Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1177: WWI: IC Breakthrough (3/3)

Maha Sangapati was pacing around in the presentation room, feeling nervous, as it had been a little over 20 minutes and no senior researcher had shown up yet. Although it was not uncommon for someone to show up even after an hour, especially at night, Sangapati was far too restless to stop worrying.

Indra Karma, who was the only senior professor in the room, simply sat in the audience seat, still unable to forget the ingenious idea proposed by Sangapati. He fell into deep thought, pondering why no one had thought of such a clever and ingenious idea.

Ten minutes passed, and an elderly man with silver hair walked into the presentation room. His expression looked grim, and his aura was that of someone who was not in a very good mood.

The man looked on with curiosity, wondering who had vouched for the project. When his gaze shifted to the only researcher seated in the room, he was visibly taken aback.

"Professor Indra Karma, I didn’t expect to see you here. It seems this young lad has managed to impress you."

Indra Karma looked around to see who it was, and then his eyes brightened. "Prof Venkatraman, haha, welcome, welcome, and yes, the young man really did impress me with his work, but let’s put that aside. How has your research been? I heard you had an experiment scheduled a few days ago?"

Two senior researchers meeting in the Academy of Military Sciences was a rare sight that occurred only once in a while. Most of the time, unless the organisation itself arranged a discussion forum, senior researchers were absorbed in their own projects and seldom met colleagues of the same rank. That did not mean, however, that they were unaware of each other’s work.

A small newspaper summarising all the latest developments within the research institute was circulated daily throughout the Academy of Military Sciences. For most researchers, reading it each morning had become a routine way to keep track of what was happening across the institute.

So the topics between the two senior professors, Venkataraman and Indra Karma, were endless, and they excitedly talked with each other, putting forward new propositions and discussing new ideas.

Maha Sangapati, throughout the process, simply stood aside like a side character who could not get involved in the main plot, his restless mood not settling. It was not until half an hour later that two more senior researchers came, and he could finally begin, as the requirements were met.

Maha Sangapati finally got to the blackboard, ready to start his presentation, and the researchers, as if in tacit cooperation, quieted down and looked towards the board with curiosity and intrigue. Only Indra Karma was filled with anticipation.

Maha Sangapati is a researcher who likes to sketch out things in his mind rather than write them down, and he has done so many machine drawings that he has become extremely proficient at it. So, in only a few strokes, a chamber was drawn, within which was a piston connected to a crankshaft.

Not all the senior researchers present were majoring in the Department of Mechanics and Machinery, but being senior researchers, they could usually be very good judges of what constitutes a good research topic. So, when they saw that a simple chamber, piston, and crankshaft system had been sketched on the board, their interest piqued even more. Not every day does one see someone wanting to challenge technology that has already been established and refined.

’Can the single piston designed by his majesty the emperor be perfected even more?’ Venkataraman was skeptical, his brows furrowed, but he did not comment and looked onward.

Maha Sangapati, looking ahead at the researchers, finally started. "I am sure everyone here is familiar with the diagram I have drawn on the board."

"Yes, it’s the single piston chamber and crankshaft system from his majesty’s Devaraya steam engine." He paused for a moment and added, "And my proposal involves driving this system not with steam but with combustion."

"!"

All three researchers’ eyebrows were raised, and their eyes widened a little. In all honesty, all of them came to the presentation only because they had been unable to make any breakthroughs in their own research, and they needed something to distract them and relax, but they did not think the presentation they would be attending was going to be so ambitious.

Only Indra Karma, who already knew the basic details, smiled, his eyes outlined with dark circles, looking extremely scary.

"Interesting proposal, please go on," Venkataraman commented as he squinted his eyes and leaned forward in interest.

"Yes, thank you, sir." He picked up another piece of chalk, faced the board, and started to explain. "In a conventional Devaraya engine, the principle of atmospheric pressure is the main driving factor behind the steam engine, the contraction of the steam and the low-pressure environment generated being the heart of the whole process."

"And what I propose is completely removing the dependence on steam entirely and introducing a new method for power generation using combustion of fuel within the chamber itself."

Venkataraman’s expression became thoughtful, and the other two researchers, who were not aware of the whole thing, had their eyes glistening. Placing the power generation system within the chamber itself is a novel idea, and they looked forward to hearing more.

Maha Sangapati was very satisfied and excited that the senior researchers were paying such close attention to him, so in his enthusiasm, he cleaned the board at a faster speed and quickly drew back the chamber, piston, and crankshaft system at a speed that was several times faster than before.

"My idea of how such a system can be achieved is simple."

"The chamber will have two valves, one inlet and one exhaust."

"The inlet valve is where the fuel mixed with air enters the chamber, while the exhaust valve carries away the products of combustion, which are mostly exhaust gases."

"I have envisioned this system to operate in four stages."

He quickly drew four separate chambers with four pistons, each shown in a different position.

"The first stage, or the first stroke as I like to call it, is the intake stroke. In this stroke, the piston, which starts at rest and fully extends inward as shown in the diagram, is pulled downward. This creates a low-pressure area, allowing air and fuel to enter the chamber."

"The second stage, or the compression stroke, occurs when the piston that was pulled down is pushed back up, compressing the air and fuel into a small space."

"The third stroke is where combustion occurs, so I call it the power stroke. In this stage, a spark ignites the compressed air fuel mixture, causing a controlled mini explosion that drives the piston down with great force."

To demonstrate, he clenched his fist and slammed it into his palm.

"The next stroke follows as the piston rebounds upward from the force of the explosion. By this point, combustion has already ended, and the exhaust gases are expelled through the exhaust valve. Once the piston returns to its starting position, a full cycle of my four-stroke system is complete, and the process begins again."

"In this way, a new engine, completely different from the steam engine, can be built."

The researchers were silent for a long time, making Maha Sangapathy extremely nervous, but thankfully, the next moment he got applause from all four researchers, making him flattered. He did a namaskar and gave them a bow.

"A very good idea, an excellent idea, an excellent proposal," Venkatapathy did not hold back and praised the proposal.

"Indeed, it is a very novel yet feasible idea," another researcher responded.

"If my judgement is correct, then this internal combustion power system might actually be way more efficient than the steam engine."

"I had a similar judgment, and yes, it is easy to see why. This is a completely self-isolated system where the power generation happens in a single place, leaving no room for loss of efficiency due to transportation of energy."

Without any surprise, his proposal was passed, and the research was established after the four researchers signed the establishment document, but they were far too excited by the novel idea to stop, so they discussed the topic enthusiastically for several moments.

"It’s an ingenious concept, but practically, is it feasible?" Venkataraman suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" Indra Karma asked.

"Well, for the first two strokes, where does the energy come from? It won’t automatically complete the first two strokes, will it?"

Hearing this question, Maha Sangapathy, who had joined the conversation, was stumped. This was one of the problems he had thought of when he was sketching the draft, but he was too excited at that time to consider all these practical things.

But to his surprise, he did not have to answer at all. Prof Harish Malhotra shook his head and answered, "It can be done manually."

"Huh, are you sure?"

"Sure," Harish nodded.

"Since this is a self-contained system, the only thing that has to rotate is the crankshaft itself, and since the crankshaft is directly connected to the piston, that will rotate as well, so in reality, rotating it manually should not be a big problem."

"However, what I am worried about is, or rather, it looks like there is a loophole in the proposal. If we have to manually do the first two strokes and the power stroke is the third stroke, will we have to manually do the first two strokes again?"

This immediately caused everyone to look at Maha Sangapathy, because if this issue is not solved, the project is not worth researching at all. Thankfully, Sangapathy had an idea of how to solve this. "This is actually not a big problem, sir. The power of the miniature explosion in the third stroke is immense, and since the crankshaft is heavily lubricated, the power generated from the third stroke alone should be enough not only to power the remaining three strokes, but it should also be able to generate quite a bit of power."

This left everyone thoughtful, and Hemanth Mitra, who was a senior researcher in the Department of Chemistry, nodded with a little calculation. "It is indeed feasible. If the fuel is dense enough, then it is possible to power the remaining three strokes from the power stroke alone, but the fuel selection must be done carefully, and the measurement of the energy generated at each explosion should be calculated precisely, and the amount of fuel and air input should be precise as well."

More ideas began to be generated, and the theoretical loopholes were quickly being plugged.

"What about the spark that sets the combustion to happen in the first place? There needs to be a spark, isn’t it?" Indra Karma suddenly asked, leaving everyone silent for the second time, until Venkatapathy suddenly got an idea.

"We can use a dynamo."

"Huh?"

"Prof Venkatapathy, what are you suggesting?"

Everyone was confused.

Venkatapathy understood that his words led to misunderstanding, so he immediately explained. "I’m not talking about the large full-sized one. I’m talking about whether a smaller dynamo could be created. It could be attached straight to the crankshaft as well, so when the crankshaft rotates, the dynamo should be able to produce electrical sparks enough to start the combustion. We just have to time it right."

"Hmm. It is feasible, but I think there is another solution." Hemant suddenly got an idea. "There are certain fuels that would ignite at high pressure, so theoretically, if the right fuel is used, the ignition can happen during the compression itself."

Several eyes lit up. They felt that this idea was very good, but Indra Karma put forward a limitation. "While it is technically feasible, it also narrows down the fuels that can be used to a very limited selection."

"Hmm. That’s true. Then we can always directly use live fire, going directly into the chamber to start the ignition. While it may lead to a loss of efficiency, it’s definitely much simpler to implement."

"That’s a good idea. Maybe that can be used for experimentation, as it indeed seems quite easy to implement."

"Hey, how about directly integrating the flintlock mechanism?"

"Huh!?"

"Think about it. The mechanism could be directly integrated with the crankshaft, and it could be timed so that it only operates on the third stroke of each cycle. So when the third stroke hits, the flintlock mechanism is put into play, and it immediately causes a spark within the chamber, starting the ignition."

"The flintlock technology is already very mature. We can use this, right?"

"...."