idk whether it’s actually called that way. i was researching what is the simplest possible combustion engine, i.e. something that turns heat energy into mechanical energy. i stumbled across the newcomen engine which is said to be even simpler than the watt steam engine. however, even then, there were even simpler historical precedents. and one of them is depicted in the graphic that i made above. it’s also described in the newcomen engine wikipedia article (section “Precursors”).
next i’m gonna calculate the efficiency. it’s somewhere around 5% actually, assuming operational pressure of 2 bar, which means 1 kWh of heat energy turns into 0.05 kWh of mechanical work. not thaat bad. i did a rough calculation already, now i’m gonna refine the formula.
Cool! I know the complexity of its design and operation are off the charts, but I recently learned how nuclear power plants work - or, at least the ones with boiling water reactors - and it’s AMAZING. It’s principally the same, except “fission and radioactive decay heats water” instead of “fire heats water”.
All of them spin turbines! Some just heat other stuff than water, and then transfer that heat to water to spin the turbine.
I guess one exeption would be a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, but I don’t really think those count as power plants…