Author Topic: Sterling Low temp engine on a roof  (Read 2553 times)

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roosaw

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Sterling Low temp engine on a roof
« on: November 14, 2011, 09:21:38 AM »
Here is one for youall
The sterling low temp difference (LTD) engine  is basically a flat box that moves heat from the top to the bottom.  If you made a really big (current models fit in your hand) one that is say the size of your roof, set it on a solar collector to "cool" the cold side (and collect the heated water for domestic use or storage) and harvest the energy as it transits the device.
I suspect that since Sterling's are reversable heat flow wise, it could also suck the heat out of the now hot water storage tank via the solar collector and return it to the sky at night.

At the temps involved the carnot efficiency is around 15% so I'm thinking that at 1kW/m^2 solar input and a lossy implementation you are going to get 100 W/m^2.  For a 30x30 ft roof (10x10 m = 100 m^2) you would be talking 10,000 W!!!  Plus hot water to boot.

Thoughts?
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