TROUGH MIRROR SOLAR PARABOLA Hot Water Steam Engine

[mangyscavenger]

Also, would using that pipe as the cylinder of a heat motor provide more HP? A short piston with all that expanding air behind it seems like it would really crank. Cap one end, insert piston in other, then let it take off when sun comes out.

[mangyscavenger]

I heard that if you curve the trough, instead of making it straight, sun tracking isn't necessary. I'm not talking about the parabolic curve of the mirror. The curve in the length will continually catch the sun as it moves across the sky.

[aForkandaSpoon]

disregard my small house comment but man this is powerful, by the way were do you get your mirror.

[aForkandaSpoon]

I saw some things like this in the movie Gattaca and and I have been looking for them for a while. Holy cow that produces a ton of steam, do you have problems with it cooling down eventually. Also, why use it as a pre-warmer, just make a second one and you could run a small house, damn.

[mrchriswatts]

@aForkandaSpoon The solar farm in Gattaca is near Barstow. You can find it on google maps here: 35.03338, -117.35734 (I supervised the filming of that scene) The parabolic troughs have 2 foci, one where the tube is and another about where your door handle would be if you were driving between the panels. Doh!

cw

[aForkandaSpoon]

@mrchriswatts AWESOME, that is so cool, I am glad I am not the only one who like that kind of stuff.

[narcovice]

se srnoff to polish glass and so on it gets showroo shie.

[aNdYmAtTeR]

"... and join us in the next episode where Dan&Denise moves to Arizona and infinite sunlight, no clouds, no neighbors and no airplanes or helicopters ..."

XD

[AngelGdo]

What a beautigul video!

[Amanensis]

Dan, first off - great channel. I've been looking on YouTube for quality videos for some time now and am soo thankful that I've found the Rojas' family channel!

I see soo many videos of running sterling engines... I would love to see one actually charging a battery, running a motor, etc. I know that it is only a few steps away, but my mechanical skills are being pushed a little beyond their limits when I try to figure these things out myself. Advice?

[yksnimus]

stupid question from a noob:

How do you transform the knematic energy on eletricity?

[jab0805]

Excellent! I'm definitely getting me one of these!

[UnowMe00]

:D dramatic bird shots!

[FrankaDith]

Is there a danger for the wood brackets to burn?

[beancube2010]

Beautify!!! 1 sq. meter surface has a potential of collecting 1 K joules of energy per second. Just imagine if most bridges over water stream among islands, riversides, coastal lines, railroad sides, freeway roadsides can install these sunlight steam power generators, we can generate a lot of Kilo Watts of electricity. How about roof tops of every house project? If we make it as our industrial infrastructure, we have huge potential to boost our economy. It is not expensive at all.

[robfromorlando]

Dan, have you considered using high-temp, closed-circuit recirculating synthetic oil as a medium instead of water direct to steam?

The high heat would build to around 600F, retain heat during cloudy days and continue to radiate hours after dark. The heat would be used to create steam in a separate condenser loop to drive some sort of steam engine.

Not sure if that's practical or not...just an idea.

[madox1nc]

@robfromorlando thats a very good idea. Flameable maybe :) but it is the right kind of thinking to change the world. My personal opinion is that I like the thought of the steam engine evolution as the first powerful machine man build and now being used so much again.

Heating buildings with hot oil is interesting.

[teslatrooper85]

Why not use a turbine? Turbines eat steam like a mustang does with gasoline ^^

[beancube2010]

@teslatrooper85 A water steam jet turbine? Amazing! I am looking forward to see some demo. Humanity is all about intelligent and making senses. People shouldn't be isolated or be suppressed by monopoly technology industrial giants or be brain-washed by fake economy education systems. Human effort worthies beyond outdated ancient money can pay.

[trkiehl]

Another project idea: a free-fall solar pyrolysis system.

1.) Put mirror vertically; a glass tube in focus; might want to put whole thing onto a lazy Susan, can be powered by motor for easy sun tracking

2.) drop fine-grained biomass from top through the glass tube; very rapid pyrolysis

3.) collect char at bottom

4.) syngas can be captured; run hose through water for condensation. Separate out gaseous parts and bio-oil

Voila! it's a solar bio-oil refinery and solar biochar production system.

[housekitty711]

heres a project idea, a parabolic desalination and stirling electric power plant.....

[randommagnum]

That was quite the intro there... LOL

[superducky2250]

Dan what is the psi coming off of that thing? also you had a Fresnel lens version of the "steam generator" what was the psi coming off of that as well?

[fileark]

Dan... I want you to make MORE videos! Nice production too.

[raptcat]

hi Im from mexico and I loved your videos are very interesting, gonna be a good idea puting subtitles in spanish, and if you can send me a list of materials tnk and good look

[beancube2010]

@raptcat You can help do some voice with your language over for his clips and ask people on Internet to edit your audio track on top of his audio track. His audio track remains as the back ground of yours.

[Felipecabesas]

How can I learn all the cool things we can do with nature.

[jiro9cuts0001]

increase the number of pipes, paint the pipes black with heat resistant grill paint (increases the IR absorption) and use the captured steam to power a Tesla turbine hooked up to a 10-20Kw generator on mag-lev bearings. For night time/cloudy/rainy weather, have an alternate heat source, or run the generator off of a DC electric motor to keep the RPMs up.

[worldwidepete]

Hey Dan, great video. I love those steam engines. Quick thought about it though, would it be possible to route the exhaust of the engine to a small pre-heating heat exchanger? Using the exhaust energy to preheat the water thus lowering input energy. Wish I had a place to experiment. :) Good work.

[gkellett]

Fascinating...

Nice work.

What size is that acrylic mirror?

[TheBattleWagon]

you should remove the hose and use a feed pump to mist the water in to the boiler tube.

[rockergringo88]

i made one of these but i put 3 pipes with the middle pipe about a half to a third of an inch under the other 2 and i put the sides of the mirror a lil more up and i got really good results with my 2 steam engines all go about 2000 rpm +/-

[Beliserius1]

1. How much of that power came from steam vs from the municipal water supply (pressure)

2. How much power is there? Is the space/Cost used worth it?

[1madcap]

i agree, municipal pressure is helping this run and not a real test. of steam generation. Use 2 pressure guages to show differential or a water tank to feed it

[TalksWithDirt]

I wonder how much of the usable power is coming from the back pressure of the municipal water supply? Either way, time to hook up a generator and run some current through a large resistor and measure the current going thru the resistor and the voltage across it. Electrical power will be Voltage X Current. Total efficiency will be (Voltage X Current)/(1000 * area of collector( in sq meters) ).

[locouk]

With the concave mirror, you are heating the BACK side of the pipe, if you focus freznel lenses onto the pipe, both sides of the pipe will be heated, so the water would be flowing through a furnace.And NO, the freznel's won't affect the concave mirror if the focul length of each mirror used is of a different length.

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

The Fresnel Lens and Trough mirror must be in the same line for optimal performance. The Fresnel lens would remove its size from the mirrors power Cast shadow so you would not be really adding anything. Parabolic mirrors and Fresnel lens can work together if the Parabolic mirror has a 2 M focal length and is a dish type. It can redirect as needed with only minor power loss. The Fresnel Lens only works well in a direct line.

[locouk]

I mean shine the freznel lens directly onto the pipe, don't try to reflect the freznel light. There may be a slight shadow but both sides of the pipe will be heated. I don't really know how to explain but.. The concave light is reflected, and the lens is direct, both side focus on the pipe.

[almostcapecod]

Brings back memories, A friend and I were building collectors just like this back in the 1980s, we used plexi-glass that was mirrored with aluminum in a vacuum plater, we even tried platting with gold.

Great to see you doing this, it really does bring back some good memories, we also built waste oil heaters that turned the oil into a gas and burned with a nice blue flame.

[AlphaMark3]

Why didn't you paint the pipe black with high temp paint?

And it might also be efficient to run oil through a closed system with the reservoir higher than the heater pipe causing a natural convection of the oil. It would waste less water and the oil would reach and maintain higher temperatures. You could then boil water with the closed oil filled pipe to make steam.

[seventhscience]

RE: zeekle...Unless some banker or politician can make a profit forom any technology, it will not be advanced unless by an individual usually labled by the media as a crackpot.

[seventhscience]

Depth equals radius squared divided by four times the focal point distance.

R^2/(4*f) for a dish/trough

I made a 6 KW system with a 24 x 8 ft trough. It was a closed loop system using a home brew turbine with heat exchanger to boost my hot water tank in home.

[BigGreenZero]

@seventhscience tell me more about your project. I install evacuated tube solar collectors in arizona and want to supply my customers with electricity from the wasted heat in the summer months.

[inventor65]

Good information, complete dimension required to prepare at home, the angle of mirror, distance of pipe etc. Thank any way for great information.

[saskaluczak]

5 /100

[Saillar]

Good vid, could this be made into a closed loop so as not to to use so much water and the water temp would not have to be brought up from ambient and would work better.

Multiple smaller pipes would also heat quicker and maybe give more output for a larger motor. What do you think it would take to run a car alternator or generator?

[panzermacher]

@Saillar yeah great questions, same ones I had so I'm really interested in an answer.

[zeekle]

For you to do this in your back yard proves to me that these technologies could have been refined and perfected 100 years ago - but you can't sell sunlight - this is why technology turned away from solar power. Solar power has been in capitalism's blind spot.

[westkan]

Not only does the inability to sell solar radiation, turns away most capitalists, so does the fact most of the technology to put solar radiation to work is essentially "open source". Pretty much anyone is free to manufacture and sell the equipment for profit.

[sfortuna]

Moral of story: Cheap parabolic trough plus 1/2" iron pipe = 180 degree H20 or steam. what you do with it is up to you. Me, I'd store maybe 50 gallons of it and mix it with the cold H20 supply when its time to take a shower...bypass the water heater completely. If you guys get turned on by steam engines, have at it.

[DJRockinRob]

I see a purpose ... if you were to attach a motor to the output of the steam engine ... then.... muhahaha electricity!!!!

Where do I get a steam engine like that? Seriously - where do I get one?

[UnowMe00]

@DJRockinRob :D U rock Rob! Mostly they are custom built for plants a tad bigger than this one. But try to google "steam engine generator" or "otherpower steamengine" for more impressions...

[Tankable]

Wonder if those birds were riding hot air currents over your house?

[westkan]

Dan is NOT that full of I hot air, I don't think so anyway. I thought they where buzzards waiting for a meal if one of Dan's projects go horribly wrong.

[jdunk2145]

Why don't you vent unused steam to open air with a throttle valve instead of turning out of the sun?

[zeewrath]

ok first I really like your vids, but I am just not seeing the point anymore of your projects. They have all been shown to work in one fashion or another all ready. How about showing us a project that we can incorperate into our daily lives. Thanks

[Saillar]

Zaerath

Dan is little like Don Herbert "Mr Wizard of the 50's. He is demonstrating how things work and hopefully answers questions we all have had at one time or another. Hopefully it inspires young minds to go into science and build on what they see in his vids. Personally I think solar is in its infancy and these ideas will be built on by University's and corporations. I am in the air conditioning biz and they are using these ideas to eliminate compressors in systems to cool our houses.

[Elephantintheroom01]

Here's to turning your hand into a brisket for green power science.

[problah]

Hey guys. I've been watching your tubecasts for a while now, but this one eludes me. Is that a steam engine, or a stirling engine you are attached to? If that is a stirling engine, why waste water? You can hook the motor up to the pipe directly, or through a copper heatsink that has cooling fins to bring it to whatever temp you need, and you won't be wasting water. Another option is creating a looping steam system, and using the steam pump to pump the water form a chiller as well.

Cheers!

D(B)

[RHEAD100]

I love yuor videos. But; you really need to buy some garden hose washers. Almost every one of your videos invalving a hose, the hose leaks. They are only a dollar a dozen.

PLEASE;; I love you and your wife and mean no dis-respect.

[huziyue]

Wow. I guess, this guy's never studied thermodynamics or any engineering. To be honest, I'm impressed with the intent, but execution is painfully...uninformed. It's like seeing someone mount a wind turbine on a car.

[wolfman19791812]

What kind of video camera do you use to capture that that kind of HD video? it has a great picture!

[The3iz]

Make a boat

[matrixm777]

Good, clean energy. Use the motor to run a generator or charge battery cells...

Very cool, Dan...

[RawVisualsVj]

Great stuff!

[madjimms]

Another 5 stars for ya Dan.

[Demoman42]

Thanks Dan :)

[NuggetsOfTruths]

With the power used to pump the water and the losses in the conversions i'd say you're probably loosing energy rather than making it.

[rillip3]

The water is just coming from a hose. Guessing that he's on municipal water, but if so, it's already pressurized, no pumping needed. He's using solar energy to heat the water and run the engine, not making energy.

[NuggetsOfTruths]

Someone is pumping the water and they are using energy. If the contraption isn't creating energy it's a white elephant anyway.

[madjimms]

Its not meant to solve world hunger.... its just to HELP..... BTW nothing "creates" energy in the first place.....

[NuggetsOfTruths]

This we know from the second law of thermodynamics. But if someone is creating energy to pump the water, you have to wonder what the point is. At best it's energy neutral. I would guess it's probably wasting energy if you include the water companies overheads (which we should include.)

[madjimms]

Simple, use a closed system.

but with spaces for condensing & expansion.

[rillip3]

I agree that it is using energy. So would pumping the water into a hot water heater.  The difference is he is using solar energy to heat the water rather than fosil fuel/nuclear/whatever the municipality uses to heat the water. It's a solar water heating system. It's not supposed to create energy, and it's not using any energy that wasn't going to be used anyway.

[NuggetsOfTruths]

I am still left wondering what the point is?

Surely doing this stuff for a concept is one thing, but this just seems useless to me.

The principle is fine, if you have an array of these things, but just one is pointless in my book.

[Elephantintheroom01]

It is through experimentation that you gain good ideas.

[AcidRaZor]

I would love to see this hooked up to some kind of alternator that would generate electricity and measure how effective it would be to generate or recharge batteries in conjunction with some solar panels to power your house!

[AlexGrim]

We need to make Obama a subscriber.

[nephozo]

he made energy! tax him!

[DannysCam]

call obama! taxes must be placed!!

[Intransitman]

He didn't make energy, he just transferd it.

[UnowMe00]

@Intransitman But he tranferred it for free!!!

[TedFnBuckle]

damn im in a texting mood, hhehe to create that shape you have on the mirrror was alot of work, all you got to do is cut a masive bin in half or lest than half what ever works best strait cut from top down half ways and plaster ur mirror into it ?? . im always thinkign the easy way lol

[TedFnBuckle]

remember those little engines run on the heat of hmm a candle so why create some thing so big to you know why not use a 12 volt solar panel and some coiling to create heat

[TedFnBuckle]

Really nice work in all fairness, been watching all yoru videos. But im thinking this mirror aint goign no where or any of the other mirrors, they need SUN most parts of the world dotn have it.. like ireland for instance. WHY dont you focus your skill into magnetics liek magnetic motion with generators and so on, as this kinda work is nice but its going to get nobody no where if you get me :S, but thanks for funny videos is good to watch

[rillip3]

Everywhere has sun, it's just how much of it you have. Magnets are incapable of producing energy. You can use the motion of magnets, i.e. via wind or hydrodynamics to, to create electricity, but fewer places have enough wind power to reliably do such a thing.

[TedFnBuckle]

Hey u dont know about Magnetic Power Generators, you can start one of a 12 volt battery create 24kws enough to power a house for nothing, 150% over m.

Gives out a better wack than a mirror if u get me.

[sonofhendrix]

Show us the video of your setup. no link you stink.

[Konicava]

if the pipe were painted in black i bet it would heat alot better...

And i believe the the steam engine is a waste of time... because using the energy of the gas you lose alot of power...

and wastes energy by converting liquid in gas...

Sure in this case the energy is free... but its not reliable.

Its just a simple engine working by pneumatic force..

[marthale7]

Hi, you should combine this with Jean Pains compost water heater, if you had water temp starting at 140 degrees combined with this your steam engine would just fly :-) Or perhaps combine the other parabolic mirror to preheat the water before it got to this stage and you would really flash boil... Awesome video. Question, do you prefer this over the Big satellite mirror setup? This seams easier to aim and less adjusting.

[diegobizs]

stop playing around with these little projects and make something big, real big, you have enough space in your backyard. You're never going to have any serious power with this small stuff you're doing. (constructive criticism)

[satweavers]

Don't clean the plexi mirror with paper towel. You'll scratch it all to crazy. Only use soft cotton, like old t shirt material or micro fiber towels.

[spinynorman1982]

Ever think about combining Kip Kay's Solar death ray with one of your inventions involving steam power? I thought the last thing he did was interesting I hope you have a chance to check out that video ;)

[spinynorman1982]

Terribly sorry, seams that you already made a solar death ray even before kip kay...I'm going to stand over here now...

[lizardfirefighter110]

So, where is the other side that produces the electricity? How much power per hour"? Good video.

[triforcelink]

you should condense the steam coming from the engine, and feed it back into the system. and maybe you could do something with the heat during the condensation process. (just some ideas lol)

[BackwardProduction]

I really enjoy watching the progress on the different projects you have going. Very interesting. It is actually stuff that I would like to get into if I had more time. Your videos are perfect for a busy person like me.

[30GB]

wow you can see the pipe warp at temperature change

[VisionQuest2012]

I heard some use oil that circulates through the system which then heats the water. If you have cold water that continues to run through the pipe then it might not be maximizing the heat potential.

[mrbhave]

A couple of years ago, I had an idea for a solar powered, super-heated steam engine. My idea was to generate steam in one portion of the machine. That steam is then used to super-heat another enclosure, which turns a generator. Your idea sounds fairly similar. Keep up the great work! I'll be following eagerly following your progress.

[GoatHollow]

How much hp does a little engine like this

generate?

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

10-20 watts. This trough under efficient conditions should yield 500 watts of electrical output (steam to engine to generator) and 2700 watts of direct heat equivalent. I was running at 25% sun and most of the heat is lost in the air around the pipe. I have materials on the way:-)

[GoatHollow]

Let us know as you progress! This seems to have great potential for say... running an automotive alternator, to generate 12v battery power.... at a lot less cost than photovoltaics. 500w of solar panel, would be 2000 - $2500 at 4-$5 a watt. I could see the cost of this setup at a lot less!

[Hopefl1]

Pretty cool.

[pvampire]

Oh yeah, I bet if you "injected" the water into the pipe through a very small port...say 1/64" in diameter, more like a fitting that mists it into the pipe you would get all steam and no liquid. Seems to me that water managment into the pipe is almost as important as the mirrir itself....kind of like having the proper carburator...dude, I'd love to come play with all your science stuff! You rock!

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

Great point, I was thinking of mister injectors. Also I am working on an air expander. Basically taking compressed air, 125 psi, and leaking 10 micron+ hole, then allow heat to expand the air volume. With enough heat you can get much more volume. The air steam hybrid works much better.

[GetMeThere1]

If you're making steam, a stirling engine isn't the most efficient thing to do with it. You can use to to power a generator turbine directly.

[pvampire]

Dan, do you sell detailed plans for your projects, such as this trough mirror? I'd love to build one. We almost NEVER have clouds here in Nevada so a couple of those and a guy could have a blast. Thanks...

[fabeddie]

Dan, try RainX on the mirror....it will make the water sheet off and not leave spots.

[ccolwell19941]

wouldn't some of the pressure be from the water coming through the hose and creating the pressure to run it.....

[TheMan1510]

If you watch the end of the pipe at 1:35 you can see it flexing as the temperature of the steel changes. That's pretty interesting.

[hmu7]

Hi,

When will you start selling a dvd or a book with all this great info?

[JULYINJULY]

Dude, freaking amazing ending. Are you editing this? Your music overlays are perfectly timed, not sure if you are aware of the perfect timing or if you just got lucky your last 4 video;-) Science aside, this is like an art film.

[sciencefun127]

Best video I have ever seen you do.

[thrundar]

It looks to me like a lot of the mirror is not focused on the pipe. Imagine hot efficient it would be if all the mirror was focused properly! Still, good work. Been hoping you'd make something that is used productively as an end goal instead of only experiments. Mostly for power generation is what I refer to.

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

I set it at about 25% because the steam was more than the engine could use and the pressure would blow the hose.

[thrundar]

I mean even when you had it at prime focus, to me it just looks like a lot of the mirror isn't focused right. (Wrong parabolic curve?) I saw one formula that was a 2 to 1 ratio for making the curve. I have a link I'll send you.

[RupertsCrystals]

Cool stuff.

Or should that read hot stuff? ;-)

Makes my attempts look a little poor.

[hatchi58]

nice new cameras Dan. I am wondering if you have ever thought about a bigger steam engine running off a geothermal well. Possibly using a trough pre-heater during the day and using more geo at night, water could be recaptured?

Love the vids, keep it up!

[BeeRich33]

You gotta do some calculations on what this could possibly output.

[shane0000ice]

HI Dan

Great video Again proving that the steam produced from the system will kill most bacteria and be able to condense back to water again. What amount of water are you putting through the tube I think you said about 1 gallon per minute is that right???

Thanks

Shane

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

Hi Shane,

Steam is about 2-4 oz a minute, water heating 1 GPM = 140F from 70F.

This video I adjusted the trough for less steam as the toy engines are not the end result so I did not want to spend time with fittings. The steam at 100% is way too much for these.

Dan

[gesundheitsinspekt0r]

Hi Dan,

is that right 1 GPM = 140F from 70F?

I calculate with these values a power rating of 10 kW. That rating cant be true. I'm expecting 1 kW per m² max.

Is the parabolic through built up from a acrylic mirror? What is the dimension of this mirror.

Best regards, Ben.

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

Hi Ben,

No, that is including the black hose added, this test only had 50ft of grey hose. The 140 x 190 values are with  200 ft section added. Bit confusing, sorry about that.

[WeCanAllGetAllong]

When the electric goes out,its hot showers at dans house.......j/k Good work man! thx for sharing!

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

:-)

[ohmslaw111]

Damn, your videos are better than TV now. Great job. So you said 1/4 power are you planing larger engines vs the small ones?

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

My goal is a 2 stroke engine, solenoid valve and a Fresnel Trough hybrid hooded to a 130 volt permanent magnet motor. For future real use a DIY alternator, bridge rectifier.

[pvampire]

I cant wait to see when you do that. Let me know and I'd even chip in the help you do that!

[motymen]

dan

you don't need the solenoid

converted a small lawnmower 4 stroke engine to a "2 stroke air engine"

and using the spark plug hole with a small button that the piston presses when about 2 mm from upper position

your idea i have to say and it works well

[doug2877]

sweet first viewer 5 stars as always, you guys rock your like the green energizer bunny. Could you refer me to a sight where I can purchase a sterling engine. Thanks..........LATER FROM THE WEST COAST................

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

Thank you Doug:-)

How big did you need. Toy or working?