Hi Buddy. I was doing some writing and took a break whereupon I read your post. I know this might seem hard to believe, but if anything I think you are understating the case!
The Mark 5 design is predicated on being extremely efficient through the use of supercritical, extremely high temperature steam and water lubrication to prevent dangerous oil contamination of the steam generator surfaces. To the best of my knowledge, there is no practical way to turn two mating surfaces together (such as in this valve) without using a very effective lubricant...which would decompose at the design temperatures. It would be possible if the parts were in loose contact but at those pressures leakage would damage engine efficiency irreparably.
Then there is the fact of the rotary valves influence on the engine itself. The steam volume trapped in the tubes running to the cylinder head is far, far higher than that contemplated in the original design.... such "clearance volume" must be minimized at all extremities to achieve efficiency.
Likewise, the tube resistance to flow and internal turbulence causes the steam flow to spread out over a period of time rather than reaching the cylinder all at once. This spread produces a pressure drop that lowers the peak pressure and dissipates thermal energy in the process without producing work, to the detriment of efficiency.
The video tells us that the company appears to be abandoning its mission of building highly efficient engines. This would not seem likely given energy costs unless the unit has been far less perfected than years of publicity have indicated. The vibration seen in the video either indicates that the fabricator is either not proficient in balancing an engine OR that the spider bearing assembly indeed produces the unbalance forces I predicted. Something else that one thinks all this testing would have revealed.
This duck looks dead although it also appears to have really been a turkey.
Regards,
Tom
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