Application potential for well heads.

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bjprice
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 11:37 am
First Name: BJ
Last Name: Price

Application potential for well heads.

Post by bjprice »

I don't really understand engines enough to talk in tech terms but I
saw Stirling engines that somehow work off temperature difference on
a History Channel show called Modern Marvels.

That got me thinking. There are millions of us that have a place that
type of engine might work. Our well heads. The wells in our yards
have water that maintains a fairly stabile temperature year round.
The top of drilled wells are typically round pieces of PVC casing. A
typical size is 6 1/4" usually just capped off with a well cap. The
air below the cap should be fairly constant in temperature. The air
outside and above the well head and cap should fluctuate daily but
almost always be different than the temp in the well.

How about modifying a Stirling engine to sit on the well heads in
place of the caps and have it somehow produce electricity 24/7? Maybe
feed the electricity into some type of battery. Then hook the well
pump to the battery setup.

If it could be done cost effectively, you could power a pump in your
well in almost any location and climate, irregaurdless of wether
electic lines are run to the location.

It could eliminate the need to run electric lines from the well to
the breaker box which in some cases costs hundreds of dollars in
trenching, heavy gauge wire and span length.

For those of us with electricity in place already, no more paying for
the power to get our water to the house and when the power goes out
we aren't stuck without water for weeks waiting for line trucks to
get our lines back up.

If the electricity only had to run from the top of the well down to
the pump, we could use smaller gauge wire down the well saving money
there and making it lighter to pull and service later on.

I don't know how possible the idea is but there are a wide variety of
sizes of well heads and they're generally out in the open so space
isn't a problem. I know the output should be low in terms of power
production but maybe having the entire day to collect the power or
with some type of suppliment like solar it could be done eventually.
Water usage for a typical household averages as little as 150 gallons
a day so with proper sizing of the pressure tanks run time for a 12
gallon a minute, 1/2 horse pump could be as little as 13 minutes a
day. I would think they could store enough power in a 24 hour period
to handle that.
stan.hornbaker
Posts: 532
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2002 6:01 pm
First Name: William S.
Last Name: Hornbaker

Response to Application potential for well heads.

Post by stan.hornbaker »

Your interest in Stirling engine applications is appreciated.
The Stirling concept is deceptively simple.
Unfortunately a Stirling engine to produce useable power is of a highly specialized design, operating at high temperatures, and constructed of stainless steel or other materials resistant to oxidation.

Many amatuers and professionals continue to seek ways to obtain useful power from low temperature differentials.
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