I like propane. (That has a nicer ring than “I like liquified petroleum gas” propane’s other name.)
As a young teenager I learned to use a propane torch to sweat-solder copper pipes; a skill I’ve never regretted learning. (I’ve never had to call a plumber to fix pipes.)
Once, crewing on a hot air balloon, I attempted (with the encouragement of the pilot) to chill a ritual, after-flight bottle of champagne on the not-burning, subzero, expanding gases from the balloon’s propane tank. The bottle exploded in my face. No damage done: I still like propane. (I’ve never really liked champagne anyway.)
Propane is the world’s other fuel after gasoline, diesel and natural gas. It was the first clean fuel. With a low emission exhaust it’s OK to operate propane burning forklifts inside buildings, even big box stores filled with customers. Safe in a variety of sizes of pressurized tanks, it’s sold directly to consumers with only limited concern by government safety regulators. How many fuels do you find sitting on store shelves or storefront racks? Not many, outside the hazardous flammable chemicals in the paint department.
There are millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of homes worldwide that use propane for heat, hot water and cooking. Worldwide there are more vehicles that run on propane than natural gas. Propane is used for camp stoves, camp lighting, portable heaters, refrigeration for recreational vehicles, and of course a source of heat to keep hot air balloons aloft.
Now there’s another use for propane; fueling grass trimmers. LEHR, of Los Angeles, California, markets a line of propane-fueled lawn trimmers that use the same propane canisters as camp stoves or my torch. Just spin on a new tank to refuel and enjoy trimming your yard without polluting your environs or the neighborhood.
(By comparison, gasoline-fueled trimmers dirtier than your car; battery-powered trimmers, don’t have the oomph of the gas ones; and plug-in trimmers have the long cord issue. Of course, muscle power works, but try telling lawn maintenance companies to give up their power tools.)
Using screw-on disposable tanks to fuel a lawn trimmer might seem as it’s creating another waste problem (all those partly-filled little steel tanks thrown in the trash) but in fact the tanks are refillable. Northern Tools sells a Propane Filler Coupler that will connect a one-pound tank to a 20 pound propane tank like that used for gas grills. (Please follow directions and don’t blow yourself up.)
The LEHR trimmers have just won an award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Annual Clean Air Excellence Awards Program.
There may yet be another use for propane if Cyclone Power Technologies, of Pompano Beach, Florida can convince a few more people that its Cyclone Engine is a good alternative to the conventional internal combustion engine.
Also known as a Schoell-cycle engine after the inventor and now company CEO Harry Schoell, the Cyclone is an external combustion heat recovery engine that uses continuous combustion rather than intermittent explosions inside cylinders to make it run.
Continuous combustion means that fuel burns completely, cleanly and more efficiently. The engine will run on just about anything that burns, petroleum, biofuels, you name it, but for some applications the company suggests using propane cylinders, like those sold in tool sections of hardware and other stores.
The company has a wide variety of application possibilities for the Cyclone, including lawn trimmers or your car.
Cyclone also has more plans than just using propane or other combustibles.
Since the Cyclone technology is really a heat engine, the company has also developed a Waste Heat Engine (WHE) that could run on heat as low as 225 degrees F. The company says waste heat from commercial or small-scale industrial ovens or furnaces, concentrating solar thermal collectors, engine exhaust or biomass combustion are all possibilities for heat. The heat recovery technology, which is being integrated with the Cyclone engine, comes from Waste Heat Resources, of Londonderry, New Hampshire.
If you’ve noticed the words “concentrating solar thermal collectors” in the above sentence, this heat-source possibility is already a business maker for the company. Cyclone Power Technologies has signed a license agreement with Renovalia Energy, of Madrid, Spain. Under the agreement, Cyclone with Renovalia will design a compact, high-efficiency Schoell Cycle external heat engine to be coupled with Renovalia’s proprietary thermoelectric solar stations. The Spanish energy company plans to manufacture prototypes and then, if tests prove viable, production models of the engine, called Cyclone Solar I, which could be deployed worldwide with their solar stations within a year.
The license provides for Cyclone to receive upfront design fees and ongoing royalties for its engines. Renovalia and Seminole Electric Cooperative have signed a letter of intent to build a solar concentrating power plant in the Sunshine State.
The U.S. military, including the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) is also interested in the Cyclone engine for unmanned underwater vehicles.
Links:
Cyclone Power Technologieshttp://www.cyclonepower.com
Waste Heat Resourceshttp://www.wasteheatresources.com
LEHRhttp://www.golehr.com
Northern Tool and Equipmenthttp://www2.northerntool.com
Renovalia Energyhttp://www.renovaliaenergy.es
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