scalable. To take advantage of the amazing properties of water in a totally scalable system is unprecedented.
The patent was renewed for another 7 1/2 years in July of 2010.
Potential Impact
Using a decentralized power supply will cut the use of fossil fuel by 50% or greater. About 70% of the combustibles at a central power plant are considered waste. This does not include the inherent power loss that occurs during transmission through the grid system. In a decentralized system, the waste is used to heat and cool on location. Greenhouse gas monsters such as high-rises, shopping malls and industrial plants are well-suited for the UUR plant as are remote rural communities where transmission of electricity through a grid is the most inefficient. But since the UUR plant is scalable, it could be used residentially as well.
The Application.
The UUR mini power plant generates power and heating/cooling on location eliminating the need to obtain power from a grid system and cutting the use of fossil fuel by 50% or more. The system is quiet because it consists of a patented external combustion (EC), rotary engine powered by steam coils rather than a reciprocating internal combustion (IC) engine. Because the system is on-location, the heat generated by producing electricity can be used for heating and cooling rather than it simply going up the stack as waste as it does in centralized power plants. The UUR plant is scalable and can be applied to both residential and commercial use – the latter of which would contribute to the most profound energy conservation.
The History of this Project and why we are selling it.
Our father's project is 50 years in the making. The inspiration to develop began when he was working with an MIT professor at the Steam Lab of Lowell Institute in 1949. The professor remarked that a Uniflow reciprocating engine was 29% thermally efficient. For this reason, he didn’t understand why the old engine was out of service. Upon clarification, it was revealed that it was the Uniflow principle alone getting the high thermal efficiency and the reciprocating mechanism negated the benefit. The professor had extracted the mechanical drawbacks of the reciprocating mechanism to reveal the true superiority of the “Uniflow” principle. It became my father's life-long quest to develop a scalable engine that incorporated the Uniflow principle while delivering the efficiency of the massive steam turbines.
Our father passed away in October of 2012. His life long dream was to see this project through. He spent most of his life and all of his financial resources on the UUR. It has been the subject of study by the senior class engineers at the University of Massachusetts. It was featured on the front page of Design News. It became a subject of interest to the leading energy consultant for the country of Jamaica. During the 1970s - 1990s, there wasn't much interest in alternative engine designs and the feeling was that steam power was not relevant anymore. But my father persisted. In many ways, my father was his own worst enemy - super intelligent but not very good on forging business relationships or explaining technical details in laymans terms. This has been his biggest hurdle. His children would like to hand this project off to someone who is as passionate about it as he is. Someone who has the technical knowledge and business experience to get this in the hands of the right group of people. Someone with enough financial resources to assemble a team of engineers who's goal it is to build more prototypes and get the engine running as a complete system.
What is the current stage of the project?
A steel/cast iron prototype was built and successfully tested on compressed air. In 2003, a lighter prototype was built using aluminum/magnesium (110lbs). A smaller scale model was successfully built and run on steam by Mr. Marcus Goller, in February of 2007. To see the February 2007 run, click here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI3cjBQaqG8
In recent correspondence, Mr. Goller writes:
"A couple things I told Tony. The engine is a sound concept, and in fact has some amazing attributes. I do brag about it from time to time as it encompasses several forces of physics at the same time in the same machine.
Faults with what I did. The model I made was small (which magnifies faults), I only ran it on 15 - 20 psi steam, and the front and rear bearings were not great. The fact that it ran as fast as it did on that little steam is a testament to your Father's design and not with my machining. The fact that it would self start and not lockup is a proof that the mechanical design works well.
Built as a larger engine it would exhibit very good torque and speed. There is almost no bearing of parts together and friction - only from front and rear bearing. This in itself makes the engine quite a miracle. The problem is anyone looking at it wont understand it. I don't think even the average scientist, engineer, MIT professor would understand it. People look at it and make wrong assumptions left right up and down.
It took me hours of study and visiting with Tony to finally come to understand. Then there is an Ah-ha! moment. I remember your Dad was almost frustrated with me, came at it one more way, explaining the centrifugal force, the release, the pressure, momentum, and sealing.... and then I got it. But people looking at it assume the parts move on each other and will crash into each other.
The only sound from the engine was when I had the exhaust open and you could hear the collapse of steam to vacuum.
I remember too, accusing Tony of being 'abducted to another planet and receiving this advanced technology'. He was so intent he didn't get the joke. But seriously this invention suffers from being way too advanced. Most successful inventions are one, maybe two steps ahead of current technology."
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Mr. Goller was able to machine this prototype and get it working without formal CAD drawings using trial and error. We now have updated professional CAD drawings of all parts.
The engine still needs to be tested as a complete system with all of the other components.
These include:
Fuel Source (any fuel source is sufficient but propane or natural gas are optimal)
Monotube boiler coils
Condenser
AC Generator
Absorption system (if cooling system is required)
Heating Coils
Why do we think the system will work?
The prototype was successfully tested on compressed air and operated on as low as 1 psi average full admission. A smaller model ran on steam successfully in February of 2007. Unlike the standard reciprocating engine, which runs on about 2000 psi, the engine operated with very little drag or friction. Additionally, the engine was designed to take advantage of physical properties such as Bernoulli’s Law, centrifugal force (radial acceleration), and balances forces. The innovation is in the prime mover design and the focus from this point would be on assembly and streamlining the completed system to work with the UUR. In the mid 1990's the engine was submitted for review by the DOE. The UUR made it through to the 7th level of investigation by the DOE where most patents are dropped in the first or second phase. It was finally rejected when the engineers deemed that it would not run as designed. At the time, there was no working prototype. We have since run a prototype on steam and have proven that it will run as designed. The start and stop procedures do need some tweaking.
Has there ever been anything like this?
The UUR is the 2nd small-scale, external combustion, steam powered engine in 250 years but the first was a (RM) reciprocating mechanism and is no longer in use. Drawbacks of the RM which are non-existent in the rotary engine are as follows:
50% loss of power due to “change of state” condensation according to Bernoulli’s fluid law (specifically at admission time) (PV/T)
Loss of work efficiency due to the Sine wave function (.707) of the crankshaft
Loss of efficiency due to mass reversal of the pistons/connecting rods during 180 degree reversal of direction which is a squared function (Ke=1/2mv2)
Loss of efficiency due to negative work of the compression stroke which is necessary for the RM but not for the rotary engine
Today, personal computers have as much speed and power as the mainframes of thirty years ago. Our goal must be to achieve the same advances in power generation and conservation. Right now, our homes, industrial plants, high rises and commercial buildings run like terminals rather than PC’s. The UUR mini power plant technology is the personal computer of the energy domain.
Ironically enough, the mechanism for this machine borrows from old proven principles (steam power/ uniflow/external combustion) that were, up until now, used with machines not optimally designed to take advantage of those principles.
Where to take this project next.
We suggest hiring a small team of consultants as well as to purchase, modify and assemble all of the peripheral components of the power plant to work together with the UUR engine. Testing equipment will also be required to perform benchmark efficiency testing of the plant. A logical next step would be to seek a commercial or rural test site to run further benchmark testing in parallel.
Final Comments and Stipulations.
We have too many details and supporting documentation to include all of it in this ebay advertisement. If interested, please send an email with your contact information and a little about your background and intentions. The engine must continue to bear the Nardi name in some form.  The sale is to take place at the law firm maintaining the patent in Boston, Massachusetts.
Thank you for your interest in the Nardi Unity Uniflow Rotary Engine.  Serious inquiries only please.