open source energy generation

[ctoon6]

i am still revising stuff, but you can still post

I was recently thinking and explaining about an idea i had on making and storing small amounts of energy through simple mechanics and principals. Overall it will end up being good engineering and an example of crowd sourced labor. we will have a working publication of everything you need to make said device, and instructions on how to use the stuff. or so i hope

To put it simply, we each have skills and talents in many different areas. what if we each donated an hour or so to make a bigger thing. in this case a device to make some electricity from sunlight. we would discuss how it would function, what to make it of and such. then people with the skill and ability would draft out sketches, then someone else would make rough models. then someone else would do documentation. in short, if enough people donated a little time and skill to one thing, we would have something that benefits everyone. anyone with the ability to build this thing could, without fear of patents and silly stuff that prevents the creation of great things, even if it is as little as making electricity to run a toaster, its a start.

the goal is to make a device that is licensed to not be able to be patented, or we patent it and allow it to be used without nonsense.

some rough idea of this is the use of mirrors to reflect light on a central point that gets hot. this should be able to work with 1-10 mirrors that are 1m square each(this can change i think). to change the heat into some other energy i was thinking of using a Stirling engine. then using the Stirling engine to make electricity from the rotational movement.

for storing energy, i would opt for a flywheel. i pick this because it is very simple and can easily be scaled. in addition, its green and will not loose its charge capacity over time, and can be made out of almost anything circular(even an old tire i guess, but that would not work very well).

here is a list that i think is logical to run in.

1. discuss what to make
2. draft out roughly what it will look like
3. make more detailed decisions
4. make a "final" or working publication

in the current stage of development, which has nothing i will post some ideas and examples of stuff i find useful. along with other stuff others have come up with.

mirrors to aim sunlight on a central point
hydrogen and oxygen --> combustion energy storage
flywheel for energy storage
Stirling engine to change heat to rotational movement

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[deslok]

i'm trying to imagine how long/how much energy could be stored in a resonably sized flywheel. a better solution perhaps would be to focus said solar energy on the stirling engine to generate electricy storing hydrogen and oxygen from electrolized water in pressuraized tanks afaik although non trivial it's possible to fire traditional combustion generators off the proper mixture of these gasses

[ctoon6]

i'm trying to imagine how long/how much energy could be stored in a resonably sized flywheel. a better solution perhaps would be to focus said solar energy on the stirling engine to generate electricy storing hydrogen and oxygen from electrolized water in pressuraized tanks afaik although non trivial it's possible to fire traditional combustion generators off the proper mixture of these gasses

i agree that you would get more storage out of that, however it would require you to constantly refill the water? or is it able to be recycled? why do you choose making an engine out of the hydrogen and oxygen instead of using it as a fuel cell (requires Pt i think).

how big is reasonably sized? about a car tire? a bucket?

in reality, if you want the energy to be kept for longer than an hour, you need to have it suspended inside a vacuum chamber with magnets. i can see that costing quite a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV_b5oMqc2M

that is just a small weight and it can power a flashlight for a little while.

[deslok]

Resonable sized would be about 5 foot in diameter at most anything much larger becomes too unwieldly and too large residentally. as far as why an engine yes platinum is damn expensive combustion will produce water as a byproduct which can be re electrolized however if you live anywhere it rains you could always collect rainwater as well

[ctoon6]

Resonable sized would be about 5 foot in diameter at most anything much larger becomes too unwieldly and too large residentally. as far as why an engine yes platinum is damn expensive combustion will produce water as a byproduct which can be re electrolized however if you live anywhere it rains you could always collect rainwater as well

went on ahead and added your idea to the list. any other ideas are welcome.