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Cyclone Power Technologies Successfully Tests Waste Heat Engine
22 October 2007
Cyclone Power Technologies, Inc. successfully tested its Waste Heat Engine (WHE), an off-shoot of the Green Revolution Engine. (Earlier post.)
Like the Green Revolution Engine (GRE), the WHE is an external combustion engine. Unlike its more powerful counterpart, however, the WHE operates in a low-pressure, low-temperature range. By contrast, the GRE employs super-critical pressure (3,200 psi) and super-heated steam (1,200°F).
This event marks the initial mechanical operation of the company's prototype WHE. The engine experienced immediate start-up, and ran continuously under variable pressures and RPM. Under these test conditions, the engine’s valve mechanism—a critical component in the uni-flow, zero-clearance design of the WHE—also performed successfully.
The WHE can run on waste heat emanating from an external source, such as the exhaust from an internal (or external) combustion engine, or the direct burning of biomass (i.e., processing garbage into methane is not required). The WHE is also designed to run efficiently on solar heat without the installation of costly photovoltaic panels.
Cyclone CEO Harry Schoell predicts that the WHE’s solar applications could provide electricity to a home at one-fifth the cost of comparable photovoltaic panel systems, and could be in commercial production as early as 2008.
October 22, 2007 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)
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Power generation by solar heat? Won't installing this device on a rooftop subject it to winds, and thus to heat loss by convection?
At 99cents/watt for thin film solar panels that are also coming into production, I'm not too sure about the cost equation either. Not to mention that I'd much rather put a flat solar panel on my car roof than an engine.
Posted by: AES | Oct 22, 2007 1:29:53 PM
AES,
Read more in NREL website regarding solar thermal electricity. A double-walled glass tube with vacuum in between serve as an excellent insulator to collect concentrated solar heat to ~400 degrees C. See trough solar collector.
A heat engine can also give you electricity and waste heat to heat your house and heat your water, using natural gas (or H2) supplied via pipeline, when the sun doesn't shine. Try that with solar PV panels, or battery electricity!
Posted by: Roger Pham | Oct 22, 2007 4:12:07 PM
I wonder if it's apple-to-apples when comparing PVs versus solar-thermo applications. PVs requires optimal conditions for peak performance, while solar-thermo can be more forgiving. Energy storage can be another advantage, pending on the WHE requirements.
According to the linked article, the quoted minimum real estate for WHE engine is 500 sq. ft. of panels. Not knowing how much electricity it could generate, it may or may not be comparable to 500 sq. ft. of thin-film solar.
I hope GCC will keep us up to date on this product. I'd love to use solar as an energy source for my home, and if I can choose between PVs or solar-thermo, I think I'd rather go for solar-thermo and heat storage instead...
Posted by: Charles S | Oct 22, 2007 4:47:09 PM
@ Roger
Spot on about having multiple heat sources. The easy transition to backup (fossil fuel) that is available a heat engine is what gives it an advantage for grid-scale production, IMO.
Posted by: GreenPlease | Oct 22, 2007 5:02:21 PM
I'm still skeptical about whether this technology makes photovoltaics (especially CIGS ink-based ones) irrelevant or not.
1)Thin films can still function in low light conditions, and can be flexibly deployed in more settings than just a household roof.
2)Also - what is the actual electrical output efficiency for solar heat, e.g. the trough collector? Best efficiency I've seen quoted for CIGS is around 19%. And what about cost per watt?
Thanks again for the informed commentary, Roger.
Posted by: AES | Oct 22, 2007 11:36:02 PM
"PVs requires optimal conditions for peak performance, while solar-thermo can be more forgiving"
Umm...shouldn't ANYTHING perform at its peak under the optimal conditions? ;-) Otherwise, they wouldn't be optimal.
As far as flexibility, the wiki article on this subject states that solar heat collecting suffers drastically under cloudy conditions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_collector#Disadvantages
Perhaps this really is a bad comparison though, since each technology is going to be suitable for some applications, but not for others.
Posted by: AES | Oct 22, 2007 11:43:39 PM
Sorry if I'm missing something, but aren't solar panels going to get hot regardless of whether you're getting electricity from them? If so, why not hook them up like you usually would and then use this device as well?
Posted by: Elliot | Oct 23, 2007 7:31:00 AM
I don't think that would be possible because you would need a working fluid to turn the waste heat engine.
Posted by: AES | Oct 23, 2007 9:03:51 AM
"Concentrated" solar have problems with defused light (and so does PVs), but other forms of solar-thermo collectors, such as flat-plates or evacuated tubes would be less so.
In the end, I think it'd all depend on the requirements for the WHE, which we do not know all the details at this point.
If we are simply going to argue which technology is "better", I think that's a waste of time.
Posted by: Charles S | Oct 23, 2007 10:46:24 AM
These appear to be radial piston steam engines. Does Cyclone have any improvements over traditional designs, or are they just another pink-sheet stock scam whose main invention is fancy new terms for old technology? My guess is the latter, but I have no proof.
Posted by: doggydogworld | Oct 24, 2007 7:06:31 AM
AES
Actually, more than one manufacturer of solar panels has combination solar heat and PV product. These, apart from getting more energy out of a given area, increase electricity generation since PV cells have higher efficiency at lower temperatures.
One such manufacturer is Conserval Engineering. Product information here: http://www.solarwall.com/home/default.aspx?pn=Products_SolRoof_SolRoof
Granted, this example would need alteration to be usefully integrated with Cyclone's Waste Heat Engine.
Posted by: 'bream | Nov 7, 2007 4:51:50 AM
