Super Soaker Inventor Hopes to Double Solar Efficiency 288
mattnyc99 writes "With top geeks saying photovoltaic cells are still four years away from costing as much as the grid, and the first U.S. thermal power plant just getting into production, there's plenty of solar hype without any practical solution that's efficient enough. Until Lonnie Johnson came along. The man who invented the Super Soaker water gun turns out to be a nuclear engineer who's developed a solid-state heat engine that converts the sun's heat to electricity at 60-percent efficiency—double the rate of the next most successful solar process. And his innovation, called the Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Conversion (JTEC) system, is getting funding from the National Science Foundation, so this is no toy. From the article: 'If it proves feasible, drastically reducing the cost of solar power would only be a start. JTEC could potentially harvest waste heat from internal combustion engines and combustion turbines, perhaps even the human body. And no moving parts means no friction and fewer mechanical failures.'"
Not sure about this... (Score:4, Interesting)
How about the waste heat from my CPU/GPU? (Score:4, Interesting)
I didn't know that (Score:3, Interesting)
I would think that most of it would be because combustion is a woefully inefficient way of raising air pressure. Air compression should not be causing too much loss because that energy can be largely recovered on the power stroke. (except for ring blow-by (minimal) and compression-related-heat soaking into the cyl. wall) Valvetrain loss should only be due to cam friction (which is reduced by oil), as the energy required to compress the valve springs should be mostly returned when the valves are released.
SirWired
Re:How about the waste heat from my CPU/GPU? (Score:3, Interesting)
What about Carnot Efficiency? (Score:3, Interesting)
Harvesting waste heat from a 98-degree human operating in even a 30 degree environment is only 13% efficient, at maximum. I just don't see it being real useful to try and harvest waste heat from an ICE or turbine. If a power-plant turbine had useful exhaust steam, they would already be using it to turn another turbine I expect.
The fact it has no moving parts is nice, but how high could the efficiency possibly go?
SirWired
Energy consumption is social justice (Score:4, Interesting)
It's like geothermal... but different... (Score:3, Interesting)
Where is the Hydrogen Coming From? (Score:3, Interesting)
Nanotech Version (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:How about the waste heat from my CPU/GPU? (Score:3, Interesting)
Insulation works by slowing the heat down enough that at some point the temperture reverses and so does the heat flow.
So if they turn heat into Elec, that then gets used in the house, and generating waste heat, then they have a really poor R-value. Your still knocking the overall heat load down, but thats to world view for R to handle.
If you use the elec. for outdoor applications then well your talking more reflective or thermal cavity type barrier.
Re:Not sure about this... (Score:4, Interesting)
You cycle it (Score:4, Interesting)
What actually happens is the hydrogen is ionized, meaning the protons which make up the nucleus of hydrogen are separated from the electrons. The protons pass through a proton-permeable membrane and flow to the cold side through a tube. The electrons are collected by anodes and forced to travel through an electrical load to the other side in order to recombine with the protons.
I'm honestly not sure of the specific details beyond that. I suspect hydrogen is used because it consists of only a proton and an electron. No pesky neutrons getting in the way and sapping energy with their mass without contributing a charge. I have no idea how they deal with hydrogen embrittlement or anything like that, because I suspect it would be a worse problem dealing with ionized hydrogen, but it may be a surmountable one.
Based on how little information there is on the webpage, I'm guessing this project isn't very far along. At face value it sounds technically feasible, but I'll wait until they start reporting actual performance data to get excited about it.
Electric input ? (Score:2, Interesting)
On the hot side, heat is absorbed and electricity is produced.
Why would the electricity output be greater than the input.
Also, in a fuel cell, one chemical reaction is Hydrogen => Proton + Electron, the other side of the barrier is Proton + Oxygen + Electrons => Water.
How come this engine can regenerate Hydrogen on the other side of the barrier while the Fuel Cell has to use Oxygen to produce waste water ?
Re:Second Law of Thermodynamics (Score:3, Interesting)
The Kalina cycle [wikipedia.org] engine uses an ammonia+water mixture as its working fluid for that reason. Also, the reference in that article claims the mixture boils at a range of temperatures instead of at a specific point, but does not say why.
Peer review at NSF - Too all with BS alarms (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:2, Interesting)
[snip]
> so yeah, i wouldn't hold my breath on this 'still working' at 600 degrees when the guy who
> invented it hasn't gotten to those temperatures yet.
How negative can you get?
This is not "fusion in a jam jar"; unlike that debacle, this guy's homepage explains the process in terms of well-understood theory. I haven't done any engineering thermodynamics since university, but it sounds believeable. No pretty cycle diagrams to help me, though; experts may say different.
Peer review pending, Mr Johnson seems to have discovered a phenomenon that harnesses known laws of physics in a new way, i.e. this is new *science*. Thermodynamic theory says that the the potential efficiency can only increase with temperature, so expanding the operating envelope (e.g. raising/lowering the temperature limits) is probably a "simple" matter of development, new materials, etc; i.e. technology, and time.
The potential to reclaim waste heat has enormous implications; but even where JTECs can't compete on efficiency, other factors such as low-zero maintenance and reduced costs could make this a desirable technology. For example, elimination of steam turbines would make even classic power generation cheaper, while simultaneously increasing the safety of nuclear power specifically. Nuclear fusion immediately becomes more viable, too.
Another beauty of this system is that it's viral - its introduction can be staggered, maximising the efficiency and useful life of existing capital investment. No need to replace your local power station, just stick a JTEC on the waste heat output line...and refit those ugly cooling towers for alternative duty, e.g. a warehouse (or simply sell off the real estate!).
JTECs could revolutionise space exploration, too; the extremely sharp differential between heat/cold outside our atmosphere is an environment that's ideal for any kind of heat pump. Increase the amount of power available to a space mission and you increase its capability proportionally. Moonbase Alpha, anyone?
Make no mistake; the possibilities of this are HUGE, much bigger than implied in TFA.
C