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I wonder how difficult it would be to engineer a direct wind powered heat pump. Theoretically, you could just mechanically drive the compressor and fans, and sk
by mistercow 3y ago
I wonder how difficult it would be to engineer a direct wind powered heat pump. Theoretically, you could just mechanically drive the compressor and fans, and skip electricity generation.
(To be clear, I'm sure this would not make sense economically, but it would be really cool.)
- dsr_ 3y agoIf you have really steady winds, sure. Otherwise you're probably going to need to smooth out the RPM with an intermediate stage like a flywheel.
- oceanplexian 3y agoActually you don’t even need a mechanical compressor. If you know how a propane fridge works, they boil an Ammonia mixture until it becomes a gas, it‘s condensed back into a liquid, and voila, refrigeration. With the right materials you could use thermal solar panels to build a silent air conditioner just as easily as a heater with no moving parts, in theory. Here's an old video on the principles behind it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDPgGDCdAo4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDPgGDCdAo4).
- littlestymaar 3y agoSince I've heard about propane fridges I don't understand why we don't use such a thermal-solar AC everywhere. Like using the sun itself to cool you off without even needing moving parts sounds like the holy grail of AC, surely there must be engineering difficulties but what are those?