Windstream Tech and India's Center for Energy Research (CER) join CP, BEC, ENG8, Biaco, Safire, Mizuno Tech, and BLP vying to be first to market. Ruby covers this from every angle in her new LENR Forum News article SeeGen heater to be powered by renewables - LENR News (lenr-news.com)
The Centre for Energy Research in Bangalore has partnered with WindStream Technologies to develop the SeeGen Sustained Excess Energy Generator for heating in remote and high-altitude locations.
-
Quote from From their press release
Venkat Tangirala, CEO, WindStream Technologies, informs, “The power required for this device is very low, that is, 100W per 1 hour, which translates to 2.4 kW per device per day (24 hrs).
No it does not. The 100 watts consumption is a power, regardless of time. The daily energy consumption is 2.4 kW.hr (kilowatt-hours) - but it is still only consuming 100 watts, continually.
Whoever wrote the press release doesn't understand electricity, or power calculations.
QuoteThe SeeGen is advertised as providing 30-50% efficiency, providing 130-150 Watts heat power
They are actually describing an efficiency of 130% - 150%, electrical to thermal. That is not an efficiency of 30-50%.
(n.b. You can get better performance from a heat pump.)
I guess it is a start. But I suspect it doesn't work the way they think it works. Let's see if they can manage to (a) scale it up to a larger device, and (b) increase the CoP to something more useful.
-
I hope this product actually sees the day, and people get to use it and save some electricity in heating. Hardly impressive to get a 1,5 COP in a heating product, but it would be a first.
-
Looking for possible patents, and this is the only one I can find for Windstream Technologies
US9157414B2 - Modular alternative energy unit - Google Patents
Hybrid Wind Solar Solutions Experts | WindStream Energy Technologies
-
Hmm, looking at the graph in the article, the device produces 300 watts of heat with 300 watts of electrical input. I have one of those already, a standard portable electric heater which is 100% efficient. The graph shows a "calibration" curve with 71 watts loss at 300 input, so the vertical scale values(output power) have been corrected for control system power or other losses. Devil's in the calorimetry details...
-
Devil's in the calorimetry details...
Yeah - it is difficult to make out what they have actually done. The graph comes from this source, apparently:
-
Yeah - it is difficult to make out what they have actually done. The graph comes from this source, apparently:
Plagiarism is not good.
-
Just read the article posted at
Heating Device That Uses Renewable Energy In High Altitude Areas - Saur Energy InternationalDesigned with Super Metals, the product has applicability in areas with extreme cold, such as high-altitude shelters of soldiers.www.saurenergy.comI think is worth saying that even if it doesn't look like much in terms of "LENR proof", one has to see it from the perspective of the market it is being aimed for. This is a device for heating off grid in isolate areas, specially in high altitude where nights can be very cold, while days can be sunny and warm, and where all the energy will come from a system that is a combination of solar and wind. This product probably makes no sense for anyone in the first world, but if it's cheap enough, as it looks it might be, it will certainly have a market niche in the conditions it is being designed for. For someone looking to heat the feet and or face, the extra 50% heat from a fully renewable electricity source is certainly attractive, in this context. Sure heat pumps are waaaaay more efficient, but they are relatively expensive to purchase, and also, a heat pump of less than 1 kW of power is hard to source, it would be completely unthinkable to run it with a solar / wind generator as the one that will power these small units.
-
For someone looking to heat the feet and or face, the extra 50% heat from a fully renewable electricity source is certainly attractive
The problem is that a single candle gives out around 80 watts - so even when operating at its stated maximum capacity, this device supposedly produces less heat than two candles - and you still need to power it with 100 watts of "renewable electricity".
But yes, I think you are right that a conventional vapour compression heat pump would be expensive - and not really cost effective at this power level. And the desire for any heating method - in areas where fuels are scarce and expensive (i.e. paraffin, propane, coal, dried peat, dried dung, firewood) is very real.
As I said, it is a start - and we need to keep an eye on this.
-
The problem is that a single candle gives out around 80 watts - so even when operating at its stated maximum capacity, this device supposedly produces less heat than two candles - and you still need to power it with 100 watts of "renewable electricity".
As a laboratory device this would be tremendously valuable. It would be worth billions of dollar to any industrial corporation. As a practical device it is useless. It is worth nothing. If the people promoting it do not realize it is useless, they are fools. If they understand that, they are knaves.
