On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 16:39:01 -0500, Jeff Wisnia wrote:


AFAIK sodium filled valve stems operated on the thermosyphon principle.
The sodium "absorbed" heat by evaporating at the part of the stem near
the valve head and delivered it to the other end where the sodium
condensed and the heat it gave off was transferred out through the valve
guides.

Somewhat similar to "heat pipes" but without the wick inside:

http://www.thermacore.com/hpt.htm

Thanks for all the responses. As food for thought, what got me
looking at IC engine valves was the idea to remove the cam, rocker
arms, lifters, and etc. and replace it all with computer controlled
solenoid actuators. Needless to say, someone is already working on
this, with several enticing prototypes under his/her belt:

http://rbowes1.11net.com/dbowes/index.htm

That's almost exactly the idea that I'd had! Neat!


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