About This Project

Tesla claimed that if energy were first used to create a "cold hole" then latent solar heat in the air could be used to run a "Self-Acting" engine.

References:

THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING HUMAN ENERGY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCES TO THE HARNESSING OF THE SUN'S ENERGY. by Nikola Tesla

Tesla wrote: "...Linde announced the liquefaction of air... This was the only experimental proof which I was still wanting

Liquid Air: Perpetual Motion at Last : Tripler's Surplusage Explained By Gaylord Wilshire

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

In 1894 Tesla was working on a new kind of solar heat engine when, he says: "a misfortune befell me in the burning of my laboratory..." According to Wikipedia: "No prototype was produced."

I would like to reconstruct Tesla's solar engine project, and finish a prototype engine

Here are some forum discussions on the topic:

Stirling Engine Thermodynamics

open-source-energy.org

overunity.com

stirlingengineforum.com

energeticforum.com

physicsforums.com

physorg.com

sciforums.com

stirlingengineforum.com

bob-oneil-air-engine

physforum.com

These discussions have gone on for years. The only clear resolution IMO is to build a prototype engine based on the principle outlined by Tesla and see if it works.

What is the significance of this project?

Since Tesla announced his discovery no attempt has ever been made to apply the principles he outlined. His workshop was destroyed before he could complete a prototype.

Such an indirect solar heat engine could have many practical uses.

The latent solar heat in the earths atmosphere is a renewable and inexhaustible potential energy source if it could be taped into. Tesla devised a method for doing just that. Tesla considered such a machine "the ideal way of obtaining motive power".

The Problem of Increasing Human Energy WITH SPECIAL REFERENCES TO THE HARNESSING OF THE SUN'S ENERGY. by Nikola Tesla

Tesla's device comprised several components, an air compressor, a heat engine, a refrigeration system etc. "each of these had to be newly designed and perfected, as no such machines existed."

What are the goals of the project?

A workshop with proper material equipment and supplies is being set up for building the engine.

So far I've determined, through experiment, that a temperature difference can be turned into a pressure difference with a simple stripped down Stirling Engine displacer chamber acting as a compressor converting heat into pressurized air.

Compressed air expanded through a turbine in an Air-Cycle Systems produces power but also results in the cooling of the expanding air as the air gives up its energy.

What remains is to build a functional engine. If Tesla's idea is truly sound, a small prototype engine should work as a proof of concept.

An interesting discussion of some of my experimental results can be found here:

Should ice take longer to melt when used to run a heat engine.