This is really cool! I want one now lol. As a side note, on a gasoline I4 engine, cylinders 1&4 and 2&3 are companion cylinders, meaning they move symmetrically if you mirrored the engine between the middle cylinders. This generally makes the engine more balanced from inertia, if anyone was curious. Also, you could get more torque by increasing the throw of the crankshaft (how far from the centerline of the crankshaft the rod journal is). Awesome video!
@J M i don't look at motorcycles much, i was just generally referring to the average I4 car engine lol. That's interesting tho. I like at least 6 cylinders personally 😂
Fun fact: there are basically 2 kinds of V8 engines, on has a cross plan crank, the other has a flat plan. Plan, as in the crank pins. Flat plan is 180° angle longitudinally from one pin to the next, and cross plan is is 90°.
The sparking breaks the contacts over time, so I'd recommend using a hall effect sensor and a nut inside the cam. This allows you to change the timing by adjusting the voltage threshold as well.
It's the flyback, when the magnetic field collapses it dumps voltage back down the line. Simple diodes across the contacts the right direction arrest this as a short
Follow those tips and you can drastically improve the performance of a solenoid engine: Change the rod of the solenoid for a magnet rod and you will be able make it push and pull depending on the polarity. This means if you configure your timing to reverse the polarity of your wires you can have power on both the down and up stroke. Due to how responsive the power of a solenoids are when compared with the combustion of a IC engine it will probably be better if you configure the trigger timing of the solenoids 1° to 5° degrees after TDC/BDC to prevent what would be considered "Pre-ignition" or "engine knocking" on a IC engine. "Pre-ignition" is when a engine start the power stroke before TDC causing it to send power to run the engine on reverse loosing a lot of power and risking damaging components. You may also want to add a flywheel so you can operate it at very low power/speed. The flywheel stored momentum will keep it from stalling when it reach TDC/BDC. Another option would be to use a crossplane crankshaft to smooth the power delivery.
@Professor Frog If you want efficiency get a engine from Tesla motor... This is a fun project and it would be cool to push it to its limits to see how far it can go.
@@Crlarl Ahhhh... What? Pls watch. th-cam.com/video/azWMckM4R-c/w-d-xo.html AC solenoids are designed differently from DC solenoids. In a AC solenoid a ring is installed in the coil to a store magnetic field energy and release it with a 90 degree phase difference. So yes reversing the polarity of a AC solenoid would not reverse its direction but that is not true for a DC solenoid.
The in-line four was basically two two cylinder engines connected together. The crankshaft was flat so didn’t take advantage of the four solenoids. Each solenoid should fire on each revolution. So 4 inputs of power at 90°.
I think this is a big part of the lack of power. If those two cylinders aren't firing at exactly the same point (ie if one crank throw isn't precisely aligned) the two cylinders that are firing are fighting a little so you've really got a 2 cyl engine dragging 2 more cyl. Might explain why it wouldn't self start well too.
@@MmMerrifield selenoids dont need any other stroke to function so if it was cross plane meaning there wouldnt be a dead point it would be self starting. a gas engine isnt self starting because it needs the intake and compression stroke to be able to give any power
Unfortunately we don't have the intelligence nor the elements to create perpetual motion. Nevermind perpetual motion that has any real use. Like these solenoid "motors"...
I love all the engineering channels on TH-cam, they're fun and actually teach you things most people probably wouldn't know otherwise. Like how inefficient this engine is.
Two things to help with the solenoids. First, you need to keep the shafts/cylinders lubricated to reduce friction. Second, you need to find a way to cool the solenoids. As the shafts heat up the metal expand and will cause additional friction and finally reach the point where it "seizes" up. A fan could be used for cooling
Ideas: the crank arms need to be 90 degrees offset with each other instead of 180 like you have it. It will run much smoother, and you won't have to flick it to get it to start. Also, make the crank arms longer to yield more torque. As long as the solenoids have enough travel
You can make a 'two-stroke' out of your electric engine by adding a second switch opposite the first (may also need a second cam); so you can push as well as pull the 'pistons' in the solenoids.
@@limpy4707 haha - yes, but you stil need 90 deg apart cylinders. Perhaps make it a 3 cylinder and 120° deg apart, then arrange the coils in delta, and use regular brushless controller. Jobs done 🤓😄💪
Its kind of a 2 stroke already, every cylinder fires on every down stroke. The idea of power on the upstroke comes from steam engines and I think is called a "double acting" arrangement, or something like that.
Imagine the challenge Model airplane builders faced in 1933, wanting to have an engine powered plane instead of rubber bands! Think of Bill Brown, Elmer Wall, Edgar T. Westbury, Mel Anderson, Louis Loutrel, Bill Atwood and Ira Hassad. All very early builders of model IC engines for their airplanes and boats. Bill Atwood ended up designing the famous Cox Tee Dee engines.
You remind me of myself when I was a youngster in the 80's. I had to use my imagination on a daily basis making things and breaking things apart to build something completely different to occupy our time with. It's nice to see people still using there imaginations to create.
Very cool design. Honestly, though, I think two areas can improve things greatly-- and optical or magnetic trigger and transistor switching (those reeds have got to be bouncing all over, fast action isn't their strong suit) and some center bearings. I think a lot of power is just going to warping that noodle of a crank back and forth. Hope you get it flying!
I can barely tie my own shoes when it comes to electrical circuit design - so I could be completely wrong. From watching South Main Auto and his explanations of tone ring for ABS, crank position sensor etc, I kept wondering if a Hall effect sensor in place of the microswitch would make sense. The microswitch spring can only return so fast, the arcing is probably introducing a significant amount of resistance in no small part because it’s in the direct drive path? The arcing will also pit and heat the metal contacts, depositing carbon (more resistance) until something wears out or the contacts simply fuse together. I remember as a kid trying to “drive” a relay at high speed - and while not fully understanding, ran into problems like these.
The inductance of the solenoids is probably making those high-voltage spikes in the switch each cycle. When you increase the load on the solenoids by moving the prop in water, it was probably increasing the current through the solenoids and exacerbating the effect. If you can, maybe look into putting some diodes across the solenoid terminals in the reverse direction of polarity, so the current has a path to dissipate. Additional zener diodes will increase the voltage drop and should dissipate the energy faster. Not an expert though, ask ElectroBOOM
And instead of using that mechanical switch to switch the solenoids, he could use that mechanical switch to switch on and off transistors, one for each solenoid, so all the high current from the solenoids are controlled by transistors instead of the switch, so no big sparks that can burn out the switch.
I wonder if a larger flywheel would have helped, it'd also be cool to see if increasing complexity with more switches and more degrees on the axle would increase the power. Great vid, ive always wanted to see the application of solenoid engines
i'd honestly love to see a pt 2 to this using more powerful magnets and higher wrapped coils and more cylinders i think the major problems with your design is the size of the magnets and cooling and the firing order love to see a pt 2 of this
There is one way to make these engines strong. Each cylinder should have air intake and compression. Because at the time of compression, the piston would anyways be pushed downwards. But along with electric frequency.
You could have another switch attatched to the cam 180 to the first switch which connects the coils to power in a reverse polarity and attach permanent magnets to the “piston” and get nearly a fully powered stroke
With simple solenoids, that is not possible. The polarity of the power does not change the direction. For that you would need push-pull solenoids which use a permanent magnet instead of steel rod.
Hey Peter, I'm sure it was mentioned somewhere already, but you can actually get 2x the power if you intentionally flip the polarity of the solenoids on their "return" stroke. The "dumbest" way to do this would be to have the switch control a DPDT (2 pole 2 throw) relay, where the relay is actually in charge of the power switching.
Not with regular solenoids, you can’t. The soft iron used for the plungers will pull in, regardless of polarity. You’d have to use permanent magnets as the plunger, to achieve the effect you describe. The trouble with that is, because of the repeated reversal of flux, the permanent magnets wouldn’t be all that permanent. The effect would be a crude AC degausser and would demagnetise them, quickly resulting in a stalled motor with the plunger permanently in the coil.
If you use more than two solenoids, you need to offset them on the crank by 45 degrees to get more work out of them! Also makes switching them slightly more complicated, but doable! So when one solenoid is halfway through the push, another fires.
Well, I'm just theorizing, but maybe someone will actually build both models and test them out. I still believe that the most efficient 4 strokes engine would be with 90 degrees offset between solenoids at the shaft. That would cover all 360 degrees of the shaft rotation with active pulling force, each solenoid will partly overlap with the next one (and previous one also).
Something that may help you, solenoids tend to hang once you turn power off, which may be robbing some power from your motor. I would try to time it to swap solenoids a bit before top dead center and see if that helps. Also, possibly try something like an arduino to time all 4 solenoids separately so that each solenoid pulls roughly 90 degrees to get a full 360 degrees worth of “Power stroke”. Would love to see this actually work!
Hey Peter, I'm a product of Youngstown, Ohio but now live in sunny Southern California. I understand the gripe on Ohio weather, but nowhere in California can you find a shed and land like the spread you and your friend have to play on. The 8 foot snow drifts are a bummer, but there are great things about the great state of Ohio. I miss it dearly and may make my way back to the more southern reaches like Cincinnati. Great video, once again. Cheers and Merry Christmas!
Another interesting video I smiled the whole way through. You could hide a small motor in the mechanisim and fool your mates. Good stuff. I love your channel.
Awesome video! I can't wait to see the improvements you'll make for the flight ready one - I wonder if rod bearings would add too much weight to be counter-productive
I reckon if your gonna make a solenoid airplane then you should attempt multiple engine designs, including using a radial engine. I think that would be cool.
A summary of the material used, bed temp, nozzle temp and speeds would be cool for those of us EXTREMELY new to using 3D printers, you know, all the settings yall know by heart but us new folks don't have a clue with... Cool vid man.... very cool
I know I'm one of many, but I have some suggestions from gas engines: 1. Add an identical lobe on your camshaft 180 degrees from the other. This will make it a two stroke, with double the powerstrokes per rpm (unless you did that, can't really tell) 2. Increase your tolerances on everything that spins. There's a good chance that it didn't work in the cold because the tolerances were reduced, causing more friction. Also oil it with a thin lubricant like tool oil 3. Retarding the timing gives better low end power. For the low torque you're making, this may be necessary
This is reminding me of those small Sterling engines but less powerful. I'm sure if you stuck like 12 of them inside or build a gearbox to convert it to have a faster speed it would run more efficiently either way I love to see you try to make a plane out of this
could you use a second solenoid below the existing one to pull back the "piston" giving it 2 pulls per piston per rotation? (sort of like cycling with clips so you can pull the pedal up as well as push it down) theres no doubt a lot of efficiency gains you can make by changing the rest of the engine since things like firing order make a huge impact to engines like this. iirc 6 and 12 cylinder engines are considered the "best" when it comes to overall engine balance, although im not sure how fast an engine has to run before that becomes an issue, but you might as well give it all the help it can get lmao
It'd be neat to substitute a balance shaft on an unbalanced ICE configuration for some kind of generator. Modulating feedback could allow for engine developers to actively control the damping characteristics of the conventional balance shaft while reaping back some of what otherwise is a small but necessary parasitic loss.
Love the felling when something you've built works first try. Seeing Peter shock himself getting it first try definitely made me smile from ear to ear 😁
To extract the most power you will wanna balance all the rotating bits, and lube up any bits that are metal on metal/plastic on plastic. Should help with the vibration issues and for the torque issue just change the gear ratio from the motor to propeller. Ik this was just for the memes but hope to see more of things like this!!!
You made what's called a single-plane or flat-plane crank shaft configuration. A cross-plane crank would increase your perceived torque by spreading all 4 power strokes evenly over one revolution. Currently, that thing has two double power stokes at opposite sides of a single revolution, creating big dips ans spikes in torque/power. In general, I think solenoids like these are great analogs for playing with crank configurations. It will be interesting to see what configuration actually turns out to be the most efficient. :D Also, the cold is probably exacerbating a friction issue caused by your connecting rod configuration. The solenoid, uhh, pistons, I guess you'd call them appear to be experiencing excessive torsional loading with respect to the direction of the stroke which would make them want to jam during their return strokes. The crank configuration I already mentioned would remedy this somewhat as well. I'm an engineer by merit and trade. I love this stuff. :D Also, also, you gotta put those layers on and learn to love the dreary, frigid, gray, dead expanse of wasteland that is Ohio in the colder 2/3's of the year man! I live in NE Ohio, and it totally sucks until you learn to enjoy mother nature's surely side. Come on up when the "nice" winter weather gets rolling and I'll show you the most scenic snowshoeing locals the state has to offer.
Dc vs Ac. If can get your solenoid to work on Ac, keep your voltage low, amps high and use electrical frequency to control the speed. Good work I enjoyed your video. 😊
On early 4 cylinder gasoline engines, they used heavy flywheels to increase torque and smooth out the output. Heavy flywheels help torque but not horsepower. The alternative soon used was to increase the number of cylinders and decrease the weight of the flywheel. Some cars got up to 16 cylinders in the early days. Bore and stroke also figure in. A larger bore and shorter stroke give faster acceleration, a smaller bore and longer stroke give better pulling power. More horsepower gives faster acceleration and higher sustained speed, more torque gives more pulling power. Which you use depends on what you are planning to do. Farm tractors and heavy equipment usually use long strokes and heavy flywheels, race cars use more short-stroke cylinders. I expect these things will also hold true for a solenoid engine. Anyway, a large diameter, fairly heavy flywheel will help keep your boat engine turning over.
Cool concept as usual. Finally detailed craftsmanship. Of course you're taking all of the inefficiencies of an ice engine. Too many moving parts, power loss from friction and heat and building them into the electric motor which is the most efficient use of energy. There is at this point. But I have to admit it is very cool
Pretty cool! Here's a simple mod for your engine design: I bet you're having problems with the big arcs welding your little mechanical switch contacts together. The arcs are being generated by the back-EMF discharge induced by the solenoid coils when they're turned off. Simply connect a general-purpose 400v silicon diode in reverse across your mechanical switch and it'll get rid of the big arcs and save your microswitches. Those diodes cost about a dime brand-new, and can be scrapped out of old electronics for free, so it's definitely cheap insurance for your microswitches. If you want to continue optimizing your solenoid engine, here's a few ideas to try: Instead of switching all of that current through that little mechanical switch, use the mechanical switch to turn on and off MOSFETs or general-purpose BJT transistors, and let the silicon move the current through the solenoids. Be sure to use diodes to protect the transistors or MOSFETs from the back-EMF induced by the solenoid coils since that can Zap your silicon. Or, if you Really want to get fancy, build your own solenoids with permanent magnets as the plungers and use an H-bridge circuit to both 'push' and 'pull' the solenoid instead of only relying on the 'pull' stroke for power. Finally, you can use optical or Hall-effect sensors to replace the mechanical switch when you get the silicon circuits working. So Yeah, I absolutely Can see you making that little electric piston motor a Lot better if you wanted to continue to experiment with it. Maybe even making it fly? Fingers crossed!
there is a pretty small chance you'll actually see this, but if you do, maybe you could try putting a Ram Air Turbine on your fliers so that battery life will be less of a problem as they'll be constantly be getting power. it might not work on your RC planes but your ultralights and possibly your homemade paraglider could work with one.
solenoid motors had caught my attention over the past month actually.. guess i was not alone! started from looking more into coil driven linear stepper motors. looks like a railgun but for controlled positioning. Props... Thanks for sharing
These engines honestly make me think of steam engines more than gas engines. Also Peter if you cover the engines and add a little bit of an opening for air flow, the heat generated from the engines could in theory keep them from getting cold! Also… you should totally use these to make a tricked out titanic! The titanic had engines with those kinds of pistons that used steam. It would be a pretty cool model idea!
Make a flame thrower that goes up to 25 feet all you need is a fire extinguisher and a bike valve gas torch or metal bar or just watch videos. I would like if you could do this thank you
Peter, now make one with double acting solenoids, energized them on the upward and downward stroke by reversing their voltage polarity accordingly. You will double the strength, and the heat lol Also, make it three cylinders, spaced at 120 degree from each other axially. And control the three phases voltage waves with a microcontroller triggered by a crank sensor. It would run smooth and be powerful, don't forget to force liquid cooling thru you solenoids! See your video in a year.
My son and I like to watch your channel together , and we thought (for an airplane solenoid engine) a Radial would be really cool! Also might make a lighter motor for the power. Awesome video!
Good build. A couple of suggestions, you need to get away from the mechanical magnetic switch and the cam lobe in favor of a transistor NPN switch with optical timing. This will make energy transfer more efficient. Second you need to set up polarity reversal and solenoids capable of utilizing reverse polarity. This way every down and up stroke is a power stroke instead of just every other stroke being a power stroke. Last, you need a bigger propeller and rudder for your boat. Have fun! 😎👍
You need a 90 degree throw crankshaft. Your engine is basically a 2 stroke (fires every revolution not every other), and the 90 degree crank will give you 4 discreet firing pulses, a much smoother run, and not be "fighting itself" so much. If the solenoids get hot really fast, that's a good clue that your timing is way off. Add to that the fighting itself, and you'll have that result.
Definitely need to modify this and have 4 independent power strokes 90 deg. apart. That will give you smoother running and better performance. Very fun project! :D
Well done, i have an improvement to offer : the switch can not hold all those sparks for long, you better use a FET transistor to run the solenoid's, no damage will cause to the switch. good luck.
This is really cool! I want one now lol. As a side note, on a gasoline I4 engine, cylinders 1&4 and 2&3 are companion cylinders, meaning they move symmetrically if you mirrored the engine between the middle cylinders. This generally makes the engine more balanced from inertia, if anyone was curious. Also, you could get more torque by increasing the throw of the crankshaft (how far from the centerline of the crankshaft the rod journal is). Awesome video!
useless and inefficient and uninteresting motor
@@alexdelarge4938 what?
@J M i don't look at motorcycles much, i was just generally referring to the average I4 car engine lol. That's interesting tho.
I like at least 6 cylinders personally 😂
And that’s why Diesel engines rev so low too, they have a longer throw, so it has lots of torque but cant rev fast
Fun fact: there are basically 2 kinds of V8 engines, on has a cross plan crank, the other has a flat plan. Plan, as in the crank pins. Flat plan is 180° angle longitudinally from one pin to the next, and cross plan is is 90°.
The sparking breaks the contacts over time, so I'd recommend using a hall effect sensor and a nut inside the cam. This allows you to change the timing by adjusting the voltage threshold as well.
Do not nut on the cam
It's the flyback, when the magnetic field collapses it dumps voltage back down the line. Simple diodes across the contacts the right direction arrest this as a short
Follow those tips and you can drastically improve the performance of a solenoid engine:
Change the rod of the solenoid for a magnet rod and you will be able make it push and pull depending on the polarity.
This means if you configure your timing to reverse the polarity of your wires you can have power on both the down and up stroke.
Due to how responsive the power of a solenoids are when compared with the combustion of a IC engine it will probably be better if you configure the trigger timing of the solenoids 1° to 5° degrees after TDC/BDC to prevent what would be considered "Pre-ignition" or "engine knocking" on a IC engine.
"Pre-ignition" is when a engine start the power stroke before TDC causing it to send power to run the engine on reverse loosing a lot of power and risking damaging components.
You may also want to add a flywheel so you can operate it at very low power/speed. The flywheel stored momentum will keep it from stalling when it reach TDC/BDC. Another option would be to use a crossplane crankshaft to smooth the power delivery.
Reversing the polarity on a solenoid does not reverse the direction. This is why they can also work with AC.
@Professor Frog If you want efficiency get a engine from Tesla motor...
This is a fun project and it would be cool to push it to its limits to see how far it can go.
I believe these solenoids only have a pull. If there was a magnet on the cylinder then it could have a push and a pull.
@@Crlarl Ahhhh... What? Pls watch.
th-cam.com/video/azWMckM4R-c/w-d-xo.html
AC solenoids are designed differently from DC solenoids.
In a AC solenoid a ring is installed in the coil to a store magnetic field energy and release it with a 90 degree phase difference. So yes reversing the polarity of a AC solenoid would not reverse its direction but that is not true for a DC solenoid.
@@worthypook DC solenoids do push and pull depending on the polarity.
AC solenoids only push or pull.
The in-line four was basically two two cylinder engines connected together. The crankshaft was flat so didn’t take advantage of the four solenoids. Each solenoid should fire on each revolution. So 4 inputs of power at 90°.
I think this is a big part of the lack of power. If those two cylinders aren't firing at exactly the same point (ie if one crank throw isn't precisely aligned) the two cylinders that are firing are fighting a little so you've really got a 2 cyl engine dragging 2 more cyl. Might explain why it wouldn't self start well too.
@@LanternLabs totally. Needs to get the phasing right and fit a flywheel.
@@LanternLabs which engines are self starting?
@@MmMerrifield selenoids dont need any other stroke to function so if it was cross plane meaning there wouldnt be a dead point it would be self starting. a gas engine isnt self starting because it needs the intake and compression stroke to be able to give any power
Now hook up the crankshaft to a regular DC motor, run the wires to the solenoids and boom, free electricity!
*elon musk would like to know your location
@@PeterSripol there's no such thing as free energy ask electro boom
@@darrenwilliams414 wooooooosh
Unfortunately we don't have the intelligence nor the elements to create perpetual motion.
Nevermind perpetual motion that has any real use. Like these solenoid "motors"...
Two words; diminishing returns.
Brilliant. It doesn't matter that it doesn't run as well as you would like so far. It matters that you built it and it did work.
I love all the engineering channels on TH-cam, they're fun and actually teach you things most people probably wouldn't know otherwise.
Like how inefficient this engine is.
lol
Smarter everyday, backyard scientist, Peter, and others. Some of my favorite youtubers
The thot bots are out in force it seems 😂
@@krystal_vector5412 thot bots is how you know your comment was successful
@@cyber_nuggets8302 xd
Two things to help with the solenoids. First, you need to keep the shafts/cylinders lubricated to reduce friction. Second, you need to find a way to cool the solenoids. As the shafts heat up the metal expand and will cause additional friction and finally reach the point where it "seizes" up. A fan could be used for cooling
it would be awesome if you put a v8 solenoid engine in an RC car
It would sound so awesome
Or he made 3 v8’s and put them inside of a titanic model
Search YT for: Tiny Ferrari
Did you mean like this mini boat as fast jetboat with v8
th-cam.com/video/XFGVxMc4v4U/w-d-xo.html
or aV16
These experimentation videos are always my favourite. Found one again.
You need separate timing switches and the solenoids phased 90* apart from eachother for smoothness. Also adjustable timing will be useful.
Yep. Four inputs of power per revolution.
I thought the same. You have to model it after a 4cyl 2stroke engine, not a 4cyl 4 stroke engine.
@@klugshicer yep. No need for the compression or exhaust stroke.
Vtec
I conquer
Ideas: the crank arms need to be 90 degrees offset with each other instead of 180 like you have it. It will run much smoother, and you won't have to flick it to get it to start. Also, make the crank arms longer to yield more torque. As long as the solenoids have enough travel
I was thinking this as well. I also wondered if toroidal turbine 3D print would take advantage of that extra torque and help turn it into speed
A flywheel might help also...
Not to mention a Starter crank
You can make a 'two-stroke' out of your electric engine by adding a second switch opposite the first (may also need a second cam); so you can push as well as pull the 'pistons' in the solenoids.
Nah, no need of a second cam. Clever placement of the switch is fine enough to activate the 'push' arrangement after the 'pull' about 180° after it.
Yes, but as the is a 2-stroke equivalent, you could have 90° deg offset on each cylinder and better low end torque delivery.
Could it be called a +1 stroke?? since you can rig it to push and pull every stroke..
@@limpy4707 haha - yes, but you stil need 90 deg apart cylinders. Perhaps make it a 3 cylinder and 120° deg apart, then arrange the coils in delta, and use regular brushless controller. Jobs done 🤓😄💪
Its kind of a 2 stroke already, every cylinder fires on every down stroke. The idea of power on the upstroke comes from steam engines and I think is called a "double acting" arrangement, or something like that.
Imagine the challenge Model airplane builders faced in 1933, wanting to have an engine powered plane instead of rubber bands! Think of Bill Brown, Elmer Wall, Edgar T. Westbury, Mel Anderson, Louis Loutrel, Bill Atwood and Ira Hassad. All very early builders of model IC engines for their airplanes and boats. Bill Atwood ended up designing the famous Cox Tee Dee engines.
"Drunken Sailor", perfect choice of music 😊
how was this posted 5 hours ago
@@unironicaluser1867 released early for members probably
Patreon
@@unironicaluser1867 Yep, Peter's Patreon supporters get early access to his videos 😁
You remind me of myself when I was a youngster in the 80's. I had to use my imagination on a daily basis making things and breaking things apart to build something completely different to occupy our time with. It's nice to see people still using there imaginations to create.
Very cool design. Honestly, though, I think two areas can improve things greatly-- and optical or magnetic trigger and transistor switching (those reeds have got to be bouncing all over, fast action isn't their strong suit) and some center bearings. I think a lot of power is just going to warping that noodle of a crank back and forth. Hope you get it flying!
By electronically commutating the solenoids, reversing direction would be easy.
World's First Praying Mantis taking a Flight on a Drone:
th-cam.com/video/kK4UcUjn430/w-d-xo.html
I can barely tie my own shoes when it comes to electrical circuit design - so I could be completely wrong. From watching South Main Auto and his explanations of tone ring for ABS, crank position sensor etc, I kept wondering if a Hall effect sensor in place of the microswitch would make sense. The microswitch spring can only return so fast, the arcing is probably introducing a significant amount of resistance in no small part because it’s in the direct drive path? The arcing will also pit and heat the metal contacts, depositing carbon (more resistance) until something wears out or the contacts simply fuse together. I remember as a kid trying to “drive” a relay at high speed - and while not fully understanding, ran into problems like these.
The inductance of the solenoids is probably making those high-voltage spikes in the switch each cycle. When you increase the load on the solenoids by moving the prop in water, it was probably increasing the current through the solenoids and exacerbating the effect. If you can, maybe look into putting some diodes across the solenoid terminals in the reverse direction of polarity, so the current has a path to dissipate. Additional zener diodes will increase the voltage drop and should dissipate the energy faster. Not an expert though, ask ElectroBOOM
And instead of using that mechanical switch to switch the solenoids, he could use that mechanical switch to switch on and off transistors, one for each solenoid, so all the high current from the solenoids are controlled by transistors instead of the switch, so no big sparks that can burn out the switch.
I wonder if a larger flywheel would have helped, it'd also be cool to see if increasing complexity with more switches and more degrees on the axle would increase the power. Great vid, ive always wanted to see the application of solenoid engines
A larger flywheel and maybe a "chord ignition" (like a lawn mower) to set it going
and timing like 5deg ADC
Im not going to lie you are by far the coolest TH-camr.
i'd honestly love to see a pt 2 to this using more powerful magnets and higher wrapped coils and more cylinders i think the major problems with your design is the size of the magnets and cooling and the firing order love to see a pt 2 of this
There is one way to make these engines strong.
Each cylinder should have air intake and compression. Because at the time of compression, the piston would anyways be pushed downwards. But along with electric frequency.
You could have another switch attatched to the cam 180 to the first switch which connects the coils to power in a reverse polarity and attach permanent magnets to the “piston” and get nearly a fully powered stroke
With simple solenoids, that is not possible. The polarity of the power does not change the direction. For that you would need push-pull solenoids which use a permanent magnet instead of steel rod.
@@Crlarl i said you would need a permanent magnet instead of a steel rod
@@tabeebrahman4843
Yes you did. I misread your comment. Sorry.
@@Crlarl no worries
Hey Peter, I'm sure it was mentioned somewhere already, but you can actually get 2x the power if you intentionally flip the polarity of the solenoids on their "return" stroke.
The "dumbest" way to do this would be to have the switch control a DPDT (2 pole 2 throw) relay, where the relay is actually in charge of the power switching.
Not with regular solenoids, you can’t. The soft iron used for the plungers will pull in, regardless of polarity.
You’d have to use permanent magnets as the plunger, to achieve the effect you describe. The trouble with that is, because of the repeated reversal of flux, the permanent magnets wouldn’t be all that permanent. The effect would be a crude AC degausser and would demagnetise them, quickly resulting in a stalled motor with the plunger permanently in the coil.
If you use more than two solenoids, you need to offset them on the crank by 45 degrees to get more work out of them! Also makes switching them slightly more complicated, but doable!
So when one solenoid is halfway through the push, another fires.
90 degrees would be best with 4 solenoids
I doubt it
Well, I'm just theorizing, but maybe someone will actually build both models and test them out.
I still believe that the most efficient 4 strokes engine would be with 90 degrees offset between solenoids at the shaft. That would cover all 360 degrees of the shaft rotation with active pulling force, each solenoid will partly overlap with the next one (and previous one also).
2:32 "Purely stupid and mechanical and cool" is the most accurate description for this channel I can think of.
Something that may help you, solenoids tend to hang once you turn power off, which may be robbing some power from your motor. I would try to time it to swap solenoids a bit before top dead center and see if that helps. Also, possibly try something like an arduino to time all 4 solenoids separately so that each solenoid pulls roughly 90 degrees to get a full 360 degrees worth of “Power stroke”. Would love to see this actually work!
So glad to see a fellow solenoid engine lover
I have always wondered if this would work and how well and have never seen one of the videos mentioned. Awesome work as always.
how wa thi posted 22 hours ago
@@unironicaluser1867 prob posted to members early
@@unironicaluser1867 patreon
Hey Peter, I'm a product of Youngstown, Ohio but now live in sunny Southern California. I understand the gripe on Ohio weather, but nowhere in California can you find a shed and land like the spread you and your friend have to play on. The 8 foot snow drifts are a bummer, but there are great things about the great state of Ohio. I miss it dearly and may make my way back to the more southern reaches like Cincinnati. Great video, once again. Cheers and Merry Christmas!
Another interesting video I smiled the whole way through. You could hide a small motor in the mechanisim and fool your mates. Good stuff. I love your channel.
The title made my head hurt until I saw the first 5 seconds of the video . Looks pretty cool and fun to play with .
Love the sound the motor makes. It's almost like clockwork!
i love the way your crazy mind works Peter ,Dont ever grow up
Awesome video! I can't wait to see the improvements you'll make for the flight ready one - I wonder if rod bearings would add too much weight to be counter-productive
what a cool video i am going to school to me a mechanic and this has got to be the most weird but cool engine i have seen so far
I reckon if your gonna make a solenoid airplane then you should attempt multiple engine designs, including using a radial engine. I think that would be cool.
Came here to suggest a radial engine for the plane 👍
@@Cyan2002 great minds think alike
Came back from my childhood and your still at it 💪🏾🔥🔥
Hi Peter! I love your videos keep up the great work!
A summary of the material used, bed temp, nozzle temp and speeds would be cool for those of us EXTREMELY new to using 3D printers, you know, all the settings yall know by heart but us new folks don't have a clue with... Cool vid man.... very cool
I know I'm one of many, but I have some suggestions from gas engines:
1. Add an identical lobe on your camshaft 180 degrees from the other. This will make it a two stroke, with double the powerstrokes per rpm (unless you did that, can't really tell)
2. Increase your tolerances on everything that spins. There's a good chance that it didn't work in the cold because the tolerances were reduced, causing more friction. Also oil it with a thin lubricant like tool oil
3. Retarding the timing gives better low end power. For the low torque you're making, this may be necessary
It's already 2-stroke though.
This is a really nice way to practice and play with mechanic and motor with the advantage of not having to deal with fuel and combustion engine stuff
This is reminding me of those small Sterling engines but less powerful. I'm sure if you stuck like 12 of them inside or build a gearbox to convert it to have a faster speed it would run more efficiently either way I love to see you try to make a plane out of this
lovely build mate specially the boat and the song goes hand in hand
could you use a second solenoid below the existing one to pull back the "piston" giving it 2 pulls per piston per rotation? (sort of like cycling with clips so you can pull the pedal up as well as push it down)
theres no doubt a lot of efficiency gains you can make by changing the rest of the engine since things like firing order make a huge impact to engines like this. iirc 6 and 12 cylinder engines are considered the "best" when it comes to overall engine balance, although im not sure how fast an engine has to run before that becomes an issue, but you might as well give it all the help it can get lmao
You could add "reverse" solenoids but it would be easier to use push-pull solenoids which can change the direction by itself.
You are genius , you have develop electric engine for future electric cars keep it up
It'd be neat to substitute a balance shaft on an unbalanced ICE configuration for some kind of generator. Modulating feedback could allow for engine developers to actively control the damping characteristics of the conventional balance shaft while reaping back some of what otherwise is a small but necessary parasitic loss.
hello I'm from Indonesia🇮🇩, I really like your content, I hope you can upload videos more often on TH-cam
Most normal boat in Ohio:
How is this top comment
"Old age of 30" 😸Wait till you hit 50! Great video!
It's just Yaaay moment when Peter Sripol , William Osman and Michael Reeves post a video🔥🙌
you should put each piston end at a 90 degree starting point from eachother, that way you can have a constant output force
I can't wait to see this fly. Always love how informative your videos are.
This guy should work at Tesla very intelligent we need more guys like this to help influence the young people
Even his calipers are modified 😱Dam I love this dude 😂
I stg I saw you ina Walmart today! I was way to nervous to come up to you and say hi, keep up the good work man !
Congratulations 2 million family❤️❤️
I have got to say, you have a beautiful boat!
Great stuff, your videos get better and better
WOO PETER IS FINALLY BUILD PISTON ENGINE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
i love how happy peter gets when it worked the first time. great and wholesome video!
Love the felling when something you've built works first try. Seeing Peter shock himself getting it first try definitely made me smile from ear to ear 😁
You're a ray of sunshine during these weird times. lol
I love the attention to detail and boat top coating
ALMOST AT 2 Million!
i became a D.I.Y scientist in the garage because of your videos
Peter Sripol Man of the People
It's neat that you based the toy boat on a scaled down version of your solar boat!
To extract the most power you will wanna balance all the rotating bits, and lube up any bits that are metal on metal/plastic on plastic. Should help with the vibration issues and for the torque issue just change the gear ratio from the motor to propeller. Ik this was just for the memes but hope to see more of things like this!!!
You made what's called a single-plane or flat-plane crank shaft configuration. A cross-plane crank would increase your perceived torque by spreading all 4 power strokes evenly over one revolution. Currently, that thing has two double power stokes at opposite sides of a single revolution, creating big dips ans spikes in torque/power. In general, I think solenoids like these are great analogs for playing with crank configurations. It will be interesting to see what configuration actually turns out to be the most efficient. :D
Also, the cold is probably exacerbating a friction issue caused by your connecting rod configuration. The solenoid, uhh, pistons, I guess you'd call them appear to be experiencing excessive torsional loading with respect to the direction of the stroke which would make them want to jam during their return strokes. The crank configuration I already mentioned would remedy this somewhat as well.
I'm an engineer by merit and trade. I love this stuff. :D
Also, also, you gotta put those layers on and learn to love the dreary, frigid, gray, dead expanse of wasteland that is Ohio in the colder 2/3's of the year man! I live in NE Ohio, and it totally sucks until you learn to enjoy mother nature's surely side. Come on up when the "nice" winter weather gets rolling and I'll show you the most scenic snowshoeing locals the state has to offer.
Dc vs Ac. If can get your solenoid to work on Ac, keep your voltage low, amps high and use electrical frequency to control the speed.
Good work I enjoyed your video. 😊
Looks so cool, regardless of its performance.
On early 4 cylinder gasoline engines, they used heavy flywheels to increase torque and smooth out the output. Heavy flywheels help torque but not horsepower. The alternative soon used was to increase the number of cylinders and decrease the weight of the flywheel. Some cars got up to 16 cylinders in the early days. Bore and stroke also figure in. A larger bore and shorter stroke give faster acceleration, a smaller bore and longer stroke give better pulling power. More horsepower gives faster acceleration and higher sustained speed, more torque gives more pulling power. Which you use depends on what you are planning to do. Farm tractors and heavy equipment usually use long strokes and heavy flywheels, race cars use more short-stroke cylinders. I expect these things will also hold true for a solenoid engine. Anyway, a large diameter, fairly heavy flywheel will help keep your boat engine turning over.
Best sounding electric motor 🔥
Its a revolution!
This technology on car will feel like fuel engine!
The roar of fuel engine in electric car..
You did an awesome job using simple components, I bet it would be even better if you gave it some upgrades!
Finally someone I follow has made one
Cool concept as usual. Finally detailed craftsmanship. Of course you're taking all of the inefficiencies of an ice engine. Too many moving parts, power loss from friction and heat and building them into the electric motor which is the most efficient use of energy. There is at this point. But I have to admit it is very cool
Some one need to invest on this man
Pretty cool!
Here's a simple mod for your engine design: I bet you're having problems with the big arcs welding your little mechanical switch contacts together. The arcs are being generated by the back-EMF discharge induced by the solenoid coils when they're turned off. Simply connect a general-purpose 400v silicon diode in reverse across your mechanical switch and it'll get rid of the big arcs and save your microswitches. Those diodes cost about a dime brand-new, and can be scrapped out of old electronics for free, so it's definitely cheap insurance for your microswitches.
If you want to continue optimizing your solenoid engine, here's a few ideas to try: Instead of switching all of that current through that little mechanical switch, use the mechanical switch to turn on and off MOSFETs or general-purpose BJT transistors, and let the silicon move the current through the solenoids. Be sure to use diodes to protect the transistors or MOSFETs from the back-EMF induced by the solenoid coils since that can Zap your silicon. Or, if you Really want to get fancy, build your own solenoids with permanent magnets as the plungers and use an H-bridge circuit to both 'push' and 'pull' the solenoid instead of only relying on the 'pull' stroke for power. Finally, you can use optical or Hall-effect sensors to replace the mechanical switch when you get the silicon circuits working.
So Yeah, I absolutely Can see you making that little electric piston motor a Lot better if you wanted to continue to experiment with it. Maybe even making it fly? Fingers crossed!
there is a pretty small chance you'll actually see this, but if you do, maybe you could try putting a Ram Air Turbine on your fliers so that battery life will be less of a problem as they'll be constantly be getting power. it might not work on your RC planes but your ultralights and possibly your homemade paraglider could work with one.
solenoid motors had caught my attention over the past month actually.. guess i was not alone! started from looking more into coil driven linear stepper motors. looks like a railgun but for controlled positioning. Props... Thanks for sharing
These engines honestly make me think of steam engines more than gas engines. Also Peter if you cover the engines and add a little bit of an opening for air flow, the heat generated from the engines could in theory keep them from getting cold! Also… you should totally use these to make a tricked out titanic! The titanic had engines with those kinds of pistons that used steam. It would be a pretty cool model idea!
A full scale titanic?
@@joshoowanatsokay maybe not a full scale titanic but one that’s in scale with the piston engines. XD
this is how to make electricity becomes inefficient
anyway, such a cool project bro!
would be amazing if you build it in human scale and rideable
Make a flame thrower that goes up to 25 feet all you need is a fire extinguisher and a bike valve gas torch or metal bar or just watch videos. I would like if you could do this thank you
Peter, now make one with double acting solenoids, energized them on the upward and downward stroke by reversing their voltage polarity accordingly. You will double the strength, and the heat lol Also, make it three cylinders, spaced at 120 degree from each other axially. And control the three phases voltage waves with a microcontroller triggered by a crank sensor. It would run smooth and be powerful, don't forget to force liquid cooling thru you solenoids! See your video in a year.
You'll probably have to wind your own solenoids. I've always been fascinated with solenoid engines!
Nice! Glad to see another great video.
My son and I like to watch your channel together , and we thought (for an airplane solenoid engine) a Radial would be really cool! Also might make a lighter motor for the power. Awesome video!
Imagine putting such a motor (only bigger) in a car and combining it with a manual transmission… Would be a petrolhead‘s perfect electric car :D
Peter Stripol is the only good thing to come out of Ohio since… Ohio.
[eter thank you for continuing to make these great videos
This guy makes my day
love the videos man keep making them
Good build. A couple of suggestions, you need to get away from the mechanical magnetic switch and the cam lobe in favor of a transistor NPN switch with optical timing. This will make energy transfer more efficient. Second you need to set up polarity reversal and solenoids capable of utilizing reverse polarity. This way every down and up stroke is a power stroke instead of just every other stroke being a power stroke. Last, you need a bigger propeller and rudder for your boat. Have fun! 😎👍
You need a 90 degree throw crankshaft. Your engine is basically a 2 stroke (fires every revolution not every other), and the 90 degree crank will give you 4 discreet firing pulses, a much smoother run, and not be "fighting itself" so much. If the solenoids get hot really fast, that's a good clue that your timing is way off. Add to that the fighting itself, and you'll have that result.
Definitely need to modify this and have 4 independent power strokes 90 deg. apart. That will give you smoother running and better performance. Very fun project! :D
Well done, i have an improvement to offer : the switch can not hold all those sparks for long, you better use a FET transistor to run the solenoid's,
no damage will cause to the switch. good luck.
Great video! Love to see you make a steam powered vessel. !
Love the videos, keep them coming!