1937 The Solar Kettle

You can find the Tinkercad STL files here
www.tinkercad....

[@JoanOfArgghh]

Here in Mexico, everyone has a solar water heater on their roof, with a holding tank. The water gets so hot that the tanks need a tall escape tube coming out of the top, for the expanding water/steam. On especially sunny days, one can see water geysers all over the rooftops.

[@AndreaDingbatt]

Wow!! Energy to be collected?!🤔 Certainly this sounds as though the steam escaping from the rooftop tanks might be a great source of energy!! I'm in the NW. UK, and it's rather too cold and damp... Best Wishes and Kindest Regards, Andréa and Critters. ...XxX....

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

very nice and very clever

[@goncalovazpinto6261]

I've had a solar water heater with vacuum tubes on my terrace for almost ten years now and most of the year I only have two pipes uncovered and the rest covered with that green shade mesh. I do this so I don't have boiling water in my plumbing and I figure not letting the water get to boiling extends the lifetime of the whole setup, you know, gaskets and the like.

[@MakeYouSmileFactory]

@@AndreaDingbatt I thought that when i put solar on my boat. I live in Lancashire. Its supprisingly not as bad as you would think.

[@AndreaDingbatt]

@@MakeYouSmileFactory Thank you!! Im about to go Off-Grid soon, North end of the Pennines, so you have piqued my interest in Solar (-as well as the wind and water!!) Much Appreciate your encouragement!!

[@daphneraven6745]

Robert Murray-Smith’s delighted laughter is probably one of the most delightsome sounds on the face of the Earth. Thank you very much for this video. It really is difficult to figure out which project to hit first.

[@wrndlabs]

Improvement Idea: why not put a insert down the middle to decrease the volume of water down to just one cut, but the heating surface remains the same. This way it should heat a cup of water much quicker

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

nice one mate

[@TerrorTubbie666]

Maybe a tube, bringing cold water to the bottom???

[@TerrorTubbie666]

​@@ThinkingandTinkeringMaybe you should do the waterheatingtest again, this time with the sunheater at 60° out of vertical? I'm very sure that would work much better over here in the Netherlands, since the sun is high in the sky in summer and low in winter.

[@Maxim.Teleguz]

Can you release a video with the updated idea (KZbin likes shorts)

[@ogi22]

And add a whistle! Good for signalling when you forgot you set it up to make a coffee after 80 minutes 😁

[@PandoraChaser2]

A very impressive 3D printed and finishing touches remodelling, of manufactured solar kettles earlier models Robert and I am very pleased to see such. I hope you enjoyed the cuppa :) I personally in UK in the past, made use of Solar Kettles for a number of years in the early 2000's, using far more basic greenhouse designs, from cheap pop bottles and tin cans, to mason jars mirrors and more elaborations. I later went to a small part of Africa in 2010, with 100's of self made Solar Panel Cookers and visited villages to teach and distribute the ideas of such kettles, cookers and fridges. All based around designs re-found and awarded freshly (in the case of the Rolex Awards over Abbas, or latterly re-invented to further acclaim/dispute via other parties, such as Watson), such designs. In partial collaboration with an already established firm there in Africa, I had properly built carpentered solar box ovens made, to help provide both food to a school and to provide an income ongoing, to their collective endeavours. In the UK, it is perfectly possible to at least make adequate panel, box cookers, kettles, or even semi viable solar fridges, with some tweaks to older designs. They are however likely to be better performing in the commercial models, or via your tweaks with skill, or by own by bodge it an wonder. I unlike your goodself Robert, at the time lacked all of the tools and the scientific knowledge and testing equipment, to test or have properly documented my own half assed recreations. So everything was shoe string budget and more for shits and giggles, than any expected results. However, I found even in the UK, I could indeed use the Sun, to do various tasks pretty effectively. I have safely cooked most foods you can imagine in Easter Spring sunshine, or even during Winter with patience. I have designed my own rivals, to commercially sold, adjustable solar oven technologies, from a couple of pizza boxes, as needs musted at that time. I have concepts for solar technologies for city living spaces and when sounded out, people knew what I was talking about. I lack the skills or tools to do any such and bring them to a market, nor to educate any market, for such to even exist, beyond the current climates own creation that should be waking lots of folks up towards these old ideas and how to improve them.

[@alexisp2114]

Hi Robert, I'm a physic teacher and really really enjoy each of your vidéos, your creativity, well explaining and the laugh ,thank you soo much. Have a great day and keep it up you are awesome.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@flemminghovkjrsrensen6523]

Very interesting. One of these tubes, could be used as the hot side of a stirling heat engine, with an even simpler cold side going in the ground. Combined with a small generator, it should be able to generate some power.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it would indeed

[@gameoverwehaveeverypixelco1258]

Yes id love to see that in action.

[@karlniemann]

The design challenge I have always found is how to have the hot end at the top of the tube and the cold end touch the ground since the evacuated tube is 500 mm. Perhaps having the tub horizontal could work but you would need to either use a working fluid to move the heat out of the tube to the hot end of the Stirling engine, Or you would have to have the hot end of the Stirling inside the tube a good distance which would limit your regeneration area. I have never explored inverting the evacuated tube over the hot end how that would result in heat transfer to the Stirling engine.

[@maderightamerica3216]

I was so surpised when I was watching this video. I wanted to make some of these for my relatives' in the Philippines. You brought a smile to my face when I saw you already have the STL files that we can use. You're awesome Robert. Thank you kind sir for this video and the files to print our own parts.

[@franzschmidt6199]

You did a fine job replicating the solar kettle. Best of all, it works. When you keep it in the sun then you don’t have to wait for it anymore. A thermos keeps the water hot for a long time. So when the clouds come you can reach for your thermos heat battery. 😊

[@darrylpang3903]

If you put it on a turn table, you could make it turn to follow the sun as the sun crosses the sky. Mount a photoresistor behind each wing; if the sun moves such that the photoresistor is no longer in the shade, you can use the change in resistance to activate a motor that turns the turntable until the photoresistor is back in the shade. This ensures that the solar cooker will always be pointing at the sun. This is how the Parker space probe ensures it's sun shield constantly faces the sun, and is a very elegant solution for solar tracking.

[@mb-3faze]

With your optimal tracking (good idea), the kettle is only absorbing about 0.1 sq metres of solar radiation - the size of the mirrors. So yes, with optimal sunlight of 1000W per square metre you'd get 100Watts to heat the water.

[@gigmaresh8772]

Easy to do with a tiny Lazy Susan, two teeny tiny solar panels and two teeny tiny switches. Look at the YT videos on how to make a solar panel track the sun

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

that seems a bit much for a kettle when you could just turn it to it's shadow - for a larger system would be good though

[@totherarf]

Way back when, I remember going to The Eden Project and saw a version of your kettle there! It was a vacuum tube with a microbore copper pipe running down the middle and that was soldered (brazed?) to a thin flat metal plate. Both pipe and plate were painted mat black and that was used to heat a standard hot water tank ...... with a Humungus amount of insulation round it! Thinking back the insulation was probably not that much but at the time I was fitting immersion heaters that came with a "blanket" of 4 or 5 plastic covered sheets of fibreglass which was less than an inch .... so it didn't take much to impress me then ;o) Low and slow is as good as a quick blast especially if you are harvesting it for "free"! Another version that did the rounds was a black box with a series of black painted tin cans fixed end to end and a perspax front to keep the air inside. A vent was cut into the box at low level and at the top and was piped into the house with a flexable hose. The air would be heated and then flow naturally due to being warmer than the room. Water or air, both work for me!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

there are some great designs and work out there

[@In.Darkness]

Brilliant. Might have to try that for solar distillation too. Cheers ☕

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i like that idea

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i like that lol

[@ba2629]

spray adhesive and a solar blanket for a good mirror finish

[@anthonyrepetto3474]

Thank you always, Robert! And, you got me thinking about the *fabrication complexity* for those solar kettles, compared to thin, parallel rows of flat-panel reflectors, attached to a flat panel backing, each ribbon-reflector row angled for Fresnel-effect; you could potentially build a larger area for cheaper, and even large flat-panels could fold-up a bit better for storage and travel. And, mixing graphene & high temperature resins might get a decent-enough low-albedo coating for home-brew tubes? That way, you can use conductive tubing, instead of insulating plastic pipes...

[@bradlafferty]

I’ve just learned how light is changed to heating energy. Thank you for showing us. Nice setting, too!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers

[@bikerfirefarter7280]

I've made various linear shaped reflectors out of the shiney stainless casings from kitchen waste bins, I snaffled them from skips. It's easily curved into shape on wooden ribs. You can get a sqare metre of collector out of a moderate size bin. Its surprising how quick they heat things. Put one behind your solar-tube and I'd expect it to boil a litre of water in only several minutes.

[@VeniceInventors]

Great video providing lots of information quickly. Well done and thank you Robert!

[@offgridwanabe]

Love the idea of vacuum tubes I have some with the heat tube in them they just never wear out, right on par with PV.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

they are good mate

[@snuffoutrouge5109]

it is incredibly sunny in Australia. Years ago when a gas plant exploded the officials turned off every ones gas for about six weeks. So I got eight 13mm x 30 metre garden poly tubes and connected them together of my roof. Then filled them with water. The heat from the sun meant that the resultant hot water had to have added cold water to create a warm water shower . Copper pipe painted black would do the same thing. No need for an evacuated gas tube but the glass tubes do heat up quickly in OZ. .

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yep

[@r3dshed]

Improvement suggestion: Take several clean stainless steel pan-scourer pads, and tease out the steel mesh. Place the SS mesh inside the solar tube to increase the heat-transfer surface area to the water, if filling the tube directly

[@thatguychris5654]

I think there is a mix up between the 20 and 60 degrees. The setup should be flatter at 60 degrees to catch the overhead summer sun. When the sun is low in the winter, it needs to be upright at 20 degrees as shown in the video.

[@Berkana]

0:50 Robert, the inside of those evacuated tubes isn't red because the thing has converted light to heat. It's red because the glass is covered with a copper heat receiver. They blacken the outside of the copper using some chemical reaction.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@gameoverwehaveeverypixelco1258]

It gets so hot here in Australia in summer you can get a car Sun shade and sit it around a pan with a glass lid which is sitting on a cake rack and you get hot water pretty quickly.

[@hansstofberg43]

You have allways a great time . We have vacuum solar system for 9 years to heat 300 l of water . Works perfect the system is filled with anti freeze and pressurised to 3 bar . One day I looked at the themperature and it was 127 celcius

[@MatthewKiehl]

I have a "gosun-go" that I bought that is basically what you have here. I was able to make tea on the winter solstice with it. I can boil water in 45 min to 3 hours depending on conditions and how well I watch it. Small amounts of water can go much faster than larger amounts.

[@rayg436]

I'm sure this will run a sterling engine very nicely. another great video Rob 👍

[@erhardbaehni1832]

do have such solar stoves (go sun) using it since 6 years ..works very good ..made a hot lunch on DEC. 21 in cold Minnesota..

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

awesome mate

[@milohobo9186]

An easy acronym for solar cooking is C.A.R.D. Capture - as much sun as you can with reflectors Absorb - using black for your cooking surface Retention - blocking wind and other sources from stealing your heat Duration - make sure you have enough time for the process to work.

[@JehuMcSpooran]

We have one of these type of hot water systems on our roof. It works great when the sun is out but we have problems with it when it is overcast. Though on sunny days the controller on the tank starts beeping like mad that it's too hot and the pressure relief valve is always dumping hot water.

[@sinenomine9093]

Thanks a bunch for the review of solar thermal, I hadn't thought about it for a while.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i am glad you liked it mate

[@lamarrharding4776]

Did you ever examine the copper cricket? An evacuated percolator that will pump heat from the roof to the basement. Gosin made a 4 inch diameter oven with a 12 volt heater to cook in it without sun.

[@l0I0I0I0]

If only it worked in the early morning. :)

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

when it is needed most lol

[@In.Darkness]

🤣🤣🤣

[@newmonengineering]

If your system is large enough and setup properly it should be more than hot enough from the day before. The storage temperature can be much hotter but you have to install a thermal mixing valve so you don't get burned during the day.

[@jedphoenixoflondon]

A decent thermos flask should keep the water hot overnight.

[@judyofthewoods]

@@jedphoenixoflondon that vacuum tube _is_ a thermos flask as well. Keep the lid on it and it stays hot for a while.

[@josephpk4878]

There's a YT video where a guy makes a freezer with a high pressure, sealed, solar heating tube filled with ammonia (which is highly dangerous, BTW) and uses the evaporated ammonia to freeze a cooler full of water. He uses a capped galvanized fence post filled with rock salts to absorb the ammonia when the system is charged, then attaches a copper distilling tube to a small air tank immersed in the water. He puts a long DIY parabolic lens behind it and cooks the salts to release ammonia vapour, which then gets forced into the distiller and collected in liquid form in the air tank. He then removes the lens and allows the system to cool and the liquid ammonia to evaporate and freeze the water in the cooler. Don't know if it's legitimate, but the concept is sound. I've always wanted to find a less dangerous way to build one of these. What chemical substance can replicate those results and not pose mortal danger if it leaks into the environment? Figure that one out and we've solved the world's air conditioning issue.

[@10sheds21]

Would a Fresnel lens seriously reduce the time I'm wondering. It's so encouraging to see you with a cup in your hand again I've been getting quite worried by its absence. I bought some cheap flexible self adhesive mirrors on Amazon for my solar cooker, I think they would work well. Love the video. Thank you

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i like the idea of the mirrors mate - i may use that sometime if that's ok

[@alexbraun8875]

@@ThinkingandTinkering An elliptical mirror would be ideal as it focuses perfectly to a single point by definition...It was a solution used in lasers in the 70's... Fresnel lens would not be ideal since it would focus different wavelength to different places... I think you are correct to go with mirrors as their performance is hardly effected by wavelength so will focus all the energy in all the wavelength to the same place I think... :) Ps great videos... Thank you

[@judyofthewoods]

Fresnel lenses are too hot as they focus the sun into a small area which could shatter or even melt the glass. There is an artist I've seen with a Fresnel lens she got from an old flat-screen TV. It's mounted in a frame and she melts glass with it to make beads.

[@WilliamTythas]

@@judyofthewoods I wonder if you take it slightly out of focus and only have it shine directly on the water in a ceramic mug

[@judyofthewoods]

@@WilliamTythas that probably would work fine.

[@extraincomesuz]

Thank you for this video. I think I will try running copper pipe in and out of a couple of tubes for solar hot water. I dont have a 3d printer but Im sure I can modify and come up with a stand.😊 Thank you again!

[@nakefatty9167]

I was thinking along the lines of a compound parabolic reflector with the tube laying in the horizontal plane in an angled glazed unit. This might capture more convection with the tube itself, positioned higher in the apex of the unit, with an insulated north side.Btw I'm a roofer and love the off-label use of guttering!

[@terratrekker28]

My home is a sailboat and Ive been debating on wether or not I want to build a hot water system with the tubes. You can get these for really cheap and theyre really effective. I have a 5 gal hot water heater that operates by shorepower connection, generator or by simply running the inboard diesel. Been debating these tubes for around 2 years now but the issue is figuring out where to mount the tubes. Anyways I really like your vids keep posting the awesome information!

[@Anti_Woke]

Fascinating! I'm just moving onto my boat and investigating all the power & heat generation options available.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i would think they would do a good job but i see the problem with where to mount them on a boat

[@7sailcat]

I also live on a sailboat....and I use a 15 gallon black bladder that is lashed to the deck. It works like a charm! The water gets VERY HOT. I live in Florida ( and the Bahamas ) ....so the solar energy is very good but you might consider giving it a try.

[@Unpopular_0pinion]

Could you make a raft that you tow around?

[@miscreanity]

Same situation. Our cockpit bimini has slightly swept vertical stainless bars as fore supports. I have been considering using this arrangement but am trying different methods of pumping the heated water from the tube through the hot water heater reservoir below deck. Having the protective shield is a major plus. If you have one, maybe you could get a wind turbine mast to do dual duty?

[@brucedownunda7054]

Beautiful scenery.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i live here so i barely notice lol

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i live here so i barely notice lol

[@marcfruchtman9473]

That's a rather complex build... well done!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

oh the build was easy mate it is really only 4 bolts - granted they are long - the real issue is the 3d printed parts i think

[@flyingsodwai1382]

Excellent content as always.

[@rommelfcc]

Hello Robert... Was pondering about your vacuum tube, would be very cool to see how they are made and how your able to get the heat out of it... Anyway, what I really wanted to ask, your collecting capacitors for making flash graphene... For a controlled current release... How about having a vacuumed tube with electrodes at each end, filling with fine ground graphite backed tight and gases/fluids evacuated. Then hook it up to a lightning ⚡ conductor/ rod so the power will travel with ease though the vacuumed captule and wait for the action to happen ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡ You'll have to record if try ❤⚡⚡ And if it proves successful... Then can design a magazine to reload it. By semply isolationg to magazine autoloader by bypassing the conductor rod to ground whilst reloading, then re-connecting. Any non-conductive strong material for the pipes. A ram with sensors to push the electrodes in to the correct conductivity reading maybe pipe clamp of some sort to hold place, the electrodes. Then ready for loading. And the chamber will be a non conductive pipe, and the vacume because it will need to be housed in a tall building, the vacume for the chamber can be a simple water drop pump that continuously pumps a reservoir of vacuum to speed up the process of reloading the champer When the vacuum has reached then the chamber is reconnected to the lightning rod and the the bypass to ground is disconnected so the lightning charge has the pass-through the fireng mechanism (that's a better name) to ground. Spent cartridge can be taken away to be opened unpacked and sifted to get the little chains of graphene. And reload the cartridge ready for next time.

[@gigmaresh8772]

Several good YT videos on making your own solar furnace for your home (spray can of black paint, a 4" muffin fan, some 1x6 lumber, and a discarded shower door). Turns cold air into 150°F + heat for your home.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yep - lots of good stuff out there

[@thedustmancometh]

Thank you, been looking at these, and of course, watching KZbin videos! Ha

[@sarchlalaith8836]

Could they be made with a one way mirror and the glass coloured with fluorescent so a pv tile could go under the vacuum tube?

[@NextGenerationHealth]

This should be coupled with a large sand battery to store heat long term

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

that would work!

[@karlniemann]

I love both the evacuated tubes and sand batteries ! My thoughts on "marrying" them are that you would need a thermal "rectifier". Since sand batteries typically have storage temperatures of +500 degrees and Evacuated tubes run around 150 degrees, you would have to have a way to push the heat "uphill" into the sand battery.

[@fransmurati2370]

In South Africa, we braai what we call "Boerewors" basically a sausage made of Cow or sheep meatmince, works great!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cool

[@spamhead]

I fitted a 20 tube solar hot water panel 16 years ago. I went on a basic installation course to learn the basics and avoid the delivery cost of all that glassware. The vendors had cut open a heat pipe, which the vast majority of these systems use. The Chinese manufacturers had used water at a low pressure. It makes sense I suppose, as the lower the pressure, the lower the boiling point. Apparently the stagnation point of the tubes in my system is over 200C. I know it’s high, as I left the power off once when I was tidying up wiring after installation. The sun came out, so I quickly turned the pump on and stupidly felt the flow pipe from the panel, Ouch! That explains why your kettle works so well. If it’s sunny, the panel temperature can reach 40C on midwinters day, with the 170 litre hot water cylinder reaching over 30C with no other heat input. The costs of these panels have actually dropped in 16 years, even without allowing for inflation. Presumably due to the fact that billions of these tubes have now been manufactured, with the economies of mass production really coming in to play.

[@cubbucca]

I was just researching this for a solar camping shower.

[@clickbaitnumberone1403]

good one, i m still waitin for a small one for my cycle tourings 😃

[@Knight8365]

I've tried all over Google, eBay and Amazon and can't find tubes available. Does anyone have a link for tubes similar to the ones Robert uses?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

here's one dakotalithium.com/product/10-pack-of-solar-vacuum-tubes/

[@geodeaholicm4889]

VERY Clever & Cool piece-a-kit indeed. & ;loojs like it stimulated the ingenuity of your commenters quite a bit. i thought if you hooked it up to the right sensors & a micropressor & relays you could automate the mirrors etc. seems like it should be able to make a radiative infra-red air conditioner with it too.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i think you could

[@BillHallProductions]

I hope my comments helped inspire this follow up my favorite solar tech

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@soopertrooper8177]

"Its a pretty technical piece of kit" I loled

[@jamest.5001]

I have a question, could say 100mm PVC pipe not be used, but cutting length wise, then heating, and spreading it open. And baking a flat sheet of it. Then use a orbital sander with 80 grit, then 220, 320 then 400. And then polish graphite powder into the pipe and paint with a clear coat, or something like never wet? Would the graphine or graphite not reflect the IR enough?? Then adding a bit of heat can put the parabolic shape into the PVC . I'm guessing Eden using spray paint as adhesive, be possible to attach a space blanket to the PVC, after sanding it smoothe, the inside of the 3"-4"+ pipe is usually wavy and lumpy, either way spray adhesive would attach the mylar, baking a parabolic trough mirror, my question is I just wonder how efficient it is in reflection of the IR wavelength, possibly not the best, or maybe the graphite could reflect it best, or not at all!! The aluminized plastic film, ' Mylar ' could do the same, the plastic could absorb the ir before but gets to the aluminum, the graphite could reflect the IR because it on the surface of the PVC, using 3"-4"+ pipe can make a large trough, reflecting alot of area!! ✌️ Awesome

[@davidblyth5495]

The vacuum tubes advantages include high efficiency - in my home country in Africa it heats water to over 90C My concern is that temperature is dangerous for household use and that it does lose its vacuum after several years. If I didn't use a direct solar heater I'd opt for a heat pump.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

everything is dangerous mate - if used incorectly

[@davidblyth5495]

@@ThinkingandTinkeringindeed! That's why engineers are there - to mitigate risk.

[@ctkdev]

Dapper Robert! You clean up well sir!

[@Nanna-hpi]

Brilliant!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@af0ulwind115]

um... fairly certain that red inside is a sputtered copper coating....... don't know what the life span is for it but filling the tube with silica sand around the heat pipe can produce wonderful heat transfer and retention even on cold days

[@johnbarry8185]

Rob, I have seen people trying to obtain energy for free or very little, for MANY years. What I have NOT seen, is people MIXING technologies. For instance, using your solar heater, to move water to a certain height, where it is then stored, or let fall, then dropped through one of your water/air generators, and sending that energy to one of your super batteries, coupled with one of your super capacitors, to use on one of your other energy efficient gizmos. Try something like that. I once created a magnetic water heater, just to find Induction cooktops. :-) I have yet to find an induction water heater. There may be one, but I haven't seen it.

[@kreynolds1123]

I find the heat pipes used with solar evacuated tubes fascinating.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

me too!

[@whoknows__]

I wonder if you got a larger diameter one, run the copper pipe in and out but fill the rest of space with sand. Then you just need to pump water thru when hot water is required.

[@NeoShameMan]

How efficient is it to use simple kitchen grade aluminum foil as solar reflector?

[@gryph70]

Awesome work Robert..hey..what if you put a large fresnel lens in front of the device ? You can pick them up pretty cheap.

[@karlniemann]

What matters is the total surface redirecting the Solar radiation to the Tube. With out whipping out my calculator I believe that the "Wings" he has integrated actually are a larger surface area than a average portable Fresnel could provide. Also the concentration of the surface area to a 3mm spot would create a thermal shock to the tube that would not be desirable.

[@originsdecoded3508]

I love this idea, the possibilities for independent energy self sustainability is looking more and more possible with every video you release.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@originsdecoded3508]

@@ThinkingandTinkering I just hope the power company don't try to tax my offgrid system : (

[@ArtisticImpressionsbyBobRouth]

I have been looking at those tubes for years. The possibilities are huge. How about a solar sterling engine?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

for sure mate - up and coming

[@originsdecoded3508]

@@ThinkingandTinkering I got my notifications on for your channel, can't wait for that vid : )

[@karlniemann]

Brain flash that you could make a 58mm strange engine from video 1771 and stuff the heat end into the evacuated tube pretty easily. This will have to be mostly upright I suppose.

[@ArtisticImpressionsbyBobRouth]

@@ThinkingandTinkering I believe I came across someone who was using these tubes in Canada or the far north somewhere and even in freezing weather the sun will heat the center of these tubes. What they did was to put a series together of these tubes. I think they were like 1.5 meter long tubes and they had 6 or so. But the water went just like electrical current in a series and then into the house where it did a lot inside before going back out. The had a hot water battery for the night. Even cloudy days produced some heat.

[@industrialmonk]

Excellent idea I didn't know thay were that efficient as the normal solar thermal isn't & that's almost as efficient as the most efficient man made thing I know of (industrial transformers) & well worth investing.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

investing?

[@royharkins7066]

Oh Rob I had my headphones on SLURP 😂😂

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lolol - my bad - sorry mate lol

[@mb-3faze]

The collection area is the size of the mirrors so about 0.09m^2 (110*2 * 430) so even at 1000W per sq metre sun irradiance (unlikely in Kent!) you have 100Watts of power max- so not surprising it takes a while to boil the water.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i wasn't surprised either

[@kilokilos]

Parabolic reflector as you show here, but mounted horizontaly pointing east west and positioned to cater for the 23' the sun moves from summer to winter should work? No moving parts there.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@aga5897]

Awesome ! Flipping all the heat to Cold would be cool xD Use it as the heat source for an ammonia-based fridge.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i like that idea

[@aga5897]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Me too ! I had an idea for an application of it. You got an email address i can send it to ?

[@martinsmallridge4025]

Can’t help thinking Rob once ordered 100 times more 8mm bar 10 years ago and has been trying to use it up ever since 🤣🤣

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lolol - i try to make stuff from the same basic components mate so folks aren't chasing special or odd sizes!

[@manminusblood]

It would be really neat to make a stirling or thermal engine with this technology

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

done it

[@HubbHubbs]

Anyone know where you can get one of these 50cm or 30cm tubes? See the long ones all the time but no one has the short ones

[@MichaelRada-INDUSTRY50]

Dear Robert can you measure how much cost you to boil water for 1 cup of your cofee in your 3kW kettle? I just wonder why not to expend the functionality of the solar heater by thermoelectric cells

[@RyanJBarnard]

Robert could you use a solar water heater to push steam through a hyperbolic Tesla turbine generator as a sort of solar/steam generator?

[@markbennett9043]

Please can you do a video on your printer size spec and show us printing one thing on time lapse ?

[@jamest.5001]

What about using old CDs to be reflectors, a bolt can be used to change the focal length. But maybe use a heat gun to heat the CD and vend it to shape and cool in shape with a cool damp rag, cooling them into shape, or Mylar, space blankets, could be used, putting a fresnel lense in front will speed it up greatly, only keep it out of the peak of the focus, keep it about 20%™ before it , so the thermal energy is spread out more, having a larger tube about 4" diameter, and 4' long, could possibly get more done,

[@jonbutcher9805]

I've always wondered why they make these solar heaters circular? I guess the easy answer is convenience. But for the DIYer if you made it with a flat surface facing sunward the increase in efficiency would be dramatic . The same reasoning why PV panels are flat. The amount of the suns rays hitting a flat surface is way increased. I cannot say how much quicker it takes to boil but it would be faster than the hour + it takes in it's current configuration. But it's true, if you're in no hurry this standard design is just fine for a cup of tea for two. Cheer's!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yeah i am with you it is just easier to make this way

[@karlniemann]

Interesting idea. it should actually be easier to sputter on a flat surface than a curved one. However making the vacuum space between the out plate and inner plate is probably harder. The vacuum space makes the heat go in rather than back into space....

[@jonbutcher9805]

@@karlniemannmy initial thinking was a triangular glass outer casing with the tube inside of it. The inside of the glass can also be sputtered it should not effect the tubes absorption. Alternately it should work with a larger flat glass plate attached to a semi circular glass bottom again with the tube inside holding the vacuum in both cases. The volume of water Is no different merely the efficiency. The layering capable of absorbing more of the red spectrum is key and either choice would absorb the reflected rays from the mirror panels. Hopefully it makes some kind of sense, What say you dear TnT viewsr

[@WarblyWark]

This is similar to the fire tulip, except there's three flap thingies that reflect the light into the tube (partially reflective). The one end is fully reflective and the other end is open. Kinda like a crude laser diode. The reason why i call it the fire tulip is because i used a magnifying lens on the one end. You get the exact same effect just holding it in sunlight though. The only real difference is the radiant heat.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

i suppose so mate

[@jamesadandridge]

Where can you get hold of these evacuated solar thermal tubes in the UK please? I have spent hours searching but can't find anything like it over here.

[@colleenforrest7936]

I would think painting that drain pipe with Blk 3 would would make it more efficient as well :)

[@ianbutler1983]

Robert, You're looking very dashing today.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@jayfield93]

Don’t know if I’ve got mixed up but should the angle not be 20 degrees from horizontal and so nearly laying down? As the sun is so high in summer and vice-versa in winter

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

just repeating what i read mate

[@asdfdfggfd]

Would like to see a video about directly connecting PV panels directly to an electric water heater as a simple low cost alternative solar hot water.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

why? that seems really an easy thing to just do

[@asdfdfggfd]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Because the high voltage dc will burn out the ac rated thermostat... and im curious how you would go about fixing that bit.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

@@asdfdfggfd will it? what are you thinking of as high voltage?

[@asdfdfggfd]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Say 4 pv panels at about 40 volts each in parallel making about 50 amps? I don't know, but I feel like that would fuse the ac rated thermostat on the hot water heater...

[@normandothegreat]

3 kW of PV would definitely take up too much surface area by comparison. I understand that your thermal heater isn't rated that high, but for its size, it's definitely worth the wait. 😊👍

[@paulbrouyere1735]

Well done, now change that round mirror in a parabola and you’re about where I left it with my designs. The bottom can be used to fire it up with a candle light or barbecue and the mirror can be guided as a non electric solar follower using a wax thermostatic valve from a car and some thinking, using the ratchet system (like which is used in a bicycle)

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@leighmurrell5494]

What about using a more focused reflector(s) to increase the heat and reduce the time?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

go for it

[@karlniemann]

Its about surface area of the reflectors. The more sunrays you can redirect to the tube the better. While these "wings" are concentrating already to a degree, making them more concentrated won't help. Only increasing the size of the reflectors will increase the heating capacity.

[@Unpopular_0pinion]

Hey Rob do you think you could incorporate peltier devices on one of those to create remote power? Maybe the water being hot and taking a bit to cool would even out the power flow if clouds passed by? Just a thought.. Thanks for the video, friend! 🎉

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

give it a go mate

[@wazza33racer]

If your solar kettle had some correctly shaped parabolic reflector sited behind the absorbtion core it would have made boiling water much faster.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yes it would

[@fatihdogan401]

What about putting a mini free piston stirling engine on hot edge? Wouldnt be wonderfull?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yes - go for it

[@scroogemcduck1462]

Anyone know where you can buy these tubes single for that price?

[@AsydApieRnsdRadf]

at 6:20 you can still hear the resonant echo of the tube that you've put down at 6:10 . anyway solar heat is what spins me the most . thank You

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers

[@johan-zs8nc]

Instead of drinking many cups of coffee, just snort a line of speed and it will save you so much time and then you won’t need a kettle too!

[@TimeSurfer206]

At a 90% + efficiency, it sounds like this could be used for Solar generation of steam, for a low-pressure turbine.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it can - Frank Schuman did it in 1910 or so

[@TimeSurfer206]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Thank you. I'll look into him.

[@Happy.Chappy]

How about a parabolic trough instead of a reflector? May considerably speed things up? Massive fan of the channel, thanks for all you share!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

for sure mate - like Schuman?

[@Happy.Chappy]

@@ThinkingandTinkering yes indeed! Like a micro Schuman 😂

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

@@Happy.Chappy I think that would work well mate

[@Happy.Chappy]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Perhaps I'll give it a whirl myself one day, give back to the great community you've built here 👍 All the best!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

@@Happy.Chappy it would be very cool if you did mate - and yes - they are an awesome bunch of folks - cheers

[@alanjohnstone8766]

From the video it does not look like the 2 reflectors are shaped to be very efficient. Of course they should have a parabolic section. I can imagine the next video will craftily create a 3d printed version. I would expect a considerable improvement in boiling time. Excellent videos.

[@ralph3333]

That was my 1st thought. Ironically, u could probably have a square meter parabola heat any old pipe quickly to boiling without the expensive n techno-dense collector. Should be easy since the parabolic reflector would be a curved plane such that the focal "point" is a line.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

they are not they are shaped to be easy and cheap to build

[@bartronicsecurity]

I am not surprised it took 80 minutes. A normal electric kettle is on average 2Kw. 1 square meter of sunlight is 1 kw. The size area you had is maybe 1/10 of a square meter. Nicely done though. If it only boiled enough for a small Italian coffee which is normally 1/10 of an English cup of coffee it would much quicker. haha

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

me neither lol

[@patricklyons7683]

French company; solar brother

[@michaegi4717]

I'm confused about the angles. I would expect 20° from the flat and not from the upright.

[@velcroman11]

Nothing new here. In the 1960’s Prof Mesell and team, Sydney Uni. Developed a “commercial” oil filled solar heater. It would heat oil to over 450F. A trial unit was set up a the Coka Cola manufacturing factory in Melbourne(?) the test production proto type was a huge success at supplying heat to provide boiling water. Messel asked both state and federal guv’ment for funding to development the system. Both guv’ment said “we don’t need this, it would impact on our coal industry”. Sold the system was sold to Soudi Arabia. In the 1970’s. The NSW guv’ment and Rheeme Australia bought the system back from the Soudis for MILLIONS. Neville “Nifty Nev” Griner said it was a great partnership and will advance Australian industry and it disappeared, never to be seen again. Funny about that but a classic example (?) of the narrow minds of various Australian guv’ments then and now. While ever the Coal industry has a hold of the guv’ments “members” Australia will never have an effective and cost effective replacement for coal. I feel the Coal industry is not dissimilar to the Tobacco industry and why change? “Little Johnny”, Howard Australian PM, said we where moving to “CLEAN COAL”. And pigs fly!!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

no - there is nothing new this tech has been around for years - what amazes me is that it isn't better used - do you use it?

[@pedjamilosavljevic6235]

How about solar concentration ? Like peace of Fresnel lens (or ordinary lens) in front of vacuum tube , at proper focal distance. Seems to me , that it would speed up heating...

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

the rate of heating is what you heat how much you are heating, how much sun is falling on it and how good the conversion is

[@pedjamilosavljevic6235]

@@ThinkingandTinkering That is only logical. I'm fully aware that this device (same setup) would work better (faster) if placed on equator , in high noon in summer , at correct angle. I was talking about the device that you made (suggesting possible improvement , without spending a lot of money). Otherwise , we can include (providing the sun is shining) some kind of enclosure for the device , to prevent wind chill heat loses (possibly with insulation) , and two axes solar trackers (those work on electricity , which beats the purpose of being cheap and "green") , better reflective ( properly angled , with right curvature) surfaces , etc...Still, it is a fine idea for someone to learn basic principals of solar heating (in a useful manner).