Posted on 07/06/2005 8:33:43 AM PDT by skyman
Really cool invention brings teens awards Physics students: They came up with an environmentally friendly, economical air conditioner By Jessica Ravitz The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune
BLUFFDALE - The code name, Space Beast, was one they came up with in the wee hours of the night.
Tyler Lyon, Daniel Winegar and Chad Thornley were overtired and giddy as they tackled a science fair project. Their idea: Eliminate the use of Freon in automobile air-conditioning systems by relying on the Peltier effect - of course.
"We aren't planning our lives around making air conditioners," Lyon explained. "We wanted to do something to help the environment and the economy."
But what began as a Riverton High School physics class assignment nearly two years ago has morphed into an award-winning, internationally recognized invention.
Lyon and Winegar, two recent Riverton graduates - Thornley graduated in 2004 and is now on an LDS Church mission - won the first-ever Ricoh Sustainable Development Award in May when they competed against 1,400 other worldwide invitation-only entries at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix.
Aside from the $50,000 college scholarship the two 18-year-olds will share, the budding engineers are jetting off to Japan today for a 10-day visit on Ricoh's dime. The office equipment and electronics company, a leader in the field of sustainable development, has invited the Utahns to attend the World Expo, address Ricoh executives, tour their research and development lab, meet with government officials - including the Minister of the Environment - and sit down with Tokyo University professors.
"It's been a total, unbelievable dream," marveled Tyler's mom, Diane Lyon, last week. "They're just typical boys. But when someone believes in you, amazing things can happen."
Physics teacher Kari Lewis, who recently left Riverton High, said trusting in Lyon and Winegar was easy.
"They came up with this idea . . . and they made it work," she said. "It's a perfect solution to an incredible problem."
Today, the young inventors say, U.S. drivers use about 7.9 billion gallons of fuel each year to run their air-conditioners, which draw power from the engine. By adopting their contraption - which taps into the electrical system, using fans to blow hot air through five Peltier chips and then releasing cold air - they say the country stands to save 3.9 billion gallons of fuel annually, or about $10 billion based on current gas prices.
Furthermore, the product would free drivers from Freon - which despite improvements, remains an ozone-depleting chemical in current air-conditioners. The Peltier chips, which they purchased on eBay for $9.99 each, have a life span of 20 to 30 years and an unfaltering cooling capacity. And like every component in the Space Beast, which can be minimized in size to about 2 inches in width, the chips are recyclable.
As a young boy, Lyon's parents said he tore apart and reassembled household electronics - CD players, clocks, an old stereo that didn't work until he fixed it. And while Daniel's mom, LouAnn Winegar, was grateful her son was "not a take-apart-person," she said her boy's love for science, engineering and computers has been consistent.
"It's nice to see all of his years of interest and hard work being recognized," she said.
The two-year process of fine-tuning, however, was not without its glitches. When the teens were trying to convert a blow-dryer fan from AC to DC power, a miswiring gave Lyon a doozy of a shock - "a low-enough amp that it couldn't really stop my heart," he said. And there was that computer power strip that they managed to ignite, before throwing it outside in the snow, only to retrieve it two days later to recycle its parts.
Despite the setbacks, and bouts of procrastination, the teens didn't give up. When they weren't playing computer games, skiing, snowboarding or, in Lyon's case, rock-climbing, they buckled down, sometimes working through the night. Their focus nearly cost them graduation - they had to scramble to make up work in other classes - but they accomplished what others couldn't.
After they had already begun their work, Lyon and Winegar learned about a 1964 General Motors analysis that explored the idea before the car company concluded it wasn't possible.
Going in with open minds, however, the teens were not deterred and pulled off what GM rejected. "Nobody told them it couldn't be done," Robert Lyon, Tyler's dad, said.
The first time he felt a cold gust of air successfully come through the system, Winegar said he remembers saying: "We may actually have something here."
Looks like they do. A Salt Lake City attorney is working to secure a patent. The Environmental Protection Agency called to express interest Tuesday morning. And though repeated attempts to communicate with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. have gone unanswered, high officials in Japan - an ocean away - are awaiting the arrival of Riverton's young inventors.
Youre right. I did not explain my point very well. But there most certainly is "waste," at least in this engineer's opinion of what "waste" is. And yes, if you disconnect all loads, no mechanical loss thru the alternator occurs. But my point is that these chips are more efficient (so I hear, I'm still skeptical about them) than running freon compressors. In which case, not as much of a load is required, which pushed you up on the efficiency curve, thus conserving energy.
It's hard to explain, and I don't know the ins and outs of what these kids are exploring. None of us do. So I don't think we should slam it, as many people here are doing. At the very least, it's a learning experience.
You are right about weight and compexity savings. I don't belive the energy savings numbers but it would certainly have fewer parts to fail. I think I will build one for my old '88 with a blown compressor.
"No matter the electrical load you place on the alternator the engine will NOT work harder. "
You are completely mistaken. Study some stuff about electrical motors and you will quickly find out.
A simple experiment will prove it, also. Go out to your car and start it, leave it idling in Park. Turn the headlights on and off, noting the change in load on the engine.
Headlights take a significant amount of current and on some cars it's really noticeable when the current draw increases.
You are not just wrong, but deluded to think that once you overcome friction for a given sized generator, the mechanical load is otherwise independent of the electrical power delivered. It's akin to saying that a car engine consumes no more fuel idling at a given RPM, than it does towing a heavy load in high gear at freeway speed, with the same RPM - after all, the friction in the engine is just the same in both cases.
"Top sends"
I think you said it again for me. :)
Forgive my ignorance, but what is "Top sends"?
sorry, forgot my /s tag (which is for wimps! =P) on my last post when i said to quit embarrassing yourself. but i was addressing something else you had said.
and yes, there is electrical loss. just as there is mechanical loss. Chrysler (i believe) has been tinkering with electrical recovery from when the alternator is spinning harder than it has to, yet has not yet slowed to where it needs to be, for instance, when you drop from pulling a high load to a lower load. If we could harness that energy in between, that would help efficiency.
There is probably a formula somewhere to figure watts, horse power, or BTU usage or something, to figure the probability of this working or not. Kinda like a 100 mpg carburetor or something. Most people that make this claim have never figured it would take 150% efficiency to move a SUV down the road at that mpg. Most engines are good to get 40%-60% efficiency. A moped might get it, but not a Tahoe.
Well, sunlight is about 1 kW / square yard, and 1 HP is ~750 W. So the heat load on an SUV that's two yards wide and three long, or six square yards, is about 6 kW. Assuming 50% efficiency, it would take 12 kW to clear the heat, which can be expressed either as 16 HP (12 / .75) or as 1000 A at 12 V. (That's quite an alternator!)
I'm most definitely automatively challeneged, but pelase explain all this talk about alternators?
I was under the impression that the initial charge to turn the engine over came directly from the battery, with the alternator merely carrying the load until the generator spun up to speed, at which point, the alternator still spins, but does not generate power. It is the generator which then creates the electrical energy necessary to run the engine (and accessories) and recharge the battery.
Am I wrong, and if so, please enlighten me?
Engines can consume vastly different amounts of fuel at the same RPM, e.g. idling vs. towing a large load uphill. You really, really don't know what you're talking about.
Huh? Of course it does.
Alternator = generator. Only works when the car is running, so you need a battery to get it moving in the first place. After the engine gets going, the alternator handles all electrical tasks, including recharging the battery, until the engine goes off. The issue arose because the Peltier effect devices run off DC power. Lots and lots of DC power.
Heck and here I was thinking they were two seperate things. Thanks much!
Your statement that increasing the electrical draw on the alternator doesn't increase the power needed (and fuel needed) to turn it goes beyond stupidity.
If your idiotic statement were true, then you could hook an arbitrarily large electric motor to the alternator and run the car and the alternator both off the electric motor. This is called perpetual motion, and rational people don't believe in it.
OH and don't even both with more of your bs. I'm already broken my rule about arguing reality with drunks, religious wackos, NASA lovers, and other head cases
I hope you enjoy walking.
So... they are dumping the heat where? outside? on a hot day? Efficient? Some kids need to look up the word and learn how to calculate it.
thats exactly what I was getting at; efficiency. good explanation, much better than mine.
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