Re: "wind kettle"

[mmiller@pcsia.com]

The physics behind this are explored or at least use to be explored in
every physics course where you would do the work to heat conversion
experiment.  A known mass decends a known height while an attached cable
turns a paddle wheel in a given amount of water and raises its temperature
by an amount related to the work done by the weight's travel.

I have always thought this would be a good way to heat in the winter with a
wind mill.  Water has a high specific heat and could be used in either a
stationary radiatior or pumped around the building, etc. No battery losses,
inverters etc  but only heat no lights.

There was a prepetual motion machine scam a few years back call a "friction
furnace".  It used an electric motor to turn a cylindrical rotor inside a
closely fitting stationary drum.  The intervening space was filled with an
oil.  This high shear enviornment heated the oil and air was blown across
the drum to heat the house.  In this case the conman was claiming more heat
energy out than the electric energy to run the motor :>(  and was proved to
be a liar, just going to prove that despite what the politicans tell us you
don't get something for nothing.

For a low tech application why not use a 55 gal barrel of water with a
bronze cup bushing as the bottom bearing of a paddlewheel and mount the
other bearing in the lid.  Slip the lid/bearing over paddlewheel shaft,
clamp the ring and attach it to the windmill.  The paddlewheel does not
have to be fancy, it just has to create turbulance in the water, no close
clearances or anything.

Interesting project.  Mike Miller

 At 14:00 02-12-99 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi y'all,
>Just got this letter recently and had no advice to offer. Got any leads
>for me.
>Keith J.
>
>Keith
>I was trying to run down information about a device Bill Mollison
>described
>in the course I took from him years ago.  The device was supposedly
>called a wind kettle which looked like a windmill on top of a tank.
>Rotating vanes, in the tank, turned by the windmill passed very close to
>
>fixed vanes in the tank.  The turbulence (friction) supposedly heated
>the water.  Although I can imagine this working in theory, (a blender
>can be used to heat water for instance), I have never seen mention of
>one anywhere.
>  I have a design client in a developing country that has lots and lots
>of wind and I thought this would be just the ticket if it already
>manufactured and I could find
>out where such a device is made.Appreciate your help.
>
>dblume@igc.org
>
>Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\keithdj2.vcf"
>
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