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NIFTE Engines
Non-Inertia-Feedback-Thermofluidic Engines 
 

This basic design was done by a gentleman named T.C.B Smith and his original design was intended for large power companies.   I think they also make good small engines for personal use.

 


As far as I understand the operation of these, they work like this.

Hot water heats the gas and liquid in the top of the left heat exchanger which pressurizes the loop and causes the fluid piston to push down on the piston and the same time pushes the fluid below the hot end of the exchanger to the cool end . A small oriface or control valve allows the  fluid in the loop side to slowly fill back up into the  cool side of the condenser and causes the vaporised fluid to recondense from the loop tube. This allow the piston to move back up and the system starts again. It’s supposed to cycle fairly quickly and my small version that I made did so.

This is a diagram of a small version I tried to test out the idea. I just used my hand temperature around the coil to provide heat and it did work so I tried designing some that would be big enough to do actual work. The rest of the pictures in this section are just the various designs I came up with.

This one is just a very basic system showing what is needed for a minimum setup. 

  The following pictures are my various attempts at designing a system where it puts out useful power

 System supplies compressed air and electrical power.

 System supplies compressed air and electrical power.

 Same as above, slightly different setup

 Supplies compressed air only

 Early design, just pumps water

 Another system to supply compressed air or electricity

 System pumps it’s own water like above, can use two different heat sources and provides a pump output

The following engines are my versions that do use
a control valve(s) to operate the system

 Just a basic pump system using a two way valve for control

 A system with a slave  piston to provide output power

 An alternative version of the first one above setup as a heat pump to under floor tubing heating

 This setup controls output flow to use external heat exchange on output as is seperates the hot and cold water output.   Can be used like the one above.

 Another slave system usng a loop tube like the regular NIFTE but with a control valve

 System with control valve inline with piston shaft

 Simple heat pump system with controllable slave piston output