In view of our current situation it is fairly apparent that in order to be truly free we will need to no longer depend on the "system" to provide our needs. One need pervasive to our modern lifestyles is the requirement of energy to operate our various technologies. Energy for these purposes comes in the three basic forms of fuel, electricity and heat. Alee three of these formats are capable of producing the other two at a noticeable loss due to inefficiency.

  Tonight I'm going to concentrate on thermal energy.

  We commonly use thermal energy for cooking, heating water, space heating, clothes drying, dish washing and showering. It actually comprises the majority of our energy use other than air conditioning and transportation. I have spent a considerable amount of time mulling over this energy use and how we may be able to free ourselves from being economic slaves to the energy companies.

  Around thirty years ago I had developed what I like to call a thermal battery and a charging system. Recently I saw a device that one vendor sells, at a considerable cost, that stores heat in the form of hot water. It was somewhat clunky and inefficient but it brought back into focus the "Thermal Battery" and what a boon it could be for energy efficiency. The hot water heat storage system is inherently inefficient because it only stores what is called sensible heat. It would require 2000gal to take care of just hot water needs and space heating. Forget cooking and drying your clothes, there just isn't enough temperature.

  Sensible heat is easily measured by touch or, if you don't like pain, a thermometer. There is also another form of heat that requires much more heat exchange than sensible heat. That is the latent heat of phase change. The idea of latent heat of phase change is most easily described by the behavior of water, ice and steam. We all know that pure water freezes at 32F. What is often overlooked is that both ice and water can exist at 32F without changing state from one to the other. In order to change the state significantly more heat, BTU's, has to be added or removed to cause the change from 32F water or ice to 32F ice or water. The temperature doesn't change only the state of solid or liquid. The same happens with water and steam.

  Well this project I was working on around 30 years ago needed lots of BTU storage not just sensible heat storage. I twisted my already deformed mental state into various semblances of knots  pretzels and snow flakes until my cold hard logic finally melted before me. There it was .... I needed a phase change material to store the volume of heat I wanted. I could store more heat in a 500gal tank by the right phase change material than I could in 2000gal of water.

  Then the search began for the right material to melt and freeze, melt and freeze, melt and freeze without wearing out the material, corroding the tank, exploding, poisoning every living thing within a mile or more and still had the heat capacity I needed but didn't require a truck load of gold to obtain.

  Well I found it.

  It is literally common as dirt, cheap, noncorrosive, doesn't burn, explode or poison the world. Best of all it melts and freezes at between 160F and 700F depending on how you proportion it. It has several chemical structures, all safe and all with different phase change temperatures. Theoretically you could mix the material in such a way that it starts the adsorption of latent heat of phase change at 160F and continues all the way up to 700F+ with only minor dead zones where you would only be adding sensible heat. It will make the perfect Thermal Battery in that temperature range.

  Well? The big question becomes, how the hell are we going to use it? How will we move the heat from the battery to where we need it?

  The easiest way would be with a liquid. It can be pumped, stored, circulated, and works well by convection. There are several options here all with pro's and those pesky con's.

• Water: Which will immediately turn to steam at these temperatures.
  • Pro's: Water is cheap, easily obtained, stored, pumped, is non corrosive, and carries heat better than any liquid. As steam is has many of the same characteristics and only helium and hydrogen carry heat better but they have their own issues.....
  • Cons:While steam carries heat very well it has it's drawbacks. Steam requires water treatment or it will build up scale it also becomes corrosive and abrasive so it is hard on equipment, therefore requiring lots of sprained elbows and busted knuckles to maintain the system. Not to mention lots of that hard to obtain but not very rare and way over rated commodity called the Federal Reserve Note. Steam traps would be required and they need to be maintained also.
• Heat Transfer Fluids: These are an interesting class of fluids. They carry heat well.
  • Pro's: They are noncorrosive, Long lasting, some are very environmentally friendly, they are easy on the equipment, they store well, they could be the perfect solution.
  • Those Pesky Con's: You'd have to plant a Federal Reserve note tree to operate long term. When TSHTF availability would be somewhat limited.
• Mineral Oil: We have used this as a heat transfer fluid in the petro-chemical industry pretty much since it's founding.
  • Pro's: It's a common commodity and readily available most anywhere. It can be managed at these temperatures. It stores well, is noncorrosive, stable, easy to pump, non fouling or scaling, and environmentally neutral.
  • You Guessed it, There are Con's: It is combustible. At the high end of our temperature range a moderate leak could result in a fire. The stuff is like trying to keep the young Houdini in his play pen. It has a way of "oozing" at any threaded joint and carbonizing there creating an awful unsightly mess (think; oil leak on an exhaust manifold, very unsightly, the thing would never be pretty, we wouldn't want to try to impress the neighbors... ). There is also the valueless Federal Reserve Note requirement for oil. Although it is cheaper than the other Heat Transfer Fluids. This one may be our best option as most of these con's can be incarcerated....
• I'm Open To Suggestions: While I'm a little smarter than a rock, I don't know everything about heat transfer mediums. I'd love a better solution.

-- Stan Norred
281-782-9744
windstalker@windstalker.com
Chairman
Galveston County
Libertarian Party
AND
Texas State Libertarian
Executive Committee
District 11 Rep.