You guys all have me thinking. Here's a little background on what we're doing. We currently are utilizing about 6Kw of wind energy (some DIY, some prebuilt, solar, etc) , however the majority is wind driven. I've been reading with interest the article here and elsewhere about thermocouples and one persons trial with a duct heating system. I've long had an interest in Tesla turbines and Paintball (I promise this will make some sense!)
Quite some time ago I wanted to build a CO2 generator for my paintball guns, however I never finished the project as it is simpler to just buy a tank and have it refilled. What my idea is was to connect a automotive a/c compressor to a windmill, with the clutch still on it. We get winds as high as 70 mph, and with the S-rotors, there is no furling, so you load the unit down and build solid. We just added an additional rotor and now I'm sitting here with 35 mph gusts, full batteries, and all the diverter loads busting their bums to keep the speed down.
My idea is to finish the project for one of the s-rotors, connect up a intake to a duct built like this. to remove the condensate, pump heat to other parts of the house. I have a large wood burner that heats the office and storage areas. Using a intake heat exchanger I could then use the heat to preheat air in the winter, or in the summer use it for the pool/hot tub.
The intake would then feed my compressor and then connect to the next gen, which would recompress the pressure then feed to # 3, which is about 50" from the house. Put the storage tank in a concrete bunker and put the liquid CO2 in the tank until I have a cloudy slow day, Because the tank is not a siphon tank, when no co2 is produced I would not need a large expansion chamber. From the expansion chamber go to a low pressure regulator (basically from 900 psi to 125psi) Then to a tesla turbine which would be connected to a PMG gen to produce power.
At this point it is a dream, however the wife mentioned that occasionally we have to burn leaves and such for the greenhouse, so I could probably exhaust the CO2 there and have it do some good.
Yes, it's complicated. however it seems this method of storage would prevent me from having to use (as many) lead acid batteries. We currently have what amounts to 4 complete battery/inverter systems (1 for house, 3 for business).
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
