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Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough

theatlantic.com

1–10 of 104 posts

Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough

#3

Well the idea sounds coherent. No idea if it would work or not. It's not a fuel cell though - its more like a no-moving-parts replacement for a Stirling engine.

Right. He called it a fuel cell because it was the only way he could get past the funding gatekeepers who dismissed his ideas without properly examining or understanding them.

Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough

#5
Speaking of inventors, does anyone know how inventors ever get a foothold? I had a cool idea for heating swimming pools to ambient air temperature (think giant heat sinks).

But do I get giant heatsinks built for me to test? How do I find out if this is already patented? How do I sell it?

Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough

#6
post #4

I remember reading about the JTEC a couple of years ago, but I am very curious to see an actual working version of it. Could be the hottest thing around ...

Right - surely they can get a scale model of it working. I take all these announcements with a grain of salt now. We're always reading about these breakthroughs, then nothing. I mean, if he had even a small working prototype, he could be on the news and gaining investors and traction.

Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough

#7
How would this work? Surely sunlight can't create enough heat to ionize a gas (creating plasma?).

Why don't the whole hydrogen atoms go through the membrane to the lower pressure area?

How does he alternate which side is heated? How does he cool the other side?

Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough

#9

Speaking of inventors, does anyone know how inventors ever get a foothold? I had a cool idea for heating swimming pools to ambient air temperature (think giant heat sinks). But do I get giant heatsinks built for me to test? How do I find out if this is already patented? How do I sell it?

I would have to imagine this would have been patented if your "heatsink" source is practical. Unless you are living in a area like Iceland where you can tap into geothermal energy, I would have to imagine any other method would be impractical. You have to obtain the heat from somewhere. Be it natural or from some form of man made energy source.

I do remember reading somewhere about capturing/retaining heat during the hotter parts of the season and then releasing it during the colder seasons. The solution involved a massive hole I believe or something like that.

Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough

#10
post #9

Speaking of inventors, does anyone know how inventors ever get a foothold? I had a cool idea for heating swimming pools to ambient air temperature (think giant heat sinks). But do I get giant heatsinks built for me to test? How do I find out if this is already patented? How do I sell it?

I would have to imagine this would have been patented if your "heatsink" source is practical. Unless you are living in a area like Iceland where you can tap into geothermal energy, I would have to imagine any other method would be impractical. You have to obtain the heat from somewhere. Be it natural or from some form of man made energy source. I do remember reading somewhere about capturing/retaining heat during the…

Gotta wonder if you could get funding for "Geothermal Offsets", to replace some of the Earth's sapped heat from geothermal power sources. You could possibly run such a system for free :D
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