Assume that Ni-H anomalous heat gain will soon be demonstrated to be the robust kind of energy source that its most fervent supporters (Rossi fanboys) believe that it already is. Never mind that the proof may come from a spin-off competitor- DGT.
Assume that this technology easily takes over the space heating/ hot water markets almost completely in the coming years. If it works at all, this is a no-brainer. Assume that the upper limit for reliable heat extraction is 400 C. There is independent evidence for this limit, but DGT claims much higher. Anyway, the operative word is "reliable" over months. The specific reason that 400 C may be an upper limit of reliability relates to Ahern's emergent theory of operation - nanomagnetism. ~350 C is the effective trigger temp in this theory (and the Curie point of Ni) and you must stay near that trigger, but not far above it, or else things can spin out of control, so to speak. OK, this is still part of the preface to the main point of this posting. To move the Ni-H technology into other important markets - such as transportation and grid electricity, conversion into electricity is desirable if not required. Even though the cost of heat is low, it is far from free - and other considerations (nickel replacement cost) favor the highest efficiency possible. With all of these considerations in the background, we go back to where we were in past weeks with consideration of the various options for conversion of heat to electrical power including: solid state (TEC or thermionics), steam, Stirling, or ORC (organic Rankine). In the past, many of us have focused on the ORC option as being in the best position to succeed, mainly because one company seems to be in early production with adequate efficiency: http://www.infinityturbine.com/ORC/ORC_Waste_Heat_Turbine.html Of course, everyone agrees that solid state is the way to go in the long run, once the efficiency of that tech gets to a much higher level. But no one is there yet. For instance, using a radioisotope heat source, the Stirling gets 400% more energy than solid state can achieve (that could change): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_radioisotope_generator Anyway, after this long (and presumptive) "setup" to the following proposal - what I would like to introduce today is a hybrid Stirling of the 4-cylinder double-alpha variety with one huge difference. That difference is the attempt to introduce a shock wave. This idea of a shock wave is already in the public domain, and I make no claim to it, other than that is seems to be a good fit for Ni-H. This can involve not just a shock wave, but a synergetic boost to the Ni-H reaction as well. The one big advantage of typical gasoline or diesel ICE operation which is missing in the Stirling is the shock wave. If it can be incorporated into the double alpha design using a Ni-H heat source, then that could push this option over the top, at least in terms of appeal to automotive companies, since piston engines are their specialty - and the Stirling may be double the efficiency of ORC with it. In part 2 of this rambling chain of thought, I will also try to frame one method and its inherent synergy for creating both the shock wave and a reaction boost, which is a burst of RF (cavity resonant in the microwave spectrum) at TDC of the displacer (hot side). The synergy completely depends on the Rossi claim that only 10s of watts of RF (~50 watts) can keep the Ni-H reaction stable at outputs of 6-20 kW per module. That is perfect for what would be 4 porous nickel modules (one per cylinder) with an output of 30 kW total. However, that claim of AR is controversial, since DGT does not use RF. And since this post is getting too long now - more extensive coverage will come later (hopefully today) on these issues. Set your spam filters accordingly. Jones
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