Do a search on "thermoacoustic". This isn't all that mysterious, and if
you want to get in to computational fluid dynamics computations, it can all
be explained according to the laws of physics. It's essentially the same as
a heat pump, only instead of a mechanical compressor to create pressure
differences, the standing sound waves set up in the device create areas of
higher and lower pressure in the gas, and transfer heat. I can also be
harnessed in the reverse, using heat to create sound waves, which then
operate a linear generator to generate electricity. I believe it actually
operates on the stirling cycle, but without the very hard to machine
pistons/cylinders/seals required by a mechanical stirling engine. Yes,
right now the efficiency isn't very good now, but the lack of moving parts
is appealing. Lots of interesting reading on the web.
On 2/19/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear D.M.,
I suppose for now, this machine is one of life's mysteries.
A somewhat larger mystery, however, is why someone would buy
a machine with a coefficient of performance of 1.6 at best when
water source heat pumps are available with a COP of 5.0.
Putting this aside for a moment, I assume that the city
departments are connected to the grid. So, power is delivered to the
device with 30% efficiency or thereabouts.
Let's see .3 X 1.6 = .48 throughput when considering the
inefficiencies of centralized power.
Or the city could use any number of furnace/fuel combinations to get
heat at up to 95 percent efficiency, or so.
Finally, commercial users are usually charged a premium for
electricity based on peak usage for the year. I don't know whether
this is the case for municipalities in general or for those in Georgia,
U.S.A.
Any thoughts?
Regards,
Wendell
>From: "D. Mindock" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: 2007/02/19 Mon AM 03:12:56 CST
>To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;@unspecified-domain>
>Subject: [Biofuel] Over unity? Shock waves and steam heat
>
>http://www.alternativescience.com/over-unity.htm
>Shock waves and steam heat
>
>For more than two years debate has raged on the Internet about an
ordinary-looking metal drum sitting on the concrete floor of a factory
building in Rome, Georgia, 50 miles from Atlanta. Its inventor, the man
about whom the Internet debate is raging, is James Griggs, an industrial
heating engineer. The invention that has brought Griggs such notoriety is a
device that he began developing in 1987, that he calls the 'Hydrosonic Pump'
and that many of his supporters believe is over-unity, in that it generates
around 30 per cent more energy as heat than is put in as electricity.
>To the skeptics, the Griggs Gadget is, at best, a case of self-delusion
on a grand scale, and, at worst, a case of scientific fraud. To his
supporters, the pump is the first unequivocal public demonstration of
undoubted over-unity.
>Jim Griggs told me, 'the pump is based on a theory of what takes place
when a shock wave is created in a fluid. We know that when you create a
shock wave in a liquid there is a minute amount of energy released into the
fluid in the form of heat.'
>'Most of the previous studies had been done in how to eliminate that
shock wave, instead of putting the heat to a useful purpose. We've designed
a system to take the shock-wave heat energy, capture it, and produce hot
water or steam.'
>Griggs believes that his device works on perfectly normal principles and
violates no laws of physics. Just what happens when the Hydrosonic pump is
filled up with water and switched on is described by over-unity investigator
Jed Rothwell who conducted a detailed engineering investigation of the
device in January 1994.
>'During one of the demonstrations we watched,' he says, 'over a 20 minute
period, 4.80 Kilowatt Hours of electricity was input, and 19,050 BTUs of
heat evolved, which equals 5.58 Kilowatt Hours, or 117 per cent of input.
The actual input to output ratio was even better than this, when you take
into account the inefficiencies of the electric motor.'
>But if there are kilowatts of excess heat available, why doesn't Griggs
simply use the steam to turn a turbine-generator and connect the output to
the input -- thus getting a perpetual motion machine?
>One reason is that converting steam into electricity is an extremely
inefficient process. You would be lucky to convert 5 per cent of the output
heat energy back into electricity -- and 2 per cent might be nearer the
mark. The Hydrosonic pump would therefore have to be massively over-unity
before you could recover enough energy to make it self-sustaining, and at
present the margin is a 'modest' 30 per cent.
>More importantly, the excess energy does not actually appear at the
output steam pipe for a constant input of energy. What happens is this; the
pump is started and after five or ten minutes reaches a steady state where
it is converting water at room temperature to steam. Once this steady state
is reached, the pump, according to Griggs, goes into an over-unity mode
where the output temperature is maintained, but the amount of energy needed
at the input to maintain it, drops by 30 per cent.
>Griggs has been working with a number of physicists and engineers to try
to get to the bottom of just how his device works. As well as Jed Rothwell's
consulting engineering firm in Atlanta he has worked with Professor Keizios,
dean emeritus of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia
Institute of Technology and past president of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers. Professor Keizos supervised the design of the
instrumentation that measures the energy input and output of the Griggs
Gadget.
>In a second test, during which the over-unity effect was measured, the
adjusted co-efficient of power was a remarkable 168 per cent -- the machine
produced 1.68 times the energy that was input. A third test did nearly as
well with a Co-efficient of power of 157 per cent.
>If the only evidence for these claims were the colour brochure printed by
Griggs's company, Hydro Dynamics Corporation Inc., and reports of his
supporters, then most observers might be inclined to side with the skeptics:
Griggs's claims seem fundamentally improbable. Yet surprisingly, Griggs has
not only patented his device and started manufacturing a commercial version
on a small scale, he has also sold and installed devices to users in the
Atlanta area.
>The customers include the Atlanta Police Department, a fire station, a
dry cleaning plant, and a gymnasium. Interestingly, the Hydrosonic pump was
installed in the public buildings by the county engineer after evaluating
the device. The buildings are using the device mainly for heating purposes,
and they have been running for more than a year. The customers have bills
from their local electric utility company showing a year on year decrease in
bills equivalent to 30 per cent.
>What precisely causes the claimed excess heat? Griggs himself rejects the
popular idea that his pump has something to do with so-called 'cold fusion'.
>'We have kind of been lumped into the cold fusion field', he says wryly,
'because we have experienced excess energy out of the pump. As far as cold
fusion goes, we don't believe that we're accomplishing any type of nuclear
reaction within our system. We feel that it can be explained through the
theory of cavitation or sonoluminescence.'
>Griggs's gadget has been examined by a steady stream of investigators,
both friendly and skeptical. So far, they have all gone away mystified.
Unlike most 'over-unity' devices, however, you can buy and install a
hydrosonic pump in your own home.
>
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