An excellent place to start, two or three years ago we had a energy fair in the city hall of our small town and one item was solar water heating tubes, if I recall correctly they were about 4' long and cost around $50.00 each. I don't remember details but the number of BTUs produced to get close to 5KW comparison was cheaper than solar cells and I think temperatures were around 180 - 200 degrees F (I believe black-body heating can get much hotter).
Also things are getting better in the price department, but changing that heat into work energy is key to everything.
Heat will lower the performance of a solar grid, so anything to keep the heat removed will help, but most things cost more in energy than what is prevented from loss.
I have not seen a solar grid assembled and sealed in some type of oil, does anyone know if that might be on the market? if not, then a circulating system could be designed and warm oil moved through a cold refrigerant where it can produce a pressure in the generating cycle.
My thoughts revolve around moving heat from cold to hot, then pulling small quantities out of the natural and spontaneous flow that takes place as the heat returns to a natural and equilibrium state.
I will try to describe what I think will work using the natural temperature of water around a boat, the temperature of the air (you might start loving those 100 degree days (and hot nights)) the peak temperature the sunshine can generate into different things and how to retain almost every bit of work energy put into compressing air.
For those that don't like thermodynamics, I'll make another post that is only mechanics (unless someone wants to remove some heat from the idea).
Later
Ron
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Robert D. Wilson" <bob@...> wrote:
>
> Ron,
>
> One of my concerns has been how to utilize the excess heat generated under
> solar panels. Solar panels are very inefficient converting only 20 - 30
> percent of the energy falling on them to electricity and the balance is
> waste heat. Would love to find some way of capturing that waste heat and
> using it to generate more electricity.
>
> Bob Wilson
> Backpacker 38
> Building in Richmond, BC
>
> On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 9:13 AM, Ron <rlgravel@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I had hoped for a higher figure, but it is what it is :)
> > For me the line of thought started in the 60's watching Cousteau and
> > thinking about how neat to have a submarine and not need a surface support
> > team along with all the expenses and dependence on good weather.
> > Lack of funds and a dedication to family has held it to only dreams, but
> > along the way (I'm a slow learner) I have picked up thoughts based on what I
> > have used (physically and mechanically) in several different lines of work,
> > but almost always my focus of thinking was how to save wasted heat or make
> > use of it.
> > The results of all those years of thinking has led to many possibilities
> > about picking up crumbs of wasted energy and recovering mechanically or
> > generating small amounts of electricity, this has been the focus of so many
> > post by this group (battery charging and regen methods) which all goes to
> > one basic word "Heat".
> >
> > Heat is all around us in many areas and the intensity varies quite a bit
> > from the water a boat floats in, to the hot exhaust pipes of an IC engine,
> > collecting heat is not a big problem but designing a machine to utilize the
> > heat collected, represents a challenge that most people will shy away from
> > for many reasons. I think charging batteries can be a 24 hours action and of
> > course always better when the sun is shining
> >
> > Before I go into any depth of conversation, I need to ask if anyone wants
> > me to continue or is this a taboo topic ? I will share a few thoughts but I
> > generally have a very hard time conveying my thoughts in a manor that is
> > easy for others to see and I do have some design work on-going, but have run
> > low on enthusiasm.
> >
> > Ron
> >
> > --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com <electricboats%40yahoogroups.com>,
> > Samuel Shallard <sshallard@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Not quite sure where this line of thought started but here goes.
> > > I line in ME
> > > Surface water temp in the ocean currently varies for 55-65 deg.
> > > I winter that will drop to the mid to low 30's. We may get freezing
> > > close to land.
> > > Water down deeper is 50 degrees.
> > > One thing that happens with tides is that on incoming tides the
> > > deeper water will upwell around anomolies such as ledge and bring the
> > > cold water to the surface.
> > > Interestingly if you get offshore into the Gulfstream the water temp
> > > jumps into the 70's
> > > There are web sites with the information on buoys that giver surface
> > > water temps and temps at depth for the gulf of ME and probably most
> > > of the US.
> > > Most changes in temp in lake water occurs in the top 20 ft. Out lakes
> > > vary a lot depending on depth and whether they are spring fed.
> > > Groundwater is usually 55-60 degrees so spring fed lakes may stay on
> > > the 60's while surface water fed may be up to 80 degrees. Around here
> > > they all freeze in the winter.
> > > On Aug 6, 2010, at 4:48 PM, Ron wrote:
> > >
> > > > In general I think there is an average temperature of surface
> > > > water, but I'm wondering what kind of difference there is from warm
> > > > to cold represented by the members of this group in their different
> > > > locations ?
> > > > Also how much of a change with the seasons ?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks for any feed back.
> > > >
> > > > Ron
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
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