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Solar Tower Vortex Generator

 This isn't Kansas anymore.
  (+6, -2)
(+6, -2) 		  [vote for,
against]

Construct your solar collector such that air is guided into wide collection ports at the extremities, spiralling in to much narrower channels at the centre.

From above, such an arrangement might look a bit like an old-timey lollypop.

This should create a pretty tangible whirlwind in the middle. By stabilising the airflow into a vortex, it should generate more power than it might have done otherwise.

—zen_tom, Nov 27 2006

Solar Flue 101 http://www.visionen.../env/solar_flue.php
[zen_tom, Nov 27 2006]

Self Erecting Solar Tower Self Erecting Solar Tower
A sister notion I should have linked to earlier. [zen_tom, Nov 29 2006]

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       thank you
—peter2, Nov 27 2006
   

       You're welcome.
—zeno, Nov 27 2006
   

       The peak output of solar flue 101 was worth about $5 an hour, and probably not more than $20 per day. Hard to do worse, I suppose.
—ldischler, Nov 27 2006
   

       [ldischler], yes, but I guess that figure is only referring to the power output (still not bad if, excluding the turbine, you consider the complete lack of moving parts) - there's nothing stopping us from using the heightened temperatures and potentially tweakable environment to grow plants that might not otherwise grow in the ambient conditions. Now that's not necessarily going to push the value-per-hour up vastly, but it will push it up some - the point being that the entire site doesn't have to be *just* a power station.   

       I would love to live and work in and around a structure like this - different sections, at different distances from the centre would have distinct 'feels' to them - you might be able to rent out some parts of the complex as holiday homes - reliable weather, warm, with a constant breeze - just add a pool and a nice restaurant, and you've got a resort. How many power stations today can double as luxury holiday resorts?   

       Then there are the vinyards that you could have stretched out in a couple of sectors, every year would be a good vintage, because the temperatures would be higher, and more stable.   

       Or the rich foliage in the jungle areas, where tropical plants are tested for their medicinal properties etc.   

       And all of this at a site in the sorts of locations you see people selling off land at a dollar an acre.
—zen_tom, Nov 28 2006
   

       How did I miss this! Brilliant.   


 

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