This is like the ultime HN article.
* Born hacker
* Issues of race and oppression
* Entreprenuer spirit
* Issues with patents
* Big companies stifling innovation
Someone should write "Inventors at Work".
Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
11–20 of 104 posts
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#12How 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?
any source of energy will have a chance of causing far more energetic particles, if not directly then through particle interactions. For the same reason, water far below boiling will steam.
As to the rest, can't help you there. IANAPP :)
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#13How 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?
The maximum heat you can get from sunlight is the temperature of the sun: definitely hot enough to ionize most gases.
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#14Speaking 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…
I don't know about that. It sounds like it could be a good idea to me. Ambient air temperature varies 25 degrees or so from night to day. The pool is going to tend to gravitate towards a temperature between the ground temperature and the average air temperature throughout the day. If you want to heat the pool in the Fall and Spring, just circulate the water through an air-source heat exchanger in the afternoon, and turn it off when the temperature starts to drop. Voila, warm pool. In some places, pools get annoyingly warm in the summer. Use the same device, at 3am, and the problem is solved.
Don't want to use your pool in the fall and spring, but want to save on your heating and cooling bills? Use the pool as a heat storage device, and save the desirable temperature (afternoon or night, depending) in the pool, then run the heat exchanger in the house to enjoy the cool night air during the day.
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#15Could someone explain the differences in acquiring funding as an inventor vs an entrepreneur? Reason I ask is that I was recently laid off by a failed startup that had secured and wasted an investment in the amount of 2 million.
After that experience I went on to do some contract work with another early stage startup. They had no solid idea or vision for a product and had funding in the amount of 1.5 million.
It is concerning to me that a proven inventor like Johnson, who has a solid concept, is struggling to pull in his initial 100,000
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#16Speaking 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?
Imagining a giant heat sink makes me think of something pretty dangerous... I picture any part of the heat sink sticking out of the water (I'm guessing it captures heat from the sun?) which becomes hot enough to heat several thousands of gallons of water would produce some really nasty burns for anyone unfortunate enough to touch it.
You don't have to explain your idea in detail, of course, but I'd be curious if you had considered a way to safely transfer the energy into the water. Perhaps there is a solar powered way to cheaply heat swimming pools safely... but I'd think the energy might need to be converted to electricity first, since we are already used to controlling and insulating that safely.
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#17How 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?
The maximum heat you can get from sunlight is the temperature of the sun: definitely hot enough to ionize most gases.
Right. Cuz the photons are the same temperature as the sun. That's why sun photons feel warm.
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#18Speaking 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?
Cover it with an insulated top when not in use. Your pool is colder than ambient because the top surface is constantly evaporating, leaving behind the slower moving molecules.
A solar heater would work better (if you have sun) because it will absorb more energy than ambiant air convected over the same area. And you would need a fan for a heatsink if its wasn't windy. http://www.amazon.com/SmartPool-SunHeater-Above-Ground-Pools...
A way for you to test it would be to do it on a small scale - maybe buy some copper tube and circulate an aquarium with the water filter pump.
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#19Could someone explain the differences in acquiring funding as an inventor vs an entrepreneur? Reason I ask is that I was recently laid off by a failed startup that had secured and wasted an investment in the amount of 2 million. After that experience I went on to do some contract work with another early stage startup. They had no solid idea or vision for a product and had funding in the amount of 1.5 million. It is c…
He should disguise his invention as a social network for the energy industry -- BOOM! instant funding.
Re: Super-Soaker inventor may have solar-powered fuel cell breakthrough
#20Could someone explain the differences in acquiring funding as an inventor vs an entrepreneur? Reason I ask is that I was recently laid off by a failed startup that had secured and wasted an investment in the amount of 2 million. After that experience I went on to do some contract work with another early stage startup. They had no solid idea or vision for a product and had funding in the amount of 1.5 million. It is c…
It is not clear that he has been looking for investors .. from the article it seems he has been looking for government grants, which would have given him money without asking for equity in return.
Johnson may have initially wanted to fund his invention purely from his own money, keeping all the equity, but as the money started running out he has been looking for alternatives.