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Private Pilots Are Producing Exciting Videos From the Air

There are those of us who love to fly… and there are those of us who simply refuse to fly. The gap between these two frames of mind is huge. The fear of flying, in particular, is fueled by the media. An airplane crash is instant national news. The media loves to exploit the aviation industry whether it be for financial gain, viewer ratings, or a combination of the two. One could only wonder what the evening news would be like if they showed successful takeoffs and landings every night. General aviation is treated much the same as the commercial airlines in regards to media coverage. General aviation includes all flying other than scheduled commercial flights and the flying of military aircraft. General aviation includes the local pilots flying out of that non-towered airport at the edge of town; the part-time aviators who fly for a hobby, as well as commercially rated professional pilots and instructors who love to share the flying phenomenon with others. Those who love to fly low and slow and enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the feeling of flight can share this wonderful experience with those on the ground thanks to modern technology specifically the the hand-held video camera.

Flying is an incredible experience that many people may never have the privilege of experiencing for themselves.Those who choose not the fly in propeller driven airplanes might never see the amazing view available through the windshield. Websites featuring videos uploaded by their individual users such as Youtube and Eye of the Pilot are changing that. Videos shot from the cockpit of a small airplane are enlightening to say the very least. If you are a private pilot with access to a small plane and a handheld video cam, you may want to take some time and record a flight or two. The process is simple and the rewards are plenty. Sharing cockpit videos among family and friends can spark interest in general aviation and maybe even lessen the fears of those who refuse or resist flying.

Producing a flying video is actually quite simple. The camera however, will need an external microphone jack if you wish to record your voice and radio chatter. A handy cam without the microphone jack will do nothing more than record video plus your motor noise which is not typically desirable. With some basic software and a bit of computer savvy, music or narration can be dubbed over your video in this case. Cameras with an external microphone jack can be interfaced with the intercom of the airplane through the use of a patch cord. It simply plugs into your headset in series with your connection to the jack on the airplane’s instrument panel. These patch cords are available at your friendly neighborhood pilot supply shop. There are also schematics available on some aviation websites for those interested in making their own patch cord.

Digital video cameras work best if you’re planning to share the video online. Older analog cameras using the 8mm tapes or even the VHS style cameras are fine if you are planning on viewing these flying adventures from home on a television set. These tapes can be converted to a digital file through the use of some commercially available computer hardware and software, although this method can be cumbersome and time consuming and is not generally recommended for those interested in posting the videos online. Flying an airplane is a privilege. Becoming a private pilot takes education, dedication, training, and plenty of practice. To many pilots, flying is literally sacred. That’s why sharing this experience with those not fortunate enough to find themselves in a cockpit can be done best through the magic of video.

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The Airbus A-330 and A-340

Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aircraft manufacturers which had provided the first serious competition to the US with its original widebody, twin-engined A-300, had quickly concluded that its success could only be attained with an expanded product line capable of fulfilling several payload and range needs.  Subsequently added to this “family” of airliners had therefore been the smaller-capacity, medium- to long-range range, widebody A-310 and the still smaller-capacity, short-range, narrow body A-320.  To complete it, however, a long-range widebody, incorporating new technology, had been required to replace first generation, fuel-thirsty, no-longer-economical Boeing 707s and McDonnell-Douglas DC-8s.

                Market studies, however, had indicated the need for two different aircraft.  The first of these, tentatively designated “B9,” had been for a medium-range, twin-engined design intended for high-capacity transcontinental, DC-10 like routes, and had initially been conceived as a larger A-300 with a stretched fuselage, its existing wing, and the most powerful turbofans then available.  So configured, it would have required 25-percent less fuel than the comparable, tri-engined DC-10.

                The second, the “B11,” had been the quad-engined intercontinental design which had sparked the project’s inception.

                Costs for two such aircraft, however, had been prohibitive, and design of a single wing, which could structurally and aerodynamically support both two and four pylon-mounted engines, became the core of commonality between the two and the economic solution to the joint launch of both.

                In order to differentiate between its narrow and wide body product line, Airbus Industrie redesignated these design studies with “TA” prefixes to indicate their “twin aisle” configurations.  The “B9” had therefore been re-identified as “TA9” and the “B11” had been branded the “TA11.”

                Powered by CFM56 turbofans, which developed between 27,000 and 30,000 pounds of thrust, they had evolved through numerous iterations, with engine number reflecting intended mission length.  In 1982, for instance, the TA9, featuring a 27.9-foot longer fuselage than that of the original A-300, had accommodated 410 single-class passengers on the main deck and five pallets in the forward hold and 14 LD-3 containers in the aft hold on the lower deck.  Incorporating much of the technological advancement introduced on the A-320, however, the joint TA9/TA11 project had featured its cockpit, side stick controls, and fly-by-wire, or electronic signaling, flight surface actuation, by 1985, mated to a variable-camber wing to augment lift.

                By January 27 of the following year, the Airbus Industrie Supervisory Board had redesignated the designs A-330 and A-340, corresponding to the original TA9 and TA11 model numbers, and finalized their detailed technical definitions with the then envisioned launch customers of Lufthansa and Swissair.  Because of route requirements, they had demonstrated far greater interest in the quad-engined version than the twin.

                A briefly explored collaboration with McDonnell-Douglas, in which a single design, designated AM-300 and incorporating the A-330’s wing and the MD-11’s fuselage, had quickly waned because Airbus Industrie had refused to consider McDonnell-Douglas’s tri-jet configuration.  The MD-11 had resultantly become the A-340’s competitor, since both had been intended for the same market.

                The Airbus Industrie’s design, entering a second major evolution, had been able to offer significantly improved performance when it had traded the originally projected CFM56 engines with the International Aero Engine (IAE) V2500-3 Superfan which, on the cutting edge of technology, had incorporated an initial, variable-pitch fan; an almost nine-foot diameter; a 17.5-to-1 bypass ratio; and had produced 32,000 pounds of thrust.  Early estimates had promised 15 percent fuel savings, although these had later been reduced by about a third.

                The aircraft then envisioned, the A-340-200, had accommodated 262 passengers and had a maximum range of 7,850 miles.  A second version, featuring a 14-foot fuselage stretch for a 295-passenger complement, had offered a reduced-range capability, of 7,000 miles, and had been designated A-340-300.

                The program’s walls, however, suddenly crumbed when International Aero Engines had abruptly canceled Superfan development due to insurmountable technology obstacles of its very advanced design, and Airbus Industrie had forcibly entered its third major evolution when it had renegotiated with CFM International for engine power.  No longer able to meet performance specifications, Airbus had virtually returned to the pre-Superfan configuration, and only with considerable design modifications could the aircraft even approach its intermediate iteration capabilities.

                CFM International itself redesigned its core CFM56 engine, increasing its fan diameter to produce greater thrust, and this had resulted in the CFM56-5C1 derivative, while Airbus had increased the common A-330/A-340 wingspan from 183.9 to 192.2 feet, replacing its standard tips with 9.6-foot winglets.  Although these modifications, along with a 17,600-pound maximum take off weight increase to 542,300 pounds, had significantly improved the performance over that offered by the initial, CFM56-powered aircraft, range had nevertheless eroded over that of the Superfan version, to 7,700 miles for the A-340-200 and to 6,850 miles for the elongated –300.

                Nevertheless, Airbus Industrie had formally announced the launch of the A-330 and A-340 program on June 5, 1987 whose development costs had been reduced by some half-billion dollars because of the type’s airframe and wing commonality, yet at the same time it had been able to cater to differing airline market needs with the same platform.  One hundred thirty orders had been received at this time, of which 41 had been for twin-engined A-330s and 89 had been for four-engined A-340s.

                The wing, the key to both, had been built by British Aerospace in the UK and had been Europe’s hitherto most ambitious, with the largest span (exceeding 197 feet), greatest sweepback (of 30 degrees), and highest aspect ratio (of 9.3 to facilitate long-range cruise speeds).  Although the A-340 had been designed to carry 20 percent more payload and fuel than its twin-engined counterpart, wing-bending moments exerted on the fuselage had enabled it to accommodate either two or four pylon-mounted turbofans.  Winglets, covering some 90-percent of the wingtip chord and canted outward at a 42.5-degree angle, had reduced fuel burn by 1.5 percent by harnessing the tip-created vortex where drag-producing pressure differentials had forcibly remixed.

                Aerospatiale, one of the Airbus Industrie consortium members, constructed a 1 million, 124-acre final assembly plant in Colomiers, adjacent to the existing facility at the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France, to permit up to seven aircraft per month to be completed after their subassemblies and components had been flown from several European sites.

                The first aircraft, an A-340-300, had been rolled out on October 4, 1991, at which time combined A-330 and A-340 orders had totaled 250, and Airbus Industrie’s first quad-engined, long-range, pure-jet airliner, with a 440,530-pound gross weight, left the ground for the first time 21 days later on October 25.  Attaining an altitude of 40,000 feet, it completed a successful four-hour, 47-minute maiden flight, and its test pilots had proclaimed that it had handled like the A-320 on whose fly-by-wire flight controls it had been based.

                The A-340-300, with a 208.11-foot overall length, featured a 197.10-foot wingspan and a 3,892.2 square foot area.  Identical to the A-330 wing with exception of outer strengthening and a gap between the fourth and fifth leading edge slat to cater to the outboard engine pylon attachment, the wing itself had featured full-span slats, trailing edge flaps, two outboard ailerons, and five outboard spoilers, all operating off of three independent hydraulic systems.  Aileron droop increased wing lift.  A single rudder had been directly linked to the rudder pedals on the flight deck.  The undercarriage, comprised of a twin-wheeled, forward-retracting nose gear; two quad-wheeled, inwardly-retracting main bogies; and a twin-wheeled, rearward-retracting centerline gear; had ensured more even weight distribution, particularly on weaker pavement surfaces.

                The aircraft, exit-limited to 440 passengers in a single-class, nine-abreast, 31-inch internal configuration, could alternatively accommodate 335 dual-class passengers with a 30-business and 305-economy class arrangement or 295 three-class passengers in an 18-first class, 81-business class, and 196-economy class configuration, all at varying densities.

                The foreshortened A-340-200, which had made its inaugural flight the following year on April 1, 1992, had featured an eight-frame fuselage reduction, resulting in a 194-foot, 11 ¼-inch overall length and permitting 262 three-class passengers in an 18/74/170-arangement or 303 dual-class passengers seated in a 30-first class and 273-economy class configuration to be accommodated.

After a 2,400-hour, 750-flight test program, which had entailed six A-340-200 and –300 airframes, had been completed on December 22, 1992, the long-range, quad-engined Airbus Industrie design had received its European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) type certification on the same day, and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type approval the following year, on May 27, 1993.

Lufthansa, the type’s launch customer, took delivery of its first A-340, a –200 configured for 228 passengers, and inaugurated it into service on February 2, 1993 between Frankfurt and New York, achieving a 30-percent fuel reduction over that of the DC-10-30 it had replaced.  It had been progressively introduced on transatlantic routes to many of its other US gateways, among them Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Newark, and Washington.

Air France had inaugurated the first stretched A-340-300 into service the following month on the Paris-Washington route, replacing Boeing 747s.

Final assembly of the first twin-engined A-330, which had most closely mirrored the A-340-300, had commenced in February of 1992 with the tenth aircraft off the combined A-330/A-340 production line.  Appearing without the outer wing strengthening and fuselage centerline undercarriage bogie, the aircraft, powered by two General Electric CF6-80E1 turbofans, took to the skies for the first time on November 2 at a 400,880-pound gross weight, attaining a 41,000-foot ceiling and completing a successful five-hour, 15-minute flight.  Because of experience already gained with its quad-engined counterpart, Airbus Industrie had been able to complete its certification program in only half the traditional time.  On October 21 of the following year, it became the first commercial design to simultaneously receive FAA and JAA type certification, and also received FAA cross-crew qualification for the A-320, A-330, and A-340.

Inaugurated into service on January 17, 1994 with Air Inter/Air France Europe on the Paris/Orly-Marseilles French domestic route, the type, designated the A-330-300, had also first flown with Pratt and Whitney PW4168 engines on October 14, 1993 and Rolls Royce Trent 700s on January 31, 1994.

Despite Airbus Industrie’s hitherto strategy of offering progressively larger-capacity, higher gross weight versions, poor sales of the A-330 twin, along with consistent airline demand for a slightly lower-capacity, longer-range version and persistent inroads of its targeted market by the Boeing 767-300ER, had strongly advocated the need for a reverse strategy.

A new version, the A-330-200 with a ten-fuselage frame reduction and a 193.7-foot overall length, had been authorized by the Airbus Industrie Supervisory Board on November 24, 1995.  The aircraft, which would entail a 0 million development program, had exchanged structural weight for range and, as a DC-10 and L-1011 replacement, became a viable 767 competitor, offering nine-percent lower direct operating costs than the Boeing contender, yet achieving 6,400-mile ranges.  Improved engine reliability, coupled with successful extended twin-engine operations, had rendered it an economical transatlantic airliner able to connect Europe with all but US West Coast cities.

The new version, with a six-foot forward and four-foot aft fuselage reduction, featured the strengthened wing designed for the ultra long-range A-340-300E, and a 3.5-foot taller vertical tail to compensate for the shorter fuselage’s moment-arm.  A five-degree increase in rudder travel, to +/- 35 degrees, had also been introduced.  Accommodation had entailed 253 tri-class or 293 dual-class passengers.  The version’s greatest strength, however, had been its fuel-capacity increase, to 36,700 US gallons, attained by using the formerly dry center section fuel tank, resulting in a vital range increase.

First flying on August 13, 1996, the A-330-200, powered by General Electric CF6-80E1A4 turbofans, had attracted 85 orders from eight carriers at this time, inclusive of Asiana, Austrian Airlines, Emirates, International Lease Finance (ILFC), Sabena, and Swissair.  Like the A-330-200, it had eventually been certified with three powerplant types.

Although A-330-100 and –500 studies had ultimately led to the all-new A-350 twin, A-340 program developments had occurred in the reverse, or more traditional, direction.  Seeking to offer a higher-capacity, Boeing 747 replacement, Airbus Industrie had initially projected a 12-frame fuselage stretch of the existing A-340-300 designated A-340-400X, powered by the existing turbofans, but airline interest had overwhelmingly dictated a larger aircraft.

The final version, the A-340-600, had featured a 19.3-foot forward and 10.6-foot aft, or collective 20-frame, fuselage stretch, resulting in the world’s longest airliner, with a 245.11-foot overall length.  Indeed, its aero-elasticity, which resulted in periodic, in-flight bending frequencies, had necessitated the installation of pitch-rate sensors on the fuselage and wings in order to provide feedback and elevator counter-movements, restricting these bending cycles to 2-3 Hz.

An extended wingspan, attained by means of a tapered insert, had produced a 20-percent area increase to 4,703.8 square feet, a 40-percent increase in lift, and a 38-percent increase, of 11,760 US gallons, of fuel.  Sweepback had also been increased, from 30 to 31.5 degrees, with an equal increase in the angle of the winglets.

The longer fuselage moment-arm had enabled the lateral axis to be controlled with an almost two-foot shorter vertical tail over that installed on the A-330, but a 38-percent larger horizontal, all-moving composite tail surface had been required to maintain effective pitch control.

Weight distribution had been maintained with a quad-wheeled, forward-retracting centerline undercarriage bogie, increasing aft hold pallet accommodation by two.

The .9 billion program, launched on December 8, 1997 with 16 commitments from Virgin Atlantic, had resulted in its first flight four years later on April 23, 2001.  Powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 556 engines, the aircraft had been airborne for five hours, 22 minutes.

For carriers placing greater emphasis on range than payload, Airbus Industrie had offered, in parallel with the A-340-600, a lower-capacity, ultra-long range version designated the A-340-500.  Featuring a 1.9-foot forward and three-foot aft fuselage plug over the basic A-340-300, the 313 triple-class passenger aircraft, six frames longer than the original –300 series or 14 frames shorter than the –600, had a 221.6-foot overall length and employed the –600’s wing.  First flying on February 11, 2002 and certified 11 months later on December 3, it had received initial orders from Air Canada, Emirates, ILFC, and Singapore Airlines.  Its extreme range, the longest of any commercial pure-jet airliner, had been demonstrated by several record flights.  On February 3, 2004, for example, an A-340-500 operated by Singapore Airlines had flown the 7,609 nautical miles between Singapore and Los Angeles in 14 hours, 42 minutes, while the same aircraft had spanned the 8,963-mile distance to New York five months later on June 28 in 18 hours, 18 minutes.

Having utilized a single airframe-and-wing platform, Airbus Industrie had ultimately succeeded in designing its first high-capacity, long-range airliner, resulting in two twin-engined and four quad-engined versions which had the versatility to replace earlier-generation 707s, DC-8s, DC-10s, L-1011s, and 747s on a wide variety of routes, and, by the end of 2008, had amassed a collective 1,400 sales to over 100 worldwide operators.  Its original purpose of completing its Airbus “family” of aircraft had thus been fulfilled.

Stirling engine

Name and definition

Robert Stirling was the inventor of the first practical example of a closed cycle air engine in 1816, and it was suggested by Fleeming Jenkin as early as 1884 that all such engines should therefore generically be called Stirling engines. This naming proposal found little favour, and the various types on the market continued to be known by the name of their individual designers or manufacturers, e.g. Rider’s, Robinson’s or Heinrici’s (hot) air engine. In the 1940s, the Philips company was searching for a suitable name for its own version of the ‘air engine’, which by that time it had already been tested with other gases, eventually settling on ‘Stirling engine’ in April 1945. However, nearly thirty years later Graham Walker was still bemoaning the fact that such terms as ‘hot air engine’ continued to be used interchangeably with ‘Stirling engine’ which itself was applied widely and indiscriminately. The situation has now improved somewhat, at least in academic literature, and it is now generally accepted that ‘Stirling engine’ should refer exclusively to a closed-cycle regenerative heat engine with a permanently gaseous working fluid, where closed-cycle is defined as a thermodynamic system in which the working fluid is permanently contained within the system and regenerative describes the use of a specific type of internal heat exchanger and thermal store, known as the regenerator. An engine working on the same principle but using a liquid rather than gaseous fluid existed in 1931 and was called the Malone heat engine.

It follows from the closed cycle operation that the Stirling engine is an external combustion engine that isolates its working fluid from the energy input supplied by an external heat source. There are many possible implementations of the Stirling engine most of which fall into the category of reciprocating piston engine.

Functional description

The engine is designed so that the working gas is generally compressed in the colder portion of the engine and expanded in the hotter portion resulting in a net conversion of heat into work. An internal Regenerative heat exchanger increases the Stirling engine’s thermal efficiency compared to simpler hot air engines lacking this feature.

Key components

Cut-away diagram of a rhombic drive beta configuration Stirling engine design:

Pink  Hot cylinder wall

Dark grey  Cold cylinder wall (with coolant inlet and outlet pipes in yellow)

Dark green  Thermal insulation separating the two cylinder ends

Light green  Displacer piston

Dark blue  Power piston

Light blue  Linkage crank and flywheels

Not shown: Heat source and heat sinks. In this design the displacer piston is constructed without a purpose-built regenerator.

As a consequence of closed cycle operation the heat that drives a Stirling engine must be transmitted from a heat source to the working fluid by heat exchangers and finally to a heat sink. A Stirling engine system has at least one heat source, one heat sink and up to five heat exchangers. Some types may combine or dispense with some of these.

Heat source

Point focus parabolic mirror with Stirling engine at its center and its solar tracker at Plataforma Solar de Almera (PSA) in Spain

The heat source may be combustion of a fuel and, since the combustion products do not mix with the working fluid (that is, external combustion) and come into contact with the internal moving parts of the engine, a Stirling engine can run on fuels that would damage other (that is, internal combustion) engines’ internals, such as landfill gas which contains siloxane.

Some other suitable heat sources are concentrated solar energy, geothermal energy, nuclear energy, waste heat, or even biological. If the heat source is solar power, regular solar mirrors and solar dishes may be used. Also, fresnel lenses have been advocated to be used (for example, for planetary surface exploration). Solar powered Stirling engines are becoming increasingly popular, as they are a very environmentally sound option for producing power. Also, some designs are economically attractive in development projects.

Recuperator

An optional heat exchanger is the recuperator used when high efficiency is desired from combustion fuel input to mechanical power output. As the heater of a fuel-fired engine with high efficiency must operate at a nearly uniform high temperature, there is considerable heat loss from the combustion gases exiting the burner unless this can be cooled by preheating the air needed for combustion. Engines used within combined heat and power systems can instead cool the exhaust gases at the “cold” side of the engine.

Heater

In small, low power engines this may simply consist of the walls of the hot space(s) but where larger powers are required a greater surface area is needed in order to transfer sufficient heat. Typical implementations are internal and external fins or multiple small bore tubes

Designing Stirling engine heat exchangers is a balance between high heat transfer with low viscous pumping losses and low dead space. With engines operating at high powers and pressures, the heat exchangers on the hot side must be made of alloys retaining considerable strength at temperature and also not corrode or creep.

Regenerator

Main article: Regenerative heat exchanger

In a Stirling engine, the regenerator is an internal heat exchanger and temporary heat store placed between the hot and cold spaces such that the working fluid passes through it first in one direction then the other. Its function is to retain within the system that heat which would otherwise be exchanged with the environment at temperatures intermediate to the maximum and minimum cycle temperatures, thus enabling the thermal efficiency of the cycle to approach the limiting Carnot efficiency defined by those maxima and minima.

The primary effect of regeneration in a Stirling engine is to greatly increase the thermal efficiency by ‘recycling’ internally heat which would otherwise pass through the engine irreversibly. As a secondary effect, increased thermal efficiency promises a higher power output from a given set of hot and cold end heat exchangers (since it is these which usually limit the engine’s heat throughput), though, in practice this additional power may not be fully realized as the additional “dead space” (unswept volume) and pumping loss inherent in practical regenerators tends to have the opposite effect.

The regenerator works like a thermal capacitor. The ideal regenerator has very high thermal capacity, very low thermal conductivity parallel to fluid flow, very high thermal conductivity perpendicular to fluid flow, almost no volume, and introduces no friction to the working fluid. As the regenerator approaches these ideal limits, Stirling engine efficiency increases.

The design challenge for a Stirling engine regenerator is to provide sufficient heat transfer capacity without introducing too much additional internal volume (‘dead space’) or flow resistance, both of which tend to reduce power and efficiency. These inherent design conflicts are one of many factors which limit the efficiency of practical Stirling engines. A typical design is a stack of fine metal wire meshes, with low porosity to reduce dead space, and with the wire axes perpendicular to the gas flow to reduce conduction in that direction and to maximize convective heat transfer.

The regenerator is the key component invented by Robert Stirling and its presence distinguishes a true Stirling engine from any other closed cycle hot air engine. However, many engines with no apparent regenerator may still be correctly described as Stirling engines as in the simple beta and gamma configurations with a ‘loose fitting’ displacer, the surfaces of the displacer and its cylinder will cyclically exchange heat with the working fluid providing a significant regenerative effect particularly in small, low-pressure engines. The same is true of the passage connecting the hot and cold cylinders of an alpha configuration engine.

Cooler

In small, low power engines this may simply consist of the walls of the cold space(s), but where larger powers are required a cooler using a liquid like water is needed in order to transfer sufficient heat.

Heat sink

The heat sink is typically the environment at ambient temperature. In the case of medium to high power engines, a radiator is required to transfer the heat from the engine to the ambient air. Marine engines can use the ambient water. In the case of combined heat and power systems, the engine’s cooling water is used directly or indirectly for heating purposes.

Alternatively, heat may be supplied at ambient and the heat sink maintained at a lower temperature by such means as cryogenic fluid (see Liquid nitrogen economy) or ice water.

Configurations

There are two major types of Stirling engines that are distinguished by the way they move the air between the hot and cold sides of the cylinder:

The two piston alpha type design has pistons in independent cylinders, and gas is driven between the hot and cold spaces.

The displacement type Stirling engines, known as beta and gamma types, use an insulated mechanical displacer to push the working gas between the hot and cold sides of the cylinder. The displacer is large enough to thermally insulate the hot and cold sides of the cylinder and displace a large quantity of gas. It must have enough of a gap between the displacer and the cylinder wall to allow gas to easily flow around the displacer.

Alpha Stirling

An alpha Stirling contains two power pistons in separate cylinders, one hot and one cold. The hot cylinder is situated inside the high temperature heat exchanger and the cold cylinder is situated inside the low temperature heat exchanger. This type of engine has a high power-to-volume ratio but has technical problems due to the usually high temperature of the hot piston and the durability of its seals. In practice, this piston usually carries a large insulating head to move the seals away from the hot zone at the expense of some additional dead space.

Action of an alpha type Stirling engine

The following diagrams do not show internal heat exchangers in the compression and expansion spaces, which are needed to produce power. A regenerator would be placed in the pipe connecting the two cylinders. The crankshaft has also been omitted.

1. Most of the working gas is in contact with the hot cylinder walls, it has been heated and expansion has pushed the cold piston to the bottom of its travel in the cylinder. The expansion continues in the hot cylinder, which is 90 behind the cold piston in its cycle, extracting more work from the hot gas.

2. The gas is now at its maximum volume. The hot cylinder piston begins to move most of the gas into the cold cylinder, where it cools and the pressure drops.

3. Almost all the gas is now in the cold cylinder and cooling continues. The cold piston, powered by flywheel momentum (or other piston pairs on the same shaft) compresses the remaining part of the gas.

4. The gas reaches its minimum volume, and it will now expand in the hot cylinder where it will be heated once more, driving the hot piston in its power stroke.

The complete alpha type Stirling cycle

Beta Stirling

A beta Stirling has a single power piston arranged within the same cylinder on the same shaft as a displacer piston. The displacer piston is a loose fit and does not extract any power from the expanding gas but only serves to shuttle the working gas from the hot heat exchanger to the cold heat exchanger. When the working gas is pushed to the hot end of the cylinder it expands and pushes the power piston. When it is pushed to the cold end of the cylinder it contracts and the momentum of the machine, usually enhanced by a flywheel, pushes the power piston the other way to compress the gas. Unlike the alpha type, the beta type avoids the technical problems of hot moving seals.

Action of a beta type Stirling engine

Again, the following diagrams do not show internal heat exchangers or a regenerator, which would be placed in the gas path around the displacer.

1. Power piston (dark grey) has compressed the gas, the displacer piston (light grey) has moved so that most of the gas is adjacent to the hot heat exchanger.

2. The heated gas increases in pressure and pushes the power piston to the farthest limit of the power stroke.

3. The displacer piston now moves, shunting the gas to the cold end of the cylinder.

4. The cooled gas is now compressed by the flywheel momentum. This takes less energy, since when it is cooled its pressure dropped.

The complete beta type Stirling cycle

Gamma Stirling

A gamma Stirling is simply a beta Stirling in which the power piston is mounted in a separate cylinder alongside the displacer piston cylinder, but is still connected to the same flywheel. The gas in the two cylinders can flow freely between them and remains a single body. This configuration produces a lower compression ratio but is mechanically simpler and often used in multi-cylinder Stirling engines.

Other types

Other Stirling configurations continue to interest engineers and inventors. Tom Peat conceived of a configuration that he likes to call a “Delta” type, although currently this designation is not widely recognized, having a displacer and two power pistons, one hot and one cold.

There is also the rotary Stirling engine which seeks to convert power from the Stirling cycle directly into torque, similar to the rotary combustion engine. No practical engine has yet been built but a number of concepts, models and patents have been produced, such as the Quasiturbine engine.

Another alternative is the Fluidyne engine (Fluidyne heat pump), which use hydraulic pistons to implement the Stirling cycle. The work produced by a Fluidyne engine goes into pumping the liquid. In its simplest form, the engine contains a working gas, a liquid and two non-return valves.

The Ringbom engine concept published in 1907 has no rotary mechanism or linkage for the displacer. This is instead driven by a small auxiliary piston, usually a thick displacer rod, with the movement limited by stops.

Free piston engines

Various Free-Piston Stirling Configurations… F.”free cylinder”, G. Fluidyne, H. “double-acting” Stirling (typically 4 cylinders)

“Free piston” Stirling engines include those with liquid pistons and those with diaphragms as pistons. In a “free piston” device, energy may be added or removed by an electrical linear alternator, pump or other coaxial device. This sidesteps the need for a linkage, and reduces the number of moving parts. In some designs friction and wear are nearly eliminated by the use of non-contact gas bearings or very precise suspension through planar springs.

In the early 1960s, W.T. Beale invented a free piston version of the Stirling engine in order to overcome the difficulty of lubricating the crank mechanism. While the invention of the basic free piston Stirling engine is generally attributed to Beale, independent inventions of similar types of engines were made by E.H. Cooke-Yarborough and C. West at the Harwell Laboratories of the UKAERE. G.M. Benson also made important early contributions and patented many novel free-piston configurations.

What appears to be the first mention of a Stirling cycle machine using freely moving components is a British patent disclosure in 1876. This machine was envisaged as a refrigerator (i.e., the reversed Stirling cycle). The first consumer product to utilize a free piston Stirling device was a portable refrigerator manufactured by Twinbird Corporation of Japan and offered in the US by Coleman in 2004.

Thermoacoustic cycle

Thermoacoustic devices are very different from Stirling devices, although the individual path travelled by each working gas molecule does follow a real Stirling cycle. These devices include the thermoacoustic engine and thermoacoustic refrigerator. High-amplitude acoustic standing waves cause compression and expansion analogous to a Stirling power piston, while out-of-phase acoustic travelling waves cause displacement along a temperature gradient, analogous to a Stirling displacer piston. Thus a thermoacoustic device typically does not have a displacer, as found in a beta or gamma Stirling.

History

Illustration to Robert Stirling’s 1816 patent application of the air engine design which later came to be known as the Stirling Engine

The Stirling engine (or Stirling’s air engine as it was known at the time) was invented and patented by Robert Stirling in 1816. It followed earlier attempts at making an air engine but was probably the first to be put to practical use when in 1818 an engine built by Stirling was employed pumping water in a quarry. The main subject of Stirling’s original patent was a heat exchanger which he called an “economiser” for its enhancement of fuel economy in a variety of applications. The patent also described in detail the employment of one form of the economiser in his unique closed-cycle air engine design in which application it is now generally known as a ‘regenerator’. Subsequent development by Robert Stirling and his brother James, an engineer, resulted in patents for various improved configurations of the original engine including pressurization which had by 1843 sufficiently increased power output to drive all the machinery at a Dundee iron foundry.

Though it has been disputed it is widely supposed that as well as saving fuel the inventors were motivated to create a safer alternative to the steam engines of the time, whose boilers frequently exploded causing many injuries and fatalities. The need for Stirling engines to run at very high temperatures to maximize power and efficiency exposed limitations in the materials of the day and the few engines that were built in those early years suffered unacceptably frequent failures (albeit with far less disastrous consequences than a boiler explosion) – for example, the Dundee foundry engine was replaced by a steam engine after three hot cylinder failures in four years.

Later nineteenth century

A typical late nineteenth/early twentieth century water pumping engine by the Rider-Ericsson Engine Company

Subsequent to the failure of the Dundee foundry engine there is no record of the Stirling brothers having any further involvement with air engine development and the Stirling engine never again competed with steam as an industrial scale power source (steam boilers were becoming safer and steam engines more efficient, thus presenting less of a target to rival prime movers). However, from about 1860 smaller engines of the Stirling/hot air type were produced in substantial numbers finding applications wherever a reliable source of low to medium power was required, such as raising water or providing air for church organs. These generally operated at lower temperatures so as not to tax available materials, so were relatively inefficient. But their selling point was that, unlike a steam engine, they could be operated safely by anybody capable of managing a fire. Several types remained in production beyond the end of the century, but apart from a few minor mechanical improvements the design of the Stirling engine in general stagnated during this period.

Twentieth century revival

During the early part of the twentieth century the role of the Stirling engine as a “domestic motor” was gradually taken over by the electric motor and small internal combustion engines. By the late 1930s it was largely forgotten, only produced for toys and a few small ventilating fans. At this time Philips was seeking to expand sales of its radios into areas where electricity was unavailable and the supply of batteries uncertain. Philips’ management decided that a low-power portable generator would facilitate such sales and tasked a group of engineers at the company’s research lab in Eindhoven to evaluate alternatives.

After a systematic comparison of various prime movers, the Stirling engine’s quiet operation (both audibly and in terms of radio interference) and ability to run on a variety of heat sources (common lamp oil  “cheap and available everywhere”  was favoured), the team picked Stirling. They were also aware that, unlike steam and internal combustion engines, virtually no serious development work had been carried out on the Stirling engine for many years and asserted that modern materials and know-how should enable great improvements.

Philips MP1002CA Stirling generator of 1951

Encouraged by their first experimental engine, which produced 16 W of shaft power from a bore and stroke of 30mm 25mm, Philips began a development program. This work continued throughout World War II and by the late 1940s handed over the Type 10 to Philips’ subsidiary Johan de Witt in Dordrecht to be “productionised” and incorporated into a generator set. The result, rated at 200 W from a bore and stroke of 55 mm x 27 mm, was designated MP1002CA (known as the “Bungalow set”). Production of an initial batch of 250 began in 1951, but it became clear that they could not be made at a competitive price and the advent of transistor radios with their much lower power requirements meant that the original rationale for the set was disappearing. Approximately 150 of these sets were eventually produced. Some found their way into university and college engineering departments around the world giving generations of students a valuable introduction to the Stirling engine.

Philips went on to develop experimental Stirling engines for a wide variety of applications and continued to work in the field until the late 1970s, but only achieved commercial success with the ‘reversed Stirling engine’ cryocooler. They did however take out a large number of patents and amass a wealth of information which they licensed to other companies and which formed the basis of much of the development work in the modern era.

Towards the end of the century, several companies developed research prototypes of medium-power engines and in some cases small production series. A mass market was never achieved because the unit costs were very high and some technical problems remained unsolved. Now in the twenty-first century, some commercial success is starting to become feasible, notably with combined heat and power units.

In the field of low-power engines, many plans, kits and finished engines are available commercially. Apart from traditional small models and some larger machines for real use, a new type was introduced in the 1980s: the low-temperature flat plate type.

Theory

Main article: Stirling cycle

A pressure/volume graph of the idealized Stirling cycle

The idealised Stirling cycle consists of four thermodynamic processes acting on the working fluid:

Isothermal Expansion. The expansion-space and associated heat exchanger are maintained at a constant high temperature, and the gas undergoes near-isothermal expansion absorbing heat from the hot source.

Constant-Volume (known as isovolumetric or isochoric) heat-removal. The gas is passed through the regenerator, where it cools transferring heat to the regenerator for use in the next cycle.

Isothermal Compression. The compression space and associated heat exchanger are maintained at a constant low temperature so the gas undergoes near-isothermal compression rejecting heat to the cold sink

Constant-Volume (known as isovolumetric or isochoric) heat-addition. The gas passes back through the regenerator where it recovers much of the heat transferred in 2 to 3, heating up on its way to the expansion space.

Theoretical thermal efficiency equals that of the hypothetical Carnot cycle – i.e. the highest efficiency attainable by any heat engine. However, though it is useful for illustrating general principles, the text book cycle it is a long way from representing what is actually going on inside a practical Stirling engine and should not be regarded as a basis for analysis. In fact it has been argued that its indiscriminate use in many standard books on engineering thermodynamics has done a disservice to the study of Stirling engines in general.

Other real-world issues reduce the efficiency of actual engines, due to limits of convective heat transfer, and viscous flow (friction). There are also practical mechanical considerations, for instance a simple kinematic linkage may be favoured over a more complex mechanism needed to replicate the idealized cycle, and limitations imposed by available materials such as non-ideal properties of the working gas, thermal conductivity, tensile strength, creep, rupture strength, and melting point.

Operation

Since the Stirling engine is a closed cycle, it contains a fixed mass of gas called the “working fluid”, most commonly air, hydrogen or helium. In normal operation, the engine is sealed and no gas enters or leaves the engine. No valves are required, unlike other types of piston engines. The Stirling engine, like most heat engines, cycles through four main processes: cooling, compression, heating and expansion. This is accomplished by moving the gas back and forth between hot and cold heat exchangers, often with a regenerator between the heater and cooler. The hot heat exchanger is in thermal contact with an external heat source, such as a fuel burner, and the cold heat exchanger being in thermal contact with an external heat sink, such as air fins. A change in gas temperature will cause a corresponding change in gas pressure, while the motion of the piston causes the gas to be alternately expanded and compressed.

The gas follows the behaviour described by the gas laws which describe how a gas’ pressure, temperature and volume are related. When the gas is heated, because it is in a sealed chamber, the pressure rises and this then acts on the power piston to produce a power stroke. When the gas is cooled the pressure drops and this means that less work needs to be done by the piston to compress the gas on the return stroke, thus yielding a net power output.

When one side of the piston is open to the atmosphere, the operation is slightly different. As the sealed volume of working gas comes in contact with the hot side, it expands, doing work on both the piston and on the atmosphere. When the working gas contacts the cold side, its pressure drops below atmospheric pressure and the atmosphere pushes on the piston and does work on the gas.

To summarize, the Stirling engine uses the temperature difference between its hot end and cold end to establish a cycle of a fixed mass of gas, heated and expanded, and cooled and compressed, thus converting thermal energy into mechanical energy. The greater the temperature difference between the hot and cold sources, the greater the thermal efficiency. The maximum theoretical efficiency is equivalent to the Carnot cycle, however the efficiency of real engines is less than this value due to friction and other losses.

Video showing the compressor and displacer of a very small Stirling Engine in action

Very low-power engines have been built which will run on a temperature difference of as little as 0.5 K.

Pressurization

In most high power Stirling engines, both the minimum pressure and mean pressure of the working fluid are above atmospheric pressure. This initial engine pressurization can be realized by a pump, or by filling the engine from a compressed gas tank, or even just by sealing the engine when the mean temperature is lower than the mean operating temperature. All of these methods increase the mass of working fluid in the thermodynamic cycle. All of the heat exchangers must be sized appropriately to supply the necessary heat transfer rates. If the heat exchangers are well designed and can supply the heat flux needed for convective heat transfer, then the engine will in a first approximation produce power in proportion to the mean pressure, as predicted by the West number, and Beale number. In practice, the maximum pressure is also limited to the safe pressure of the pressure vessel. Like most aspects of Stirling engine design, optimization is multivariate, and often has conflicting requirements.

Lubricants and friction

A modern Stirling engine and generator set with 55 kW electrical output, for combined heat and power applications

At high temperatures and pressures, the oxygen in air-pressurized crankcases, or in the working gas of hot air engines, can combine with the engine’s lubricating oil and explode. At least one person has died in such an explosion.

Lubricants can also clog heat exchangers, especially the regenerator. For these reasons, designers prefer non-lubricated, low-coefficient of friction materials (such as rulon or graphite), with low normal forces on the moving parts, especially for sliding seals. Some designs avoid sliding surfaces altogether by using diaphragms for sealed pistons. These are some of the factors that allow Stirling engines to have lower maintenance requirements and longer life than internal-combustion engines.

Analysis

Comparison with internal combustion engines

In contrast to internal combustion engines, Stirling engines have the potential to use renewable heat sources more easily, to be quieter, and to be more reliable with lower maintenance. They are preferred for applications that value these unique advantages, particularly if the cost per unit energy generated ($/kWh) is more important than the capital cost per unit power ($/kW). On this basis, Stirling engines are cost competitive up to about 100 kW.

Compared to an internal combustion engine of the same power rating, Stirling engines currently have a higher capital cost and are usually larger and heavier. However, they are more efficient than most internal combustion engines. Their lower maintenance requirements make the overall energy cost comparable. The thermal efficiency is also comparable (for small engines), ranging from 15% to 30%. For applications such as micro-CHP, a Stirling engine is often preferable to an internal combustion engine. Other applications include water pumping, astronautics, and electrical generation from plentiful energy sources that are incompatible with the internal combustion engine, such as solar energy, and biomass such as agricultural waste and other waste such as domestic refuse. Stirlings have also been used as a marine engine in Swedish Gotland class submarines. However, Stirling engines are generally not price-competitive as an automobile engine, due to high cost per unit power, low power density and high material costs.

Basic analysis is based on the closed-form Schmidt analysis.

Advantages

Stirling engines can run directly on any available heat source, not just one produced by combustion, so they can run on heat from solar, geothermal, biological, nuclear sources or waste heat from industrial processes.

A continuous combustion process can be used to supply heat, so most types of emissions can be reduced.

Most types of Stirling engines have the bearing and seals on the cool side of the engine, and they require less lubricant and last longer than other reciprocating engine types.

The engine mechanisms are in some ways simpler than other reciprocating engine types. No valves are needed, and the burner system can be relatively simple.

A Stirling engine uses a single-phase working fluid which maintains an internal pressure close to the design pressure, and thus for a properly designed system the risk of explosion is low. In comparison, a steam engine uses a two-phase gas/liquid working fluid, so a faulty relief valve can cause an explosion.

In some cases, low operating pressure allows the use of lightweight cylinders.

They can be built to run quietly and without an air supply, for air-independent propulsion use in submarines.

They start easily (albeit slowly, after warmup) and run more efficiently in cold weather, in contrast to the internal combustion which starts quickly in warm weather, but not in cold weather.

A Stirling engine used for pumping water can be configured so that the water cools the compression space. This is most effective when pumping cold water.

They are extremely flexible. They can be used as CHP (combined heat and power) in the winter and as coolers in summer.

Waste heat is easily harvested (compared to waste heat from an internal combustion engine) making Stirling engines useful for dual-output heat and power systems.

Disadvantages

Size and cost issues

Stirling engine designs require heat exchangers for heat input and for heat output, and these must contain the pressure of the working fluid, where the pressure is proportional to the engine power output. In addition, the expansion-side heat exchanger is often at very high temperature, so the materials must resist the corrosive effects of the heat source, and have low creep (deformation). Typically these material requirements substantially increase the cost of the engine. The materials and assembly costs for a high temperature heat exchanger typically accounts for 40% of the total engine cost.

All thermodynamic cycles require large temperature differentials for efficient operation. In an external combustion engine, the heater temperature always equals or exceeds the expansion temperature. This means that the metallurgical requirements for the heater material are very demanding. This is similar to a Gas turbine, but is in contrast to an Otto engine or Diesel engine, where the expansion temperature can far exceed the metallurgical limit of the engine materials, because the input heat source is not conducted through the engine, so engine materials operate closer to the average temperature of the working gas.

Dissipation of waste heat is especially complicated because the coolant temperature is kept as low as possible to maximize thermal efficiency. This increases the size of the radiators, which can make packaging difficult. Along with materials cost, this has been one of the factors limiting the adoption of Stirling engines as automotive prime movers. For other applications such as ship propulsion and stationary microgeneration systems using combined heat and power (CHP) high power density is not required.

Power and torque issues

Stirling engines, especially those that run on small temperature differentials, are quite large for the amount of power that they produce (i.e., they have low specific power). This is primarily due to the heat transfer coefficient of gaseous convection which limits the heat flux that can be attained in a typical cold heat exchanger to about 500 W/(m2K), and in a hot heat exchanger to about 5005000 W/(m2K). Compared with internal combustion engines, this makes it more challenging for the engine designer to transfer heat into and out of the working gas. Increasing the temperature differential and/or pressure allows Stirling engines to produce more power, assuming the heat exchangers are designed for the increased heat load, and can deliver the convected heat flux necessary.

A Stirling engine cannot start instantly; it literally needs to “warm up”. This is true of all external combustion engines, but the warm up time may be longer for Stirlings than for others of this type such as steam engines. Stirling engines are best used as constant speed engines.

Power output of a Stirling tends to be constant and to adjust it can sometimes require careful design and additional mechanisms. Typically, changes in output are achieved by varying the displacement of the engine (often through use of a swashplate crankshaft arrangement), or by changing the quantity of working fluid, or by altering the piston/displacer phase angle, or in some cases simply by altering the engine load. This property is less of a drawback in hybrid electric propulsion or “base load” utility generation where constant power output is actually desirable.

Gas choice issues

The used gas should have a low heat capacity, so that a given amount of transferred heat leads to a large increase in pressure. Considering this issue, helium would be the best gas because of its very low heat capacity. Air is a viable working fluid, but the oxygen in a highly pressurized air engine can cause fatal accidents caused by lubricating oil explosions. Following one such accident Philips pioneered the use of other gases to avoid such risk of explosions.

Hydrogen’s low viscosity and high thermal conductivity make it the most powerful working gas, primarily because the engine can run faster than with other gases. However, due to hydrogen absorption, and given the high diffusion rate associated with this low molecular weight gas, particularly at high temperatures, H2 will leak through the solid metal of the heater. Diffusion through carbon steel is too high to be practical, but may be acceptably low for metals such as aluminum, or even stainless steel. Certain ceramics also greatly reduce diffusion. Hermetic pressure vessel seals are necessary to maintain pressure inside the engine without replacement of lost gas. For HTD engines, auxiliary systems may need to be added to maintain high pressure working fluid. These systems can be a gas storage bottle or a gas generator. Hydrogen can be generated by electrolysis of water, the action of steam on red hot carbon-based fuel, by gasification of hydrocarbon fuel, or by the reaction of acid on metal. Hydrogen can also cause the embrittlement of metals. Hydrogen is a flammable gas, which is a safety concern, although the quantity used is very small, and it is arguably safer than other commonly used flammable gases.

Most technically advanced Stirling engines, like those developed for United States government labs, use helium as the working gas, because it functions close to the efficiency and power density of hydrogen with fewer of the material containment issues. Helium is inert, which removes all risk of flammability, both real and perceived. Helium is relatively expensive, and must be supplied as bottled gas. One test showed hydrogen to be 5% (absolute) more efficient than helium (24% relatively) in the GPU-3 Stirling engine. The researcher Allan Organ demonstrated that a well-designed air engine is theoretically just as efficient as a helium or hydrogen engine, but helium and hydrogen engines are several times more powerful per unit volume.

Some engines use air or nitrogen as the working fluid. These gases have much lower power density (which increases engine costs), but they are more convenient to use and they minimize the problems of gas containment and supply (which decreases costs). The use of compressed air in contact with flammable materials or substances such as lubricating oil, introduces an explosion hazard, because compressed air contains a high partial pressure of oxygen. However, oxygen can be removed from air through an oxidation reaction or bottled nitrogen can be used, which is nearly inert and very safe.

Other possible lighter-than-air gases include: methane, and ammonia.

Applications

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article titled applications of the Stirling engine. (Discuss)

A desktop alpha Stirling engine. The working fluid in this engine is air. The hot heat exchange is the glass cylinder on the right, and the cold heat exchanger is the finned cylinder on the top. This engine uses a small alcohol burner (bottom right) as a heat source

Heating and cooling

If supplied with mechanical power, a Stirling engine can function in reverse as a heat pump for heating or cooling. Experiments have been performed using wind power driving a Stirling cycle heat pump for domestic heating and air conditioning. In the late 1930s, the Philips Corporation of the Netherlands successfully utilized the Stirling cycle in cryogenic applications.

Combined heat and power

Thermal power stations on the electric grid use fuel to produce electricity, however there are large quantities of waste heat produced which often go unused. In other situations, high-grade fuel is burned at high temperature for a low temperature application. According to the second law of thermodynamics, a heat engine can generate power from this temperature difference. In a CHP system, the high temperature primary heat enters the Stirling engine heater, then some of the energy is converted to mechanical power in the engine, and the rest passes through to the cooler, where it exits at a low temperature. The “waste” heat actually comes from engine’s main cooler, and possibly from other sources such as the exhaust of the burner, if there is one.

In a combined heat and power (CHP) system, mechanical or electrical power is generated in the usual way, however, the waste heat given off by the engine is used to supply a secondary heating application. This can be virtually anything that uses low temperature heat. It is often a pre-existing energy use, such as commercial space heating, residential water heating, or an industrial process.

The power produced by the engine can be used to run an industrial or agricultural process, which in turn creates biomass waste refuse that can be used as free fuel for the engine, thus reducing waste removal costs. The overall process can be efficient and cost effective.

Disenco, a UK based company are going through the final stages of development of their HomePowerPlant. Unlike other m-CHP appliances coming to market the HPP generates 3 kW of electrical and 15 kW of thermal energy, making this appliance suitable for both the domestic and SME markets.

WhisperGen, a New Zealand firm with offices in Christchurch, has developed an “AC Micro Combined Heat and Power” Stirling cycle engine. These microCHP units are gas-fired central heating boilers which sell unused power back into the electricity grid. WhisperGen announced in 2004 that they were producing 80,000 units for the residential market in the United Kingdom. A 20 unit trial in Germany started in 2006.

Solar power generation

Placed at the focus of a parabolic mirror a Stirling engine can convert solar energy to electricity with an efficiency better than non-concentrated photovoltaic cells, and comparable to Concentrated Photo Voltaics. On August 11, 2005, Southern California Edison announced an agreement with Stirling Energy Systems to purchase electricity created using over 30,000 Solar Powered Stirling Engines over a twenty year period sufficient to generate 850 MW of electricity. These systems, on an 8,000 acre (19 km2) solar farm will use mirrors to direct and concentrate sunlight onto the engines which will in turn drive generators. Construction is expected to begin on the farm in 2010, although there are disputes over the project due to concerns of environmental impact on animals living on the site.

Stirling cryocoolers

Any Stirling engine will also work in reverse as a heat pump; when a motion is applied to the shaft, a temperature difference appears between the reservoirs. The essential mechanical components of a Stirling cryocooler are identical to a Stirling engine. In both the engine and the heat pump, heat flows from the expansion space to the compression space; however, input work is required in order for heat to flow against a thermal gradient, specifically when the compression space is hotter than the expansion space. The external side of the expansion-space heat exchanger may be placed inside a thermally insulated compartment such as a vacuum flask. Heat is in effect pumped out of this compartment, through the working gas of the cryocooler and into the compression space. The compression space will be above ambient temperature, and so heat will flow out into the environment.

One of their modern uses is in cryogenics, and to a lesser extent, refrigeration. At typical refrigeration temperatures, Stirling coolers are generally not economically competitive with the less expensive mainstream Rankine cooling systems, even though they are typically 20% more energy efficient. However, below about 40  to 30 C, Rankine cooling is not effective because there are no suitable refrigerants with boiling points this low. Stirling cryocoolers are able to “lift” heat down to 200 C (73 K), which is sufficient to liquefy air (oxygen, nitrogen and argon). They can go as low as 4060 K, depending on the particular design. Cryocoolers for this purpose are more or less competitive with other cryocooler technologies. The coefficient of performance at cryogenic temperatures is typically 0.040.05 (corresponding to a 45% efficiency). Empirically, the devices show a linear trend, where typically the COP = 0.0015 Tc  0.065, where Tc is the cryogenic temperature. At these temperatures, solid materials have lower values for specific heat, so the regenerator must be made out of unexpected materials, such as cotton.[citation needed]

The first Stirling cycle cryocooler was developed at Philips in the 1950s and commercialized in such places as liquid air production plants. The Philips Cryogenics business evolved until it was split off in 1990 to form the Stirling Cryogenics BV, The Netherlands. This company is still active in the development and manufacturing of Stirling cryocoolers and cryogenic cooling systems.

A wide variety of smaller size Stirling cryocoolers are commercially available for tasks such as the cooling of electronic sensors and sometimes microprocessors. For this application, Stirling cryocoolers are the highest performance technology available, due to their ability to lift heat efficiently at very low temperatures. They are silent, vibration-free, and can be scaled down to small sizes, and have very high reliability and low maintenance. As of 2009, cryocoolers are considered to be the only commercially successful Stirling devices.[citation needed]

Heat pump

A Stirling heat pump is very similar to a Stirling cryocooler, the main difference being that it usually operates at room temperature and its principal application to date is to pump heat from the outside of a building to the inside, thus cheaply heating it.

As with any other Stirling device, heat flows from the expansion space to the compression space; however, in contrast to the Stirling engine, the expansion space is at a lower temperature than the compression space, so instead of producing work, an input of mechanical work is required by the system (in order to satisfy the second law of thermodynamics). When the mechanical work for the heat pump is provided by a second Stirling engine, then the overall system is called a “heat-driven heatpump”.

The expansion side of the heat pump is thermally coupled to the heat source, which is often the external environment. The compression side of the Stirling device is placed in the environment to be heated, for example a building, and heat is “pumped” into it. Typically there will be thermal insulation between the two sides so there will be a temperature rise inside the insulated space.

Heat pumps are by far the most energy-efficient types of heating systems. Stirling heat pumps also often have a higher coefficient of performance than conventional heat pumps. To date, these systems have seen limited commercial use; however, use is expected to increase along with market demand for energy conservation, and adoption will likely be accelerated by technological refinements.

Marine engines

The Swedish shipbuilder Kockums has built 8 successful Stirling powered submarines since the late 1980s. They carry compressed oxygen to allow fuel combustion whilst submerged that provides heat for the Stirling engine. They are currently used on submarines of the Gotland and Sdermanland classes. They are the first submarines in the world to feature a Stirling engine air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, which extends their underwater endurance from a few days to two weeks. This capability has previously only been available with nuclear powered submarines.

A similar system also powers the Japanese Sry class submarine.

Nuclear power

There is a potential for nuclear-powered Stirling engines in electric power generation plants. Replacing the steam turbines of nuclear power plants with Stirling engines might simplify the plant, yield greater efficiency, and reduce the radioactive byproducts. A number of breeder reactor designs use liquid sodium as coolant. If the heat is to be employed in a steam plant, a water/sodium heat exchanger is required, which raises some concern as sodium reacts violently with water. A Stirling engine eliminates the need for water anywhere in the cycle.

United States government labs have developed a modern Stirling engine design known as the Stirling Radioisotope Generator for use in space exploration. It is designed to generate electricity for deep space probes on missions lasting decades. The engine uses a single displacer to reduce moving parts and uses high energy acoustics to transfer energy. The heat source is a dry solid nuclear fuel slug and the heat sink is space itself.

Automotive engines

It is often claimed that the Stirling engine has too low a power/weight ratio, too high a cost, and too long a starting time for automotive applications. They also have complex and expensive heat exchangers. A Stirling cooler must reject twice as much heat as an Otto engine or Diesel engine radiator. The heater must be made of stainless steel, exotic alloy or ceramic to support high heater temperatures needed for high power density, and to contain hydrogen gas that is often used in automotive Stirlings to maximize power. The main difficulties involved in using the Stirling engine in an automotive application are startup time, acceleration response, shutdown time, and weight, not all of which have ready-made solutions. However, a modified Stirling engine has been recently introduced that uses concepts taken from a patented internal-combustion engine with a sidewall combustion chamber (U.S. patent 7,387,093) that promises to overcome the deficient power-density and specific-power problems, as well as the slow acceleration-response problem inherent in all Stirling engines. However, it could be possible to use these in co-generation systems that use waste heat from a conventional piston or gas turbine engine’s exhaust and use this either to power the ancillaries (eg: the alternator) or even as a turbo-compound system that adds power and torque to the crankshaft.

At least two automobiles exclusively powered by Stirling engines were developed by NASA, as well as earlier projects by the Ford Motor Company and American Motors Corporation. The NASA vehicles were designed by contractors and designated MOD I and MOD II. The MOD II replaced the normal spark-ignition engine in a 1985 4-door Chevrolet Celebrity Notchback. In the 1986 MOD II Design Report (Appendix A) the results show that highway gas mileage was increased from 40 to 58 mpg and urban mileage from 26 to 33 mpg with no change in vehicle gross weight. Startup time in the NASA vehicle maxed out at 30 seconds,[citation needed] while Ford’s research vehicle used an internal electric heater to jump-start the vehicle, allowing it to start in only a few seconds.

Electric vehicles

Many people believe that Stirling engines as part of a hybrid electric drive system can bypass all of the perceived design challenges or disadvantages of a non-hybrid Stirling automobile.

In November 2007, a prototype hybrid car using solid biofuel and a Stirling engine was announced by the Precer project in Sweden.

The Manchester Union Leader reports that Dean Kamen has developed a series plug-in hybrid car using a Ford Think. DEKA, Kamen’s technology company in the Manchester Millyard, has recently demonstrated an electric car, the DEKA Revolt, that can go approximately 60 miles (97 km) on a single charge of its lithium battery.

Aircraft engines

Stirling engines may hold theoretical promise as aircraft engines, if high power density and low cost can be achieved. They are quieter, less polluting, gain efficiency with altitude due to lower ambient temperatures, are more reliable due to fewer parts and the absence of an ignition system, produce much less vibration (airframes last longer) and safer, less explosive fuels may be used. However, the Stirling engine often has low power density compared to the commonly used Otto engine and Brayton cycle gas turbine. This issue has been a point of contention in automobiles, and this performance characteristic is even more critical in aircraft engines.

Low temperature difference engines

A low temperature difference Stirling Engine shown here running on the heat from a warm hand

A low temperature difference (Low Delta T, or LTD) Stirling engine will run on any low temperature differential, for example the difference between the palm of a hand and room temperature or room temperature and an ice cube. A record of only 0.5 K was achieved in 1990. See which also shows an animated drawing of this type. Usually they are designed in a gamma configuration, for simplicity, and without a regenerator, although some have slits in the displacer typically made of foam, for partial regeneration. They are typically unpressurized, running at pressure close to 1 atmosphere. The power produced is less than 1 W, and they are intended for demonstration purposes only. They are sold as toys and educational models.

Larger (typically 1 m square) low temperature engines have been built for pumping water using direct sunlight with minimal or no magnification.
Other recent applications

Acoustic Stirling Heat Engine

Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed an “Acoustic Stirling Heat Engine” with no moving parts. It converts heat into intense acoustic power which (quoted from given source) “can be used directly in acoustic refrigerators or pulse-tube refrigerators to provide heat-driven refrigeration with no moving parts, or … to generate electricity via a linear alternator or other electro-acoustic power transducer”.

MicroCHP

WhisperGen, a New Zealand based company has developed stirling engines that can be powered by natural gas or diesel. Recently an agreement has been signed with Mondragon Corporacin Cooperativa, a Spanish firm, to produce WhisperGen’s microCHP and make them available for the domestic market in Europe. Some time ago E.ON UK announced a similar initiative for the UK. Stirling engines would supply the client with hot water, space heating and a surplus electric power that could be fed back into the electric grid.

However the preliminary results of an Energy Saving Trust review of the performance of the WhisperGen microCHP units suggested that their advantages were marginal at best in most homes. However another author shows that that Stirling engined microgeneration is the most cost effective of various microgeneration technologies in terms of reducing CO2.

Chip cooling

MSI (Taiwan) recently developed a miniature Stirling engine cooling system for personal computer chips that uses the waste heat from the chip to drive a fan.

Alternatives

Alternative thermal energy harvesting devices include the Thermogenerator. Thermogenerators allow less efficient conversion (5-10%) but may be useful in situations where the end product needs to be electricity and where a small conversion device is a critical factor.

Photo gallery

Preserved examples of antique Rider hot air engines – an alpha configuration Stirling

See also

Thermomechanical generator

Beale Number

West Number

Schmidt number

Fluidyne engine

Stirling radioisotope generator

Relative cost of electricity generated by different sources

Distributed generation

References

^ “Stirling Engines”, G. Walker (1980), Clarenden Press, Oxford, page 1: “A Stirling engine is a mechanical device which operates on a *closed* regenerative thermodynamic cycle, with cyclic compression and expansion of the working fluid at different temperature levels.”

^ T. Finkelstein; A.J. Organ (2001), Chapters 2&3

^ Sleeve notes from A.J. Organ (2007)

^ F. Starr (2001)

^ C.M. Hargreaves (1991), Chapter 2.5

^ “A new Prime Mover”, J.F.J. Malone, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, June 12, 1931, reprinted with further material as “Secrets of the Malone Heat Engine, Richard A. Ford (1983), Lindsay Publications, Bradley IL

^ W.R. Martini (1983), p.6

^ W.H. Brandhorst; J.A. Rodiek (2005)

^ B. Kongtragool; S. Wongwises (2003)

^ A.J. Organ (1992), p.58

^ Y. Timoumi; I. Tlili; S. Ben Nasrallah (2007)

^ K. Hirata (1998)

^ M.Keveney (2000a)

^ M. Keveney (2000b)

^ D.Liao (a)

^ Quasiturbine Agence (a)

^ “Ringbom Stirling Engines”, James R. Senft, 1993, Oxford University Press

^ “Free-Piston Stirling Engines”, G. Walker et al.,Springer 1985, reprinted by Stirling Machine World, West Richland WA

^ “The Thermo-mechanical Generator…”, E.H. Cooke-Yarborough, (1967) Harwell Memorandum No. 1881 and (1974) Proc. I.E.E., Vol. 7, pp. 749-751

^ G.M. Benson (1973 and 1977)

^ D. Postle (1873)

^ R. Sier (1999)

^ T. Finkelsteinl; A.J. Organ (2001), Chapter 2.2

^ English patent 4081 of 1816 Improvements for diminishing the consumption of fuel and in particular an engine capable of being applied to the moving (of)machinery on a principle entirely new. as reproduced in part in C.M. Hargreaves (1991), Appendix B, with full transcription of text in R. Sier (1995), p.??

^ R. Sier (1995), p. 93

^ A.J. Organ (2008a)

^ Excerpt from a paper presented by James Stirling in June 1845 to the Institute of Civil Engineers. As reproduced in R. Sier (1995), p.92.

^ A. Nesmith (1985)

^ R. Chuse; B. Carson (1992), Chapter 1

^ R. Sier (1995), p.94

^ T. Finkelstein; A.J. Organ (2001), p.30

^ Hartford Steam Boiler (a)

^ T. Finkelstein; A.J. Organ (2001), Chapter 2.4

^ The 1906 Rider-Ericsson Engine Co. catalog claimed that “any gardener or ordinary domestic can operate these engines and no licensed or experienced engineer is required”.

^ T. Finkelstein; A.J. Organ (2001), p.64

^ T. Finkelstein; A.J. Organ (2001), p.34

^ T. Finkelstein; A.J. Organ (2001), p.55

^ C.M. Hargreaves (1991), pp.2830

^ Philips Technical Review Vol.9 No.4 page 97 (1947)

^ C.M. Hargreaves (1991), Fig. 3

^ C.M. Hargreaves (1991), p.61

^ Letter dated March 1961 from Research and Control Instruments Ltd. London WC1 to North Devon Technical College, offering “remaining stocks…… to institutions such as yourselves….. at a special price of 75 nett”

^ C.M. Hargreaves (1991), p.77

^ T. Finkelstein; A.J. Organ (2001), Page 66 & 229

^ A.J. Organ (1992), Chapter 3.1 – 3.2

^ “An Introduction to Low Temperature Differential Stirling Engines”, James R. Senft, 1996, Moriya Press

^ a b A.J. Organ (1997), p.??

^ a b c C.M. Hargreaves (1991), p.??

^ a b WADE (a)

^ Krupp and Horn. Earth: The Sequel. p. 57

^ a b Kockums (a)

^ Z. Herzog (2008)

^ K. Hirata (1997)

^ BBC News (2003), “The boiler is based on the Stirling engine, dreamed up by the Scottish inventor Robert Stirling in 1816. [...] The technical name given to this particular use is Micro Combined Heat and Power or Micro CHP.”

^ A.J. Organ (2008b)

^ L.G. Thieme (1981)

^ C.M. Hargreaves (1991), p.63

^ a b by: admin (2008-11-06). “What is Microgeneration? And what is the most cost effective in terms of CO2 reduction | Claverton Group”. Claverton-energy.com. http://www.claverton-energy.com/what-is-microgeneration.html. Retrieved 2009-07-24. 

^ Pure Energy Systems (2005)

^ “Tessera Solar World-Scale Power Projects”. Tessera Solar. http://www.tesserasolar.com/international/projects.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 

^ “Battle Brewing Over Giant Desert Solar Farm”. New York Times. 2009-08-05. http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/battle-brewing-over-giant-desert-solar-farm/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 

^ “The Kockums Stirling AIP system – proven in operational service”. Kockums. http://www.kockums.se/submarines/aipstirling.html. Retrieved 2009-11-12. 

^ http://www.janes.com/news/defence/naval/jni/jni071206_1_n.shtml

^ J. Hasci (2008)

^ Precer Group (a)

^ a b S.K. Wickham (2008)

^ http://www.animatedengines.com/ltdstirling.shtml

^ http://www.bsrsolar.com/core1-1.php

^ S. Backhaus; G. Swift (2003)

^ Carbon Trust (2007)

^ MSI (2008) http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9051/msi_employs_stirling_engine_theory/index.html

Bibliography

S.D. Allan (2005). “World’s Largest Solar Installation to use Stirling Engine Technology”. Pure Energy Systems News. http://pesn.com/2005/08/11/9600147_Edison_Stirling_largest_solar/. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 

S. Backhaus; G. Swift (2003). “Acoustic Stirling Heat Engine: More Efficient than Other No-Moving-Parts Heat Engines”. Los Alamos National Laboratory. http://www.lanl.gov/mst/engine/. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 

BBC News (2003-10-31). “Power from the people”. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/working_lunch/3231549.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 

W.T. Beale (1971). “Stirling Cycle Type Thermal Device”, US patent 3552120. Granted to Research Corp, 5 January 1971.

G.M. Benson (1977). “Thermal Oscillators”, US patent 4044558. Granted to New Process Ind, 30 August 1977 .

G.M. Benson (1973). “Thermal Oscillators”. Proceedings of the 8th IECEC. Philadelphia: ASME. pp. 182189. 

H.W. Brandhorst; J.A. Rodiek (2005). “A 25 kW Solar Stirling Concept for Lunar Surface Exploration”. in International Astronautics Federation (PDF). Procedings of the 56th International Astronautical Co…

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Computer Won’t Start? Check the Power Button Works Properly

It’s something we all dread, but has probably happened to many of us at one time or another. We go to turn a computer on, and instead of sparking into life, nothing happens — the computer appears completely dead. Though the cause of the problem is often a faulty power supply, sometimes the power button itself may not be working properly. Before investing in a new power supply, you can quite easily check to see if this is the case.

First, you need to open the computer’s case, this is normally accomplished by removing the left-hand panel of the computer (when viewed from the front), this generally simply involves removing two screws from the back of the case. After you remove the panel, lay the computer down on its side on a flat surface. You need to look carefully for a series of thin wires which come from the front of the case towards the computer’s motherboard. The wires are normally in different coloured pairs and each pair leads to 2 small pins on the motherboard; on the motherboard (and in the motherboard manual) you will find text which indicates what each pair of wires does. You will have a pair for the internal speaker, a pair for the reset button, a pair for the power switch, and a pair for the power light.

The wires we are interested in are the ones marked as the power switch often shown as PWR-BTN or something similar. Unplug these wires from the motherboard by pulling gently on the connector. Next, you will need a small flat-bladed screwdriver which can be used to bridge the gap between the pins on the motherboard where the wires were connected. The computer needs to be plugged in and if there is a switch on the power supply at the back of the case, this needs to be on as well. If the computer starts when you make a connection between the two pins with a screwdriver, then you know your problem is a faulty power button or a bad connection between the power button and the motherboard. Be careful not to touch anything with the screwdriver apart from these pins.

If the computer still doesn’t turn on, then it’s most likely the power supply which is causing the problem.

R.i.p Kambrook Multi-outlet Thingie…

I am the first to admit that there are many many things in life that I, for the want of a more apt description, suck at.

Having already visited this issue in several previous blogs, I am not going to rehash the endless stories of my list of  skills in which I sorely need some extra “schooling”.

However, the latest incident is probably worthy of a mention here.

The Date / Time:  Sunday 22/06/08  -10:16 am

The Place: My laundry room

The Mission: To successfully install a new Washing machine and Dryer.

Now, to be fair…..unlike Tom Cruise….I didnt have a little micro-recording device giving me explicit instructions on how to complete this mission.

Nor did I have either Jamie Durie or Tim Allen on hand to guide me through the basic steps (Although Martha Stewart did pop her head in to try and advise me on the aesthetics of the process. Since she has been banned from the UK, Labrador seemed to be the next most obvious choice of venue for her talents).

So, with coffee in one hand, and a Kambrook multiple outlet-thingie in the other (I am sure there is a proper name for those, but they will always be “Kambrook Multiple-Outlet-Thingies to me) I issued a blood-curdling howl:

 ”Tonight We Dine In Clean Clothes!!!!”

  At this stage, before I get to the end of the story, there are a few gaps that I probably should fill in, so that you can get a fair and balanced view of what happened next…

a) I purchased the Kambrook-Outlet-Thingie in 1996

b) The Laundry Room doubles up as our cat’s WC….

c) I had had a couple of decent reds the night before

I will make this painlessly short….

During the act of plugging in a very old electrical device, I tripped over the litter box and spilled a full cup of Gloria Jean Vanilla Latte onto exposed wires, hence causing a rapid shower of sparks and…subsequently, a small fire and hole in the laundry wall.

As a result:

a) I wasted .50 on a Gloria Jean’s Latte

b) I was forced to call some dude from Bunnings to assist me with implementing my new washer and dryer

c) I have an ugly small hole in the wall of my laundry and a  full-frontal view from my laundry into my neigbour’s bathroom (This is a classic case of when two wrongs = WAY too wrong)

d) Tonight we dine in REALLY rank tee-shirts!!!!!

So…bottom line is, I need serious help…and some serious shades when now entering my laundry at Bath-Time for next door.

It goes without saying that when it comes to household-maintenance, I should be wrapped in a  straight-jacket and sent far away (well at least as far as the pub down the road) whilst the professionals “do their thing”.

At this point, I am even happy to have Martha stay awhile to cover the “gap” with sprigs of freshly picked lavender-flowers and delicate hand-sewn snippets of lace…ANYTHING…for GOD’S SAKE - WOMAN COVER IT WITH FRESH BAKED BLUEBERRY MUFFINS…ANYTHING!!!!

                                 

Oh…wait…

Have just received a small package under the door….

…Looks like a small cassette…

Let me just pop it into the player….

“Your Mission…Should You Choose to Accept It…….”

Oh….

To quote Gordon Ramsay…..

F%$!!!!!!!

TIMING…guys?

TIMING!!!!

                        

More Spark Plug Gap Articles

2012 Survival Guide

 

 

 

 

 

2012 Survival Guide

by

2012online.org

 

This Survival Guide is intended as a basic introduction on how to prepare for and react to events that may take place over the course of the years leading up to December 21, 2012. These skills and techniques are provided for information purposes only and are not intended to take the place of a professional survival or first aid training course. Rather, they are intended to increase your awareness of the lifesaving importance of preparation of the coming events, survival skills and to encourage you to research the events that may transpire.

For beginners interested in understanding the basics of December 21, 2012 and the Earth changing events, there is unlimited information available from many sources, and advances of knowledge and collaboration have led to a growing number of “watchers” and people that are preparing even though they do not believe something is to happen. Even so, at least they will be ready, and you should as well. Even if nothing is to happen then there will be ample number of supplies to last you for the coming years. What if the Earth does change rapidly, and you are not prepared? If you meet the minimal requirements to survive through Pole Shift, Volcanic Eruptions, Extreme Cold, Hurricanes, Tornados, Earthquakes, Land Shifts, Major Floods, Solar and Gamma Radiation then you are one more step in the right direction.

However, there is no substitute for experience in any of these extreme situations, and your reaction in a survival situation depends on your education and training. Always keep in mind that a survival situation mentioned above can happen to you. Be prepared and plan to be a survivor.

For too long, the term “survivalist” has called to mind paranoia, and the person that lives out in the woods. Nevertheless, as we continue on track towards our unknown future, we will not be called “survivalist”, but “survivors” as we will need every ounce of energy, every thought of our brain, and every inch of muscle to continue our existence here on planet Earth. The following pages are for the ones that may or may not believe what has been foretold, and what history has taught us throughout the years.

 

 

Read at your own discretion

 

 

 

Table of Contents                                                                                 

Chapter                                                                                             pg

 

 

1. The Basics………………………………………………………………………3

Food

Water

Shelter

2. Beyond the Basics….…………………………………………………………..14

Developing a Survival Mindset

Survival Awareness  

3. Disasters………………………………………………………………………..18

Floods

Earthquakes

Hurricanes

Tornados

Fire Storms

Volcanic Eruption

Asteroid impact

Radiation

Polar Reversal/Shift

Extreme Cold/Heat

Riot/Civil Disaster

Electricity Shortage

Tsunami

Alien Invasion

4. How To…………………………………………………………………………29

Fire

Shelter

First Aid

5. How can you Afford all this…………………………………………………………………..37

 

6. Check List……………………………………………………………………..38

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1: The Basics

 

 

If you’ve given any thought to survival, you know that food, water and shelter are the foundation of any long-term survival plan. If you prepare to provide these three items for yourself and family, you will be farther ahead than 90 percent of the public.

 

Many would say water is the most important of the three, but we’ll address them in the order of: Food, Water and Shelter. Below are some questions to ask yourself to better understand what specifics you will need to prepare for in your area of the world. (or to be safe, prepare for all)

 

What natural disasters or extreme conditions you likely to face in the next four years?

 

What other disasters or emergency situations might you face?

 

What are the ramifications of each?

 

What do you have now that you can use in any disaster situation?

 

How much is the minimum for you and your survival situation is an answer you’ll have to come up with after reviewing this survival guide, but don’t worry we will give a generic minimal survival pack.

 

 

Food

 

You may be able to survive a few weeks or even a month without food, but without food, you will become weak, susceptible to illnesses, dizzy and unable to perform survival-related tasks. Water may be more critical to short-term survival, but you will need every ounce of energy to get out of harms way, this is why food is also just as important.

 

Will a months worth of food be enough? Or do you need a year’s worth? 2012 Online cannot tell you what’s best in your situation, but we suggest that two weeks or more is the minimum for anyone in any of these potential survival situations. Why should you stock up on so much food if the worst you’re planning to prepare for is a just a little out of the ordinary?

 

Several reasons:

 

It may take a while for store shelves to be replenished especially as we approach December 21, 2012. Think back to a heavy storm that hit your area, was there enough supplies for everyone? Now imagine a whole country, or even the world needing the same supplies. Now there is a problem.

 

You may be asked to feed friends or neighbors.

 

You may or may not be protected from price gouging.

 

You need to be prepared for a crippling blow to our food supply system.

 

You will need an existing food supply and a future food supply

 

Your existing food reserve should not include food in your refrigerator or freezer because you cannot count on those items remaining edible for more than a day (fridge) or three (freezer), at most.

 

Examination of your existing foods in your cabinets will tell you how much you need to add to ensure you have enough food for a week. A suggestion of food storage is generally canned items (including items in jars) or dried foods. Review our list of commercial food items and their suggested storage times when making up your personal list but keep in mind your family’s eating habits, likes and dislikes. Also, remember that you may not have access to electricity, so pick food items and packaging that can be prepared on a single burner of a camp stove or even over an open fire.

 

 

Rotation of Foods

 

The main difference between the commercially prepared foods you buy in the grocery store and the specially prepared “survival” foods is the shelf storage. You can’t store grocery store items for five to ten years, as you can with specially freeze-dried or sealed foods packed in nitrogen or vacuum sealed. You need to rotate your items, either on an ongoing basis or every two to three months. This will ensure you have fresh food (if you can consider canned and dry food “fresh”) and do not waste your food and money.

 

As a general rule, traditional canned foods should be consumed within a year. For cans with expiration dates, such as Campbell’s soups, you may find you have 18 months or two years before they expire. Cans without a date, or with a code, mark them with the date purchased and make sure you eat them before a year passes.

 

 

Survival Foods

 

Simple raw materials for baking, such as flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, oil and shortening can be assets in a survival situation. For long-term survival storage, honey stores for years and can replace sugar in recipes. Rather than storing flour or meal, purchase the raw grain and a hand mill. Then you can mill your own flour whenever necessary. Red winter wheat, golden wheat, corn and other grains can be purchased in 45-pound lots packed in nitrogen-packed bags and shipped in large plastic pails.

 

Long-term storage falls into several categories:

 

Vacuum-packed dried and freeze-dried foods

 

Nitrogen packed grains and legumes

 

Specially prepared and sealed foods such as MRE’s (Meals, Ready-to-Eat) with a five-to-ten year shelf life

 

All offer one main advantage: long storage life. Some, such as MRE’s and packages sold to backpackers, are complete meals. This is handy and convenient, but they tend to be expensive on a per-meal basis. As the name implies, MRE’s are ideal for a quick, nutritious, easy-to-prepare meal. They are convenient to carry in the car, on a trip or on a hike. They have very long shelf lives (which can be extended by placing a case or two in your spare refrigerator). On the downside, they are very expensive on a per-meal basis and they do not provide as much roughage as you need. (This can lead to digestive problems if you plan to live on them for more than a week or two). Large canned goods, on the other hand, are difficult to transport. But if you’re stocking up your survival retreat or planning to batten down the hatches and stay at home, the large canned goods are easy to store and can keep you well-fed for months.

 

 

Remember, however, if you have four people in your family or survival group, purchasing a one-year supply of food will only equate to three months worth for the family. 2012 Online recommends purchasing the largest set of these canned, dried foods your budget can handle. Then supplement the set with items tailored to you and your family or survival group. You may also want to add a few special items, such as hard candy or deserts, to reward yourself or for quick energy.

 

While on the topic of supplements, don’t forget to add vitamins and mineral supplements. Fruits, green vegetables and other items rich in vitamin C and other nutrients may be scarce, so a good multi-vitamin is well worth the space it takes up in your stash.

 

 

Home Made Survival Foods

 

You can try to dry, vacuum-pack and otherwise prepare food for storage. Vacuum pumps are available commercially or can be constructed in your own home. You can use them to seal dried food in mason jars and other containers.

 

When packing foods for storage, you want to eliminate oxygen. Bugs, such as weevils, and other organisms that can destroy your food need the oxygen to live. That’s why commercial companies who prepare survival food pack grains, cereals, pasta, beans and other foods in nitrogen-filled containers. You can accomplish a similar packaging yourself by using dried ice.

 

Simply take the 10 pounds of noodles (or 25 pounds of rice or other dried food) you picked up from the warehouse and put them in an appropriately sized plastic bucket with a lid that can create a good seal. Then add several chunks of dried ice. As it sublimates, your bucket will fill with carbon dioxide, which will displace all or most of the oxygen (since carbon dioxide is heavier, the oxygen should rise to the top and out of the bucket). Place the lid on the bucket, but don’t seal it all the way until you think the dry ice has completely turned to gas. Remember, as soon as you open the bucket the air will come back in.

 

 

Hunting and Gathering in the Wild

 

It’s time to look to nature to help feed you. That’s great if you have acres of tillable land that was not destroyed. But if not, or if it’s too late, you will need to turn to hunting, trapping and gathering.

 

If you can identify wild plants that can supplement your existing diet, good for you. If not, better go out and buy a few guide books right away. Get ones with pictures, you’ll need them. If you’re a hunter, could you imagine what the local patch of forest would be like if everyone’s dinner depended on hunting? How quickly would we strip this continent of all edible game? Planning on fishing? So is everyone else.

 

 

Tip – Always drink while eating, your body looses lots of water while digesting. If you do not have water to drink – DO NOT EAT!

 

Water

As mentioned previously, water is probably the most necessary element for human life, with the exception of oxygen.

 

When planning your water resources for survival you need to deal with three areas:

 

Storing water

Finding or obtaining water

Purifying water

 

 

Storing Water

 

For your in-home cache or survival stash, you should count on two gallons of water per-person per-day. While this is more water than necessary to survive it ensures water is available for hygiene and cooking as well as drinking.

 

Commercial gallon bottles of filtered/purified spring water often carry expiration dates two years after the bottling date. A good rotation program is necessary to ensure your supply of water remains fresh and drinkable (see the previous chapter on food for information on rotation).

 

If you prefer to store your own water, don’t use milk cartons; it’s practically impossible to remove the milk residue. If you have a spare refrigerator in the basement or the garage, use water bottles (the kind soda or liters of water come in) to fill any available freezer space. In addition to providing you with fresh, easily transportable drinking water, the ice can be used to cool food in the refrigerator in the event of a power failure. For self-storage of large amounts of water, you’re probably better off with containers of at least 5 gallons. Food-grade plastic storage containers are available commercially in sizes from five gallons to 250 or more. Containers with handles and spouts are usually five to seven gallons, which will weigh between 40 and 56 pounds.

 

A 15 gallon and 30 gallon container used for food service such as delivery of syrups to soda bottlers and other manufacturers are often available on the surplus market. After proper cleaning, these are ideal for water storage as long as a tight seal can be maintained. 55 gallon drums and larger tanks are also useful for long-term storage, but make sure you have a good pump. Solutions designed to be added to water to prepare it for long-term storage are commercially available. Bleach can also be used as a last resort to treat water from municipal sources. Added at a rate of about 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons, bleach can ensure the water will remain drinkable.

  

Once you’re in a survival situation where there is a limited amount of water, conservation is an important consideration. While drinking water is critical, water is also necessary for re-hydrating and cooking dried foods. Water from boiling pasta, cooking vegetables and similar sources can and should be retained and drunk, after it has cooled. Canned vegetables also contain liquid that can be consumed. To preserve water, save water from washing your hands, clothes and dishes to flush toilets.

 

 

Short Term Storage

 

People who have electric pumps drawing water from their well have learned the lesson of filling up all available pots and pans when a thunderstorm is brewing. What would you do if you knew your water supply would be disrupted in an hour?

 

Here are a few options in addition to filling the pots and pans:

 

The simplest option is to put two or three heavy-duty plastic trash bags (avoid those with post-consumer recycled content) inside each other. Then fill the inner bag with water. You can even use the trash can to give structure to the bag. Fill your bath tub almost to the top. While you probably won’t want to drink this water, it can be used to flush toilets, wash your hands, etc. If you are at home, a fair amount of water will be stored in your water pipes and related system. To gain access to this water, you must first close the valve to the outside as soon as possible. This will prevent the water from running out as pressure to the entire system drops and prevent contaminated water from entering your house. Then open a faucet on the top floor. This will let air into the system so a vacuum doesn’t hold the water in. Next, you can open a faucet in the basement. Gravity should allow the water in your pipes to run out the open faucet. You can repeat this procedure for both hot and cold systems. Your hot water heater will also have plenty of water inside it. You can access this water from the valve on the bottom. Again, you may need to open a faucet somewhere else in the house to ensure a smooth flow of water.

 

 

Finding or Obtaining Water

 

There are certain climates and geographic locations where finding water will either be extremely easy or nearly impossible. You’ll have to take your location into account when you read the following.

 

Wherever you live, your best bet for finding a source of water is to scout out suitable locations and stock up necessary equipment before an emergency befalls you. With proper preparedness, you should know not only the location of the nearest streams, springs or other water source but specific locations where it would be easy to fill a container and the safest way to get it home. Preparedness also means having at hand an easily installable system for collecting rain water. This can range from large tarps or sheets of plastic to a system for collecting water run off from your roof or gutters. Once

you have identified a source of water, you need to have bottles or other containers ready to transport it or store it.

 

 

Purification

 

Water that is not purified may make you sick, possibly even killing you. In a survival situation, with little or no medical attention available, you need to remain as healthy as possible. Boiling water is the best method for purifying running water you gather from natural sources. It doesn’t require any chemicals, or expensive equipment, all you need is a large pot and a good fire or similar heat source. Boiling for 20 or 30 minutes should kill common bacteria such as Guardia and Cryptosporidium. One should consider that boiling water will not remove foreign contaminants such as radiation or heavy metals.

 

Commercial purification/filter devices made by companies such as PUR are the best choices. They range in size from small pump filters designed for backpackers to large filters designed for entire camps. Probably the best filtering devices for survival retreats are the model where you pour water into the top and allow it to slowly seep through the media into a reservoir on the bottom. No pumping is required. On the down side, most such filtering devices are expensive and have a limited capacity. Filters are good for anywhere from 200 liters to thousands of gallons, depending on the filter size and mechanism. Some filters used fiberglass and activated charcoal. Others use impregnated resin or even ceramic elements.

 

Chemical additives are another, often less suitable option. The water purification pills sold to hikers and campers have a limited shelf life, especially once the bottle has been opened.

 

Pour-though filtering systems can be made in an emergency. Here’s one example that will remove many contaminants:

 

Take a five or seven gallon pail (a 55-gallon drum can also be used for a larger scale system) and drill or punch a series of small holes on the bottom.

 

Place several layers of cloth on the bottom of the bucket, this can be anything from denim to an old table cloth.

 

Add a thick layer of sand (preferred) or loose dirt. This will be the main filtering element, so you should add at least half of the pail’s depth.

 

Add another few layers of cloth, weighted down with a few larger rocks.

 

Your home-made filter should be several inches below the top of the bucket.

  

Place another bucket or other collection device under the holes you punched on the bottom.

 

Pour collected or gathered water into the top of your new filter system. As gravity works, the water will filter through the media and drip out the bottom, into your collection device. If the water is cloudy or full of sediment, simply let it drop to the bottom and draw the cleaner water off the top of your collection device with a straw or tube.

(If you have a stash of activated charcoal, possibly acquired from an aquarium dealer, you can put a layer inside this filter. Place a layer of cloth above and especially below the charcoal. This will remove other contaminants and reduce any unpleasant smell or taste).

While this system may not be the best purification method, it has been successfully used in the past. For rain water or water gathered from what appear to be relatively clean sources of running water, the system should work fine. If you have no water source but a contaminated puddle, oily highway runoff or similar polluted source, the filter may be better than nothing.

 

Shelter

 

Frequently, when we think of shelter, we think of either our home or emergency protection, such as a lean-to constructed out of cut branches.

 

In many survival situations, shelter may be as near as your home. If you don’t need to evacuate, you may be better off at home, even if the power is off or the storm is threatening. Remember, your bug-out bag has the bare essentials; your survival stash at home should have enough food and water for weeks or even months.

 

If you are at home or in the vicinity during a natural disaster, your first course of action must be to determine where you will be safest. If you decide not to evacuate, you must then set about making your current residence as safe as possible. In many cases, this will mean moving into the basement or another protected part of the house. In an apartment or condominium, your best bet will probably be an interior room without windows, or even the basement of the apartment complex.

 

While many will find that there home, friend’s apartment or relative’s house is the easiest and most cost-effective safe house, the ultimate safe house or survival retreat would be a second residence located in a very rural location. During normal times, this survival retreat can double as your vacation home, hunting lodge or weekend getaway destination. But when the flag goes up, you can evacuate to a safe house fully stocked with everything you need for self sufficiency.

 

Safe Home should be:

 

Well off the beaten track, ideally reachable by a single dirt road. This seclusion will offer you a good bit of protection. For example, you can cut a large tree down across the road to help eliminate unwanted guests.

 

Near a spring, well, stream or other natural source of water.

 

Equipped with at least a fireplace or wood stove for cooking and heat.

 

Within 10 to 20 miles of a village or small town where you can go (by foot, if necessary) for additional supplies, news and other contact with the outside world, should the emergency stretch into months or longer.

 

Arable enough land to grow your own vegetables and other crops.

 

Near a natural, easily harvestable food source (usually wildlife for hunting or fishing).

 

Provisioned with enough food to keep your family safe for at least three months, preferably a year.

 

Provisioned with tools necessary for long-term self sufficiency, should it become necessary.

 

Stocked with enough weapons and ammunition to defend it from small groups of marauding invaders, should it come to that.

 

If you are worried about caching goods in a unattended house, where they could be stolen, you can cache a supply nearby. While most caches are buried in hidden locations, a simple solution to this dilemma is to rent a commercial storage unit in a town close to your retreat. This has several advantages:

 

As long as you have access to the facility 24 hours a day (one of those outside storage areas where you use your own lock is best) you can get to your supplies when necessary.

 

It will be much easier to make a few trips to and from the nearby storage facility and your safe house than carry everything with you from home.

 

It’s easier to check on the status and add materials to this type of cache than one buried in a secluded location.

 

In a worst case scenario, you can hoof it to the storage area, spend the night inside and hike back the next day with a full backpack.

 

Of course, for the ultimate protection, a buried or other hidden cache is hard to beat. The is especially true for the long-term storage of ammunition and weapons that are or may one day be considered illegal.

 

 

Chapter 2: Beyond the Basic

 

 

 

Based on the previous section, you should have a good idea of the potential survival situations you might be facing. Now the question is whether to stay and face them or move to another, safer location.

 

At the first hint of trouble and rising prices, visit the local food warehouse and grocery stores and buy as much as you can afford. Get the 50 pound bags of rice and the 25 pound bags of flour. Use your credit cards and part of your emergency cash stash, if necessary.

 

Hunker down at home and protect what is yours.

 

Keep a low profile and avoid contact with others, except fellow members of your survival group. Avoid trouble and confrontations.

 

Hope that within six months the country will have recovered or at least stabilized. If not, the population will probably be a lot smaller when this is over.

 

 

 

We all have a strong desire to protect what’s ours. Thankfully, there are times when staying at home makes the most sense. If you can wait out the events of December 21, 2012 at your home, batten down the hatches and stay at home, it may be your best bet. There are many advantages to staying home in a survival situation, if you can safely do so:

 

 

The food in your refrigerator and pantry can supplement your survival stash (see the previous chapter).

 

If you loose power, you can quickly cook much of your food and monitor the temperature of your freezer (frozen food will usually keep at least 24 hours).

 

You’ll have more time to improve your home’s chances of survival (move items to high ground, put plywood over windows, etc.)

 

It offers shelter against most elements*.

 

You’ll have access to all your clothing, bedding and other comforts.

 

You won’t suffer from boredom as much as you might in a shelter.

 

You can protect your stuff from looters.

 

 

Of course, there is a downside as well:

 

You could be putting yourself in unnecessary, life-threatening danger. (The polar shift, flood, hurricane, riot, asteroid, volcano etc. might be worse than anticipated).

 

You will be without heat, electricity, hot water and other services.

 

You may feel cut off and alone.

  

 

*will not protect against any radiation

 

 

 

When disaster strikes, home isn’t the only option.

 

In a large building, you can count on a security force that will probably be smart enough to lock the doors and take some action to prevent access to the building by a crowd. If you think the building is being overrun by rioters, pull the fire alarm. This will result in all the elevators being recalled to the lobby and they won’t run again until they are reset.

 

On your floor or in your suite, bar the door, check your personal weapon and, if there are enough people present, assign some people to stand guard. If you are alone on the floor, or there are invaders in the building, look for a good hiding place.

 

Shopping centers, fast food restaurants and other public buildings also may offer some protection when disasters strikes, but they could be targets for looting, so you will want to avoid them. In a severe survival situation, you need to look out for your immediate family. So if you’re trying to get out of the city in an emergency and your car breaks down, who’s going to blame you for breaking into that empty house and seeking shelter? In a life-or-death situation, property crimes will be the least of your worries.

 

No matter how much you wish to stay at home, there are times when evacuation is the only choice. These include an asteroid, tsunami, nuclear or biological event as well as any impending disaster that is likely to destroy your home. So, if the survival situations you outlined in the previous section show several emergency situations requiring evacuation, you’ll need to put together a plan:

 

 

The Evacuation Plan

 

There are several important elements to your evacuation plan:

 

Where to go

How to get there

What to bring with you

 

Sure, you can head to the nearest shelter, but if sitting on cots at the local high school gymnasium or National Guard Armory was your first choice, you probably wouldn’t be reading this.

 

You need a safe house or survival retreat in a location where the current crisis will not threaten you. The easiest way to set up a safe house is to coordinate with a friend or family member located between 100 and 150 miles away, preferably in a different setting. For example:

 

If you’re in the inner city, they should be in a rural area or at least a smaller town, preferably not the suburbs of your city

If you’re near the coast, they should be inland

If you’re near a flood plain, the safe house should be on higher ground.

Following these guidelines, you can be relatively sure of several things:

 

Whatever disaster you are facing should not affect them, and vice versa. This allows you to trade off, so when they are facing a survival situation, your home can be their safe house.

 

If you plan in advance, you can leave a few changes of old clothes, a toiletries kit, necessary prescription drugs, ammunition, some MRE’s or anything else you might need at the safe house. This will make your evacuation easier.

 

 

Chapter 3: Disasters

 

 

Floods

 

The best way to prevent damage from flooding is to move before one occurs. Seriously, don’t live on a flood plain unless you have no choice. If you learned anything in the last decade, it should be floods can and do occur in low-lying areas previously thought safe. Rivers and streams rise to record levels, levy’s break, and there’s just too much concrete for the ground to absorb all that rain.

 

If you’re stuck in a flood, follow your instincts and move to the highest ground possible. Exercise caution when traveling because it doesn’t take much water to float a car or pick up truck.

 

 

Earthquakes

 

The old advice of standing in a doorway or hiding in the closet or under a table is better than running around panic-stricken, and it may just save your life. If you live in an earth-quake prone area, prepare for it by ensuring your home meets current building standards and you have plenty of food and water stashed away.

 

If you live through the few minutes of the earthquake, and your house hasn’t collapsed, the greater damage may be yet to come. Broken gas lines can cause fires and your house may be condemned, leaving you homeless. Plan for such contingencies by having a plastic (non-sparking) wrench available to turn off your gas main and including a good three-day pack including a tent.

 

 

Hurricanes

 

Hurricanes are one of the few disasters for which you can anticipate some warning. If your home is near the shore and the rising surf is threatening, or you appear to be in the direct course of the hurricane, you may be better off evacuating to higher ground. Whether or not you choose to evacuate, tremendous structural damage can be caused by objects hurled through windows. Once a window is open, the power of the hurricane can actually blow the roof off the top of the structure!

 

To protect yourself and your property, windows should be covered with plywood or commercial hurricane shutters. 2012 Online recommends hurricane shutters, made from tough clear polycarbonate and allow light to enter the window, unlike their steel and aluminum counterparts. Garage doors should also be reinforced and the door between the garage and the house itself should be locked and secured.

 

Hurricanes cause damage in multiple ways: high winds, flooding, downed trees and utility poles and storm surges. The farther in-land your location, the less power the hurricane will have by the time it reaches you, so pick your location carefully.

 

If you decided to stay in your home, you should pick an interior room with no windows. If you plan far enough in advance, you can reinforce the room with 2×6 boards or otherwise construct a cage to protect you from fallen trees, caved-in walls or other storm damage. Move whatever survival supplies you will need into the room, especially a battery powered light and radio.

 

 

Tornadoes

 

While tornadoes cannot be predicted as early as hurricanes, current weather forecasting technology will often tell us when atmospheric conditions are right for their formation. By sticking around the homestead during a tornado watch, you can help protect yourself from the tremendous damage twisters can cause.

 

A direct hit from a funnel cloud can turn a wooden home into a pile of chopsticks, toss a minivan around like a tumbleweed and knock trees down faster than Paul Bunyon. So if you live in a tornado-prone area, you might be wise to invest in an underground shelter, ala the Wizard of Oz. (You can use it as a root cellar or nuclear survival shelter as well.)

 

If you live in an area not known for tornadoes, but suddenly one is baring down on you, your next-best bet is the basement, preferably in the corner closest to the direction of the tornado.

 

If you are driving around and a tornado is looming, park under an underpass and run up as high as you can under it. If caught out in the open, head for the lowest ground possible, even a drainage ditch is better than nothing.

 

 

Fire(s)

 

If a fire occurs in your home you may have to get out in dark and difficult conditions. Escaping from a fire will be a lot easier if you have already planned your escape route and know where to go. Make sure that your planned escape route remains free of any obstructions and that there are no loose floor coverings that could trip you. Everyone in the house should be made aware of the escape route

 

It only takes an unguarded or careless moment for a fire to start. A couple of minutes later and your home or land around could be filled with smoke. Smoke and fumes can kill, particularly the highly poisonous smoke from some furnishings. You will only have a short time to get out. Use it wisely and try not to panic.

 

If you can safely do so, close the door of the room where the fire has started and close all other doors behind you. This will help delay the spread of smoke.

 

Before opening a closed door, use the back of your hand to touch it. Don’t open it if it feels warm, the fire may be on the other side.

 

Get everyone out as quickly as possible. Don’t try to pick up valuables or possessions except your what you need for survival.

 

Make your way out as safely as possible and try not to panic.

 

It will help if you have planned your escape route rather than waiting until there is a fire.

 

 

What to do if you’re cut off by fire

 

It is not easy, but try and remain calm. Save your energy to help you survive

 

If you are prevented from getting away because of flames or smoke, close the door nearest to the fire and use towels or sheets to block any gaps. This will help stop smoke spreading into the room.

 

Go to the window. If the room becomes smoky, go down to floor level – it’s easier to breathe because the smoke will rise upwards.

 

If you are in immediate danger and your room is not too high from the ground, drop cushions or bedding to the ground below to break your fall from the window.

 

Get out feet first and lower yourself to the full length of your arms before dropping.

 

 

Wilderness Fires

 

If you are caught in the middle of a dangerous fire storm, your best option is to seek a water source and stay near it. Go under ground if possible, but you need to leave an escape route if the fire changes course. With any fire situation, you always need to know escape routes and have back up plans.

 

 

Volcanic Eruption

 

Keep in mind the center of Earth is molten rock, and a volcanic eruption can occur almost anywhere, but there is not much an individual can do to prepare for a volcanic eruption. Be aware of the hazards that can come with an eruption: the flying debris, hot gases, lava flows, and potential for explosion, mudslides, avalanches, and geothermal areas. Prepare provisions, water, food, blankets, and medical supplies if you live around a volcano before anything happens.

 

Also be ready to get up and outrun flowing lava.

 

Use caution when around or near active volcanoes.

 

Do not venture toward any activity, and consult local experts on the area.

 

Follow all recommendations, regulations, or requests of officials.

 

Here are some things to watch out for:

 

Lava flows – Stay away from lava flows. Not all of them will be red-hot and obvious; some move very slowly and appear as dark and solid, but are liquid beneath the surface. Also, do not try to cross an active flow; you might get trapped by multiple lava streams.

 

Pyroclastic flow – Do not visit volcanoes that are having or are about to have Pyroclastic explosions. The high temperature around such a volcano can itself be life-threatening.

 

Volcanic domes – Volcanic domes and plugs in craters may seem harmless, but they can explode without warning. Footing and glassy rocks can also be very dangerous. Some cooled lava of this sort can resemble jagged pieces of glass. Wear good, solid hiking boots on the mountain – never go barefoot. Be sure of your step.

 

Lahars and floods – Be careful when crossing lahars (debris flows), for they can gush in large and small floods.

 

Gases – Avoid areas where volcanic gas is released. Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide can kill quickly and silently. You may not be able to hold your breath long enough. If you see a location around an active volcano with dead vegetation, carcasses, or bones, do not enter it.

 

Geothermal areas – hot springs, mud pots, and geysers are also very interesting, but don’t go across unexplored areas that contain many of them. Stay on marked trails, because the thin silica crusts over boiling pools can break if stepped upon. If you Fall in, it can potentially cause third-degree burns or even death.

 

 

Before an Eruption Occurs:

 

Discover whether there are volcanic hazards in the area likely to affect you.

 

If you live in an active volcanic zone, always assume that you may have to deal with the effects of an eruption.

 

If you live in an area that could experience a lava flow during a volcanic eruption, know a quick route to safe ground.

 

If Vulcanologists agree that a life-threatening eruption is likely to take place, a Civil Defense Emergency will be declared and the danger area evacuated. Listen to your radio or TV if all is working, for information.

 

During an Eruption:

 

Save water in your bath, basin, containers or cylinders at an early stage – supplies may become polluted.

 

Stay indoors as much as possible.

 

Wear mask and goggles if you go outside, to keep volcanic ash out of your eyes and lungs.

 

Take your outdoor clothing off before entering a building, volcanic ash is difficult to get rid of.

 

Take your Getaway Kit with you if you have to leave. Turn electricity and gas off at the mains. If you turn gas off, have a professional check for leaks in case of damage before turning gas on again.

 

Keep below ridge lines in hilly terrain, the hills will offer some protection from flying volcanic debris.

 

A good pre-planned emergency plan should account for this possibility and provide alternative routes.

 

 

Near Earth Objects (NEO’s)

 

A reasonably large asteroid of 200 meters (600 feet) in diameter crashing into the Atlantic Ocean could create a tsunami (a giant tidal wave) that would sink both Britain and the entire East Coast of the United States within minutes. If an asteroid at least 1 kilometer in size hit Earth, it would cause a dust cloud which would block out sunlight for at least a year and lead to a deep worldwide winter, exhausting food supplies.

So this threat is real, but the chances of an NEO over one kilometer (3,000 feet) long hitting the Earth soon are practically 1-100. Even so you do need to have an contingency plan in place if this was to happen. The evidence of impact is all around us. But we will focus on the smaller car size asteroids in this section, because if there was a massive asteroid heading our way we would be given advanced warning (hopefully).

 

 

 

So what do you do

For a land impact, it can be said that an object of roughly 75 meters (225 feet) diameter can probably destroy a city and a 160-meter (480-foot) object can destroy a large urban area. If there is an expecting meteor shower, stay tuned to local government officials and monitor the sky.

Impacts from smaller object are almost impossible to predict the impact zone

If you live near a cave system, you may want to go and set up a temporary shelter there, or if you live in the city, go to the lowest point of the building (in an emergency, but not recommended due to possible building collapse). Other possibilities are:

Nuclear fallout shelters

Steel structures

Subway systems

Do not:

Stay outside during a meteor storm

Stay on the top of buildings

Go to the debris of the Meteor 

Always have your survival stash available

 

Extreme Cold

 

While people do die in their homes due to bitter winter weather, these deaths are often caused by kerosene heaters or other sources of heat. Fire is a danger with any secondary heat source, including wood stoves, fireplaces, kerosene, propane and electric heaters, but they can be managed to reduce fire hazards. Carbon monoxide poisoning is also a concern which must be considered when using untraditional heat sources, such as gathering around the gas oven and opening the door.

 

 Another danger is freezing to death if the power fails. People often think they will be OK because they have a gas or oil furnace. This is a fallacy, because the gas furnace needs an electric fan to move warm air throughout your house while even the oil furnace probably has an electric starter and/or fuel pump.

 

 A secondary source of heat is important, and wood stoves are probably the most efficient. While fire places send much of the heat up the chimney they share with wood stoves the conveniences of being able to find fuel all around you, from books to furniture. (Let’s face it, most of have too much junk in our houses anyway.) You can also cook over them in a pinch, and when the blizzard is howling around your house, a cup of hot chocolate tastes twice as good and restores the spirits.

 

Kerosene and propane heaters can also crank out the BTUs in an emergency but probably require ventilation (check the manufacturer’s literature for specifics).

 

A key to keeping warm with these back-up heat sources is not to try to heat the entire shelter. Gather everything you think you might need into a single space and close it off. Use any blankets you can spare over openings, if necessary to reduce drafts. Gather together under your comforters and share your body heat.

 

If you find yourself in open terrain, a snow cave will provide good shelter. Find a drift and burrow a tunnel into the side for about 60 cm (24 in) then build your chamber. The entrance of the tunnel should lead to the lowest level of you chamber where the cooking and storage of equipment will be. A minimum of two ventilating holes are necessary, preferably one in the roof and one in the door.

 

 

Extreme Heat

 

Prepare ahead of time for the hottest days that may come. Freeze gallons of water in big blocks of ice if you have a large freezer (like we discussed in the previous chapters). Refilling plastic gallon water bottles with tap water and freezing works well. The larger the blocks of ice you have the longer they will take to melt when you need them so go for gallon size containers if you have the freezer space. These blocks of ice can be used to cool a fragile person by placing on a thick towel in a shallow pan and fanning the air with a hand held fan over the ice and over the persons head and neck area. They can also be used by wrapping them in a pillow case and placing them around the head, in the armpit area, and in the groin area. Be extremely cautious not to allow the ice to contact the skin. Place several layers of material between the skin and ice to prevent frostbite and check every few minutes to make sure you are not freezing the tissue.

 

Symptoms of dehydration

 

It is very important to recognize the first dehydration symptoms and act before your state becomes serious. Described below are the most common first symptoms of dehydration:

 

Fatigue

 

Dark urine with a very strong odor

 

Low urine output

 

Emotional instability

Delayed capillary refill in fingernail beds

 

Loss of skin elasticity

 

Trench line down center of tongue

 

Thirst

 

Avoid overheating

 

When you overheat, your body starts to sweat. This may be good because naturally the body is trying to cool itself, but overtime too much sweat wastes your precious water supply. Always adjust your clothing so that you don’t sweat too much. Open your jacket a little bit or remove an inner layer of your clothing.

 

Wear loose clothes

 

Do not expose your body directly to the sun

 

Protect your head

 

Find time to rest under a shaded area

 

If you’re wearing your clothes too tight you may restrict blood circulation. It can also decrease the volume of air between the layers, which reduces the cooling value.

 

 

Solar Radiation

 

On Earth, solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the sun is above the horizon. This is during daytime, and also in summer near the poles at night, but not at all in winter near the poles. When the direct radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, combining the perception of bright white light (sunlight in the strict sense) and warming. The warming on the body and surfaces of other objects is distinguished from the increase in air temperature.

 

Increased solar rays could possibly happen here on Earth, and you need to do what ever necessary to stay out of the Sun during the day. If there is a possible Red/Brown Dwarf the solar ray can be amplified ten fold as the object gets closer to Earth.

 

So what do you do

 

Previously mentioned, make sure to stay out of direct sunlight, or if you feel immediate warming to your skin you need to seek cover. This will not protect you fully but lessen the amount of radiation you receive.

 

Seek your shelter; preferably a cave or underground structure will help with the defense

 

Put on your PPE if you need to venture out during the day (see the next chapter)

 

 

Polar Reversal/Shift

 

In the next few years, polar reversal will take place on earth. This could possibly mean that the North Pole will be changed into the South Pole and South to North. The science can only be explained by the fact that the earth will start rotating in the opposite direction, together with a huge disaster of unknown proportions. Or the poles could actually shift positions by a few miles which would still cause unwanted disasters.

 

See previous disasters which would be caused by this shift (minus the asteroids)

 

 

Riot/Civil Disaster

 

After a disaster, you may have to protect your home and belongings from looters. Sure, they’ll probably march out the National Guard, but like the police, they can’t be everywhere all the time. Just as you are assuming responsibility for your survival by reading this guide, you’ll need to assume responsibility for protecting yourself from human predators.

 

 

Tsunami

 

A tsunami is a series of destructive and very dangerous waves that result from earthquake activity or some other type of underwater disturbance (meteorite, landslide, underwater volcanic activity etc.). In order to survive a tsunami, you must be prepared, vigilant, and calm.

 

Your at risk if:

 

Your home, school, or workplace is in a coastal region, near the sea

 

The elevation of your home, school or workplace is at sea level or fairly low and on flat

or only slightly elevated land. If you don’t know the elevation level of your home, school or workplace, find out

 

There are warning signs indicating that your area is prone to tsunamis

 

Your home, school, workplace etc. buildings are not tsunami resistant

 

Prepare in advance. If your research demonstrates that you are at risk, prepare both an evacuation plan and your survival stash.

 

Natural warnings can help to indicate the imminent arrival of a tsunami. Be aware that in many cases, these may be the only warnings you will get in the coming years. Be self-responsible and keep you and your family, friends and colleagues safe. Natural signs that herald the possibility of a coming tsunami include:

 

An earthquake: If you live in a coastal zone (by the sea), the occurrence of an earthquake should be immediate cause for alarm and evasive action.

 

Rumbling under the ground: Even if there is no actual “earthquake” but you can perceive sizable rumbling under the ground, heed this warning.

 

A rapid rise and fall in coastal waters. If the sea suddenly recedes, leaving bare sand, this is a major warning sign that there is about to be a sudden surge of water inland.

 

Watch for animals leaving the area or behaving abnormally, such as trying to seek human shelter or grouping together in ways they would not normally do.

 

Take action

 

If a tsunami is likely to make landfall on your coastal region, react immediately. Put into place the Evacuation Plan.

 

Move immediate movement away from the coast, lagoons or other bodies of water next to the coast is essential.

 

Head inland: This means going up to higher ground and even into hills or mountains.

 

Climb high: If you cannot head inland because you are trapped, head up. Although not ideal, if this is your only option, choose a high, sturdy and solid building and climb up it. Go as high as you possibly can, even onto the roof or sturdy trees.

 

React quickly if you are stranded in the water. If you did not manage to evacuate but find yourself caught up in the tsunami, there are things that you can do to try and survive:

 

 

Grab onto something that floats

 

Abandon belongings

 

Keep away for at least half a day, if not longer. A tsunami comes in waves

 

Try to get reliable information

 

A good pre-planned emergency plan should account for this possibility and provide alternative routes. Go into survival mode and be prepared for anything else that could happen, do not let your guard down.

 

 

Electricity Shortage

 

We have lived without it in the past, and we can live without it now.

 

That is simple to say when we rely so heavily on the use of electricity. It just make our lives that much easier, so in the event of a disaster and after you have made it to a safe haven, it is time now to review the basics.

 

Generators are a good way to provide energy, but awfully hard to lug around and are dependant upon a natural resource that may or may not be readily available. So you should plan for the worst, break out the matches.

 

 

Alien Invasion

 

At the time this survival guide was written, there is no information on how to maintain your existence if alien invaders showed up to visit. With that said, 2012 Online recommends hiding. 

 

Chapter 4: How To

 

Fires

 

The ability to construct and know how to make a fire can make the difference between life and death in a survival situation. Fire making is one of the most vital survival skills. You should practice and learn different methods so you know how to start a fire anywhere, and under any condition.

 

Several needs:

 

A fire can fulfill several needs. It can keep you warm and dry. You can use it to cook food, purify water and to sterilize bandages. It can scare away dangerous animals and its smoke can keeps flying insects at bay.

 

To make a fire you have to understand that there are three components needed: air, heat and fuel. The correct ratio of these components is very important for a fire to burn at its greatest capability

 

Preparation

 

You will have to decide what site and arrangement to use. Before building a fire consider:

 

The area (terrain and climate) in which you are operating

The materials and tools available

Time: how much time you have

Need: why you need a fire

Security: do you want unwanted attention

 

Look for a dry spot that:

 

Is protected from the wind

Is suitably placed in relation to your shelter (if any)

Will concentrate the heat in the direction you desire

Has a supply of wood or other fuel available

 

 

 

If you are in a wooded or brush-covered area, clear the brush and scrape the surface soil from the spot you have selected. Clear a circle at least 1 meter in diameter so there is little chance of the fire spreading. If time allows, construct a fire wall using logs or rocks. This wall will help to reflector direct the heat where you want it. It will also reduce flying sparks and cut down on the amount of wind blowing into the fire. However, you will need enough wind to keep the fire burning. In some situations, you may find that an underground fireplace will best meet your needs. It conceals the fire and serves well for cooking food. To make an underground fireplace:

 

Dig a hole in the ground.

 

On the upwind side of this hole, poke or dig a large connecting hole for ventilation.

 

Build your fire in the hole

 

Battery

 

Use a battery to generate a spark. Use of this method depends on the type of battery available. Attach a wire to each terminal. Touch the ends of the bare wires together next to the tinder so the sparks will ignite it.

 

Flint and Steel

 

The direct spark method is the easiest of the primitive methods to use. The flint and steel method is the most reliable of the direct spark methods. Strike a flint or other hard, sharp-edged rock edge with a piece of carbon steel (stainless steel will not produce a good spark). This method requires a loose-jointed wrist and practice. When a spark has caught in the tinder, blow on it. The spark will spread and burst into flames.

 

Fire-Plow

 

The fire-plow is a friction method of ignition. You rub a hardwood shaft against a softer wood base. To use this method, cut a straight groove in the base and plow the blunt tip of the shaft up and down the groove. The plowing action of the shaft pushes out small particles of wood fibers. Then, as you apply more pressure on each stroke, the friction ignites the wood particles.

 

 

Shelters

 

If you find yourself not around any structures or your survival shelter, or if it’s not safe, a temporary shelter may be raised up in the wilderness. A small shelter which is insulated from the bottom, protected from the elements and contains a fire is extremely important in your survival situation. Before building your shelter be sure that the surrounding area provides the materials needed to build a good fire, and a good water source.

 

Wilderness shelters may include:

 

1. Natural shelters such as caves and overhanging cliffs. When exploring a possible shelter tie a piece of string to the outer mouth of the cave to ensure you will be able to find your way out. Keep in mind that these caves may already be occupied. If you do use a cave for shelter, build your fire near its mouth to prevent animals from entering.

 

2. Enlarge the natural pit under a fallen tree and line it with bark or tree boughs

 

3. Near a rocky coastal area, build a rock shelter in the shape of a U, covering the roof with driftwood and a tarp or even seaweed for protection

 

 

First Aid

 

If an accident occurs in the wilderness it will be your responsibility to deal with the situation. The specific sequence of actions when dealing with this situation is:

 

Remain calm, providing your patient with quiet, efficient first aid treatment

 

Keep the person warm and lying down. Do not move this injured person until you have discovered the extent of the injuries

 

Start mouth-to-mouth resuscitation immediately if the injured person is not breathing

 

Stop any bleeding

 

Watch carefully for signs of shock

 

Check for cuts, fractures, breaks and injuries to the head, neck or spine

 

Do not allow people to crowd the injured person

 

Do not remove clothing unless it is imperative

 

Decide if the person can be moved to a proper medical facility. If this is not possible, prepare a suitable living area in which shelter, heat and food are provided

 

 

Shock

 

Shock is a depression of all of the body processes and may follow any injury regardless of how minor. Factors such as hemorrhage, cold and pain will intensify shock. When experiencing shock the patient will feel weak and may faint. The skin becomes cold and clammy and the pulse, weak and rapid. Shock can be more serious than the injury itself.

 

Use the following method to prevent and control shock:

 

1. If there are no head or chest injuries, place the patient on his/her back with the head and chest lower than the legs. This will help the blood circulate to the brain, heart, lungs and other major organs.

 

2. If severe head and chest injuries are present elevate the upper body. If chest injuries are present, elevate the injured side to assist in the functioning of the uninjured lung.

 

3. If the injured person becomes unconscious, place him/her in a face down position to prevent choking on blood, vomit or the tongue.

 

4. Keep your patient warm and under shelter.

 

 

Stopped Breathing

 

If breathing has stopped, begin mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Place the patient on his/her back and follow these steps:

 

1. To open the airway lift the person’s neck and tilt the head back

 

2. Keep the neck elevated; pinch the nostrils to prevent air leakage

 

3. Place your mouth completely around the person

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Electric arc

Overview

Electricity arcs between the power rail and electrical pickup “shoe” on a London Underground train

Electric arc between hairs of multistranded wire.

The various shapes of electric arc are emergent properties of nonlinear patterns of current and electric field. The arc occurs in the gas-filled space between two conductive electrodes (often made of carbon) and it results in a very high temperature, capable of melting or vaporizing most materials. An electric arc is a continuous discharge, while a similar electric spark discharge is momentary. An electric arc may occur either in Direct current circuits or in alternating current circuits. In the latter case, the arc may re-strike on each half cycle of the current. An electric arc differs from a glow discharge in that the current density is quite high, and the voltage drop within the arc is low; at the cathode the current density may be as high as one megaampere per square centimeter.

An electric arc has a non-linear relationship between current and voltage. Once the arc is established (either by progression from a glow discharge or by momentarily touching the electrodes then separating them), increased current results in a lower voltage between the arc terminals. This negative resistance effect requires that some positive form of impedance to be placed in the circuit, if it is desired to maintain a stable arc. This property is the reason uncontrolled electrical arcs in apparatus become so destructive, since once initiated an arc will draw more and more current from a fixed-voltage supply until the apparatus is destroyed.

Uses

An electric arc can melt calcium oxide

Industrially, electric arcs are used for welding, plasma cutting, for electrical discharge machining, as an arc lamp in movie projectors and followspots in stage lighting. Electric arc furnaces are used to produce steel and other substances. Calcium carbide is made in this way as it requires a large amount of energy to promote an endothermic reaction (at temperatures of 2500 C).

Low-pressure electric arcs are used for lighting, e.g., fluorescent tubes, mercury and sodium street lamps, and camera flash lamps.

Formation of an intense electric arc, similar to a small-scale arc flash, is the foundation of exploding-bridgewire detonators.

Electric arcs have been studied for electric propulsion of spacecraft.

Undesired arcing

Arc damage to a CEE 7/7 plug. The discharge path was formed by a conductive liquid seeping into the plug-socket assembly.

Undesired or unintended electric arcing can have detrimental effects on electric power transmission, distribution systems and electronic equipment. Devices which may cause arcing include switches, circuit breakers, relay contacts, fuses and poor cable terminations. When an inductive circuit is switched off the current cannot instantaneously jump to zero; a transient arc will be formed across the separating contacts. Switching devices susceptible to arcing are normally designed to contain and extinguish an arc, and snubber circuits can supply a path for transient currents, preventing arcing. If a circuit has enough current and voltage to sustain an arc formed outside of a switching device, the arc can cause damage to equipment such as melting of conductors, destruction of insulation, and fire. An arc flash describes an explosive electrical event that presents a hazard to people and equipment.

Undesired arcing in electrical contactors can be suppressed by various devices, including:

immersion in oil, inert gas or vacuum

arc chutes

magnetic blowouts

Arcing can also occur when a low resistance channel (foreign object, conductive dust, moisture…) forms between places with different potential. The conductive channel then can facilitate formation of an electric arc. The ionized air has high electrical conductivity approaching that of metals, and can conduct extremely high currents, causing a short circuit and tripping protective devices (fuses, circuit breakers). Similar situation may occur when a lightbulb burns out and the fragments of the filament pull an electric arc between the leads inside the bulb, leading to overcurrent that trips the breakers.

Electric arc over the surface of plastics causes their degradation. A conductive carbon-rich track tends to form in the arc path, negatively influencing their insulation properties. The arc susceptibility is tested according to ASTM D495, by point electrodes and continuous and intermittent arcs; it is measured in seconds to form a track that is conductive under high-voltage low-current conditions. Some materials are less susceptible to degradation than others; e.g. polytetrafluoroethylene has arc resistance of about 200 seconds. From thermosetting plastics, alkyds and melamine resins are better than phenolic resins. Polyethylenes have arc resistance of about 150 seconds, polystyrenes and polyvinyl chlorides have relatively low resistance of about 70 seconds. Plastics can be formulated to emit gases with arc-extinguishing properties; these are known as arc-extinguishing plastics.

Arcing over some types of printed circuit boards, possibly due to cracks of the traces or the failure of a solder, renders the affected insulating layer conductive as the dielectric is combusted due to the high temperatures involved. This conductivity prolongs the arcing due to cascading failure of the surface.

See also

Arc transmitter

Marx generator

Spark gap

Vacuum arc

References

^ A. H. Howatson, An Introduction to Gas Discharges, Pergamon Press, Oxford pgs. 80-95

^ Principles of Electronics By V.K. Mehta ISBN 8121924502 pages 101-107

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Electric arc

Unusual Arcing Photos

Some more info about making electric arcs using a welder.

Videos of 230 kV 3-phase “Jacobs Ladder” and unintentional 500 kV power arc

High Voltage Arc Gap Calculator to calculate the length of an arc knowing the voltage or vice versa

Electric Arc Calculator

Categories: Electric arcs

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Induction coil

How it works

Induction coil showing construction

An induction coil consists of two coils of insulated copper wire wound around a common iron core. One coil, called the primary winding, is made from relatively few (tens or hundreds) of turns of coarse wire. The other coil, the secondary winding, typically consists of many (thousands) turns of fine wire. An electric current is passed through the primary, creating a magnetic field. Because of the common core, most of the primary’s magnetic field couples with the secondary winding. The primary behaves as an inductor, storing energy in the associated magnetic field. When the primary current is suddenly interrupted, the magnetic field rapidly collapses. This causes a high voltage pulse to be developed across the secondary terminals through electromagnetic induction. Because of the large number of turns in the secondary coil, the secondary voltage pulse is typically many thousands of volts. This voltage is often sufficient to cause an electrical discharge, or spark, to jump across an air gap separating the secondary’s output terminals. For this reason, induction coils were called spark coils.

The size of induction coils was usually specified by the length of spark it could produce; an ‘8 inch’ induction coil was one that could produce an 8 inch arc.

The interrupter

To operate the coil continuously, the DC supply current must be broken repeatedly to create the magnetic field changes needed for induction. Induction coils use a magnetically activated vibrating arm called an interrupter or break to rapidly connect and break the current flowing into the primary coil. The interrupters on small coils were mounted on the end of the coil next to the iron core. The magnetic field created by the current flowing in the primary attracts the interrupter’s iron armature attached to a spring, breaking a pair of contacts in the primary circuit. When the magnetic field then collapses, the spring closes the contacts again, and the cycle repeats.

Opposite potentials are induced in the secondary when the interrupter ‘breaks’ the circuit and ‘closes’ the circuit. However, the current change in the primary is much more abrupt when the interrupter ‘breaks’. When the contacts close, the current builds up slowly in the primary because the supply voltage has a limited ability to force current through the coil’s inductance. In contrast, when the interrupter contacts open, the current falls to zero suddenly. So the pulse of voltage induced in the secondary at ‘break’ is much larger than the pulse induced at ‘close’, it is the ‘break’ that generates the coil’s high voltage output. A “snubber” capacitor is used across the contacts to quench the arc on the ‘break’, which causes much faster switching and higher voltages. So the output waveform of an induction coil is a series of alternating positive and negative pulses, but with one polarity much larger than the other.

Mercury and electrolytic interrupters

The small ‘hammer’ interrupters described above were used on coils creating up to 8 inch (~120 kV) sparks. Larger coils used motor-driven interrupters. The largest coils, used in radio transmitters, used either electrolytic or mercury turbine ‘breaks’.

Construction details

To prevent the high voltages generated in the coil from breaking down the thin insulation and arcing between the secondary wires, the secondary coil uses special construction so as to avoid having wires carrying large voltage differences lying next to each other. The secondary coil is wound in many thin flat pancake-shaped sections (called “pies”), connected in series. The primary coil is first wound on the iron core, and insulated from the secondary with a thick paper or rubber coating. Then each secondary subcoil is coated with an insulating layer like paraffin, connected to the coil next to it, and slid onto the iron core, insulated from adjoining coils with paper disks. The voltage developed in each subcoil isn’t large enough to jump between the wires in the subcoil. Large voltages are only developed across many subcoils in series, which are too widely separated to arc over.

To prevent eddy currents, which flow perpendicular to the magnetic axis, and cause energy losses, the iron core is made of a bundle of parallel iron wires, individually coated with shellac to insulate them electrically.

History

Callan’s largest induction coil (Model of 1863), showing ‘pancake’ secondary construction. It was 42 inches (106 cm) long and could produce 15 inch (38 cm) sparks, corresponding to a potential of approximately 200,000 volts.

Michael Faraday discovered the principle of induction, Faraday’s induction law, in 1831 and did the first experiments with induction between coils of wire. The induction coil was invented by the Irish scientist Nicholas Callan in 1836 at the St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth and improved by William Sturgeon and Charles Grafton Page. The early coils had hand cranked interrupters, invented by Callan and Antoine Masson. The automatic ‘hammer’ interrupter was invented by C. E. Neeff, P. Wagner, and J. W. M’Gauley. Hippolyte Fizeau introduced the use of the quenching capacitor. Heinrich Ruhmkorff generated higher voltages by greatly increasing the length of the secondary, in some coils using 5 or 6 miles of wire. In the early 1850s, after examining an example of a Ruhmkorff coil, which produced a small spark of around 2 inches (50 mm) when energized, American inventor Edward Samuel Ritchie perceived that it could be made more efficient and produce a stronger spark by redesigning and improving its secondary insulation. His own design divided the coil into sections, each properly insulated from each other. Ritchie’s induction coil proved superior to other designs of the day, initially producing a spark of 10 inches (25 cm) in length; later versions could produce an electrical bolt 24 inches (61 cm) or longer in length. The full story of Page’s invention of the induction coil in its modern guise is told in Robert Post, “Physics, Patents, and Politics: A Biography of Charles Grafton Page” (Science History Publications, 1976. In 1857, one of Ritchie’s induction coils was exhibited in Dublin, Ireland at a conference of the British Association, and later at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Ruhmkorff himself purchased a Ritchie induction coil, utilizing its improvements in his own work.

Induction coils were used to provide high voltage for early gas discharge and Crookes tubes and for X-ray research. They were also used to provide entertainment (lighting Geissler tubes, for example) and to drive small “shocking coils”, Tesla coils and violet ray devices used in quack medicine. They were used by Hertz to demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic waves, as predicted by James Maxwell and by Tesla and Marconi in the first research into radio waves. Their largest industrial use was probably in early wireless telegraphy radio transmitters and to power cold cathode x-ray tubes. By about 1920 they were supplanted in both these applications by vacuum tubes. However their largest use was as the ignition coil or spark coil in the ignition system of internal combustion engines, where they are still used, although the interrupter contacts are now replaced by solid state switches. A smaller version is used to trigger the flash tubes used in cameras and strobe lights.

Wireless charging

Toyota’s heavy duty division, Hino Motors, is testing a new kind of hybrid electric vehicle without a plug (hybrid outboard chargeable vehicle). The energy in the batteries doesn’t come from a plug and a charging point, but it comes from a wireless charging system built into the road. A series of induction coils built into the road resonate energy at certain frequency, like radio waves. The bus is able to capture those waves and store the energy in its batteries.

Early patents

U.S. Patent 52,054 The induction-coil, instead of being made movable upon the magnet

U.S. Patent 72,616 This compound coil is made like any ordinary induction-coil

U.S. Patent 74,905 The inner end of the induction-coil are surrounded by the prime coil

U.S. Patent 76,654 The induction-coil consists of a metallic conductor, copper is generally preferred

U.S. Patent 78,495 Energizing the primary wire of the induction-coil, the iron core becomes magnetized

U.S. Patent 90,626 Making use of an induction-coil

U.S. Patent 734,197 a split-coil improvement (1903).

U.S. Patent 1,092,417 Induction coil comprising a soft iron core (Mar 5, 1913)

See also

Charging station

Ignition coil

Spark gap transmitter

Transformer

Tesla coil

Electromagnetism

Faraday’s law of induction

Ignition system

Inductor

Magnetic field

Footnotes

^ Collins, Archie F. (1908). The Design and Construction of Induction Coils. New York: Munn & Co.. http://books.google.com/books?id=dJNPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA98.  p.98

^ Faraday, Michael (1834). “Experimental researches on electricity, 7th series”. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (London) 124: 77122. doi:10.1098/rstl.1834.0008. 

^ Fleming, John Ambrose (1896). The Alternate Current Transformer in Theory and Practice, Vol.2. The Electrician Publishing Co.. http://books.google.com/books?id=17sKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA16.  p.16-18

^ http://www.nuim.ie/museum/ncallan.html

^ Severns, Rudy. “History of soft switching, Part 2″. Design Resource Center. Switching Power Magazine. http://www.switchingpowermagazine.com/downloads/Oct 01 soft.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-16. 

^ American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. XXIII, May 1895 – May 1896, Boston: University Press, John Wilson and Son (1896), pp. 359-360

^ Page, Charles G., History of Induction: The American Claim to the Induction Coil and Its Electrostatic Developments, Boston: Harvard University, Intelligencer Printing house (1867), pp. 104-106

^ Rogers, W. B. (Prof.), Brief Account of the Construction and Effects of a very Powerful Induction Apparatus, devised by Mr. E.S. Ritchie, of Boston, United States, British Association for the Advancement of Science, Report of the Annual Meeting (1858), p. 15

^ American Academy, pp. 359-360

^ American Academy, pp. 359-360

^ Page, pp. 104-106

^ http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1431/

Further reading

Norrie, H. S., “Induction Coils: How to Make, Use, and Repair Them”. Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.

Collins, Archie F. (1908). The Design and Construction of Induction Coils. New York: Munn & Co.. http://books.google.com/books?id=dJNPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA98. 

Fleming, John Ambrose (1896). The Alternate Current Transformer in Theory and Practice, Vol.2. The Electrician Publishing Co.. http://books.google.com/books?id=17sKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA16.  Has detailed history of invention of induction coil

External links

Battery powered Driver circuit for Induction Coils

The Cathode Ray Tube site

Categories: Transformers (electrical) | Electrical breakdown

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Defensive Mechanism of S.s

Defensive Mechanism of S.S

CIRCUIT BREAKER:

I. Introduction

The primary functions of a circuit breaker are interrupting short circuit current, carrying normal currents, switching ON and OFF normal loads, and providing necessary insulating between live parts and earthed parts. The maintenance problems involved with bulk oil circuit breakers were immense. Minimum Oil technology had replaced bulk oil technology during 1950’s. Similarly the air -blast technology was developed for obtaining higher performance characteristics. However, the air -blast breakers are quite expensive, and their operation and maintenance cumbersome. Hence and need was felt during 1960’s for reduced maintenance.

SF6 was first obtained from Fluorine and Sulphur in 1900 by M/s. H.MOSSAN and PLEBEAU. Behavior of SF6 in Electrical field was studied by M/s. H.G. PQLLOCK and  P.S. COOPER in 4936 known for over two decades, perfection on commercial exploitation was attained during 1960’s. This development made it possible for SF6 gas at low pressure to be used in BIN circuit breakers for insulating and are’ quenching purposes, Some of the outstanding properties of SF 6 gas which make its use ideal in EHV circuit. breakers are:

            1. Inertness

            2. Non-toxicity

            3. Electro negative nature

            4. High dielectric strength

            5. Unique are quenching property

            6. Chemical and thermal stability

            7. Good Thermal conductivity

            8. Non corrosiveness

            9. Non-Flammability

            The combined electrical, physical, chemical and thermal properties of SF6 offer the following outstanding features when used  in power circuit breaker.

            1. Safety

            2. Size reduction

            3. Weight reduction

            4. Simplified design

            5. High degree of reliability

            6. Switching of  capacitive currents without restrike

            7. Very tow noise level

            8. Easy for handling

            9. Easy for installation

            10. Maintenance free service

2. Properties of Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6 )

a) Physical properties:

                        SF6 is a colorless, odorless and non-flammable gas. The fluorine atoms are placed at the corners of a regular octa-hedran with the sulphur atom centrally placed at a distance of 1.58 angstrom units. The bonds are predominantly covalent and the dissociation equation is

                                    SF6  –à  SF5 + F __________

            The decomposition potential is 15.7 ev.  SF6 gas is a very heavy gas and its density is approximately 5.5 times that of air. It is highly stable. It is more compressible than air and follows the law of perfect gases.

b)Electrical properties:

                        The di-electric strength of SF6 gas is 3 times that of air at atmospheric pressure and is only marginally reduced by the presence of air as impurity. The dielectric strength increases with increasing pressure. At a pressure of three bars, the dielectric strength becomes equal to that transformer oil. The size and electro negative nature molecule explain this strength. The molecule provides a large electron collision diameter. This results in capture of electrons preventing them from attaining sufficient energy to create additional .current carrying particles. SF6moiecuie also has the ability to store energy in the vibrational and electronic’ levels of the molecule there by forming stable ions of low mobility.

            The dielectric strength of SF6 remains unaltered over a wide range of frequencies. since SF6 has no dipole moment, the dielectric constant does not vary with frequency. AT 27.30c and atmospheric pressure the dielectric constant is 1.00191 and loss angle is 2 x 10-7.

            The dielectric properties of SF6 remain unchanged even at low temperatures. Unlike solid insulation materials an electrical breakdown in SF 6 gas does not result in permanent deterioration of its properties. Break down in all filled equipment may result in enormous increased of pressure due to gas formation but such hazards do not exist in the case of SF6 filled equipment.

c)Arc quenching properties:

            The ability to quench arc is unique to SF 6. This results in the high dielectric strength of the gas and the very rapid recovery of dielectric strength after arcing occurs. SF6 is approximately 100 times more effective in this respect than air under similar conditions. The low arc-time constant and its capacity to absorb free electrons due to electro negative nature makes it an excellent medium for arc interruption. The complex molecular motion of SF6 enables it to absorb electric energy and form stable negative ions. Its tendency to form negative ion around current zero results in the fast disappearance of electrons liberated during arcing. Unlike oil, arcing in SF6 will produce no carbon deposits or carbon tracking.

            The electro-negative property of SF6 may be due to several factors, including its large collision diameter. If stray electron electric field can be absorbed before they attain sufficient energy to create additional current carrying particles though collision, the breakdown can be slowed or even stopped. The large collision diameter of SF6 molecule assists in capturing these electrons. energy can be stored in the vibration levels of the SF6 atom, forming stable negative ions of low mobility. Thus the gas is electronegative in nature and shows .great electron binding capacity. Hence SF6 gas displays splendid arc-extinguishing performance .

            The arc time constant is directly proportional to the radius of arc makes it possible to have large number of breakings at full capacity of the breaker. The characteristic curve of the arc is such that the extinction power b low. In a typical case where the extinction power was of the order of 20 KW for an SF6 breaker, the corresponding value of an air blast breaker was in hundreds of KW.

            Some ion formation process with SF6 are :

            Resonance capture                  :           SF6 + e  -à  (SF6) – SF5- + F

            Positive ion formation             :           SF6 + e  -à (SF6+) + 2e -SF5- + F + 2e-

            Excitation & dissociation                    :           SF6 + e  -à (SF6-) + e -SF5- + F + e

            Positive & negative ion formation:     SF + e -à  (SF6-) + e -SF5 + F -+ e

d) Heat Transfer characteristics:

            SF6 has excellent heat transfer characteristic, an important criterion for gaseous dielectric in power applications. The higher molecular weight together with low  gaseous viscosity of SF6 enables it to transfer heat by convention more effectively than the common gases. The co-efficient of heat transfer of SF6 is approximately 2.5 tip1es that of air under the same conditions. Hence when the breaker is energized, the temperature rise small.

e)Wide  temperature range :

            SF6 in the gaseous state follows the ideal gas laws fairly closely. Consequently the pressure change is only moderate for a considerable change in temperature. The low sublimation points of SF6 assures greater dielectric strength even at low temperature the liquification temperature is —270C at a pressure of 12 Kg / sq. cm. Hence no heater is      necessary.

 f)Toxity :

            SF6 is a non-toxic gas and produces no poisonous effect on human body. But the decomposition products produced by the discharge (SF4, SF2, S2, F2 etc.) are harmful. These products are minimized by controlling of moisture in the interrupter and by absorbing the decomposition products by synthetic zeolite.

g)Chemical and Thermal Stability:

            SF6 gas is inert and it is one of the least reactive substance known under normal operating conditions. It may be heated in quartz to 5000C without under going any decomposition. SF6 does not react with water, acids and alkalis. Tests conducted have shown          practically no corrosion for various metals exposed to SF6 

h) Various constants :

            Some of the outstanding properties of SF6 which makes it ideal for high voltage power applications are:

            Molecular weight                                                        ..          146.05

            Sublimation point at 1 atm                                          ..          63.9°C

            Density of gas at 21.19 C at 1 atm                             ..          6.139

            Viscosity liquid at 13.52°C                                         ..          0.305

            Gas at 31.16°C                                                                       ..           0.0157

            Critical temperature etc.                                              ..          318.80

            Critical pressure bars                                                    ..         37.772

            Critical volume cu.metre / g                                        ..          1.356

            Dielectric strength reI N2 = al at 50 Hs -1.2 Mhs      ..          2.3 -2.5

            Dielectric constant at 25°C 1atm                                ..          1.002049 ‘

            Thermal conductivity at 30°C, Cal / Sec. -on °C                   ..           3.36 x 10-5

3. Breakdown phenomenon in SF6 :

            Breakdown in gases takes place when the free electrons gain sufficient kinetic energy Under the influence of an electric field and collide with neutral gas molecules liberating electrons from their outer shells. A chain reaction like this results in an electron avalanche. In the case of electro-negative gases like SF6 this mechanism is slightly modified. The free electrons get attached to molecules forming negative ions. SF6 + e Z SF6 -e. This negative ions are too massive to produce collisional ionization. This attachment represents an effective way of removing electrons which would have otherwise contributed to an electron        avalanche. This particular behaviors gives rise to very high dielectric strength for electronegative gases.

            The breakdown voltage of an electro-negative gas in a uniform field is a simple function of the product of pressure and spacing. the breakdown characteristics in non-uniform fields will be different because ionization may be main aimed locally due to the presence of regions of high stress. This is the corona effect. This may be due to surface roughness, sharp comers, floating conducting or semi-conducting particles. In SF6 equipments special care is taken to ensure that such sharp points do not exist in the breaker so that a fairly uniform field distribution can be achieved.

4. Principles of interruption with SF6 :

            Techniques employed for interruption with SF6 can be classified into two :

            a)         Double pressure system.

            b)         Single pressure system.

The latter can be further classified as double flow fixed nozzle and single flow series piston breakers.

a)Double pressure system:

            The functions of insulation and interruption are performed in separate chambers. SF6 at a pressure of 14 Kg/sq. cm. is stored in a high pressure chamber. This is used for quenching the are SF6 at low pressure (2.5 to 3.5 Kg/sq. cm.) provides the insulation. When the contacts separate under fault, gas at high pressure is forced into the arcing region and then it follows in to the low pressure region. The gas thus exhausted in to the low pressure region is compressed again and returned to the high pressure reservoir. The arcing takes place between the arcing tip and arcing ring thus relieving the contact area from the stresses of arc. A filter with actual alumna is kept at the intake of the compressor so that all the decomposition products of gas can be absorbed before re-circulating in to the system. A thermostatically controlled heating system will be provided in the high pressure reservoir to prevent condensation of gas at low temperature.

b) Single pressure system :

            In this case SF6 at low pressure (3 to 6.5 Kg/sq.cm.) provides the insulation and the energy for interruption. The breaker chamber consists of the fixed and moving contacts, and the piston arrangement in the puffer type fixed contact. As the moving contact separates under fault, the piston moves forward with high speed. This compresses the SF 6 inside the hallow fixed contact and forces the gas into the arc resulting in quenching. The force with which the gas could be blast depends on the design of the piston arrangement and the energy of the control mechanism.

            A further improvement is the Magnetic puffer type breakers where the operating force on the moving contact rod is increased, by magnetic repulsive force. The short circuit current is passed through a set of coils fixed on the support of the moving contact fed. A secondary short circuit ring is positioned and magnetically coupled with primary winding. This ring acts as piston as well. This interaction between the. two fields produces a repulsive force and it pushes the moving contact rod forward. The addition of this simple magnetic drive mechanism improves the interrupting capabilities of the breaker.

            The single pressure system has an inherent advantage of simplicity in construction. It needs no additional compressor as required in double pressure system. The manufacturing cost of puffer type equipment is lower.

5. Construction:

            The arc extinguishing system employs a synchronized double flow single pressure puffer type design. This leads to a simple construction.

            The SF 6 circuit breaker mainly comprises of the following:

            1.         Breaker poles it.

            2.         Base tube and mechanism box

            3.         Control unit

4.                  Air compressor electro-hydraulic operating mechanism

           

1.Movable Cylinder(Puffer cylinder)    2.Moving Contact 

3.Fixed Contct 4.Insulating Nozzle

5.Fixed Piston  6.Gas Trapped in before compression 

7.Compressed gas between 1 & 5

8.The arc-being extinguished by puffer action

5.1.Breaker Pole:

            The primary functions of a circuit breaker are carried out of breaker pole. The breaker pole consists of interrupter unit and support insulator.

            The interrupter unit consists of fixed contact tube, guide tube, moving contact tube, puffer or blast cylinder and piston. The fixed contact tube is connected to the top terminal via. Contact support.

The guide tube is fastened to the lower terminal. The other ends of the fixed contact tube and guide tube which are subjected to arcing during the arc interruption are provided with arc quenching nozzles. the nozzles are made up of graphite materials which keeps the contact wear to minimum. The moving contact tube consists of spring loaded finger contacts arranged in the form of a ring. The front end of the moving contact tube is provided with an arc resistance insulating ring and arcing ring of high arc resistant materials

            The blast cylinder which is made up of high arc resistant insulating material and the moving contact tube are rigidly coupled to each other and connected to the operating rod in the supporting insulator.  The blast piston which is made up of aluminum is fastened to the lower terminal pad. The fixed contact tube, guide tube, moving contact tube, blast cylinder and blast piston are “all housed inside a porcelain ,insulator. When the circuit breaker is in close position current flows from top terminal to bottom terminal through contact support, fixed contact tube, moving contact tube and guide tube.

            The support insulator apart from supporting the interrupter unit provide insulation between live parts and earthed parts. It houses the operating rod (insulated), one end of which is connected to the interrupter unit and the other end is connected to the mechanism.

5.2. Base Tube mechanism box:

            The base tube which supports the breaker pole and the mechanism box acts as a local air reservoirs. The mechanism box enclosed electromagnetic valve, closing coil, trip coil and operating cylinder. Lower mechanism case encloses the complete lever system to transmit the operation force from the mechanism box to the breaker pole.

 5.3.Control Unit :

            This accommodates the gas pressure switches, gas density detector, gas pressure gauge, air pressure gauge, air valve heater, auxiliary relays, terminal blocks, etc. for electrical and pneumatic control and monitoring of the breaker. The control devices of the air and SF6 gas systems are common for 3 poles of the breaker.

5.4.      Compress

            Since the operating energy requirement is greater the MOCBS either air compressor or electro-hydraulic operating mechanism is used.

6. The principle of Arc extinction:

            When the circuit breaker is in closed position the moving contact assembly bridges the fixed contact tube and the guide tube. When an opening operation is initiated, the blast cylinder moves towards  the stationary blast piston so that the SF6 gas in the blast cylinder is compressed to a pressure required to quench the arc. The gas compressed during the above process is released only when the contacts are separated with moving contact assembly acting as a slide valve. At the instant of contact separation, arc strikes between the front end of the arc quenching nozzle of the fixed contact tube and the arcing ring of the moving contact tube. The compressed gas in the blast cylinder is released in the break radically as the contacts are separated. As the moving contact assembly moves further, the arc between the front end of the fixed contact nozzle and the arcing ring of the moving contact is transferred from the arcing ring of the moving contacts of nozzle of the guide tube , by gas jet and its own electrodynamics forces. the arc is further elongated by the gas flow axially into the nozzles and safety extinguished. While the arc is being interrupted, the blast cylinder which is made up of arc resistant insulating material enclosed the arc quenching assembly, there by protecting the porcelain insulator from arcing effects. After arc extinction, the moving contact assembly and blast is free of any parts of the chamber which may have a bridging effect or influence the electric field distributor.

7. Operation principles:

7.1. Opening operation:

            When the trip coil is energized, the space of pilot valve is filled with compressed air and the charging valve moves to right. The space in the operating cylinder is filled with compressed air from the air received and the operating piston is rapidly driven to the left. the operating rod connected to the operating piston is pulled in the opening direction to drive the puffer cylinder at the high speed through the insulated operating rod in the supporting insulator. the SF6 gas in the puffer cylinder is compressed and the SF6 gas blast extinguishes the arc generated between the moving and stationary contacts.

            Simultaneous with the opening operation, the cam rotates and causes the electromagnet valve to return to its original position. As a result, compressed air in the space of pilot valve is exhausted into atmosphere and the charging valve is reset to the original piston. As the open state is retained by the link mechanism attached to the end of the operating piston.

7.2. Closing operation:

            When the closing coil is energized, the arc nature is made to rotate causing the hook to be disengaged. Thus the sector line rotates to release the roller and the operating piston is driven in the closing direction by the force of the closing spring, upon completion of closing, the link mechanism is held in a state to be ready for the subsequent opening operation.

8. Caution :

            When operating the breaker observes the following:

I)Keep correct SF6 gas pressure and operating air pressure as specified.

2)Operate the stop valves properly.

3)Do not allow ingress of moisture and dust into the SF6 gas supplying point.

4)Do not pump the gas piping and air piping with any object.

5)Do not damage the gasket and seal face on the leakage tight joint in the gas and air system.

6)When opening the circuit breaker by the manual handle. ‘

                        a) confirm that the main circuit is not energized.

                        b) Be sure to turn off the control power supply.

                        c) Confirm that compressed air in receivers is released.

                        d) Confirm that manual operating rod and handle are removed before                                             changing the receiver with compressed air.

7)Do not operate any part other than the manual operating handle before filling SF6 gas at the rated pressure. Do not fill compressed air before filling SF6 gas.

8)When checking interior parts of interrupter, blow air into the system for   sufficiently long time and confirm that sufficient supply of air is available before starting any work.

9.Gas Leak Detection:

            If the gas leaks through any point, this can result in reduction of pressure and consequent loss of insulation properties Gas Leak detection is done with the help of a halogen torch type detector. The detector works on the principle that SF6 absorbs a certain number of electron when passed through an atmosphere where free electrons flow. The free electrons are generated with in the sector by a small radio active source in the presence of a carrier gas. these electrons are collected at the detector anode and give a small base line current which is amplified. When the probe of the detector is kept near the joints of the SF6 filled equipment and if SF6 leaks out there will be variation in amplified valve of current due to electron absorption by SF6. The variation can be directly calibrated to indicate the magnitude of the leak.

9.2. Detention of presence of conducting particles:

            This is done by conducting a dielectric test when the test voltage is applied there will be an internal corona if metallic particle or sharp comers are present. The presence of internal discharges is located with the help of an ultrasonic detector which is very sensitive in detecting noise due to internal corona. The sector translates the ultrasonic vibrations into audible frequencies and directly indicates the intensity of sound in decibels. The probe is pressed firmly against the grounded enclosure tube while the conductor is energized at varying AC I DC voltage. If the noise disappears at low voltage, appears at some intermediate voltage and the intensity continues to increase, it is certain that the noise is due to internal corona. It has also been observed that in some cases the small sharp potty branched in areas of high dielectric stress get burnt or the particles driven to low stress areas. The effect of conducting particles on the break down strength of SF6 is more serious for power frequency voltage test than for impulses voltage.

10. Performance of SF6 Breaker:

            SF6 gas circuit breaker combines the advantageous features minimum oil and air blast breakers and exhibits a number of additional advantages over both.

            1)It is possible to have large number of breaking operations near full breaking                                    capacity with out any undue wear.

            2)Because of the fast recovery of dielectric strength across the parting contacts                                  during interruption.

                        a) These breakers are restrict free while switching of capacitive currents.

                        b) These breakers are incentive to short time faults and are capable of                                                    breaking at every high values of RRRV and

                        c) These breakers are suitable for multi-short re closing with out any reduction                                in breaking capacity

            3)There is no necessity to change any parts in the breaking chamber even after                                   a period often years of service in the actual system. This means that there are                                       practically no problem of maintenance for SF6 breakers.

            4)The operation is noiseless since the gas is used in a closed circuit. There will                                   be no discharge of arc products into atmosphere.

            5)Puffer type breakers are autonomous and independent because no auxiliary                                 equipment is required.

            6)Fire hazards are eliminated.

RELAY

A relay is an electrical switch that opens and closes under the control of another electric circuit. In the original form, the switch is operated by an electromagnet to open or close one or many sets of contacts.

Operation

When a current flows through the coil, the resulting magnetic field attracts an armature that is mechanically linked to a moving contact. The movement either makes or breaks a connection with a fixed contact. When the current to the coil is switched off, the armature is returned by a force approximately half as strong as the magnetic force to its relaxed position. Usually this is a spring, but gravity is also used commonly in industrial motor starters. Most relays are manufactured to operate quickly. In a low voltage application, this is to reduce noise. In a high voltage or high current application, this is to reduce arcing.

If the coil is energized with DC, a diode is frequently installed across the coil, to dissipate the energy from the collapsing magnetic field at deactivation, which would otherwise generate a spike of voltage and might cause damage to circuit components. Some automotive relays already include that diode inside the relay case. Alternatively a contact protection network, consisting of a capacitor and resistor in series, may absorb the surge. If the coil is designed to be energized with AC, a small copper ring can be crimped to the end of the solenoid. This “shading ring” creates a small out-of-phase current, which increases the minimum pull on the armature during the AC cycle.

By analogy with the functions of the original electromagnetic device, a solid-state relay is made with a thyristor or other solid-state switching device. To achieve electrical isolation an optocoupler can be used which is a light – emitting diode (LED) coupled with a photo transistor.

Types of relay

   Latching relay

   Reed relay

   Mercury-wetted relay

   Polarized relay

      Machine tool relay

      Contactor relay

      Solid state contactor relay

      Buchholz relay

      Forced-guided contacts relay

      Solid-state relay

     Overload protection relay

      Pole & Throw

The following types of relays are commonly encountered:

SPST - Single Pole Single Throw. These have two terminals which can be connected or disconnected. Including two for the coil, such a relay has four terminals in total. It is ambiguous whether the pole is normally open or normally closed. The terminology “SPNO” and “SPNC” is sometimes used to resolve the ambiguity.

SPDT - Single Pole Double Throw. A common terminal connects to either of two others. Including two for the coil, such a relay has five terminals in total.

DPST – Double Pole Single Throw. These have two pairs of terminals. Equivalent to two SPST switches or relays actuated by a single coil. Including two for the coil, such a relay has six terminals in total. It is ambiguous whether the poles are normally open, normally closed, or one of each.

DPDT - Double Pole Double Throw. These have two rows of change-over terminals. Equivalent to two SPDT switches or relays actuated by a single coil. Such a relay has eight terminals, including the coil.

QPDT - Quadruple Pole Double Throw. Often referred to as Quad Pole Double Throw, or 4PDT. These have four rows of change-over terminals. Equivalent to four SPDT switches or relays actuated by a single coil, or two DPDT relays. In total, fourteen terminals including the coil.

      Protective relay

      Overcurrent rela

      Distance relay

SURGE ARRESTERS AND INSULATION CO-ORDINATION

I.Introduction:

            Electrical systems by nature involve two forms of protection over current and over voltage since over current protection of electrical equipment’s are well known to all, it is not elaborated here. Over voltage protection on the other hand, remains a relatively new subject to many engineers. Both types of protection equally necessary for safe system operation.

            The importance of over voltage protection for a power system can not be over emphasized. Major equipment failures, expensive repairs, personnel safety and plant down time are certain consequences of inadequate protection from voltage surges.

            Surge arresters are designed to limit dangerous system over voltages. Whether lighting-or System- produced-to safe values when they occur on power systems. An arresters is a voltage limiting device. The functions are to discharge energy associated with a system over voltage condition, limit and interruption the power fellow current that follows the transient current through the arresters and return to an insulating state prepared for the next over voltage occurrence.

            In performing its voltage limiting function, certain protective characteristics of the arrester must be coordinated with the prevailing insulation levels on the system being protected. Insulation is a basic factor that must be considered in the application of arresters on a system. Insulation co-ordination is only a small part of the over all subject of arrester application. Several other factors must also be considered by the engineer when selecting surge protection. The location of the arresters, the inter-connection of ground leads, the insulation level of the protected equipment and the rating of the surge arresters are important in protecting equipment from harmful over voltage.

II.Surge Arrester operation:

            The basic operation of a surge arrester is single. In its noffi1al state, an arrester must act as an insulator. When a high voltage surge occurs. The arrester must cease to be an insulator and must turn into a short to-ground-in million thus of a second. The operation of the most widely used type of surge arresters the value, type of arrester is dealt with. Other types of arresters, such as expulsion arresters and line Oxide arresters (Gapless arresters) are either on the decline or too new for a general discussion at this time. The active elements of a valve type arrester are the spark gap and the valve block. these are housed in a porcelain shell for atmospheric protection and external insulation.

            The gap assembly consists of a number of in-series air gaps with sufficient dielectric strength to withstand the highest power frequency on the system. During severe over voltage conditions, the gap must always, breakdown at a voltage level some what below the insulation withstand voltage level of the equipment it is protecting, other wise equipment damage and or plant down time will result. the gap therefore serves as the switch which turns on the arrester. the voltage level at which the arrester goes from the passive (insulating) to the active (conducting) state, is called the spark over voltage.

            The valve block controls what happens after the arrester has been turned on. If only a gap is used, once a surge has been diverted to ground, a dead short circuit exists between line and ground and the 50 hertz-system energy tries to flow to ground causing a fuse, re-closer or breaker to operate to interrupt the system fault current.

            The valve element does exactly as its name implies. It conducts when surge current is flowing and it ceases to conduct when 50 Hz line current begins to flow. the valve block is able to do this because It is made of a non-linear resistance material, silicon carbide. The valve block offers a very high resistance to 50 Hz current while displaying a low resistance to surge current. In addition, it also consumes the surge energy passes through it.

            Spark over and discharge voltage are the two protective characteristics of an arrester which are used in calculating margins of protection when studying insulation co-ordination. These protective characteristics are published by arrester manufacturers.

III. Arrester Classification :

            There are three classifications of surge arresters used for over voltage protection in a system.

1.Distribution Type:

            The arresters are generally used in distribution system for equipment protection. Standards distribution arresters are used for protecting oil. Insulated distribution transformers, these arresters are also used as line entrance arresters, for 11KV and 22KV lines. They are the lowest in cost.

2.Intermediate Type :

            These units cost approximately two or three times as much as equivalent distribution units. For this, the arrester offers lower maximum spark over and discharge voltage characteristics that afford a greater margin of protection plus the capability of discharging large surge levels. These arresters also have a pressure relief system to safely vent internal pressure if the unit falls before the porcelains shell has a chance to rupture. These arresters are used for the L.V. protection of Power transformers in sub-transmission sub-station i.e.110/33/22/11KV and 66/22/11KV sub-station.

3.Station Type:

            These arresters offer the best protective characteristics and the highest thermal capability but they cost about twice as much as equivalent intermediate units. Like intermediate arresters, station arresters have a pressure-relief system to safely vent internal pressure if the unit fails before a porcelain shell has a chance to rupture. These arresters are generally used in 230KV, 110KV and 66KV systems.

4.Basic insulation level:

            Basic Impulse Insulation Level (BIL) is the voltage level that equipment insulation is capable of withstanding without sustaining damage. The voltage withstand of insulation is function of time. Inorder to establish volt-time impulse insulation levels of transformers standard impulse tests standard voltage withstand tests are conducted on selected units as type test. Transformers are subjected to impulse voltage tests (at rated BIL) and a chopped wave test (15% above BIL). A steep front – of wave test (65% above BIL) is also performed on some units. A curve plotted through these three points defines the minimum insulation withstand curve for insulation co-ordination (Fig.3) The true withstand level for the transformer lies above the plotted curve.

5. Surge arrester application:

            With an understanding of how an arrester performs its functions and a knowledge of equipment insulation, we can now move into the application area and consider the several factors that comprise surge arrester application as it relates to over voltage protection of transformers, The selection of surge arresters merit are carefully considered. Various factors have to be taken into account in order to arrive at a reliable and at the same time economical means of protection. The important points are:

            i)Selection of rated voltage.

            ii)Selection according to the standards, codes, recommendations for insulation coordination.

i)Arrester rating :

            The voltage rating of an arrester is defined as the highest 50 Hz voltage at which the arrester is  designed to operate and reseal effectively after a surge has passed. Because of the system grounding and connection, this, voltage is typically higher than the phase to ground voltage / on the healthy phases will increase temporarily and it depends upon the earthing factor or the system. The selection of an arrester voltage rating for station depends upon grounding system connection and system voltage rating.

            Also the voltage impressed across an arrester during a surge discharge is directly proportional to the arrester voltage rating that is, a 10,000 Amps surge produces a higher discharge voltage if it is flowed through a 10KV arrester than it does flowed through a 9KV arrester generally it is desirable from the stand  point of equipment protection to select the lowest voltage rating for the application.

ii)Arrester location:

            Surge arresters should always be located as close as possible to the terminals of the equipment protected. In the case of transformer protection, mounting the arresters directly on the transformer is the best of insurance. An appreciable distance between the surge arrester, and the protected equipment reduces protection, afforded by the arresters and also increases the voltage impressed upon the transformer at time of surge discharge. Also because of the extra travel distance between the equipment and its arrester, surge wave could rise above the equipment damage point before the arrester comes to its rescue.

            n addition, the arrester connecting leads should be kept as short as possible because of their voltage contribution to discharge the voltage. During current flow to ground through an arrester, the interconnecting leads provide a voltage contribution because of current passing through an impedance. Depending on surge magnitude, rate of rise type of conductor, a typical value of voltage contribution to discharge voltage by interconnecting leads is i.e. 1.6 KV / foot.

            In practice, the protection range is given by the following simple formula.

                        L          =          U – Ua  x V     Where

                                                2 X S

                        L          =          Protection range of arrester in meters

                                                (measured along the line)

                        U         =          Impulse withstand voltage of protected equipment in KV.                                                   (BIL of equipment)

                        Ua       =          Spark over voltage of an arrester in K. V. (Peak) of the system.                                                       During earth fault conditions, the voltage

                        V         =          Velocity of wave progression with

                                                V line              =          300 meters /micro  sec.

                                                V cable            =          150 meters /micro  sec.

                        S          =          Steepness of incoming wave front in KV /  sec.

                       

            (The protection range of an arrester increases with the difference between the impulse voltage IV’ and the spark over voltage Va. Therefore, an arrester with protective level tends to extend the protective range)

iii)Interconnection of Grounds:

            It is essential that the arrester ground terminal be interconnected with the transformer tank and secondary neutral to provide reliable surge protection for the transformers.

Iv)Insulation coordination: .

            Now let us consider the selection of an arrester according to standards, codes or recommendations for insulation coordination. Calculating the margin of protection is the  major part of an. insulation co-ordination study. Insulation coordination is the process of comparing the impulse strength of insulation with the voltage that can occur across the arrester for the severity of surge discharge for which the protection is desired. For a transformer, this means a comparison of the volt-time insulation withstand curve with the impulse and switching surge spark over and discharge voltage curve of the arrester.

            After determining the rated voltage of an arrester, the protective level has to be carefully selected. For complete protection of the equipment, the “protective level” viz. the level to which the over voltages are omitted by the arrester, must be lower than the withstand level by a factor of at least 1.2 for lightning surges and 15 for switching surges. The value thus selected must be checked against that given in I.S.S. or the technical details furnished by the arrester manufactures.

            To arrive at the discharge voltage of an arrester for these calculations discharge voltage for a 10,000 Amps. surge is normally used. The following formula define these two margins of protection calculations:

                                    CWW -FOW SO                    BIL -DV + IX)

            MP1 =                         CWW      x 100% MP2           =           BIL      x 100%

Where

CWW              = Chopped -waved withstand voltage of transformer winding = 1.15 BIL

FOW SO         = Front of wave spark over of surge arrester in KV (Crest)

BIL                 = Basic Impulse Insulation level of the transformer.

DV                  = Discharge voltage of the arrester at 10 KA surge.

IX                    =  Voltage contribution of connecting leads at the rate of 1.6 KV / ft.

MP                  =  Margin of Protection

            Insulation co-ordination in an important aspect to be considered when surge protective is to be afforded to transformers with reduced BILS

vi Protection against direct strokes:

i)          Protection against direct strokes can be handled by shielding the station equipment’s by                the provision of either

            a)         Mast or rods or

            b)         a net work of overhead ground wires in such a way that equipment’s and switches                                     of all lie in the protected zone.

ii)         The protected zone for a rod mast is generally assumed as a cone with a base radius                       equal to the height of the rod or mast above ground.

iii)        For small sub-stations it may be sufficient to run one or GI wires across the station                        from adjacent line towers. Extra wires may be run from the tower to the structure and                over the station.

iv)        The grounds of the station shield should be solidly tied to the station ground bus to                       prevent difference of surge potential between the shield and other g-rounded parts of                    the Station.

SAFETY IN SUB-STATION

            Prevention of damages to equipment’ s and men working on then due to any accidents is an essential aspect in any establishment. Prevention of accident which is an unforeseen one is more essential aspect of any establishment / organisation.

            As accidents occur mainly due to unsafe execution, actions and circumstances, these accidents can be avoided by adopting safety precautions, implementing safety procedures and following safety rules.

General safety methods:

I.          While execution of any work, that part of equipment or line is to be isolated from the                    supply.

2.         Using discharge rods, charging, current if any is to be discharged.

3.         Using Earth rods, all phases/conducting path are to be property earthed by securing                       good Earthing.

4.         When even opening an AB switch or removing of fuse, it is also advisable and                   preferable to wear rubber gloves.

5.         Use of belt rope is another safety method to be adopted to work on elevated places.

Safety methods to be adopted in Sub-Stations :

            In any work is to be attended to any line, first and fore most item of work is to get proper approval from the competent controlling authority for execution of the work specifying the date, time, duration,  place of work, affected parties etc. .

            For Grid feeders and Stations, the authorized officer for issue of approval is S.E.               (L.D. Centre), Madras, For 110 KV, 66 KV, radial feeders Superintending Engineer /                        Distribution is the approving authority. Similarly for 33 KV Divisional Engineer incharge of distribution is the approving authority.

             Above details with the list of authorised officers is enclosed herewith (enclosure I)

             Without obtaining proper approval from the competent authority, no L.C. should be issued nor availed by anybody. If the above procedure is not followed, it is nothing but a suicidal. Further it also amounts to murder of others.

            So, after getting proper approval, line clear is to be  issued to the requested party. But the issue and receiver should be aware/have full knowledge about the SS equipment’s, control room panel details etc.,

The line clear issuing person should clearly record the following:

            a) Which breaker have been tripped

            b) Which A.B. switches were opened

            c) Where Earthing was done

            d) What is the Safer place / Line to carry on the execution of work

Safety arrangements in control room:

1)         Key Board should be in open condition so that the keys could be taken out quickly                       during any urgency.

            Line clear keyboard should be in locked up condition to prevent other persons from           using the keys inside, before the cancellation of the Line clear permit.

The keys should be placed in the key board in an orderly manner according to their numbers. Otherwise, the required lock could not be opened in time and the possibility of opening a wrong lock may happen.

2)         Rubber mat should be provided on the floor in front of the panel board.

3)         The following details should be clearly displayed in the control room.

                        Approved operating instructions for all equipment’s.

                        Break down instructions.

Operating instructions including for the emergency operations to be carried out in the event of operation of buchholz relay. Differential relay, Group control trip, total supply failure, grid failure. The operator should be fully conversant with the above instructions and   the must be able to act quickly and effectively.

4)         The Board containing D.C. cable layout. A cable layout panel wiring diagram and Earthing layout should be displayed in the control room. This is necessary to attend the faults immediately after their occurrence.

5)         D.C. Earth leakage test system should be available.

6)         There should not be any defective power plugs, switches and bulb holders in the    control room wiring.

7)         One artificial respirator should be available in ready condition.

8)         Stools made of insulating material should be used for operating high tension          communication equipment’s (Telephones).

9)         Adequate number of rubber gloves, belt ropes, discharge rods, and earth rods in     good condition should be available in the control room.

Battery room:

1.         Battery room should be in locked up condition.

“Naked flame is prohibited inside of the battery room” and “Smoking prohibited” warnings should be kept written on the battery room door.

2.         One exhaust fan should be functioning.

3.         Accurate D.C. cell testing volt meters, hydro meters and thermometers should be               available in the battery room.

4.         Pilot cell voltage, specific gravity and temperature should be taken every week.

5.         The specific gravity should not be maintained below 1195 at 15.6°C and below 1183                    at 32. 20°C. The battery should not be allowed to discharge below 1160.

6.         Cell voltage should be maintained between 1.95 V to 2.05 V. The battery should not                     be allowed to discharge below 1.85 V.

7.         Battery should be allowed neither to over charge not to undercharge. It should not also                 be kept idle.

8.         Electrolyte level must be checked in every shift. It must be ensured that the level is                       10mm above the top of the plates.

9.         Weak cells should be rectified then and there.

10.       While taking specific gravity readings, care must be taken not to allow the acid to                         come in contact with the eyes.

Safety adopted for transformers:

1.         Transformers are to be maintained periodically as per schedule. Switches on HV side                     and LV side are to be isolated after reducing the Load by tripping the breakers.

2.         Kiosks and OCB : All the Live parts of the kiosk should have H. T. insulation tape. To be protected by wiremesh. It should be vermin proof. Keys are to be kept with interlock. When ever to open the door of the kiosk, kiosk should be tripped link should be opened by the interlock key. The opening of the links are to be verified physically. After doing all the above precautions, the tank should be lowered down. Proper care is to be taken and it should be kept in mind that supply is available at the roofing.

            Oil leak should be arrested. Back feeding is avoided.

            Cotton waste should not be used for cleaning purpose.

3.         AB switches:

Handle of the AB switch is to be earthed properly. Blades should be kept at opening position. It should not be closed automatically, proper maintenance is to be done for this. AB switch blades are to be opened fully. AB switches are to be kept locked on both            conditions. AB switches are to be opened only after tripping the breakers.

4.         Lightning arresters :

            Lightning arresters are used to bypass the sudden lightning surges and thereby to protect the equipment’s.Only after proper discharging is done on lightning arresters, it should be attempted to attend to maintenance.Fencing is to be provided around lightning arresters. Door arrangements with lock is to be provided. Separate earth connections are to be provided for lightning arresters.

 5.        Current transformers:

            Current transformer secondary side is to be short circuited during maintenance and testing. Before doing any testing, the current transformers are to be discharged.

6.         Potential transformers:

            Potential transformers primary side is to be Earthed during maintenance and testing. Secondary side is to be earthed at only one place. Whenever giving connection, or removing meters on the secondary side of die potential transformer, the fuses are to be removed and renewed.

7.         Capacitors and H. T. Coupling capacitor:

            Capacitors should be provided inside fencing. Before attempting to do any work, proper discharging is to be done. They only it should be attempted for maintenance work. Proper Earthing should be provided during the execution of the work. After completion of the work, Earthing is to be removed.

8.         Earth pits:

            Sub-station earth connections should be properly maintained so that the earth            resistance is minimum. Water should be poured in the earth pits daily. Earth connections, must be capable of protecting the persons working in the electrical equipment’s and protect in the equipment’s during heavy fault current. Earth resistance should not exceed the following limits.

            Grid stations: I Ohm Other sub-stations ..2 Ohm.

            Distribution transformers ..5 Ohm.

            They must be a clearance of 5 feet, between the sub-station fence and the electrical equipment’s / live points. The fence should be earthed at every 200 feet, separately. Generally the fence Earthing should not be linked with the sub-station Earthing. But if the clearance  is less than 5 ft. feet fence Earthing must be linked with the sub-stations Earthing. The iron gates in the sub-station fence should also be earthed separately.

9.         Fire fighting equipments:

            These equipment’s are to be kept on good and working condition. Proper schedule of maintenance is to be done for keeping them in good conditions. These equipment’s should be kept at an easily accessible place so as to use them immediately under emergency. Dry sand heaps are to be available wherever necessary. Empty buckets are to be provided.

 10.      S.S. Yard:

            1.         S.S. yard should be provided with fencing.

            2.         Unauthorised persons should not enter into the yard

            3.         Cable ducks are to be provided with slabs.

            4.         Best illumination is to be provided for the yard.

            5.         A warning board with a display that “Umbrella” stick Dogs should not be brought                         inside the  yard” is to be provided at the entrance of the yard.

            6.         A separate room is to- be provided for keeping the empty drums. At the                                         entrance of the room “No smoking” Board is to be provided.

General

1.         The territory of the work spot which was declared safety to work is to be clearly identified by tying a rope. Inside this boundary is to be further identified by hanging a green flag. Outside this boundary where it is unsafe to work is to be identified by a red flag.

2.         Wherever necessary caution boards like “Men on working” “Don’t Switch on“ Safe for work” etc., are to be provided.

3.         If any unauthorized, unskilled staff happen to go near the equipment’s he can do so with the assistance and under the vigil of an experienced, authorised staff.

4.         Conversation is strictly prohibited wile execution of any work. It should be                        totally avoided especially when work is being carried out on any bus bars.

5.         Placing the materials, tools and plants and men are to be at a safety clearance from the Live. parts.

            6.         T & Ps like spanners etc. are to be lifted and brought down only by means of                                 ropes and not by throwing and catching.

7.         Study and safe ladder with steps at convenient intervals is to be used. To avoid slippage of the ladder, necessary precaution is to be taken at the bottom of the ladder by providing empty gunnies.

            8.         Lifting of any ladder or rods (Earth) are to be done only horizontally. Vertical

                         lifting may cause damages by interrupting with the safe clearances.

            9          The bus and line links art’; to be kept opened while doing work on OCB and

       

Toyota Aims to Overtake Bmw

As the current Formula 1 season unfolds, Toyota has set its eye to overtake BMW and become the third fastest team. The team is currently competing in a tight race against teams such as Renault, Red Bull, and Williams. Team President John Howett is confident that his team has what it takes to pull away from the said teams and compete with the German team.

The announcement came as the Barcelona Grand Prix approaches. To date, the team has had considerable successes but needs podium finishes to become a strong contender to BMW. Howett maintained that their goal for the season is to continue what they have been doing in order to maintain their current standing as one of the top teams in the second group. He also pointed out that they have to be able to prevent slipping down the rankings.

Howett said that the team has gone a long distance since they have joined the F1 melee. “It’s clear from last year that we can make major improvements in performance over a season after we moved from a pretty slow start to a competitive position at the end of the year,” he said. Howett expressed his confidence on his team to perform well for the remainder of the season although he maintained that they will be up against some strong teams. “We are intending to do exactly the same this year but we are acutely aware there are another four, five or six teams out there trying to do exactly the same,” said Howett. “It is a motivating challenge for the people here to do it again and to show we are an emerging and serious challenger on the F1 grid,” he added further.

Meanwhile, Toyota’s Senior General Manager Pascal Vasselon talks about his expectations for the team at the upcoming Barcelona Grand Prix. Vasselon also reflected on team Toyota’s accomplishment at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He explained how the race has gone for the team. “On the one hand it was a better race for us than expected,” he says. “People may remember that in Bahrain testing we were not looking so good. In fact there were some obvious explanations, the first one being that we had quite a few small reliability issues that just prevented us from running. When you don’t get a lot of mileage you end up in a vicious circle – you don’t develop the car, you don’t evolve a set-up and so it goes on.”

He also compared the Bahrain race to the Malaysian Grand Prix saying: “One consequence was that we were unable to run low levels of downforce. From that point of view quite a lot changed at the race and in terms of performance with one car we were another step closer to the top, even compared to Malaysia. With Ralf (Schumacher) we were not as quick as we would have liked and we clearly have to review some of the set-up guidelines. At some places, such as Bahrain, some of those recent guidelines are simply not working.”

Currently, Jarno Trulli, one of Toyota’s drivers, is number eight on the driver’s championship with four points to his credit. Ralf Schumacher, another Toyota driver, sits at the eleventh spot with a single point to his credit. As a team, Toyota sits on fifth with five points to their credit as the team they are trying to overtake; BMW Sauber is occupying the third spot. Currently leading the field in the constructor’s championship is the team of McLaren-Mercedes with 44 points. Ferrari sits at second with 39 points. BMW Sauber has 18 points and Renault sits at fourth with nine points.

Aside from these five teams, the only other team to have gained points for the season is Williams-Toyota with two points and is currently owning the sixth place.

The next race this season will be in Barcelona and that race will show if Toyota can be a strong contender for BMW Sauber which fields cars with high performance that one can see in a BMW car equipped with high performance engines and reliable auto parts such as BMW alternators, starting motor, spark plugs, and the like. Vasselon explained what their team will do as they go to Barcelona for the next race. “Having time after the first race gave us the opportunity to prepare quite a large aerodynamic upgrade. We will come to Barcelona with a new engine cover, a new floor and new rear crash area. It was quite a lot of work and we went through another homologation of the rear crash site,” says Vasselon. “Barcelona for us does correspond to a significant upgrade of our aero package,” he added further.

As far as challenging BMW for the third spot, Vasselon has this to say: “There is a trend developing for us. We have been progressing in terms of qualifying speed for the first three races and in Bahrain we were clearly the fourth fastest team with Jarno. In the second qualifying session, when all cars were in optimum low fuel configuration, Jarno was seventh quickest and with a 0.4s gap to Williams, which was comfortable. The next target is to catch BMW Sauber. Ferrari and McLaren is another step again, but we like a challenge!”

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