2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16
Humanity has always strived for the sky, and the legend of Icarus is just one of the evidence of this. Only the lack of suitable materials and technologies kept from free flight. Already in the 18th century, outstanding scientists proved the impossibility of using aircraft driven by human muscle power. The appearance of working prototypes of steam engines gave enthusiasts hope for the embodiment of a long-standing dream of man into reality.
The question of why they don't make steam-powered aircraft is not quite correct. Rather, one should ask why such devices did not fly. Attempts to equip airplanes with the only working unit at that time were. So, our compatriot Mozhaisky A. F. received a patent for the aircraft he invented back in 1881 and built it. The power plant was two steam engines of the Englishproduction.
He managed to build the plane, but the tests ended in a crash due to the lack of roll compensators. The glider simply fell on the wing and fell to the ground. More successful in the field of building aircraft with steam engines were the brothers George and William Besler. In 1933 they were able to lift their biplane with a double expansion power unit into the air. So why don't they make steam powered planes?
Modern developments in the aircraft industry
The refusal to use this type of power units in aircraft construction is primarily due to low efficiency. Attempts to increase it lead to such technical and technological problems, the resolution of which reduces all the positive aspects of the steam drive to zero. And he has merit. For example, the ability to reverse significantly reduces the length of the run of the device after landing.
The noise level from such an engine is so low that in flight it is possible to talk in an open cockpit without special means. It is possible to use any combustible substances as fuel: alcohol, gas, crude oil, coal and much more. Moreover, it is possible to increase the efficiency by using ammonia as the working fluid of the engine.
Back in the late seventies of the last century, a group of Soviet engineers led by Makarov Yu. V. A project was developed and an ammonia-steam engine was embodied in metal. On tests, it showed decent performance, and in manufacturing it was much simpler than an internal engine.combustion. There is a legitimate question as to why they don't make steam-powered planes.
The answer lies in many planes, starting with the banal reluctance of seemingly interested departments to implement the invention and ending with a worldwide conspiracy of oil companies that are trying to slow down the development of alternative engine building. Perhaps the depletion of resources on our planet will still force humanity to come to its senses, and then the question of why they do not make aircraft with a steam engine will cease to be on the agenda.
The development of air transport and the construction of fundamentally new airliners is still rather vague. For a simple person who lives with the dream of flying, only a radio-controlled aircraft is available. This toy will make you feel like a real pilot and conqueror of the skies.
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