First Prototype

This prototype number 1 has a very simple operation but its construction is very complex. The materials needed are:
 test tube;
 Base in wood shavings;
 Support in iron;
 Candle;
 Support for candle;
 Wire;
 Perforated cork;
 Glass syringe;
 Metal balls;
 Silicone tube;
 Tape Insulation;
 Spring damping impacts;
 rawlplug;

First attempt:

As we previously said the building would not be easy and it was proved in the first attempt. The engine did not work, but this attempt has allowed us to ascertain the possible errors that were being committed. After a thorough analysis can identify some errors:

• Use of a syringe of plastic instead of glass syringe that we wanted. The plastic syringe is not very recommended since it has lots of friction when working properly. Not so with the glass syringe, because they are built in an almost perfect insulation, but do not have friction.

Second attempt:

In this second attempt we perfected the shortcomings found in the first attempt, we replaced the plastic syringe with a glass syringe and, in fact, as expected we have noted an improvement in the system. Surprisingly, the engine did not work, so we had to return to perform tests on the engine. To identify possible leaks the engine drowned in a bowl of water and soon we could see its countless air leaks. The photo of this test can be seen in the photo gallery. Errors found:

Leaks in · stopper (the cork was not airtight as we thought and that all our work undertaken to date) and at the junction of the cork with the tube.

Third attempt:

We have modified the prototype at the cork stopper, because it wasn’t isolating our system as we want. This time, before starting the third attempt we chose to do a system test to verify that there was no leakage. This test has proved useful as the prototype disapproved, this time because of the small crack that had the test tube have extended due to high temperature that was submitted in previous attempts.
  Also detected a small leak at the junction between the glass syringe and rubber tube . We solved this problem by connecting the rubber tube by syringe pressure and will not tightened with a wire as before.
We forecast for the next attempt a replacement of the test tube and we are expecting positive results. The photo of this attempt can be seen below.

Fourth attempt:

In our fourth attempt we replaced the candles by alcohol lamps which allowed us to increase the heat output.  We Also added a metal ball (like the previous)  into the system to better balance the displacement of the masses. Motor still did not match the way we wanted and we obtained only four rotations. We discovered then that the equilibrium point had not be well calculated. We decided to recalculate the balance. We found that this aspect is the most important in the system. You cannot build an efficient engine without a proper equilibrium point.
As we expected after that the engine worked perfectly! We still have some minor refinements and engine will be ready.