solar turbine update

[Marcin Jakubowski]

Bob, and Solar Turbine Group,

Please review and comment on the initial feasibility work towards a 3kW solar turbine:

http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/?p=423

Marcin

--
----
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-- Robert A. Heinlein

[Lee]

Hi Marcin,

I'm excited about the solar work you're doing.

Just by way of introduction, I'm an accountant from Sydney,
Australia. I spent a lot of time the last couple of years looking
into & experimenting with small solar thermal systems. I basically
went through the kind of steps you did experimenting with parabolic
troughs & Mylar & running into the same problems you did. I think
glass mirrors are definitely the way to go along with the linear
fresnel arrangement. I love your use of flat mirrors & your receiver
design.

It's a refreshing change to see someone who is focussed on the
financial viability of solar thermal before getting carried away with
the technology. I think you're performance numbers are for the most
part pretty realistic. I did some financial & performance modeling
for some of my experiments with evacuated tube systems. I pumped
your system's numbers into it. This is for a CHP residential
application. Thought you might like to see the results. You can
download the excel sheet here: http://www.onlineaccountingservices.com.au/solar/SolarTurbine.xls
Note in particular the seasonal graph. Here is where one of the main
problems with solar thermal manifests - there is a mismatch between
supply & demand.

Anyway. Do you have any members in Australia? I might like to be
involved in some way if you are looking for help.



Regards,


Lee Wright.

















On Nov 20, 2:40 am, "Marcin Jakubowski" <joseph.dolit...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Marcin Jakubowski]

On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 6:27 PM, Lee <lwr...@intercoast.com.au> wrote:

Hi Marcin,

I'm excited about the solar work you're doing.

Just by way of introduction, I'm an accountant from Sydney,
Australia.   I spent a lot of time the last couple of years looking
into & experimenting with small solar thermal systems.   I basically
went through the kind of steps you did experimenting with parabolic
troughs & Mylar & running into the same problems you did.    I think
glass mirrors are definitely the way to go along with the linear
fresnel arrangement.   I love your use of flat mirrors & your receiver
design.

It's a refreshing change to see someone who is focussed on the
financial viability of solar thermal before getting carried away with
the technology.   I think you're performance numbers are for the most
part pretty realistic.    I did some financial & performance modeling
for some of my experiments with evacuated tube systems.  

Lee and others:

Tell us more about the evacuated tubes. Are they your collectors, without concentration? Do you have any pictures?

Right now, I don't know anybody doing this work near you. We will be holding a convergence - 2nd one - at Factor e Farm in mid 2009 to implement the design at about $3k cost. You can donate to that project at

http://factorefarm.org/view/help/donations

Please pass this link on to others - we're basically crowd funding the project. We discussed the basic plan, including tooling, at

http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/?p=406

Marcin
http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/

[Lee]

Hi Marcin,

I did do some work with using an evacuated tube in one of my troughs.
The problem is that most tubes have to be tilted at at least 20
degrees. I was using water inside the tube to overcome this problem
but the experiment ended when the tube exploded! I've since been
more keen on using tubes without concentration. If you shop around
they are pretty cheap. Mine was $500 for 1 sqm collection area. They
have a lot of advantages. There's no moving parts, they're simple,
thermal efficiency is around 60%, they last a long time & used
normally they are surprisingly tough. If you were using them on a
large scale the price is around $250sqm including the plumbing.
Anyway here's some pics.

http://www.freewebs.com/lwright/apps/photos/album.jsp?albumID=491609

Also I've now got my trough pictures working:
http://www.onlineaccountingservices.com.au/solar/Lee'sSolarTrough.htm
http://www.onlineaccountingservices.com.au/solar/Lee'sSolarTroughPart2.htm

Regards,


Lee.













On Nov 21, 2:37 pm, "Marcin Jakubowski" <joseph.dolit...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Marcinhttp://openfarmtech.org/weblog/

[Vinay Gupta]

you have spam. bad spam.

http://groups.google.com/group/solar-turbine

Vinay

-- 

Vinay Gupta

Free Science and Engineering in the Global Public Interest

http://hexayurt.com - free/open next generation human sheltering

http://hexayurt.com/plan - the whole systems, big picture vision

Gizmo Project VOIP : (USA) 775-743-1851

Skype/Gizmo/Gtalk  : hexayurt

Icelandic Cell     : (+354) 869-4605

"If it doesn't fit, force it."

On Nov 21, 2008, at 3:37 AM, Marcin Jakubowski wrote:

[Michael Koch]

yeah, you all need to close the group to membership and have a moderator....

that would fix it.

michael koch

--
Michael Koch
Oregon State University
Mechanical Engineering Grad Student
OSU Energy Efficiency Center

Cell: 417.483.4244
Fax: 541.737.5035