The Helios project

[odiousominious]

we need a volcano to test out real world use ^_^

[1BustedMyth]

VERY well built unit

Simple and effective

[ffdarien123]

My great grandfather invented this, my name is Darien MINTO fedro =D

[Helioechidna]

@ffdarien123 As stated earlier, this wheel is not a novel invention. However, the solvent used may just be, so pending further investigations...

[ffdarien123]

@Helioechidna Yes I do, can't give you to much information but i can tell you that harvard has taken all the prototypes and solvents that wally left when he passed away. (My family hasent even given me any information) so hopefully good things to come...

[TheTempestSpark]

I Like this!

[philosothink]

to get more power we simply need to increase the scale. If you've got 10lbs of liquid in a container on the end of a 10' pole, you have something to make power with.

[bentleius]

that's pretty cool!

[GhostofRazors]

Perhaps having 2 wheels on the axle instead of one would make the movement more' fluid'.

[boc234]

Seems to me that the way to get more practical power out of these wheels is to incorporate a valve, either pressure or mechanically tripped, that allows pressure to build before opening combined with applying heat over a greater range of the cycle. This might allow for larger pipe diameter and quicker transfer of the fluid. Obviously, these wheels are pretty much pointless unless they are solar powered.

[MrWombatPPC]

haha. I realy like this. Could add some coloured die to the wheel. or maybee even add another wheel slightly Offset to get a smoother rotation.

[t1449947]

Great Job!

[hyvahyva]

Is that stepper on the frame wired up as an electrical generator? (I've tried it before... it generated enough power to light, then SMOKE, an LED plugged into the header pins on the stepper after I twisted the shaft. Teehee... that was satisfying.)

[McConsumer]

the music mad ethis a whole lot more interesting. Even more so than getting a gravity wheel to actually work. good job

[KONGNO2000]

excellent job, im interested to build one, pls show us how...

[gabydewilde]

It might not be strong it does look incredibly cool.

Time to bring in the mirrors Archimedes. :-)

[josephdupont]

same thing happened to me 35 years ago.

I came upon the dunking bird and made my own minto wheel. ever wrote a letter to popular science. the point is that the patents go back 100 + years. great concept.

[steam1981]

Somebody know about the efficiency of this system?Is it near the stirlin engine, or its efficiency is near 2%?Have you ever measured the heat input and the power output?

[HartfordTommy]

OK, have just watched this first video after seeing the later video.

Am intuitively convinced that the action will be doubled by partial (at least) flocking of the glass surfaces.

By that means you gain a tremendous evaporative cooling area.

Your warm water bath won't even require heating in order to gain basic motion.

By flocking you will reduce the required temp-differential.

Am sure of this--or shoot me if a trial proves me wrong about =your= invention.

[RHEAD100]

Hi Tommy; You are 100% correct. Most people loss sight of exactly how heat engines work. It is not only the differance in temp. BUT how fast you can change it. Ditch the glob. Replace with a radiater system and cool the top as you heat the bottom. Should run 3 or 4 times faster.

[greatestdirectorisme]

Brilliant dude. Now make another 4 of those babies and line them up on the same axle slightly out of phase with a bigger heat tray and you'll have very smooth motion.

Then build a 6 foot in diameter version and you'll be able to run your house off of it.

[EinsteinVonRembrandt]

Good suggestion. But I wonder about the maximum wheel diameter that will work. Based on some calculations I did for a dichloromethane working fluid (not what Helioechidna uses), and assuming approximately the same temperature difference used here, I estimated a maximum diameter of about 5 or 6 feet. If we try for much larger diameters, say 30 feet, the vapor pressure will not lift the liquid all the way to the top (unless we use a much higher temperature.

[greatestdirectorisme]

So if we cannot expand in diameter size, then perhaps sideways would be the way to go.... so more individual wheels on the same axis? Almost like a multiple cylinder ICE engine? Increased torque in the same diameter?

[EinsteinVonRembrandt]

Yes, that seems like the most logical approach -- use multiple wheels with the same diameter of about 3-6 feet. This has several advantages compared to using only one very large wheel: smoother power, modular system allows wheels to be added at will, easier to build small wheels than large ones, and the structure has a lower ceiling and smaller footprint. There are probably additional advantages I haven't thought of. Mother Earth's wheel was way to big.

[philosothink]

They also used too narrow of a fluid transfer pipe from one receiver to the next. I think their narrow pipes limited their RPM....

[cooltheory]

looks sucky

[Helioechidna]

Yikes...accidently deleted last post trying to reply...my bad!

[wallaceminto]

My name is Wallace K Minto my father is the inventor of the Minto Wheel.What is your working fluid?

[Helioechidna]

Fluid can't be disclosed until patent process is satisfied that my modification is novel.

Please come over to the group named in the panel describing the video. We can discuss the principles in more depth. The group would be very interested in your memories and recollections of your father's devices. Do you continue his work?

[kibeomer]

What is it for? Energy is conserve. Candles obtains heat energy to spin the wheel.

[EinsteinVonRembrandt]

This device is a novel type of *heat engine*. It converts thermal energy into mechanical energy (via flow across a temperature difference). I would say that the most closely related well-known heat engine is the Stirling engine.

[Helioechidna]

Certainly not novel from a historical point of view. The earliest patents for a device like this are over 120 years old. Novel can mean interesting and it's simplicity has a certain novelty when compared to other heat engines.

[EinsteinVonRembrandt]

Understood -- the basic design has been known for over 100 years (predates Wallace Minto). But I call it novel in the sense that most people have not heard of it. Side-note: I saw a version tested on a rerun of the MythBusters TV show (see the "Fan of Death/Free Energy" episode). They did a poor job and concluded it isn't worth pursuing (theirs didn't even do 1 RPM). They need to know of your much better designs.

[gabydewilde]

"They did a poor job".

You missed the point of the message. It was the whole point to make you think just that.

Sad ain't it?

[philosothink]

they used propane cylinders as their receivers, and condensation as the method of moving the propane from top to bottom. This is the grand error of their version. Dip tubes are critical. Moving fluid is the answer to the effectiveness of this device, not condensing the vapors. The vapors do the work of moving the liquid!

[EinsteinVonRembrandt]

If you like this wheel, please see the YouTube video of Helioechidna's newest wheel! (click on "More from this user")

tech.groups.yahoo-dot-com/grou­p/MintoWheel

[hartiberlin]

Great wheel !

Please come to overunity dot com to discuss your wheel !

Many thanks. Regards, Stefan. ( admin of overunity dot com )

[simi112]

Which material is used in this engine?

I like it very much!

[mptrax]

5 stars for FANTASY , zero stars for utility ;-)

[carbon143]

what is the music???

[EinsteinVonRembrandt]

For more information about this and related heat engines, please visit the MintoWheel Yahoo group on the web. Replace "-dot-" with .

tech-dot-groups-dot-yahoo-dot-­com/group/MintoWheel/

[gilbondfac]

Nice very good it's a good thermodynamic principe

like stirling motor...impressive!

have you some plans of your device!?

[BHA2007]

Very interesting. What is the working fluid?

[RefrigerationEng]

This is cool.

What material did u use to make the tubes??

[Kahunaz]

hey, whats the song used in this video?

[Helioechidna]

The track: 'Pressure', Lemon 8

[Discorporate]

Very Cool!! Very impressive indeed.

[nicolaienvlad]

BRAVO !

Nic

[Helioechidna]

....like any model powered by two small alcohol burners, but scalable.

The large ones are still very efficient at converting small temperature difference to mechanical energy.

Is this the very first example of rivalry from the Stirling camp?

[Stirlingeng]

An interesting example of a simple heat engine. However it is hardly a power producing machine of any consequence.

[EinsteinVonRembrandt]

This technology still has lots of room for improvement. Time will tell whether or not it finds practical applications. The material are inexpensive, and this type of heat engine can operate off of modest temperature differences, so it is definitely worthy of research.

[kbs2244]

First let me say I am impressed.

This is the only one I have seen in action.