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Solar cone could generate 59kW
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28/01/2008
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Alan Williams, a former Member of Parliament, has devised a solar generator that he says could be built and tested quite inexpensively. He calculates that a glazed 10m high cone, 10m across at the base and with a 1m wide aperture at the top, could yield up to 59kW output from a turbine and generator positioned at the throat.
In his concept, a gap is left between the base of the cone and the ground to allow access of air. A perforated solar absorber – several layers thick, or a honeycomb structure – is then placed in the lower levels above the base of the cone.
The basis of the idea – solar heating of air, which then rises – is the same as that underlying the solar chimney being built by EnviroMission in Australia. But Williams calculates that a simple cylinder will not be very efficient and would not fully convert thermal energy into kinetic energy.
www.globalwarmingsolutions.co.uk
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Author
Tom Shelley
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