Peltier + vortex + airpump = possible overunity ?

[sm0ky2]

those models of (flat) peltiers are actually rather hard to keep cool. they are designed to USE electricity for heating/cooling, not produce it.

though they WILL make electricity, they do so very inneficiently, and the other side heats up quickly. rendering the unit useless, without putting more energy into cooling it than the device actually produces.

i have a few of these (CPU coolers, same type used in the coleman) and play with them from time to time.

if you are looking into serious power production with this type of device, what you want to use is the generator ring from a BigRig.
they are placed around the verticle exhaust stack, these work very well to produce power. which helps to operate the electrics in the truck, as well as kick back some of the power for battery charging.

You would then use your lense to heat a cylindrical chamber, and place the peltier-ring around that, with subsequent heatsink/fan for cooling.

[Sprocket]

Interesting idea.  I was not aware of either the vortex tube (very cool!) or the peltiers.  My meagre suggestions would be to try the rotoverter idea on the compressor motor to reduce current usage and check out the Thermal Accelerator by Archer Quinn to achieve maximium cooling/heating of the air before sending them to the peltier chambers.  But being a long time reader of this forum, you have probably thought of these already

[sm0ky2]

wow. an actual USE for the archer's loop, im impressed!

there IS a point of compression (at least using "air") where the cooling energy of decompression exceeds the energy used to compress the nitrogen. This occurs at just before the point of condensation and extends slightly passed the liquid point - after which there is a great energy LOSS incurred to achieve further compression pressures.  If we could achieve this for the given size of the air-tank, we could maximize cooling, and minimize input energy.  We're talking VERY very low flow-rate, or you will destroy the peltier trying to cool it, not to mention waste usefull cooling energy, by exceeding the limitations of the device.

30 peltiers, + a solar concentrator + a high-pressure air compressor.

since the pressure in the tank is so great, we can forego any type of fans, the air will move itself when you release it, and decomp will more than take care of the cooling we need.
the question is, will the electrical output be enough to run the compressor.. while still leaving us with usable thermal - electricity from the sun?

[Sprocket]

I am pretty sure the thermal accelerator has already seen commercial use in air-conditioners.

I don't quite get where you're going with the liquid nitrogen - correct me if I'm wrong, but nitrogen will not condense out of air to form a liquid at 110 psi - google informs me that this takes place at around -200F, which seems 'excessive'.  And the high PSI requirement for an efficient vortex tube could actually be a benefit as it would appear to provide a considerable amount of hot/cold air, possibly allowing for far more peltiers to be employed.  They also provide a 'toughened' version of the peltiers, giving them a -50 -> 150 operating range, which should mean they should easily be used without damage.

[sm0ky2]

I am pretty sure the thermal accelerator has already seen commercial use in air-conditioners.

I don't quite get where you're going with the liquid nitrogen - correct me if I'm wrong, but nitrogen will not condense out of air to form a liquid at 110 psi - google informs me that this takes place at around -200F, which seems 'excessive'.  And the high PSI requirement for an efficient vortex tube could actually be a benefit as it would appear to provide a considerable amount of hot/cold air, possibly allowing for far more peltiers to be employed.  They also provide a 'toughened' version of the peltiers, giving them a -50 -> 150 operating range, which should mean they should easily be used without damage.

yeah you'll need at least 5500 PSI, and a slow compression rate, or else you will have to artificially cool the air to liquify the nitrogen content.  i also discovered another problem with using liquid nitrogen, it forms a layer between the airflow and the heatsink, nullifying our attempt to cool the device (at least to some degree).

we could probably get enough cooling from just compressed air, but as someone stated above, volume+flowrate is going to play an important role there.

also::  out of curiosity, which A/C company is using the archer's loop? it was invented late last year, and the patent not even applied for until Dec. (still pending from what i understand)   Thats a strange place to use it, as the thermal effeciency of an air conditioner is fairly close to ideal, with a closed system -working fluid.