Hybrid Stirling engine/reflective panel array

[Howard]

What do you think?

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,20967,1018934,00.html

EDIT: Mistake in title duly noted.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Looks interesting..... I'm not sure if driving a 4-cylindar engine is the most efficient way of turning heat into rotational energy, but hey, if it works....

Now the only problems are: you have to put it somewhere where there's a lot of hot sun, and the environmentalists won't be happy that you're gonna take over a big chunk of land to build these wierd-looking dishes.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
Looks interesting..... I'm not sure if driving a 4-cylindar engine is the most efficient way of turning heat into rotational energy, but hey, if it works....

Now the only problems are: you have to put it somewhere where there's a lot of hot sun, and the environmentalists won't be happy that you're gonna take over a big chunk of land to build these wierd-looking dishes.

Environmentalists? Won't they be happy we're not pumping more crap into the atmosphere?

You could always put them into deserts. Electricity would be very useful there.

 

[MadEye2]

You'd think, but many of these Environmentalist types hold more passion than they do rational thought.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Howard
What do you think?

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,20967,1018934,00.html

Hmmm... I wonder how hard it would be to build one from scratch??

IIRC, creating parabolic mirrors isn't difficult (do they need to be glass? Couldn't the surface simply be covered with a foil type of application?

Hmmm...
Wind and water power first for me... projects I'm undertaking during the next few years
Gonna have my own stream in a few days, and a drop of about 4 meters across my property.

 

[SuperTool]

This has been done so long ago in Russia. My father used to work on that back in the 80's when he worked for Astrophysica. They even had one on display at Moscow fairgrounds.
I also know another guy who lives here now and has built some of these for antarctic expeditions and tested them there. He couldn't find a job building these in the US, so apparently there isn't much interest.
http://www.solto.ru/Solar&LightOptics/SolarInstallations_eng.htm
BTW, those aren't solar panels, they are just mirrors that reflect light into the focus where there is a boiler for the sterling engine.