Power, Water and Refrigeration in One Box

Roland Piquepaille writes "Engineers at the University of Florida have developed and built a system that can provide power, water and refrigeration from a single unit. This project, funded by the U.S. Army, will lead to units small enough to fit inside a military jet or a large truck. The prototype system is already more efficient than conventional turbines. And it is also environmentally friendly because it can use traditional fossil fuels as well as biomass-produced fuels or hydrogen and releases only small amounts of pollutants. This kind of system could be used as a mobile unit in case of hurricanes or wars. But it might also be connected to the normal power grid in fixed locations."

Comments

Dude, that's all you need...

[Stephen Tennant]

to grow WEED, man!

Neato

[Hawthorne01]

Depending on the cost/unit of these (and let's face it, given previous military "innovations" like the $900 hammer...), this would be a boon to developing countries, allowing people to get off the often-unrelieable power grids, and providing valuable food storage and clean water, too. Are you listening, Mr Gates? Here's where your billions might earn you a little bit of karma.

Heck, *I'd* like one. Be darn nice for a cottage retreat.

Re:Neato

[c6gunner]

I mean, other than the obvious reason that the government as a whole is in the pockets of the oil industry.

Yeah, ofcourse. That they could make 10 times as much money if they develop a viable alternative to oil is, ofcourse, not an incentive to them. They're only in the "pockets of the oil industry" because....what exactly? The oil company CEO's have the whole government brainwashed? Or maybe they just give the worlds best blow-jobs?

Whoever manages to be the first to bring a viable alternative to the market will be an overnight billionaire. The millitary contrat alone would be enough to quadruple Bush's family fortune. So what possible reason would any politician have to oppose (or refuse to support) research into alternative fuels? I just can't understand how some people can hold such simplistic world views. While there may be quite a few corrupt politicians, it takes a special kind of paranoid to beleive that they've all been bought off, and a special kind of ignorant to beleive that they're not intelligent enough to realize the profits (and political advantages) that could be made by developing alternate fuel sources.

Re:Neato

[c6gunner]

I don't normaly reply to AC's, but for you I'll make an exception.

1) The politicians don't do the selling. Whereases if they funded a government program to develop new fuels, they'd have first access to new technology which could put the oil industry out of business. So they'd go from selling your hypothetical guy 0 gallons of fuel for 0 dollars, to selling him several gallons a day at $1.25 (by your prices). And they'd practicaly have a monopoly for the first few years at the very least.

2) As for the oil companies themselves, they're in a similar situation. SOMEONE is going to invent alternate fuels and alternate fuel vehicles. If an American company doesn't do it, a European or Japanese company will. What makes more sense: be the first and try to put your competition out of business, or sit on your hands and do nothing, praying that nobody will manage it in your lifetime?

It amazes me how people like you and the poster above you can hold such amazingly contradictory views at the same time. On the one hand you beleive the government and the corporations are evil, horrible men, who are motivated only by profits and are capable of suppressing any new research into whatever field they desire. At the same time, you think they'd turn down the possibility of putting their competition out of business and placing their own company ahead of the game, and are stupid enough not to see the opportunity that they're missing. Christ man, as much as I hate stereotypes, if you're going to beleive in them yourself the least you can do is pick one and stick to it.

refridgeration?

[nietsch]

This solutions sounds pretty obvious, so it is partly brilliant. The hurray press release thoug appears to be a bit myopic. In case some disaster destroyed my town i'd be more concerned at staying warm than about my meat going off.
But I think this unit could supply heating too, after all te rest product after all conversions have been done is carbon dioxide and hot air/heat. Just combine the radiators from the absorbtive cooling with the inlett fan of a inflatable sports hall and there you have your warm shelter. (if you don't like the refugees you could use the exaust from the generator too to put everybody to sleep :)

Re:Stupidity, Madness and Hype in One Box

[kfg]

And that's exactly what this unit does. It consumes ridiculous amounts of fuel to cool off the milkshakes and hamburgers for the troops that are there to 'obtain' more of it. This is brilliant!

Well, I'm sure it'll be used for this, but its primary function is really going to be for ice packs and drugs and blood, oh my!

It's basically an oridinary gas-turbine with some clevel thermodynamic engineering of the airflow to gain compression that will give "5 to 8 percent more efficiency than a traditional turbine". That's as far as the 'environmentally friendlyness' goes.

Ok, now I'm with you.

And finally they dare to suggest that these could be used in a hurricane disaster! Like for example refrigerate the bodies of the african americans and the poor?

On the other hand. . . been nice knowin' ya. I'm outta here.

KFG

What is is about the "news" from Roland Piquepaill

[viking2000]

So you install a intercooler on an engine to improve efficiency, and suggest seperately that you drink the water that comes out of the tailpipe.

Avoid specifics as much as possible, and wrap it up on in miltary and engineering terms, and call it technology news.

Also: Frome the article "A few percentage points (improved efficiency) might not seem like much, but it makes a big difference when fuel is scarce or expensive"

So get a diesel engine instead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_engine :A diesel engine is 200% as efficient as a gas turbine.

Re:Lithium Bromide Absorption Chiller?

[eric2hill]

Sounds like a good idea. Seriously. As somewhat of an inventor myself, here's a few starting points...

• Investors don't like plunking down money without a very solid concept of what it is they are paying for.
• Start with a drawing (any flavour of CAD will do) of the design down to the nuts and bolts that hold it together. That will give you a good idea of the raw materials that will be needed to build the contraption.
• Spec the code that will need to be written for your microcontrollers. Don't write the code. Just write the high level logic that would be used to write the code. This will be good for estimates on time to flesh out the code. You need good coding estimates to plan when you can deliver the first prototype.
• Read one of the most mocked quotes of Donald Rumsfeld a few times. You are going to have to write down the things that do do not know. Things that might go wrong, things that you'll have to "figure out", things that you will need help with, etc. You (obviously) cannot write down the things you do not know, but a little risk management goes a long way towards getting funding. People with money like to know the "known unknowns".
• Profit is a Good Thing(TM). Explain in one paragraph (should be REALLY easy considering what you're talking about) how this investment will make money. Yes, it should be shared with everyone. But your initial investor will need to make his money back over a limited period of time. Selling a few of these to make your investor some money will be a necessity.
• Outside help is always good. Someone else to talk over the guts of the thing. You can't do everything by yourself, and you might get to spend a few nights with your family instead of slaving away at a life-long project... :) Fire me an email if you'd like.

Good luck.