Well.... there is a rather interesting application of
nitinol of which I have heard. It's a cooling fan.
When it heats up inside of the attic, it heats a belt
of nitinol wrapped around two pulleys. Each pulley is
sheathed partially, and the belt is sort of
twisted.... you'd have to see it, but essentially when
it gets hot the heat shrinks the metal which causes it
to tighten it's belt which causes it to try to unkink
itself, and since the pulleys hold the belt to them by
their sheaths it can't get unstuck so it untwists at
the base of the sheath and turns the wheels. The
wheels turn a fan, which cools the attic by blowing in
cool air. After a while, it gets too cold for the fan
to run, so there's no need to shut it off. It
maintains temperature fairly well, so I've heard.
--- EvMick@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 2/24/00 11:04:03 PM Central
> Standard Time,
> Spudboy100@aol.com writes:
>
> > Oh yeah. But for whatever reason Ocean Thermal is
> non-profitable, or
> > technically impractical.
>
> I've been following it for years...to me (a non
> technical type)....it seems
> feasable....but I imagine there is a lot of
> difference between being
> technically feasible and economically feasible....
>
> I just saw a presentation on CNN about the
> > algae/hydrogenase thing. I am still doubtful
> because CNN presented two
> other
> >
> > breakthroughs that I re-call. One was Nitinol,
> which also was supposed to
> > power civilization.
>
> That's the 'memory metal"?.....that always seem kind
> of a 'gimmick' to
> me...but come to think of it...nitinol might have
> micro or nano
> applications...
>
> The other was Bogdan Maglich's Migma reactor
> concept.
> > Both proved to be non-developable.
>
> I never heard of that...
>
> You might recall however that the Laser was well
> known for years and years
> prior to it's being used for much of anything. I
> seem to recall that it was
> refered to as
> " the phenomena in search of an application" or some
> such. Today you'll
> notice that lasers are everywhere....used in a
> multiple of applications.
>
> But I agree with you about TV....it is after
> all....entertainment....
>
> EvMick
>
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