Paul Crumpler wrote:Well the most simple way of turning wind energy to hot water is to just turn a water pump shaft and circulate water through a closed system such as an insulated tank. All of the shaft power of the pump that moves the water is turned to heat. You can actually buy hot tubs that have no heater. They just cycle the pump on and off to heat and maintain water temperature. My hot tub now has a heat pump. However, if I forget to turn the high speed water pump off, the hot tub can hit 55 degrees C or 131 degrees F.
Glenn Herbert wrote:While steam can certainly power many things, Nancy was talking about a running stream of water...
Nancy Reading wrote:I think I'm getting my head round this.....
So we have two linked stirling devices, with the cold end of the engine in the stream, and the cold end of the heat pump in the refrigerator. The hot end of the engine is increased by a solar lens/black box, giving a larger temperature difference, and the hot end of the heat pump is still the air. So the engine rotation powers the pump which cools the refrigerator.
My physics is pretty rusty but it seems like it might work. According to the video the efficiency decreases with temperature difference, so you wouldn't get as much out as one would hope though.
On a tangent, I wonder whether you could use the hydro power of the stream to power a heat pump.....Now there's a separate thread subject, I wonder if we have another one on stirling heat pumps....
John C Daley wrote:I got lost somewhere in this article.
I have to ask, did the picnikers have cold coffee by the time they understood what they were demonstrating?
John C Daley wrote: - what is the distance between the fridge and the cool stream?
John C Daley wrote:- will the picnickers sit near the stream with the mosquitos or in the sun 100ft away?
John C Daley wrote:- what device will exiting between the stream and the fridge?
John C Daley wrote:- How many picnickers are there so I can replicate the experiment?
Bill Kearns wrote:For a long time I've been cogitating (that's what old codgers do ... cogitate) on determining the best method to turn kinetic energy directly into heat ... specifically how to directly heat water with wind energy. Most of the ideas I've seen involve generating electricity to power resistance heating elements, but this is SO inefficient!