[Fwd: ATM dark ideas]

[Mel Bartels <mbartels@efn.org>]

Puddlduk@aol.com wrote:

> Great topic!
>
> Any Ideas on how to measure heat loss of the mirrors?  Ideally one would have
> a heating element, an ambient temperature measuring device, and a mirror
> temperature measuring device.
>
> A comparitor circuit would keep the mirror at thermal equalibrium with the
> air.  And the difference between watts radiaing into space and convecting into
> the mirror from the air could be measured.  The hard part is measuring the
> temperature of the mirror while heating it at the same time- Maby an IR
> detector looking in the side of the mirror and the heating element on the
> back?
>
> Anyway some measurements could minimise the power used and lead to a good rule
> of thumb calculation.
>
> As a side note; I remeber a test question on one of my engineering exams.  The
> result was that (with some assumptions) you could freeze water at 40+F ambient
> air temperature if the sky was clear and no wind at night.  (This has been
> done in India for centuries.)
>
> -Adam Parker



--
Clear skies, Mel Bartels
http://www.efn.org/~mbartels