Nitinol Heat Engine Kit

Heat Engine - Nitinol Metal Engine driven by hot and cold water.

The Heat Engineis a very special kind of heat engine that demonstrates the conversion of heat energy into mechanical energy. Based upon the work of Dr. Alfred Johnson who was granted a patent on this type of heat engine in 1977 patent # 4,055,955.

It uses the unique property of Nitinol alloy to generate mechanical motion from heat. Nitinol has trained into a shape at high temperature (about 600° C) and allowed to cool to room temperature, where it can be easily deformed and welded into a loop.

When heated above a transition temperature (in this application about 50° C to 70° C) the Nitinol object abruptly returns to its high-temperature shape with a substantial force that is able to drive the pulleys and thus create motion.

               
See the Heat Engine in action!

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