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Forums > Green Building Technologies > Solar and Wind Power > Subject: Has anyone ever heard of this company or the technology?

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bartman99User is Offline
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04/15/2008 12:16 PM  
Generates electricity form solar thermal: http://www.kokhala.com/learn.html

Seems like it would likely be outrageously expensive. Might be a way to use some of the excess Summer solar gain, though.

Interview with the inventor: http://pesn.com/Radio/Free_Energy_Now/recordings/2007/070519_KokhalaEnergy_KevinOBrien.mp3

Any thoughts? BM99
TopgasUser is Offline
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04/16/2008 7:32 AM  
I know one thing, you won't be able to light a light bulb during Nov.- March no matter what they tell you.
bartman99User is Offline
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04/16/2008 8:33 AM  
Posted By Topgas on 04/16/2008 7:32 AM
I know one thing, you won't be able to light a light bulb during Nov.- March no matter what they tell you.
I wasn't really thinking of the electricity in the Winter.  More in the Summer.  With Net Metering one could potentially "bank" you electrical power in the Summer, to be credited at other times.  I'm skeptical though.  No where on the site does it mention potential KWH of electricty generated.

BM

Road BlockUser is Offline
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04/16/2008 9:08 AM  

It sounds like a application of either a stirling engine or a low temp difference engine.  Given the wording I'd say the low temp engine.  A small number of companies sell similar products but usually NG, propane or  oil fired some are gasoline but those are reciprocating engines. 

CHP/Cogeneration for residential applications isn't new overseas but here in the US it is.  Given the complete lack us useful information on the website, I'm inclined to say buyer beware but I'll give them a call.  I've been looking for a wood fired version of their design.   FWIW I've priced 1-3kw CHP units from $15,000-23,000 and even then you are only getting 85-92% efficiency.

bartman99User is Offline
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04/16/2008 9:47 AM  
Posted By Road Block on 04/16/2008 9:08 AM

I'm inclined to say buyer beware but I'll give them a call.  I've been looking for a wood fired version of their design. 


Post back what you find out.  I'd call, but I am a newbie and I'm afraid I wouldn't understand or be able to interpret the data well enough.
BM
Road BlockUser is Offline
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04/17/2008 7:22 AM  

I sent an email and left a voice mail yesterday, the 866 phone number has been disconected but the 314 number works.

I did a number of searchs using different search engines and found no additional information except a bunch of reprints of the same article.

I really hope this is a legit product, it would tie in nicely to my house.

Road BlockUser is Offline
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04/23/2008 12:20 PM  

Well I've sent a couple emails for 4 address at the company and left 3 voice mails but no contact yet.  I did however accidently contact a person that was once connected with the company.  He said the product is real and does work as advertised.  He doesn't know what is going on at the company right now but did say the owner is a guy that lives for engineering not sales and is likely not blowing me off but busy.  To be fair there is at least one other CHP company that is very similar (their website hasn't bee updated in 3 years), they are so busy with orders that they don't have time to respond to every email.
If the guy ever responds I'll update.

 

bartman99User is Offline
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04/23/2008 12:51 PM  
Thanks for the update.  Hopefully someone will contact you.

What is the other company that you mentioned?

BM
Road BlockUser is Offline
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04/24/2008 7:47 AM  

Polar Power is the other company but they are using liquid or gas fueled engines though a number of companies are using solar but  I’m looking for wood.  I don’t think I’m going to find what I want right now so that means modification or wait a couple years.

 

There seems to be at least four major types of CHP, reciprocating, Sterling, Rankine Cycle (high temp), Organic Rankine Cycle (low temp) and low temperature difference engine.  The OCR seems to be fairly common in industries that have burnable waste or create a lot of waste heat.  Here is a response I received from Global Microturbine when I asked about using a wood fired boiler to their ORC engine.  BTW they responded in an hour.

 

Generally, the hotter the water the better.  In this case, it would be advantageous to use some type of thermal oil, where you could heat it to a great deal hotter.  The reason for such is that it goes through our heat exchanger / evaporator and exits about 70-80 degrees cooler.

In this application, if you could heat the thermal oil to say, 280 deg F, then you could still use the exit for radiant or hot water heating.

 

For low temperatures, like 180 deg. F, the heat rate is around 40,000 btu / kWe, therefore, you'd need a boiler to produce 1,200,000 btu of hot water (that's about twice as large as the unit you have).

However, if you could use thermal oil, then you might be able to get 20,000 to 30,000 btu/kWe, which gives you more kilowatts.

 

We have had a few requests for a 10 kw unit, but at this time, we have to go with larger units, just because the smaller ones are too expensive an nobody would buy them.”

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Forums > Green Building Technologies > Solar and Wind Power > Has anyone ever heard of this company or the technology?



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