Lew Hodgett wrote:
"Morris Dovey" wrote:

I don't have a lot of time available for digging, but I'm sure
you're right. So far, the sources I've found have all had an
associated overhead that would slow, rather than accelerate, the
work to be done. I figure I'm already going slow enough.

At this poimt in time, what is your objective?

[1] Produce an inexpensive, maintenance-free, extended-service,
multi-horsepower engine that performs direct conversion of solar
radiation to mechanical energy.

[2] Use that technology to implement an inexpensive, maintenance-free,
extended-service pump capable of moving air and/or fluids using only
direct conversion of solar radiation to mechanical energy.

[3] Use both of the above to implement an inexpensive, maintenance-free,
extended-service cooling/refrigeration system using only direct
conversion of solar radiation to mechanical energy.

Has it changed from when you started?

The original goal was to identify practical ways to improve availability
and quality of food and shelter worldwide using already known technology
which did not depend on the existence of any energy infrastructure.

That goal diverged into two fairly broad 'sub-problems':

[1] Keeping dwelling temperatures within some reasonable temperature
bounds, and

[2] dealing with the problem that the food-supply depends highly on
water - and that the water is all too frequently in the 'wrong' place.

The only universal energy source I could identify was solar. The first
goal made the obvious split into:

[1a] Solar heating, and

[1b] Solar cooling.

The first of these has been solved with a passive solar panel that is so
efficient it could be labeled "stealthy" - it eats radiant energy at all
wavelengths from UV to HF radio (I don't have a way to test LF and VLF)
with a remarkable efficiency - and it'll do that without moving parts,
without electricity, and without fuel anywhere between the Arctic Circle
and the Tropic of Cancer, and between the Tropic of Capricorn and the
Antarctic Circle.

Interestingly [1b] and [2] appear to be so closely related that their
solutions can use not only the same technology, but much of the same
hardware. Anyone who's interested in getting a glimpse of how this stuff
is shaping up is invited to browse through the pages linked below.

HTH

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/Projects/Stirling/