!Living Off Grid Part 2!
Traditional Solar panels may not be necessary for living off grid, there is an alternative process that also produces useful amounts of electricity, the Solar Mirror Array Steam driven electric generator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTvAL7ty53M
What I like about this method of generating electricity from the sun is that building and repairing the system is within the range of technologies, materials, and finances available to most of the general public.
For example, the pressurized water-steam chamber is easy enough to build with commonly available cost effective materials, metal working tools and parts. The steam driven pistons or turbines are also within the outer range of cost effective materials, metal working tools and parts, mirrors are inexpensive and commonly available, so is the generator, the generator drive shaft and the electrical box.
Furthermore, it is easier to repair, maintain, and replace the system as it ages, when compared to semiconductor solar panels. About the only parts that may need to be replaced and maintained on a regular basis are parts that move, like the steam pistons, turbines, bearings, driving shaft, transmission, and generator. Each of these components are easier to repair, replace, and/or manufacture, than are semiconductor solar panels.
From what I know about solar panels, I would guess that it would be quite difficult for the general public to repair a solar panel at the semiconductor level, if this is at all possible. Unlike the solar-steam system, almost every step of the solar panel manufacturing process requires finances, technologies, processes,and materials that are far beyond the reach of the general public. Also, since most solar panels have very few parts, about the only thing people can do to address declining output as the solar panel ages is to replace the panel.
The solar-steam system is more akin to an automobile, as the system ages maintenance is required and sometimes major repairs are needed. The key advantage is that the system CAN be repaired component by component. Solar panels cannot, for the most part, be repaired component by component, nor can they be easily reconditioned to perform like they did when they were newer.
Finally, the manufacturing process of most solar panels requires the use of very toxic chemicals, energy intensive processes, clean rooms, and an extensive industrial infrastructure.
Cooking and Hot Water
It has been brought to my attention that electrical appliances with heating elements are often not suitable for off grid systems since they put a heavy load on the inverter and significantly drain the energy storage systems. Such appliances include an electric hotplate or possibly an electric water heater.
Hotplates powered with electricity or natural gas can be replaced with parabolic solar grillers. Electric water heaters can be replaced with a solar water heating system. This may restrict cooking and bathing to daylight hours.
Actually this does lead to an interesting question, just how much power do these appliances consume?
https://www.rpc.com.au/information/faq/power-consumption/cooking-appliances.html
Also how much power does a typical car battery provide?
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/MelissaNg.shtml
My guess would be that the power output varies in time, a battery can only provide the aforementioned power for only a couple of seconds or minutes. Though, the full 4000W is not needed for one or two hotplates, these appliances require about 2000 W. If each individual hot plate is directly connected to one battery it may be possible to cook food in a more typical fashion with no time restrictions.
This also leads to an interesting concept, it is the inverse of a refrigerator. Instead of an appliance that keeps foods at a temperature colder than it's surroundings, an appliance that keeps food warmer than it's surroundings. The same vacuum flask techniques that keep food cold can also be used to keep food warm. So during the day a solar griller or oven can be used to cook the food and then the food could be placed into preheated reheaterator to keep it at it's cooking temperature.
It is not simply enough to place the food in a large thermally insulated container, since the heat in the food will be lost to the air in the container. This is true for a refrigerator as well, the air inside the freezer or refrigerator portion is at the same temperature as the food. This means that the air inside the reheaterator must be at the same temperature as the food, or at least a temperature at which most people eat hot foods, around 100 degrees C or 212 degrees F. This could be accomplished by building a large vacuum flask solar oven, with thermally insulated windows so that the heat of the sun could be used to heat the oven. A sliding vacuum panel could be used to prevent heat loss in the form of radiation at night.
In this manner heat produced during the day will be stored for use at night. So during the day foods could be cooked using a parabolic solar griller or a solar oven then placed in the reheaterator for consumption at night. Just like a refrigerator, when the door is opened or when foods colder than 100 degrees C are placed in the reheaterator, the air temperature will fall below 100 degrees C, this may necessitate the use of heating elements to keep the temperature at 100 degrees C. Another more interesting possibility is to use the heat expelled by a typical refrigerator to keep the reheaterator warm. So people may end up with one appliance refrigerator-reheaterator. On side keeps foods colder than the surrounding the other side keeps food hotter than surroundings.
Yet another interesting possibly is to redesign ranges and stoves so that most of the heat produced by heating elements is used to cook and not expelled into the environment. Hot plates and ovens are among the most wasteful appliances in the typical home, approximately half the heat produced by a hot plate or heating element is expelled into the environment. If instead most of the heat produced by the heating element is used to cook, we may be able to bring down the power consumption of a hot plate or oven to the point where it may be possible to use it on a battery-inverter system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTvAL7ty53M
What I like about this method of generating electricity from the sun is that building and repairing the system is within the range of technologies, materials, and finances available to most of the general public.
For example, the pressurized water-steam chamber is easy enough to build with commonly available cost effective materials, metal working tools and parts. The steam driven pistons or turbines are also within the outer range of cost effective materials, metal working tools and parts, mirrors are inexpensive and commonly available, so is the generator, the generator drive shaft and the electrical box.
Furthermore, it is easier to repair, maintain, and replace the system as it ages, when compared to semiconductor solar panels. About the only parts that may need to be replaced and maintained on a regular basis are parts that move, like the steam pistons, turbines, bearings, driving shaft, transmission, and generator. Each of these components are easier to repair, replace, and/or manufacture, than are semiconductor solar panels.
From what I know about solar panels, I would guess that it would be quite difficult for the general public to repair a solar panel at the semiconductor level, if this is at all possible. Unlike the solar-steam system, almost every step of the solar panel manufacturing process requires finances, technologies, processes,and materials that are far beyond the reach of the general public. Also, since most solar panels have very few parts, about the only thing people can do to address declining output as the solar panel ages is to replace the panel.
The solar-steam system is more akin to an automobile, as the system ages maintenance is required and sometimes major repairs are needed. The key advantage is that the system CAN be repaired component by component. Solar panels cannot, for the most part, be repaired component by component, nor can they be easily reconditioned to perform like they did when they were newer.
Finally, the manufacturing process of most solar panels requires the use of very toxic chemicals, energy intensive processes, clean rooms, and an extensive industrial infrastructure.
Cooking and Hot Water
It has been brought to my attention that electrical appliances with heating elements are often not suitable for off grid systems since they put a heavy load on the inverter and significantly drain the energy storage systems. Such appliances include an electric hotplate or possibly an electric water heater.
Hotplates powered with electricity or natural gas can be replaced with parabolic solar grillers. Electric water heaters can be replaced with a solar water heating system. This may restrict cooking and bathing to daylight hours.
Actually this does lead to an interesting question, just how much power do these appliances consume?
https://www.rpc.com.au/information/faq/power-consumption/cooking-appliances.html
Also how much power does a typical car battery provide?
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/MelissaNg.shtml
My guess would be that the power output varies in time, a battery can only provide the aforementioned power for only a couple of seconds or minutes. Though, the full 4000W is not needed for one or two hotplates, these appliances require about 2000 W. If each individual hot plate is directly connected to one battery it may be possible to cook food in a more typical fashion with no time restrictions.
This also leads to an interesting concept, it is the inverse of a refrigerator. Instead of an appliance that keeps foods at a temperature colder than it's surroundings, an appliance that keeps food warmer than it's surroundings. The same vacuum flask techniques that keep food cold can also be used to keep food warm. So during the day a solar griller or oven can be used to cook the food and then the food could be placed into preheated reheaterator to keep it at it's cooking temperature.
It is not simply enough to place the food in a large thermally insulated container, since the heat in the food will be lost to the air in the container. This is true for a refrigerator as well, the air inside the freezer or refrigerator portion is at the same temperature as the food. This means that the air inside the reheaterator must be at the same temperature as the food, or at least a temperature at which most people eat hot foods, around 100 degrees C or 212 degrees F. This could be accomplished by building a large vacuum flask solar oven, with thermally insulated windows so that the heat of the sun could be used to heat the oven. A sliding vacuum panel could be used to prevent heat loss in the form of radiation at night.
In this manner heat produced during the day will be stored for use at night. So during the day foods could be cooked using a parabolic solar griller or a solar oven then placed in the reheaterator for consumption at night. Just like a refrigerator, when the door is opened or when foods colder than 100 degrees C are placed in the reheaterator, the air temperature will fall below 100 degrees C, this may necessitate the use of heating elements to keep the temperature at 100 degrees C. Another more interesting possibility is to use the heat expelled by a typical refrigerator to keep the reheaterator warm. So people may end up with one appliance refrigerator-reheaterator. On side keeps foods colder than the surrounding the other side keeps food hotter than surroundings.
Yet another interesting possibly is to redesign ranges and stoves so that most of the heat produced by heating elements is used to cook and not expelled into the environment. Hot plates and ovens are among the most wasteful appliances in the typical home, approximately half the heat produced by a hot plate or heating element is expelled into the environment. If instead most of the heat produced by the heating element is used to cook, we may be able to bring down the power consumption of a hot plate or oven to the point where it may be possible to use it on a battery-inverter system.
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