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shambles
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« on: December 17, 2006, 05:49:22 PM » |
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wyleu
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« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2006, 06:26:03 PM » |
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I went a fair way down the road with it's AC counterpart but the deal looked more and more unfavourable as the characteristics were checked. Powergen in the end used an electrician to access the gas requirements. Apparently it would be ok, and mention of a 15mm pipe just made him confused.
They claimed it required 20 minutes of running time before it would start generating which seemed be just about the time most boilers tend to have throttled back after filling a tank, or bath or whatever. Recently I have been wondering if there might be a good match with underfloorheating. The DC idea is interesting, as I'm convinced that is the way forward for an independent localized supply, with the possibility of a low voltage three phase AC supply for motors and pumps. Quite how long it takes for this all to develop is at best a guess, but I don't thing the £10,000 price tag is going to encourage too many domestic installations althou' I'm sure there are some industrial users that would probably quite impress us if we knew about them.
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Ivan
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« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2006, 11:44:35 PM » |
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It looks quite a good FIRST STEP towards developing a useful product. I found them 3years ago, but they wanted to tie up with a major power company, not a small independant company like Navitron! When you look at the specs, the disappointing thing is the electrical generation is relatively low - about a kW I think - if the boiler is run at full power, this translates as a relatively small percentage, and it is not particularly efficient for a stirling engine - again from memory, I think it was around 25% electrical efficiency, whereas you would think a stirling engine would make around 50%.
I heard recently that Powergen have ceased selling these. Not sure what feedback is from owners. I think the domestic AC unit was priced at £18k from powergen - which is enough to put most people off.
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wyleu
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« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2006, 09:51:15 AM » |
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From the chat's with the young management hopeful running the project from powergen, he said the interest had been almost entirely Techno junkies with a over powering desire for the latest gizmo, at little bit of interest from the councils, he said, but mostly in the rubber chicken and cheap white wine.
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Ivan
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« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2006, 08:17:19 PM » |
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main problem=too expensive to justify in a normal environment
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shambles
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« Reply #6 on: December 20, 2006, 02:29:23 PM » |
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Gets my vote for best website ever! I could easily spend every penny I earn there...
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Ivan
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« Reply #7 on: December 20, 2006, 10:15:40 PM » |
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I have the 'solar stirling engine' - this is a fantastic sunny day demo. I can strongly recommend it. It clatters away with considerable noise, and spins at very high speed. One day, when I get chance, I will attach a small dc generator to it, to produce a few watts - maybe even grid-tie it for a bit of fun. It has to be aimed directly at the sun, so it would need a 2way tracker if you wanted to use it seriously. I doubt it would last very long in daily operation, as it is not designed to subsidise your energy needs!!
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Bogget
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Posts: 20
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« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2007, 09:30:33 PM » |
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Ivan
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« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2007, 09:08:54 PM » |
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Shame it has an electrical efficiency of only 30% - Ken is getting over 20% with his home-made lister system. The STM stirling engine is only 80% efficient overall, whereas Ken's system should be around 90%.....and for a lot less money!
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