OK that quick guess arithmetic was interesting enough to motivate me to look into the real numbers:
http://www.mrboxonline.com/8x6x7-styrofoam-coolers-p-6787.html 10 of those cost $55.50 They're 1.5in thick They're 8"x6"x7" inside They're 9.5"x7.5"x8.5" outside Surface area 2*(9.5*7.5+9.5*8.5+7.5*8.5)in^2 = 431.5 in^2 Redoing the arithmetic: 431.5in^2*.033W/(m*deltaK)*2deltaK/1.5in?W ([{(431.5 * [inch^2]) * (0.033 * watt)} / {meter * deltaK}] * [2 * deltaK]) / (1.5 * inch) ? watt = 0.4822444 W That looks good. A distribution with 9 control data points and 1 experimental data point providing 2 degrees C signal for only a half watt. On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 2:31 PM, James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> wrote: > Quick arithmetic: > > 1m^2*.033W/(m*deltaK)*2deltaK/2in?W <http://www.testardi.com/rich/calchemy2/> > ([{(1 * [meter^2]) * (0.033 * watt)} / {meter * deltaK}] * [2 * deltaK]) / (2 > * inch) ? watt > = 1.2992126 W > > > That's for styrofoam 2 inches thick and a cooler with total surface area of > 1m^2 and a 2 degree Kelvin temperature difference with ambient. > > > On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 2:23 PM, James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hmm.... perhaps but one would think that if the water containers were >> covered Styrofoam coolers, the temperature differences might accumulate >> sufficiently to render the signal -- particularly given the distribution >> represented by the numerous control containers -- quite significant. >> >> Admittedly, I haven't done the arithmetic. >> >> >> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 2:18 PM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> A properly designed Seebeck is a lot more than that. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> With an infinite COP all that's necessary is a room with a bunch of >>>> similar pots of water, one of which has the infinite COP device in it. >>>> >>> >>> With only one watt I do not think that would work well. Background >>> changes in temperature would swamp the effect of the 1 W heat source. That >>> was the problem with the open-air Arata demonstration and others like it I >>> have seen. >>> >>> I am not saying it wouldn't work at all, but the data would be noisy and >>> people would wonder if it wasn't the effect of the HVAC currents of air >>> blowing on one dish and not the other, or what-have-you. >>> >>> With ~10 W in a small device your method would work. >>> >>> - Jed >>> >>> >> >
