Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
Terry Blanton wrote:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.06/craven_pr.html
"The topic under discussion is Craven's plan to use cold water pumped
up from the deep ocean to provide low-cost and environmentally
sustainable power, water, and food to a new residential and
commercial development in the Marianas, a chain of islands some 3,000
miles to the west. "
Uses a "hurricane tower" to create electricity. Why not a Stirling
engine?
Good question. But what's a "hurricane tower"?
Ah -- read to the bottom of page, answered my own question.
So, he's using low-pressure steam turbines to run generators. Doesn't
sound totally unreasonable, though I'm a little surprised you can
effectively spin a turbine with such low gas pressures.
Stirling engine is the same idea (closed-cycle gas moving through the
engine) but it uses pistons instead of turbines. The Stirling engine is
able to harness even very small differences in temperature -- a few
degrees -- but that's not an issue here -- he's looking at something on
the order of a 25 degree F. difference, or so it appears. In that
arena, and when scaling up for power generation, turbines may do the job
better than a reciprocating engine.
To move the idea farther from the equator, one might suppose it could be
necessary to switch to a Stirling engine.
Anybody here know how the thermodynamic efficiency of a turbine compares
with a Stirling engine?
