Comments on: Contracting Wires Harness Sun’s Rays

By: Ergosum

Ergosum — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:01:10 +0000

It’s true that this method is absurdly expensive and impractical and that won’t yield much energy, but regarding its validity I think it’s basically sound.

1) The solar rays will concentrate along a focal line. The tungsten cables will transit through this region, one at a time. This is good.

2) In the interval between the passage of each cable, the sun will heat the tank. This is bad.

3) Of course the water must circulate and remain at the lowest possible temperature.

This is a typical thermal machine that works through the transmission of heat from a hot fountain (the mirror’s focal line) and a cold fountain (the water). It will yield more usable energy if the temperature interval increases.

By: jayessell

jayessell — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:01:50 +0000

I saw something like that.
It used rubber bands.
It looked like a bicycle wheel.
It ran on as little as a 3 degree temperature gradient.
Not sure if it could be scaled up to be useful.

By: Rick Auricchio

Rick Auricchio — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:31:43 +0000

After a while, the cold water won’t be very cold any more. At that point, the machine will stop.

One wonders if the machine could do any other work aside from simply rotating its own drum!

By: Stannous

Stannous — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:26:21 +0000

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that like the mechanical television:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_television
this is a case of people from the Steam Age not being quite able to wrap their minds around direct electrical transmission.
Using solar to generate electricity either by photochemical means or by turning a generator is much simpler, more dependable, and probably more efficient.