http://www.techawards.org/laureates/stories/index.php?id=131

http://www.worldaware.org.uk/awards/awards2001/mobah.html

Have a look at this great invention from:
Mohammed Bah Abba

What's interesting here is that we have a sustained and confined heat differential.  
How do you turn a heat differential into an energy generator? Personally I don't know how to do that, but maybe someone has an idea.

Let's brainstorm everyone. Throw out some ideas if you have any.

ResinRat2:

Why not simply have a matrix of pipes painted pitch black (or covered with tar paper or something to absorb heat), joined to another matrix, either buried in the ground or at least in the shade. Fill that with whatever fluid. Plop a turbine in the middle. You gotta heat-diff turbine. Hook the turbine to a generator........
Hmm....what if there was no sun out? Then maybe the option to bury the cooler side in the ground would be better. As long as there was a difference in temp between either side, there will be a movement of the fluid.

 

Quote from laci:

"Hi ResinRat2,

  Try to get the solar cooling out of your head,"

Actually, I am obsessed with this notion. Many people here are searching for the elusive "zero-point" energy, but I believe we need to focus our attention on the SUN. It runs this planet and drops kilowatts of energy per square meter on the earth's surface each day. I believe even Linnard Griffin's Electrolysis Process uses its endothermic nature to take advantage of the sun's heat. So I am inclined to be drawn toward exploiting the sun's naturally available power to run the world on. Anything that produces a temperature difference can be used to produce power.

Thanks for the Seebeck idea. It looks interesting and could easily apply to this "solar cooler"

I was just throwing out ideas, not necessarily something that I would pursue, just something that looked simple and easy to experiment with. Heck, I even went out and bought two clay flower pots, one that fits inside the other, and some sand to see if I can duplicate this temperature differential and take some measurements just for fun. I am still working on my hydrogen reactor, but this is just something quick and dirty that I could look at. I guess I just like to research stuff; even in my spare time. I guess you can see that I'm not a "party" type of guy. LOL!

Hi Koen1,

The simple process involved is merely cooling by water evaporation. The center pot is cooled by the water evaporating from the sand around it. Apparently it is cool enough to preserve vegetables for three weeks that normally spoil in three days. So it must be in the very low 50 or mid 40 degrees F; and it looks like this is in a very hot region of the earth. So we could probably guess a 25-35 degree difference in temperature at least. Probably even more on a hot day.

Based off your noted Seebeck effect, I wonder what kind of current is possible from this temperature differential?

This is just an idea, something I probably wouldn't be pursuing at this moment in time; but maybe possibly later on. I still need to do my experiment with the clay pots just for fun. I am curious what kind of temperature difference I could see.

Well, here is my attempt at a simulation of the two-pot cooler.

The larger clay flower pot it 11 inches across and tall, the smaller clay pot is 9 inches across and tall. The space between them was filled with fine playbox sand. I covered the bottom holes with plastic, but the inside pot water bubbles into the pot so I placed a layer of aluminum foil on the inside to protect the contents. Aluminum has a fantastic heat transfer rate so this should work well.

The first thing I noticed was that the water soaked from the inside to the outside surface of the clay pot, so this is how this unit is working. The water evaporates from the outside large surface area of the outer clay pot and evaporates, drawing heat from the center inside pot. I covered the top with a shami type rag that I soaked with water. I want to see what type of temperature differential I can cool the soda-pop cans down to after a day or so. Also, I am keeping the unit in my basement so I can maintain a somewhat controlled temperature and humidity environment.

I will keep you all periodically posted on what I find.

Thanks for your interest.

P.S. Now I am going to work on my hydrogen reactor. Wish me luck.

Thanks for your interest

I wonder how well this would run a Sterling Stirling engine.

After all, I had one made from a tuna tin that ran from the heat off the palm of my hand. All it needs in a differential. Sounds like there is differential with this.

If interested there are plenty of web sites for this engine.

Sorry Dave,

I didn't mean it like this. I was just surprised that evaporative cooling was such a new area for so many. You can get much bigger effects if you use liquids other than water, like alcohol, ammonia or ether. Ammonia was used in absorber fridges and in ice production in the old gas works that used the waste heat to produce ice. Fascinating technology.

Hans