Minto's wonder wheel....

[sno]

Morris,

Here is something I saw many years ago....just remembered it....

http://amasci.com/freenrg/minto.html

Uses flat panels but could be adapted for concentrating.......

Engine rotates at about 1 rpm, fairly high torque...first time I saw it
thought might be able to connect them in parallel, for more torque if
needed...I had thought even at low rpm could pump water....

Think could use water and alcohol for working fluids...

Maybe you could come up with/think of something that could use the same
principal....

Probably something you have already investigated.....<grin>

have fun.....sno

--
Correct Scientific Terminology:
Hypothesis - a guess as to why or how something occurs
Theory - a hypothesis that has been checked by enough experiments
to be generally assumed to be true.
Law - a hypothesis that has been checked by enough experiments
in enough different ways that it is assumed to be truer then a theory.
Note: nothing is proven in science, things are assumed to be true.

 

[sno]

Thanks! I had already seen a version built with beer/soda cans - and
thought it interesting. The problem I couldn't solve was how to apply it
to my project. Now I'm trying to imagine the wheel positioned above the
"trailing edge" of a focal tube and driving Dan's worm gear...

...but I still haven't seen Dan's method of driving the collector back
to the east at start of day.

You might like to bookmark the Wikipedia article at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minto_wheel

which provides an animation, links to a couple of YouTube videos, and a
link to an 1881 patent document.

Thanks for the link....loved the video...how you could see inside the
chambers to view it actually working....

Another thought I had way back then was instead of using cirular wheel
make it like a teeter totter....with each section horizontal...in
parallel with another teeter totter and a few degrees off from a teeter
totter next to it....the only problem I saw with this idea is you would
need a ratchet gear in the center to get rotary motion.....and
efficiency would be less....this it seems would be something easier to
build...if you were using it to drive a pump the up and down motion
could be used directly without the gears....

thank you for listening to my thoughts....have fun sno

have fun....sno

--
Correct Scientific Terminology:
Hypothesis - a guess as to why or how something occurs
Theory - a hypothesis that has been checked by enough experiments
to be generally assumed to be true.
Law - a hypothesis that has been checked by enough experiments
in enough different ways that it is assumed to be truer then a theory.
Note: nothing is proven in science, things are assumed to be true.

 

[amdx]

Thanks for the link....loved the video...how you could see inside the
chambers to view it actually working....

Another thought I had way back then was instead of using cirular wheel
make it like a teeter totter....with each section horizontal...in parallel
with another teeter totter and a few degrees off from a teeter totter next
to it....the only problem I saw with this idea is you would need a ratchet
gear in the center to get rotary motion.....and efficiency would be
less....this it seems would be something easier to build...if you were
using it to drive a pump the up and down motion could be used directly
without the gears....

thank you for listening to my thoughts....have fun sno

have fun....sno

--
Correct Scientific Terminology:
Hypothesis - a guess as to why or how something occurs
Theory - a hypothesis that has been checked by enough experiments
to be generally assumed to be true.
Law - a hypothesis that has been checked by enough experiments
in enough different ways that it is assumed to be truer then a theory.
Note: nothing is proven in science, things are assumed to be true.

Dragging the flask through the hot water seems inefficient, maybe spray
the hot water on the flask as it rotates though the bottom of it's cycle.
Mikek

 

[Bob F]

Dragging the flask through the hot water seems inefficient, maybe
spray the hot water on the flask as it rotates though the bottom of
it's cycle. Mikek

Making the "flasks" be sections of a "wheel" might speed it up, at some loss of
thermal transfer. But at 1 rpm, maybe it won't make much difference.

 

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

Dragging the flask through the hot water seems inefficient, maybe spray
the hot water on the flask as it rotates though the bottom of it's cycle.

Sprayed hot water would lose heat to the air much faster than a
pool because of the increased surface area.

Making it a wheel (painted black) and pointing a heliostat
concentrator at the bottom would probably work well.

 

[Mauried]

You can still buy these.
http://www.onlinetoys.com.au/Crazy-Harry-Drinking-Bird-pr-16911.html

They operate on the same principle.
If you connected a small magnet to the stem of the bird , and wound a
small coil on the support, you could make minicule amounts of energy.