Collecting energy from thin air

[tak22]

Hi Vidar,

You could try asking these guys as they are big on heat engine tech:

http://www.gdttek.com/tech_overview.php

tak

[Low-Q]

Maybe the following idea will come handy.

I want to harness energy from the air temperature. The problem with that is that it is required high temperature differences to make an efficient motor to run a generator. So what does a heat pump really do?
If my common sense is intact, to some degree, a COP greater than 1 WILL be able to deliver more energy than it takes to run it. Well, some people comment my ideas about selfrunning heat pumps by saying that the temperature difference is so small between your inhouse and outside temperature, so it will be littarally impossible to make a generator efficient enough to selfrun the heat pump.
Well, that is true when we speak of the ambient temperature in the relative big volume it is distributed in. However, the local temperature difference on the cold and hot side of a heat pump is MUCH greater.

If we talk about 3-4kW output just from the energy in the outside air, distributed on an area of less than 1 square meter (The area of the heatsink is ofcourse very high), the local temperature should therfor be quite high on one side, and quite low on the other side.

What I mean by this, is that the energy difference in the outside air versus inhouse air is amplified by focusing it on a small space - the heat pump itself. THIS amplified temperature difference will be able to run a generator at relatively high efficiency.

To explain a parallell which might be more understandable:
We have an AC powersource which is able to deliver 4kW of power. There is just one problem. The voltage is only 1V. Even if the powersource can deliver 4000 Ampére at 1V, the high current will cause great loss and very low efficiency in the electric circuit.
If we with a regular transformer transforms this energy from 1V@4000A to 1000V@4A we can litterally increase the efficiency a 1000 times. However, not more than 100%, going from 0.1%. This is just an example. The low current will cause less loss in the wires in the circuit. We can see this principle in high voltage power lines. 500kV and a few amps.

I believe the same transformation, or amplification of the voltage can be a parallell to the heat pump. It is increasing the temperature difference in exchange with a smaller space. Assume the volume of air outside is the electric current Ampére, and the temperature is voltage. Decreasing the space (Ampére), and increasing temperature (Voltage), will also increase the efficiency of transformation from heat energy to mechanical energy.

Does anyone follow the amplification and higher efficiency thing?

I haven't read ALL about heat pumps yet, but I have started with the link above - even if the words "COP = 4" will do. Thanks for the link btw.

Vidar

[WilbyInebriated]

What do you mean? For whom this is good for (cui bono)?

Vidar

do i really need to explain? seriously? ok, who benefits from the public not being able to collect energy from thin air? is it you that benefits or is it the more to the benefit of whomever you are buying energy from?

[Low-Q]

do i really need to explain? seriously? ok, who benefits from the public not being able to collect energy from thin air? is it you that benefits or is it the more to the benefit of whomever you are buying energy from?

To answer your question (If I got all the words right): It benefits myself and my wallet, the public and their wallets, and the environment - if that is what free energy really does. The best of all is that this should not be new technology to anyone - I can't be alone thinking of this technology? I'll bet my balls that this selfrunning heat pump are already running somewhere secret place, but not ready for the public yet - we have lots of oil to spend first...Lots of taxes to pay from waste from oil. The worlds business will not be the same without the oil. Not to mention how big business pollution is.

But ofcourse, in a much bigger scale, and after the oil, this kind of energy can be the new power plants (possibly), and sold as an environmental friendly energy solution with zero toxic waste.

Vidar

[nightlife]

Low-Q, I am having a hard time seeing how it can work. I don't think there is enough of a temperature difference. The energy needed to keep a high enough difference would most likely cost more energy then what is made.