On Thursday 24 April 2008, koder wrote:
>
> Recreational vehicles and yachts use solar panels to power some decently
> sized storage batteries. If you put up enough of them you can run a
> computer system.
batteries are all fine and good, but require frequent replacement (every 1-2
years down here in the desert), and have hazardous materials in large
quantities.
>
> Unfortunately the cost of solar is escalating. My original system cost
> under a thousand dollars. Today it would probably be twice that.
yep. that makes it harder for those on a fixed income to get anything
worthwhile out of such systems as well (cost higher than cash available).I am
sure I could build a full sized panel over time (by adding smaller modules to
it).
>
> Of course when I build the next one I will ask it to do more with the
> additional expense.
>
> My wish list consists of more panels, bigger batteries, and a wind
> powered generator for cloudy days.
same here, except I would like to build all my stuff from easily available
materials. call it a poor man's energy policy. :)
>
> There are a number of sites in the net dealing with the topic of solar
> direct to batteries. They are far from complete. You will have to
> supplement with written material.
I'm already getting that and worse. a lot of the diagrams online for any fuel
cell are of the simple overlay type that are meaningless to those of us who
want to build such a unit. so far, I have found NO technical diagrams or even
any materials lists for something as simple as a PEM fuel cell. Now I have
found plenty of places that sell individual parts for such (such as the
backing plates, the PEM material itself and the field flow plates).
>
> This is some different from the fuel cell systems you asked about, but
> the fuel cells are using battery and solar and adding in the
> inefficiency of the hydrogen. The hydrogen is great for energy
> containment and transportation such as powering your car, but the
> equipment is a bit pricey.
actually, from my reading, hydrogen is very efficient (unless you "burn" it in
a system similar to internal combustion engines, then you are stuck with the
waste heat, mechanical losses, etc). Direct conversion to electricity is 5-6X
more efficient at a minimum (unless you are having to convert carbon heavy
fuels using a reformer, then it drops below 50%).
>
> Cost will be directly related to how much electric you intend to use and
> store. You can start with part of it and expand as budget, knowledge and
> goals expand.
well, from what I have been able to determine, one can get (from a properly
designed fuel cell) approximately 3 watts/cm^2 of fuel cell surface area.
that means that you don't need something monstrous to power a house. a fuel
cell stack made up of plates 10x10 cm 10 cm deep will give you roughly 3 KW
of usable energy. This is not theoretical, its the same type of units they
use on the space shuttle.
>
> If you want to go further let me know. There are several people in the
> area working on this.
I definitely do. hey, if it means getting a paying job to do this as well, I'm
all in!
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