How Does a Flame Licker Engine Work?

I show you how a flame licker engine works
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[@HarlanHarvey76]

It's the Ironic Engine. You can attach blades to the wheel and create a fan to cool yourself but not enough to cool yourself from the flame powering the blades.

[@JohnnyWednesday]

Should use the motor to power a vaccum pump to extinguish the flame

[@jeffreytan2948]

Cause of second law of thermodynamics

[@BWGPT]

All engines would fit this description. See Jeffrey Tan above.

[@maciejp7829]

Star Wars reference?

[@HarlanHarvey76]

@@BWGPT sure.... if you want to be literal. However, my cars engine is strong enough to move my vehicle forward and even power a condensation unit and compressor that when certain chemicals are introduced.... Anyway, - it was a joking comment. I don't know how this escaped you.

[@kingcosworth2643]

I have been around engineering all my life and I am still amazed at how quickly heat can be removed from a gas, be it this engine, a Stirling engine, that coke can steam/crushing exercise. You would think like with metal or water just how much time it takes to cool, yet the gas can happen in milliseconds

[@MnMEminem]

Coke gives me steam crushing exercise too

[@HarlanHarvey76]

This is a good video idea - one focusing on just this topic

[@nikhil94410]

why does gas loose heat so fast?

[@FiglioBastardo]

@@MnMEminem 🤣

[@derekanderson8659]

Yeah, I’ve thought about how my space heater pulls in room temp air and spits out super hot air in just a fraction of a second

[@desmond-hawkins]

For anyone curious or looking to gift one of those, this seems to be the one sold on EngineDIY for $55 in their "vacuum engine" category. They have different models, from $55 up to $280.

[@alexwang982]

You can definitely buy this cheap from China for 20 dollars or less😊

[@placitas52]

Nice video. Thanks for explaining it's history and lack of torque. Please do one on the Stirling engine.

[@joshyoung1440]

Eiher he or Steve Mould already has, all you gotta do is hit "search" before you comment lol

[@xmysef4920]

@@joshyoung1440 Yeah, but maybe he wanted *him* specifically to do a video about it

[@chitlitlah]

@@joshyoung1440 Just did a search. Action Lab hasn't done a video on it, and whether Steve Mould has is mostly irrelevant to whether Action Lab should. (I love Steve though.)

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

"Explaining _it is_ history"? Huhh?

[@blueckaym]

@@joshyoung1440 , there's a difference between videos showing something exists and what's the main principle behind it, and dive deeper in how it can be engineered to be more efficient and cheaper. Not sure about the Flame-Licker, but Stirling engines have great potential (not only in efficiency, but also being reversible), and it's only underdeveloped engineering that's left it mostly as kids toy. Not saying that Stirling engines can go in our cars or motorcycles (they most likely won't), but operating on the level that Entropy itself works, and not requiring any burning, makes it great way to harvest temperature differences into usable energy (which can be transferred into a car with electric motor. If you want high torque, high dynamic engine you should go electric anyway).

[@wich1]

Original steam engines worked very much like this, steam would be let into the cylinder which was open on the other end such that the steam could push the cylinder out, then the valve was closed and the atmosphere pushed the cylinder back in as the steam condensed. There existed huge versions of those engines back in the day.

[@ayaderg]

the second generation of steam engines got a bit fancier, where the valve would redirect steam from one side of the piston to the other, so steam was actuating both directions, and then you could start running these at higher than 1 atmosphere of pressure, and this was what was most commonly used on trains

[@wich1]

@@ayaderg that would actually be the third generation. I did not explain myself well enough. In the first generation the steam had essentially no pressure and was not actively pushing the cylinder. Instead it was gravity operating on the pump that would through a beam pull up the cylinder pulling in the steam. Only the atmospheric pressure was actively pushing the cylinder back down due to the vacuum created by the condensing steam. After that you first got the single acting pressurized steam engines which used pressure to push the cylinder one way and momentum of a flywheel to push it back the other way. Then you get the double acting steam engines that you described where steam is used to push the cylinder both ways and the flywheel is only there to maintain a constant angular velocity. In the original steam engines I referred to there isn't even a flywheel.

[@ianreed1528]

They were called 'Newcomen Engines'

[@joshyoung1440]

Check out that stroboscopic effect starting at 1:53! So cool!

[@skeven0]

it has to do with the framerate of the camera, cool effect ;)

[@PraviLukijanJC]

Цео видео има то

[@PraviLukijanJC]

Hello same person

[@clusterstage]

After arguing with another KZbinr about my animation, your video made me feel happy. Never seen an engine like that in real life. Hopefully one day, we can 3D print metal pistons like that.

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

There are metal 3D printers

[@fast-yi9js]

@@thewhitefalcon8539 more than that even, there is specialized resin/fillament for resin and fdm printers that can be burned into solid ceramic and metal parts respectivly using a kiln

[@sarowie]

honestly: 3d printing metal for this is silly. We already have CNC-Lathes for the piston and cylinder and laser cutting for sheet metal. What do you need more? some screws and nuts?

[@clusterstage]

@@sarowie I just want my ramen and a handheld 3D metal printer

[@tomasjosefvela1]

Start at 1:36 it's sort of an optical illusion, it almost seems like the engine and base with the black background are a 2D image being picked up and brought toward the camera instead of the camera being moved closer to the engine as it really is. What a cool unintentional effect. Cool video, this looks like it could be a fun project to build with thee family. Thanks for sharing!

[@keithyinger3326]

Those things are just neat. I've wanted to get one of those models for a long time but just haven't wanted to spend the money yet. As an adult I also think of model of a 4-cylinder engine would be fun to put together and have sitting on your desk that you could start and run.

[@hernancoronel]

Thank you for the video! It would be nice if you could research and explain both the cause of the sparks and also some ways to make it more efficient like adding a hood connected to the engine to keep it hotter and maybe make an upright variation so the flame is better “digested” in the engine. Keep up the great work!

[@pa6552]

so, an external combustion engine :P

[@drewharrison6433]

There are multiple types of external combustion engines, like the Stirling engine. Just like there are multiple types of internal combustion engines, piston and rotary engines being two examples.

[@N330AA]

Believe it or not this is actually an internal combustion engine, as the working fluid (air) is also where combustion takes place. A steam engine is an example of an external CE

[@Speeder84XL]

Really cool! Like a stirling engine, but much simpler.

[@bobby_greene]

I was going to say it's like a Stirling engine without a diaphragm

[@westonding8953]

Nice! Both the science and the history all come together to show off a cool historic invention!

[@johnr5252]

You have one of the best, most educational channels around. Great work!

[@techalyzer]

Also BIG thanks to him for not turning into a bullshit Shorts channel... those things get on my nerves.

[@nameredacted1242]

Not really. You haven't seen Tech Ingredients then. He is just covering some fad he saw elsewhere.

[@techalyzer]

@@nameredacted1242 Technology Connections too, that guy goes really far and in-depth.

[@nameredacted1242]

@@techalyzer THANKS A THOUSAND FOR THE REFERRAL!!! WATCHING SOME OF HIS VIDEOS RIGHT NOW.

[@johnr5252]

@@nameredacted1242 What are you talking about? I find this site to be very interesting and informative. He explains things in easy to understand terms. I don’t need a detailed science lesson with each video.

This is why I love you channel, that was freaking cool! I didn't know about them until now.

[@adamw8469]

Love this! I have a Stirling engine and a steam engine too. Great to teach the kids.

[@richzulewski7185]

In adjusting the size of the flame, can you theoretically stack say four or five engines vertically along the flame to create a lager watt output or would the energy simply cancel itself in using up the power to drive each engine individually?

[@lasskinn474]

well I guess you could. it doesn't really matter though if it's up or sideways as long as that's where the flame and air is going. most effective would be to make some system to shoot the flame only when it's open.

[@nicho7010]

It would be more useful to place multiple engines radially around the flame. If you made the flame larger, it would just lose proportionately more heat.

[@h7opolo]

y'all are correct. the gestalt of your ideas yields a conical formation of engines around the flame.

[@Max_Jacoby]

Even a steam engine is more effective so why bother?

[@kingcosworth2643]

It would probably be more efficient just to make the engine larger in capacity.

[@WhatDadIsUpTo]

I make steam engines for a hobby. Flame lickers are vacuum or suction powered. The cooling cycle "sucks" the piston during the power stroke. Sterling-cycle engines utilize a similar feature in that one piston leads the other by 90 degrees, shuffling a chunk of cool air back and forth.

[@icekk007]

An internal combustion engine peak pressure can reach 200 bar, not 65 bar as you indicated. However if you take about mean effective pressure, internal combustion engines can reach to 30 bar. Typical mean effective pressure is around 20 bar with turbo or superchargers. 10 bar for naturally aspirated engines.

[@AlexandarHullRichter]

Naturally aspirated engines compression test between 160 and 200 psi (depending on engine model). That's usually at cranking speed (

[@AijaSTARS]

What if you surround the flame with multiple fire eater engines? Would that make it viable as an engine?

[@aphelion0000]

@@Dziaji What if we use it for something that doesn't need to move? Electric generator, for example?

[@MammaOVlogs]

very interesting, love it and yes, it does have the coolest name

[@LarryPeteet]

Crazy how fast it runs!

[@StoopidSubaru]

My grandpa built one at MacDonald Douglas with the other machinist. We run it every year at Christmas.

[@notchristianhodges8123]

Capture the lost heat with a sterling engine. Extract every bit of energy you can from the flame.

[@drewharrison6433]

Stirling engine**

[@xPaulie]

James I really really wish I could hire you to build me something I need. With your experience you would figure it out right away. It wouldn't even cost much to build.

[@danbradley7176]

That is so cool! I wonder if it would work rotating in the opposite direction?

[@cerealchild166]

Where did you get the motor and candle from? This is really cool!!!

[@Vares65]

That's really cool. I have never heard of these before. Thanks for the video!

[@marcelinogalicia7612]

That flame engine is most Interesting, Thanks for showing it.

[@JavierBonillaC]

I can’t believe this engine. It is beautiful!

[@kenleehk65]

Great video and never knew that such an engine exists! Is there some kind of lubrication and sealing going on with the whole process? I imagine the sparks flying out might be iron dust from friction between the piston and the cylinder....and if the flame is not burning efficiently, there should be lots of soot being sucked in at the intake valve as well.

[@keithyinger3326]

Since that's a more orange flame, I'm guessing isopropyl alcohol. So my first thought on the sparks flying out was bits of soot from the dirty flame.

[@nikethunner2732]

Often the pistons are made from hard graphite blocks/ rods, that are precision machined. I have never seen one with piston rings, as the friction already would be too much. Also, most of them don't need lubricant. Graphite is self-lubricating. Oil would just further increase friction. For the fuel, mostly pure ethanol is used. It burns almost free from soot and so the engine lasts a long time without cleaning. The flame itself is pretty effieciently, if you can call it that. The reaction is mostly stoichiometric, the ethanol reacts to water vapor and CO2, very low amount of carbon deposits build up.

[@kenleehk65]

@@nikethunner2732 Thank you Sir....explains a lot!

[@joemills255]

Could you make this to charge a cellphone? I am homeless in a tent, this could be helpful. I use candles often for heat. I don't see why this couldn't work. If you do patent this idea.....I only want a home to live. I love watching your videos to pass time. I've learned so much from you. Thank you

[@phoni3819]

Where can we purchase this?

[@SpeedyZN]

Thanks for making videos...your channel is everything I love to learn about

[@RaDeus87]

I wonder if you can power it with concentrated sunlight? 🤔 Using the light to heat an object near the opening should work, since it's the hot air that matters. Perhaps a carbon electrode or a really dark piece of wrought-iron might be a good target?

[@rustyudder]

The flywheel also gives momentum to keep the system in time. All engines have to have forward momentum to keep the whole process timed.

[@Tims_Projects]

Thanks for showing. That was interesting.

[@sidkemp4672]

I think this is also a type of external combustion engine, vs. the internal combusion engine where the explosion is inside the cylinder.

[@godspeed2145]

This is what we should be teaching at school, ingenuity in scaled down models.

[@alamagordoingordo3047]

Great! Never heard of it.

[@Xanderviceory]

I want one of these to set up next to my glass blowing torch

[@High_7]

This can still be used as a fancy table fan. Can work without electricity.

[@telko5545]

“Hold on I gotta warm up the car” *pulls out flamethrower*

[@jbirdmax]

Maybe a two or three (four?) cylinder combination licker/sterling engine would be more efficient?

[@andreykuznetsov7442]

I think it is possible to improve efficiency with one cylinder. Let the fire be in a closed chamber. And the exhaust must be through another hole into the atmosphere. Then all the flame will pass through the engine.

[@knobsdialsandbuttons]

Great video ! 👍

[@SimonBrisbane]

That’s cool. I wonder how you could further optimise the design?

[@BWGPT]

I think the atmosphere is just working like a spring with a force of 1 atmosphere times the area of the piston end. So I reckon you could use a stronger spring and then seal the hot end with the flame and pressurize it to say 2 atmosphere. Then you could upgrade the cooling performance of the engine - with a fan or water cooling for example. You would need to divert power to pressurizing the hot end though. It's the same principle as an internal combustion engine with a turbo or compressor 👍🏻😁

[@FlyingBanana78]

Would be pretty cool to hear your take on the Wankel rotary engine.

[@mike1024.]

Neat little thing! I'd be curious to see it hooked up to something to power it.

[@pegasBaO23]

It's said in the vid the 1atm of pressure difference is enough to power the engine itself and nothing else

[@mike1024.]

@@pegasBaO23 right, it would have to be something small, but that still doesn't mean it wouldn't be interesting!

[@pegasBaO23]

@@mike1024. people in the comments are saying it can power a fan

[@mike1024.]

@@pegasBaO23 let's see it!

[@patrickmchargue7122]

Did this come out before or after the internal combustion engine? If before, I can see how this might have led to the creation of an ICE.

[@lasskinn474]

after, though before what we would consider a carburetor or a spark plug. it's a bit hard to tell though, but anyhow there's an engine before this that inserts turpentine into the engine that turns into vapor and licks a flame on the stroke into it to ignite it. it's a bit hard to tell because those inventors might have come across this but dismissed in the decades prior to it, because there's some more complicated versions of it before it, but I dunno.

[@patrickmchargue7122]

@@lasskinn474 Thanks. Also, I do appreciate the channel and its topics.

[@robertchristensen7950]

It seems to me that the best thing you could do to improve efficiency, is to run a vacuum insulated copper tube to the intake on a 45 degree angle, and run the flam into it.

[@gillib123]

Where can I buy such a model engine like yours? 🙃

[@NavajoNinja]

Just pictured giant versions of this sittin on the edges of lava pools

[@MattH-wg7ou]

I never knew this was a thing! Neat. Thanks for teaching me about this.

[@MarkHivosk]

Love the random engine videos! ❤

[@douglasharley2440]

very interesting, never even heard of it!...much thanks, as always. 😎👍

[@BigKeithDog]

I've heard the term "internal combustion engine" for ever, never considering what an external combustion engine would be. Now I know.

[@lasskinn474]

do a vid of running a 4 stroke in a pressure chamber, like 2+ atm. takes some finagling I guess to devise a system where it doesn't just fill up with exhaust gas (though exhaust needs to be into 2 atm too).

[@UncleKennysPlace]

That's not a problem at all, given a large enough "ecosystem"; an engine doesn't really "care" about the outside pressure. An engine can run at 0.5 bar (I've done that, in airplanes) or > 1.0 (which people have done at sea level and below, on cold days.)

[@rustyudder]

I knew how this one works. Pretty neat.

[@markedis5902]

I think you should make a huge version and attach it to a go cart

[@h7opolo]

your explanation of working principle needs to be a lot more thorough. What is the purpose of the valve opening and closing?

[@mattwedgwood]

Wish you had an affiliate link for the model

[@JohnSmith-td7hd]

Seems like you're putting in a lot more energy than you're getting out.

[@brembobremse3690]

You need a device similar to a carburetor for atomizing and pre-combustion of fuel in the intake manifold and a separate exhaust valve for exhaust gases. Also, the material of the engine head should be less thermally conductive than the material of the cylinder and cooling should occur only of the cylinder itself.

[@hosseindod2538]

Thank you

[@Tie509]

It's like a single external cylinder chamber with a completely open exhaust valve open to the atmosphere

[@SnarkNSass]

Better than being a Bootlicker 😆😂 Love your Sciencey vids.💯😎🧑‍🔬

[@RMCHJC]

ey action lab .. gracias por hacer un canal en español te sigo en tu canal en español de echo, no cabe duda que eu y México estamos unidos en todos los aspectos hasta en estos detalles 👍 somos uno mismo aunque les duela a muchos 👍

[@IorekByrnison086]

Amazing... Simply amazing...

[@simonanderson3961]

That's crazy! I don't get how the gases inside the chamber cool quickly enough for this to run so fast??

[@gkintl]

Almost similar to the toy boat sold in India. It moves on the water very fast when a candle is lit within.

[@ssjtroly]

dont really know anything about this but even though its said in the video its really only powerful enough to drive its own mechanisms it seems like it could spin some magnets so should be able to get a couple volts out of it.

[@TheReaderOnTheWall]

which is best between this and a Stirling Engine?

[@jerotoro2021]

Stirling Engine is far more versatile because it can work on any temperature difference, while a vacuum engine can only work with the pressure and temperature of the atmosphere around it. Also, Stirling engines are simpler and endure less wear and tear, so they last a lot longer.

[@aDifferentJT]

It feels like an open cycle version of a sterling engine

[@Very.Crazy.Math.Pistols]

It's great suitable for electricity generation 👍

[@pandoranbias1622]

Low torque, high RPM. Classic atmospheric engineering.

[@hewsher3304]

great video your channel rocks

[@nuhashrahman8408]

Where do you get these things

[@russchadwell]

How does it stay lubricated?

[@otkirbektoshboyev6935]

Does this engine run without that wheel which is attached to rod?🤔

[@shitzwazowski571]

i must say, I've licked a few flames back in my day...

[@stapuft]

what if you had multiple of those, like 2, or maybe 4, all around the one candle, and working opposite of each other, (re sucks in while le blows out) wouldnt that increase the effeciency of this system and allow you to get more "work" done?

[@Meatball2022]

Can probably make a 4 cyl “opposed” configuration with the flame in the middle. I think the real issue is that it has virtually no torque. I suspect as soon as there is any resistance to that motion, the whole thing stops.

[@mariadefatimajesusdorea3141]

Meegswfu

[@mariadefatimajesusdorea3141]

Ball ysx2Dcwhhc1Labij

[@mariadefatimajesusdorea3141]

@@Meatball2022 Can uggfj Ball ball

[@NoahFromMars223]

where did you get it?

[@RoofAndAMeal4UsAll]

fwiw it isn't running on cooling gasses, it is running on the drawn in plasma state of energy in the flame. The ions and electrons of the flame are sucked into the cylinder where they cannot fill the 3 dimensional space space once the shutter closes - therefore a vacuum is left in their wake, which then draws in the piston.

[@Adam-ou1qp]

I think what this video really taught me is that metal wicks exist.

[@nzoomed]

That's what you call candle power!

[@will_soares10]

what would happen if we put this engine in a high pressure chamber? would the force multiply according to the ATM?

[@thecrazyinsanity]

how efficient / powerful is this compared to a stirling engine?

[@johndoepker7126]

I know this is a bit off topic...but i jus got my Musou Black Hole painting...holy crap on a cracker!!!! It's absolutely beautiful!!! For all you Space, Art and Action Lab Fans out there, it's a seriously awesome piece to add....and Action Lab, we love your work! Thank you !

[@jacquesb5248]

love science!

[@unadomandaperte]

Hi James. Would you make a video compilation of yourself saying 'whoa', 'so cool' and 'holy cow' from your previous uploads? 😉👍

[@cliffmathew]

How about radially arranging many of these to increase efficiency? Same flame, many engines.

[@mtaro8658]

would the engine perform better in a pressure chamber with more atmospheric pressure?

[@therandomman6647]

That beautiful 7% efficiency

[@TxHornyToad]

Would this still operate if you spun the flywheel in the other direction? I would think so.

[@leonardogsperin]

The spectrum imagem is so sublime

[@darrellcook8253]

I guess the size of the engine would be a limiting factor too. But air pressure is its biggest limitation. Still a fascinating device.

[@NwoDispatcher]

Maybe the flame going up could be used to heat up a pressure vessel directly fed into into it that could increase that intake pressure?

[@thefront5871]

Could you attach a small 5v motor and use it to slowly charge your phone at maybe 200mA? Might be useful during a power outage!

[@DaveyMulholland]

Surely could get 5v

[@thefront5871]

@@DaveyMulholland I probably could get 100v but at like 1 nano amp! LoL!

[@Torby4096]

Cool! I never heard of those.

[@Nudnik1]

At one point piston cylinder will get to hot and no more operation also. Excellent demo.

[@camillosteuss]

Not really, the engine can be designed to cool itself down at an optimal rate to keep the upper 3/4 of the cylinder cool enough essentially forever as long as it keeps running... The flywheel itself can be made to act as a fan... That is the least problem that can be amended through decent design... the larger problem is the absolutely meager force the engine produces due to the way it works... And the fact that its very hard to amend that part of it... Just like the manson engine which is very similar in concept to the flame eater... A sterling engine is another thing, as it can be given a decent accessories system and in the right environment geologically, it can produce a greater pressure differential through temperature differential on opposing sides of the engine, but these engines like the manson engine and this one are fundamentally limited in their operating principle to a very low torque production...

[@Nudnik1]

@@camillosteuss true.. radiator cooling fins air cooled . But motor may not make enough power to cool itself with a fan . Evaporator water or convection may do . Good point 👍

[@camillosteuss]

@@Nudnik1 i didnt mean for it to be cooled by condenser, the condenser i was talking about is the part of the steam engine loop that allows it to reuse water rather than steam it off... But a mere air cooled body would do with just the mere passing of air over it... Also, a small radiator connected to a water jacket around the cylinder could be made and cooled by the flywheel ``fan`` at the same time as the steam condenser would be... The water would not need be pumped, as it could be moved by the mere heat accumulation... As some of the oldest engines were cooled... Like the ford model T...

[@Nudnik1]

@@camillosteuss hit miss Antique engines use similar idea. Old John Deere two cylinder tractors had convection cooling no pump oldest just had evaporated tub of water around cylinder. Very wasteful on fuel back then. But fun to fix up. Cool

[@sethreichenbach1444]

So now do a video explaining the difference between this engine and a sterling engine. Thank you.