This is literally so cool I just searched it up because of that one dude who’s putting rucks under the fresnel ray. I hope someone can revive this 15 years later with more advanced technology!
Hi, Baby steps, I have a big steam engine that grabs about 1/2 hp with a moderate load 250 watts. It needs some work. The cool thing is everything in the video was invented well over 100 years ago. Thank You for the comment.
Yes, it is possible. If you put a car radiator or something that could dissipate the heat of the vapor really quickly at the exhaust of the steam engine, like blucapone said of using the ice bucket. Also put a gravity return line to the bottom of the boiler, it is possible to use the same water infinitely with perfect seals. I am not sure how big the radiator would have to be it would depend on the outside temperature. The vapor must condense or everything stops in a closed system.
I think it is to turn sunlight into rotational power. I build model steam engines and the fact he is running them on the power of the sun is simply amazing. that steam engine could power a fan to push air through a solar collector and push warm air into a house or remote cabin for heating. the possibility is endless as long as the sun shines. :)
Yea, I'm thinking we use heliotropic/focal arms to focus it in on it and actually get legit totally sun-paid for energy. It could surely power the arm, and store extra.
Some of the negative comments on here are simply stunning. He shows you some of the potential of concentrated sunlight, and some of you make snide comments. OK, here's a free bit for you all. How about using a Fresnel lens to heat a Thermal Electric Generator? You could easily get a usable amount of electricity from that. Look up TEGs (Thermal Electric Generators) They're cheaper than solar voltaic. Excellent work Green Power Science is doing.
Hi, Below the email above the Fresnel information is a link Steam Boiler. Thank You for the question. Please let me know what you think. If it makes sense.
boggles the mind , this seem like a very viable concept for everyones backyard power needs--a little larger scale, but why not ? i am not an engineer or scientist, how big would something like this have to be to power the average home ?--heating water-creating electricity- running pumps..... on & on & on ----i like it ! thanks
Dan, I'm curious to see if you can make a 'man-made rainbow.' Focusing the Fresnel on a prism and directing the light through a lawn sprinkler. BAM! Instant rainbow from hell... vaporize leprechauns or just impress the kids...
Hi, With water in the pipe, I would guess at least a year. Steel does not melt in volumes larger than 1 oz. with a Fresnel Lens. With water added, not a concern. Thank You, GreenPowerScience
No, I just found the steam engines I had produced more torque and was leading up to the refillable pipe design. I will have a Stirling Engine video soon producing some electricity. Thank you for the comment. GreenPowerScience
Hey, I love your video it's really inspiring! I was wondering if you could attach the steam turbine to and electric dynamo? I wonder how much volt and amps you could produce?!
Thank You Iwnathax, I was thinking of a rotating table, like a playground style merry-go-round. I would use an auto rear end driven into the ground. Any motor, Drill etc. could do the dirty work with the right timer. What do you think?
Steam is how we currently get power (nuclear, coal, etc.). All the fuels do in our current technologies is heat water to turn turbines with steam. The sun is just highly inefficient when compared to nuclear fission.
We can however use power from the sun or wind, store it and run vehicles from those sources. We are not at the stage where this is the most cost effective way to power our lives, but i am convinced in a generation or six, this will be much more cost effective than fossil fuel dependency.
The current would small. A small DC motor/generator is a better option. I have hooked one up and produced 30VDC at 200 Mamp. So that was about 2.5 watts with a load. The problem was with the gears I had. Ran it for 3 minutes and everything stripped out when I shorted the load for testing.
I like the construction and I have an old english constructed verticle 1 cyliinder steam engine. It should have the same energy next summer when temperatures will be higher and more sunshine. My videos show only the old Wilesco D16. so it takes time to get another video with your energy supply. Thanks again!
Actually it is in commercial use generating power in the western US. Parabolic mirrors concentrate most of the heat instead of FRESNEL LENSES, because fresnels become cloudy and need to be frequently replaced. There is one huge, 1 gigawatt, So. Cal. Edison project, 70 mi NE of LA that concentrates the parabolic mirror energy onto small fresnels to power sterling engines generators.
Awesome. I would like to see someone use this method to create solar powered vehicles and power plants. No need for complicated and inefficient panels, wasting energy on the transition from solar to electrical to mechanical energy. Better to go directly from solar to mechanical. Sailboats with solar backup motors! Solar go-cart racing! Floating solar power stations in the middle of the ocean! Tri-hybrid cars that can take advantage of sunny days and recharge even while parked! I really think this could be the future.
This would be a pain in the ass to make a personal generator with. It would be absolutely implausible to use for vehicles. See the biggest limiting factor would be the fact that the lens has to be lined up perfectly with the sun and the boiler. Which means you would have to track the sun and adjust the angle, position, height of the lens. This would be difficult, if even possible, to set up on the ground, impractical and nightmarish to set up in a moving vehicle. The second issue of course is getting into your steam Prius and correctly adjusting the mirrors and then...... waiting for 10-20 minutes for the water to boil. The reason there is no alternatives to gasoline yet is simply because they all have short term drawbacks, while gasoline only has long-term ones.
As a kid I always had a thing for science, but no leadership, no one gave a shit. Then I married a teacher who knew it was all about 99% paper chase - and the 1% that mattered was digging in and doing it. All of this science stuff is just digging it out on your own. I saw one of the top physicists say... it took me 10 years of really hard work to learn this stuff. --- Hell, you can learn anything if you put 100% into it for 10 years..... You got it coming Matrix ... just go get it, do it.
for quite some reasons. 1. for the lens to collect the light it must be aligned perfectly with the sun and never be in a shade or clouded area. also the lens is fragile and need to be cleaned a lot. 2. for powering a car you need a HUGE engine like this for it is very weak at this size.
if you can re capture it and run the pipe that the waste steam is going though into cold water it can turn it into water that could be reused, In theory it should work.
Awesome Job Dan! I love your videos, very inspiring and I love the open source aspect of your videos. just a question, would you say an optimized fresnel+steam engine device could be a cheaper option to producing electricity than photovoltaic under ideal conditions with a solar tracker? I imagine you could increase efficiency with multiple steam engines driving the same wheel, a larger and flatter boiler, and placing the steam engine nearer to the boiler. Thanks again for the Awesome videos!
It would need to be about 1 HP about 20x larger than this one with a lens 2.5x larger. There are better options than a Standard alternator because of the high RPM requirements of off the shelf alternators. watch?v=0TG2uZfE-PQ & watch?v=GMjw6vxV5pg
There are formulas, but no fixed numbers, due to several variables, most important of which is temperature. From memory (?) there is a pretty steady curve up to somewhere around 650 F. After that you get diminished returns. Also it depends on what you are wanting to run with it. The working characteristics of saturated vs dry steam, require differences in engineering, at every point of consideration in power production. Getting it wrong at larger than model scale is very dangerous.
1800 is ample to run 100 amp car alternator, as long as the steam pressure is high enough.which would need stronger tubing,pressure vessel.Recirculating water of course and maybe a solar heated, black reservoir.
one of the reasons Fresnell lenses were developed was lower cost and less space used. you find these also in lenses used in lighthouses. Plastic lenses are never very expensive - cut or ground glass runs up the cost.
You need small clamps to secure the hose. What is the chance the black steel pipe could explode? Thank for introducing me to fresnel lens. I'm planning to build a ethanol still and will use a fresnel lens to power the distillation.
They should make a frensnel lens powerplant like this and combine it with solar energy panels so each work together to create alot of power for a little consumption of energy!
I want this concept and process on my homestead but I'd be interested in seeing if a teg generator could be used fixed on siding alternating each one for hot cold side functionality.
How well would such a system desalinate water? I would assume well as the recondensed water would be distilled. Seems like in coastal developing areas, you could get a double bang for the buck (possibly triple if waste heat were usable at the condensation stage). Dan?
I wish the water was being recycled.. as it is I feel like you could get the same, probably more power by pulling it from the water pressure coming from the hose. Still pretty cool. Actually what would be really cool is if you continue to convert the heat into electricity even after it condensed.. although as I am typing that out the best way to do that would probably be to ensure it was close to boiling when it reintered the heating vessel
@mikelfc2010 That wasn't my point, and I'd ask that you please take into consideration the context in which I'm saying something before you go off on a tangent. The scope of the argument was about our ability to harness power. The sun is inefficient in that regard.
This is exactly what I was thinking of when I asked you about the fresnel lens the other day lol. Why not hook a generator to the steam engine? Instead of pipe...how about a container? I was thinking steel (only cuz I can weld it up np), and a glass window that allows fresnel lens to pass through and hit bottom of tank? The steel tank painted black will prolly warm up to 180 deg alone in sun...with fresnel hitting bottom of tank...wow.
If you would have connected a copper coil and ran it through a bucket off ice water then steam would condense and you basically made a very easy water distillation process.
awsome! You have got some good stuff, that can actually be put to use, i love it. I was just thinking about doing this same thing the other day, except using a tesla turbine instead of a steam engine.
I'm curious if it would be possible to make a 'closed-boiler' system - so you wouldn't have to keep refilling the water. Maybe you could have a condenser somewhere to cool the water back down and feed it back into the loop.
"...this can be made very safe. with pressure pop off valves like on a water heater..." Actually those valves will pop long before you get enough pressure to run a real steam generator. Dan is running a toy to demonstrate the concept and kudos to him for it. However, you really do need very high pressures to run a stream engine that will do any real work. Therefore, only professionals (engineers in the field) should mess with steam boilers solar or otherwise.
Can these fresnel lenses be made smaller? I was wondering if you could connect a small pump to the drive wheel to provide water to the boiler while camping? Then you could cook, clean, shower, etc. with hot water.
heat resistant means insulation - not what you want to coat a boiler with. Chemical coloring (blackening or bluing) would be better. Also a copper nickel alloy or even stainless alloy boiler. to doddo- it all comes down to surface - and how you concentrate it. A tighter spot means a higher peak of heat, but the btus per square foot remains the same.
With a Fresnel lens in a shape of a dome, would capture the sun from any angle, with the same efficiency of its light ray. The only impediment would be cloudy days, or a cloudy sky, or big buildings or trees that might interrupt the light ray for been a possible obstacle between the two. My opinion thou! Nice video BTW!
THE CIRCLE OF TERRA The Fresnel has a center so a dome just shortens the focal length. This still needs to be on the same flat axis to the sun. We have made some for clients and it just makes a shorter focal length.
GREENPOWERSCIENCE Thanks for the info. You are correct, it does has a center, the way is design become an impediment to such application. Perhaps playing with the design in order to create a Fresnel with multiple center points, with a wide and less curve lens might work? I like your videos BTW, thanks for sharing and teaching!
GREENPOWERSCIENCE what about a triangular square based pyramid? Or a hexagonal prism? since the focal point I saw it works better with rectangular shapes. Have you ever tried with a triangular one? I seriously don't know why aren't they using Fresnel lens to maximize efficiency on thermal solar plants, it would reduce space, mirrors, everything. You could use one mirror for every sun stage and focus it to a Fresnel lens and that lens to be closer to the receiver. I thought of that.
Hi man, this video is amazing. Can I set up this in a Large engine to produce energy to a house ? I now, every thing should be larger, but will this works ? Thx
Just curious, why did you use the boiler made out of pipe as opposed to one that would come in with the steam engine like the wilesco (the one you first used). Is it just cost? I know those are expensive so I could understand you just buying the engine seperate or secondhand
have that drive a small permanent magnet 24 to 18 volt dc motor like you would get out of an old style makita cordless drill, wire in a bridge rectifier and charge a 12 volt battery.
What if you used more lenses and used mirrors to direct the light for a larger project? I really want to see the weed eater-steam engine run off only solar power. I know you can do it Dan. A few years ago when I was playing making hydrogen and almost started making solar thermal water heaters, I was trying to figure out how to turn heat into kinetic energy. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Run multiple boilers to a manifold to produce enough pressure and volume to run a larger tubine generator to produce electricity. I saw a video where green power companies were doing similar in Utah to sell power to CA. I am intrested in a unit to produce power for personal use. Can this be a cost effective method to turn solar to electricity?
Hey Dan, Love your channel!!! My question when seeing this type of thing is why not throw some neodymium mags on that whirly gig add some coils and see how much energy you could produce??? I'm sure you have thought about this option... Do you think adding a load (charging a battery) would stop the engine from running? Just a thought anyway... Let me know what you think...
have you considered Pyrex for the cylinnder and piston of your steam and Stirling engines?Im thinking they coul take higher heat and thus be more efficient?What do you think?
OK, that's pretty awesome I know this is an old video, but I'll throw a question out and, hey, might get an answer. Why are you running such a small engine? I've seen how powerful those Fresnel lenses are are they not capable of producing enough steam/pressure for a larger engine?
I was playing today with a small lense trying to make some fire,and then thought of this same idea,would love to see a design which can actually produce electricity.
Is there a video or diagram of the boiler somewhere? I have seen the parts list on your website, but couldn't find anything about putting it together, or how to set it up for continual water feed. Also, what type of resin would you recommend to change the linear side to spot? Thanks!
@TacticalN8 How do you figure that there is no horsepower. Torque (lbft) x Speed (rpm) / 5252 = HP. The faster the RPM the less torque is needed to produce 1 HP.
all you need is a photo cell a relay and a motor that can move you solar condenser. the photo cell is in a shadow when the condenser is focused. when the sun moves the shadow moves exposing the photocell to the sun. the photocell activates the relay that activated the motor moving the condenser back in focus. the photo cell will make the motor move until it gets back into the shadow. now the condenser will always stay in focus
This is literally so cool I just searched it up because of that one dude who’s putting rucks under the fresnel ray. I hope someone can revive this 15 years later with more advanced technology!
i would like to see one of these (bigger one) run a generator and produce electricity and charge batteries
I was thinking the same thing...very interested to in this type of power system
this small turning wheel connected to the generator can produce electricty. you do not need bigger things.
@@indrajitR Yes. There could be several.
This small steam engine you see here would be capable of charging battery. Keeping up with the sun would likely be the most difficult task.
@@bigbassjonz machine-learning could easily solve this
Hi,
Baby steps, I have a big steam engine that grabs about 1/2 hp with a moderate load 250 watts. It needs some work. The cool thing is everything in the video was invented well over 100 years ago. Thank You for the comment.
This is awesome. I wonder if you can hook the engine to a an electeic motor to charge batteries!
Yes, it is possible. If you put a car radiator or something that could dissipate the heat of the vapor really quickly at the exhaust of the steam engine, like blucapone said of using the ice bucket. Also put a gravity return line to the bottom of the boiler, it is possible to use the same water infinitely with perfect seals. I am not sure how big the radiator would have to be it would depend on the outside temperature. The vapor must condense or everything stops in a closed system.
I think it is to turn sunlight into rotational power. I build model steam engines and the fact he is running them on the power of the sun is simply amazing. that steam engine could power a fan to push air through a solar collector and push warm air into a house or remote cabin for heating. the possibility is endless as long as the sun shines. :)
Yea, I'm thinking we use heliotropic/focal arms to focus it in on it and actually get legit totally sun-paid for energy. It could surely power the arm, and store extra.
heard you quit smokin' weed today... bold move... (lol jk)
Some of the negative comments on here are simply stunning. He shows you some of the potential of concentrated sunlight, and some of you make snide comments. OK, here's a free bit for you all. How about using a Fresnel lens to heat a Thermal Electric Generator? You could easily get a usable amount of electricity from that. Look up TEGs (Thermal Electric Generators) They're cheaper than solar voltaic.
Excellent work Green Power Science is doing.
how often do you have to re position the lens due to the movement of the sun
This one is now my favorite video, the possibilities are many! Thanks Dan,Skip J.
cool science experiment, but how about a real life usage video, like producing electricity!!!!
10 years ago, WOW!!!!
keep posting until you cant post physically
Now twelve
Hi,
Below the email above the Fresnel information is a link Steam Boiler. Thank You for the question. Please let me know what you think. If it makes sense.
boggles the mind , this seem like a very viable concept for everyones backyard power needs--a little larger scale, but why not ? i am not an engineer or scientist, how big would something like this have to be to power the average home ?--heating water-creating electricity- running pumps..... on & on & on ----i like it ! thanks
Dan,
I'm curious to see if you can make a 'man-made rainbow.'
Focusing the Fresnel on a prism and directing the light through a lawn sprinkler. BAM! Instant rainbow from hell... vaporize leprechauns or just impress the kids...
How much energy does it produce?
Hi,
With water in the pipe, I would guess at least a year. Steel does not melt in volumes larger than 1 oz. with a Fresnel Lens. With water added, not a concern.
Thank You,
GreenPowerScience
How big of a steam engine would you need to run an automotive altenator? In theory you could charge a battery bank with a system like this no?
No, I just found the steam engines I had produced more torque and was leading up to the refillable pipe design. I will have a Stirling Engine video soon producing some electricity. Thank you for the comment. GreenPowerScience
Hey, I love your video it's really inspiring! I was wondering if you could attach the steam turbine to and electric dynamo? I wonder how much volt and amps you could produce?!
Pretty awesome guy's...I think you should've put a copper line on the steam motor though...how much power does this little engine put out?
@PitchThisTV The energy source is burning the tree, piece of coal or oil. The energy source or fuel is not the sun in those cases.
Thank You Iwnathax,
I was thinking of a rotating table, like a playground style merry-go-round. I would use an auto rear end driven into the ground. Any motor, Drill etc. could do the dirty work with the right timer. What do you think?
I would love to see you hook one of these steam engines up to a generator and see what it can do.
Steam is how we currently get power (nuclear, coal, etc.). All the fuels do in our current technologies is heat water to turn turbines with steam. The sun is just highly inefficient when compared to nuclear fission.
We can however use power from the sun or wind, store it and run vehicles from those sources.
We are not at the stage where this is the most cost effective way to power our lives, but i am convinced in a generation or six, this will be much more cost effective than fossil fuel dependency.
The current would small. A small DC motor/generator is a better option. I have hooked one up and produced 30VDC at 200 Mamp. So that was about 2.5 watts with a load. The problem was with the gears I had. Ran it for 3 minutes and everything stripped out when I shorted the load for testing.
@PitchThisTV The energy source is still the oil being burnt, not the sun.
I like the construction and I have an old english constructed verticle 1 cyliinder steam engine. It should have the same energy next summer when temperatures will be higher and more sunshine. My videos show only the old Wilesco D16. so it takes time to get another video with your energy supply. Thanks again!
Actually it is in commercial use generating power in the western US. Parabolic mirrors concentrate most of the heat instead of FRESNEL LENSES, because fresnels become cloudy and need to be frequently replaced.
There is one huge, 1 gigawatt, So. Cal. Edison project, 70 mi NE of LA that concentrates the parabolic mirror energy onto small fresnels to power sterling engines generators.
Awesome. I would like to see someone use this method to create solar powered vehicles and power plants. No need for complicated and inefficient panels, wasting energy on the transition from solar to electrical to mechanical energy. Better to go directly from solar to mechanical. Sailboats with solar backup motors! Solar go-cart racing! Floating solar power stations in the middle of the ocean! Tri-hybrid cars that can take advantage of sunny days and recharge even while parked! I really think this could be the future.
This would be a pain in the ass to make a personal generator with. It would be absolutely implausible to use for vehicles. See the biggest limiting factor would be the fact that the lens has to be lined up perfectly with the sun and the boiler. Which means you would have to track the sun and adjust the angle, position, height of the lens. This would be difficult, if even possible, to set up on the ground, impractical and nightmarish to set up in a moving vehicle. The second issue of course is getting into your steam Prius and correctly adjusting the mirrors and then...... waiting for 10-20 minutes for the water to boil. The reason there is no alternatives to gasoline yet is simply because they all have short term drawbacks, while gasoline only has long-term ones.
Can you make a tesla turbine for your solar steam and hook to a generator to see how many watts you can generate. Thanks
The Stirling Engine?
As a kid I always had a thing for science, but no leadership, no one gave a shit. Then I married a teacher who knew it was all about 99% paper chase - and the 1% that mattered was digging in and doing it. All of this science stuff is just digging it out on your own. I saw one of the top physicists say... it took me 10 years of really hard work to learn this stuff. --- Hell, you can learn anything if you put 100% into it for 10 years..... You got it coming Matrix ... just go get it, do it.
for quite some reasons.
1. for the lens to collect the light it must be aligned perfectly with the sun and never be in a shade or clouded area. also the lens is fragile and need to be cleaned a lot.
2. for powering a car you need a HUGE engine like this for it is very weak at this size.
if you can re capture it and run the pipe that the waste steam is going though into cold water it can turn it into water that could be reused, In theory it should work.
Rough faces the sun, smooth to target.
hey bro,...just stumbled upon a 46" Fresnel,....that some respects just dumped on the side of my road!!,.... new to this
Awesome Job Dan!
I love your videos, very inspiring and I love the open source aspect of your videos.
just a question, would you say an optimized fresnel+steam engine device could be
a cheaper option to producing electricity than photovoltaic under ideal conditions with a solar tracker? I imagine you could increase efficiency with multiple steam engines driving the same wheel, a larger and flatter boiler, and placing the steam engine nearer to the boiler.
Thanks again for the Awesome videos!
did you use black pipe or galvanized pipe for the boiler? Are you having any problems with corrosion or rust?
It would need to be about 1 HP about 20x larger than this one with a lens 2.5x larger. There are better options than a Standard alternator because of the high RPM requirements of off the shelf alternators.
watch?v=0TG2uZfE-PQ
&
watch?v=GMjw6vxV5pg
There are formulas, but no fixed numbers, due to several variables, most important of which is temperature. From memory (?) there is a pretty steady curve up to somewhere around 650 F. After that you get diminished returns. Also it depends on what you are wanting to run with it. The working characteristics of saturated vs dry steam, require differences in engineering, at every point of consideration in power production. Getting it wrong at larger than model scale is very dangerous.
I love thermal solar systems. You should hook up genartor to it to see how much power it is puting out.
Hope the jets don't ruin the sunshine everyday, great video.
1800 is ample to run 100 amp car alternator, as long as the steam pressure is high enough.which would need stronger tubing,pressure vessel.Recirculating water of course and maybe a solar heated, black reservoir.
outstandingly simple, but this looks like one of the harder systems to set up to track sun movement.
i'd try multiple smaller lenses...might work..
one of the reasons Fresnell lenses were developed was lower cost and less space used. you find these also in lenses used in lighthouses. Plastic lenses are never very expensive - cut or ground glass runs up the cost.
it´s amazing how fast the tiny parts inside a model steam engine can run =)
You need small clamps to secure the hose.
What is the chance the black steel pipe could explode?
Thank for introducing me to fresnel lens. I'm planning to build a ethanol still and will use a fresnel lens to power the distillation.
They should make a frensnel lens powerplant like this and combine it with solar energy panels so each work together to create alot of power for a little consumption of energy!
Gotta remember the suns moves throughout the day so there would need to be some way for the lens to move with the sun.
dude, these are like the best... maybe the only good thing I can think of when I think of florida.
your experiments are neat and all, but do you have anything that's actually creating energy for you on a consistent basis?
I want this concept and process on my homestead but I'd be interested in seeing if a teg generator could be used fixed on siding alternating each one for hot cold side functionality.
get a timer for the hose attachment for to refill but you would have to get the time of day just right for how much it uses
How well would such a system desalinate water? I would assume well as the recondensed water would be distilled. Seems like in coastal developing areas, you could get a double bang for the buck (possibly triple if waste heat were usable at the condensation stage). Dan?
Hey, try some old 10 speed bike gears with a chain, you maybe use a low gear at first and shift up when it gets momentum?More rpms.
stuff is blowing up throughout this entire video its hillarious!!!
I wish the water was being recycled.. as it is I feel like you could get the same, probably more power by pulling it from the water pressure coming from the hose. Still pretty cool. Actually what would be really cool is if you continue to convert the heat into electricity even after it condensed.. although as I am typing that out the best way to do that would probably be to ensure it was close to boiling when it reintered the heating vessel
I think you could even use the condensate to provide fresh drinking water so you dont have to pack it in when camping.
@mikelfc2010 That wasn't my point, and I'd ask that you please take into consideration the context in which I'm saying something before you go off on a tangent. The scope of the argument was about our ability to harness power. The sun is inefficient in that regard.
This is exactly what I was thinking of when I asked you about the fresnel lens the other day lol. Why not hook a generator to the steam engine? Instead of pipe...how about a container? I was thinking steel (only cuz I can weld it up np), and a glass window that allows fresnel lens to pass through and hit bottom of tank? The steel tank painted black will prolly warm up to 180 deg alone in sun...with fresnel hitting bottom of tank...wow.
If you would have connected a copper coil and ran it through a bucket off ice water then steam would condense and you basically made a very easy water distillation process.
awsome! You have got some good stuff, that can actually be put to use, i love it. I was just thinking about doing this same thing the other day, except using a tesla turbine instead of a steam engine.
I'm curious if it would be possible to make a 'closed-boiler' system - so you wouldn't have to keep refilling the water. Maybe you could have a condenser somewhere to cool the water back down and feed it back into the loop.
"...this can be made very safe. with pressure pop off valves like on a water heater..."
Actually those valves will pop long before you get enough pressure to run a real steam generator. Dan is running a toy to demonstrate the concept and kudos to him for it. However, you really do need very high pressures to run a stream engine that will do any real work. Therefore, only professionals (engineers in the field) should mess with steam boilers solar or otherwise.
Magnetize the flywheel, mount it in a large coil run the coil through a bridge rectifier, and you got a solar powered steam generator.
Can these fresnel lenses be made smaller? I was wondering if you could connect a small pump to the drive wheel to provide water to the boiler while camping? Then you could cook, clean, shower, etc. with hot water.
Thank you for the nice comment:-) Let me know if you have any questions.
heat resistant means insulation - not what you want to coat a boiler with. Chemical coloring (blackening or bluing) would be better. Also a copper nickel alloy or even stainless alloy boiler.
to doddo- it all comes down to surface - and how you concentrate it. A tighter spot means a higher peak of heat, but the btus per square foot remains the same.
With a Fresnel lens in a shape of a dome, would capture the sun from any angle, with the same efficiency of its light ray. The only impediment would be cloudy days, or a cloudy sky, or big buildings or trees that might interrupt the light ray for been a possible obstacle between the two. My opinion thou! Nice video BTW!
THE CIRCLE OF TERRA The Fresnel has a center so a dome just shortens the focal length. This still needs to be on the same flat axis to the sun. We have made some for clients and it just makes a shorter focal length.
GREENPOWERSCIENCE
Thanks for the info. You are correct, it does has a center, the way is design become an impediment to such application. Perhaps playing with the design in order to create a Fresnel with multiple center points, with a wide and less curve lens might work? I like your videos BTW, thanks for sharing and teaching!
GREENPOWERSCIENCE what about a triangular square based pyramid?
Or a hexagonal prism? since the focal point I saw it works better with rectangular shapes. Have you ever tried with a triangular one? I seriously don't know why aren't they using Fresnel lens to maximize efficiency on thermal solar plants, it would reduce space, mirrors, everything. You could use one mirror for every sun stage and focus it to a Fresnel lens and that lens to be closer to the receiver. I thought of that.
What would happen if you put a spot fresnel lens behind another fresnel lens? Will it increase heat like a magnifying glass?
Hi man, this video is amazing. Can I set up this in a Large engine to produce energy to a house ?
I now, every thing should be larger, but will this works ?
Thx
How about some kinda convex magnifing lens to gather a wide spectrum of light angles?
+GREENPOWERSCIENCE Can you heat a fast moving air flow to high temperatures with this?
wrap that steam hose around something you want to heat up. Like an inlet pipe to a eater heater
15 year later and UA-cam recommended me this
Just curious, why did you use the boiler made out of pipe as opposed to one that would come in with the steam engine like the wilesco (the one you first used).
Is it just cost? I know those are expensive so I could understand you just buying the engine seperate or secondhand
have that drive a small permanent magnet 24 to 18 volt dc motor like you would get out of an old style makita cordless drill, wire in a bridge rectifier and charge a 12 volt battery.
A simple hose clamp would fix that... They have the squeeze type... The screw-on ones would require time to put on and take off...
What if you used more lenses and used mirrors to direct the light for a larger project?
I really want to see the weed eater-steam engine run off only solar power. I know you can do it Dan.
A few years ago when I was playing making hydrogen and almost started making solar thermal water heaters, I was trying to figure out how to turn heat into kinetic energy.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
good stuff. what happens when you scale this up? what is the goal of running the steam engine?
Run multiple boilers to a manifold to produce enough pressure and volume to run a larger tubine generator to produce electricity. I saw a video where green power companies were doing similar in Utah to sell power to CA. I am intrested in a unit to produce power for personal use. Can this be a cost effective method to turn solar to electricity?
Damn, that engine is spinning fast, maybe I should try that someday.
Hey Dan, Love your channel!!! My question when seeing this type of thing is why not throw some neodymium mags on that whirly gig add some coils and see how much energy you could produce??? I'm sure you have thought about this option... Do you think adding a load (charging a battery) would stop the engine from running? Just a thought anyway... Let me know what you think...
Steam moved trains for decades, and as you add each cm. to ur lense the effects are exponential
Won't slow down, the pressure is at a constant
have you considered Pyrex for the cylinnder and piston of your steam and Stirling engines?Im thinking they coul take higher heat and thus be more efficient?What do you think?
How much electricity could this generate (if this size steam engine was modified to generate it) and would it be vastly greater than a solar panel?
if you can run the engine all day long, what can it be used for though
OK, that's pretty awesome
I know this is an old video,
but I'll throw a question out
and, hey, might get an answer.
Why are you running such a small engine?
I've seen how powerful those Fresnel lenses are
are they not capable of producing enough steam/pressure for a larger engine?
I was playing today with a small lense trying to make some fire,and then thought of this same idea,would love to see a design which can actually produce electricity.
Is there a video or diagram of the boiler somewhere? I have seen the parts list on your website, but couldn't find anything about putting it together, or how to set it up for continual water feed.
Also, what type of resin would you recommend to change the linear side to spot?
Thanks!
can you generate enough electricity to run a home with a fresnel lens?
@TacticalN8
How do you figure that there is no horsepower. Torque (lbft) x Speed (rpm) / 5252 = HP. The faster the RPM the less torque is needed to produce 1 HP.
Have you thought of using a combination of these mirrors to run a mini turbine or alternator for larger electricity output?
Where on your site are the plans and specifications for this, I was not able to find it. Thanks
this could ve used to power desalinators in coastal desert regions
this can be made very safe. with pressure pop off valves like on a water heater. it would make them very safe.
@TacticalN8
umm, i think having a turbine to charge an ipod is a pretty good idea anyways.
all you need is a photo cell a relay and a motor that can move you solar condenser. the photo cell is in a shadow when the condenser is focused. when the sun moves the shadow moves exposing the photocell to the sun. the photocell activates the relay that activated the motor moving the condenser back in focus. the photo cell will make the motor move until it gets back into the shadow. now the condenser will always stay in focus
Could you use this model to heat ammonia for an ammonia absorption freezer?
Yes you can . You can do an adsorption refrigerator easily with this kind of temperature
Is the steam engine powerful enough to run a cell phone charger or the like? Is there other real applications for the steam engine?
@Terryblount I would like to see a video of that setup...sounds easy enough.