Mike D sent in this first test of his solar thermal organ, and some concept designs... Nice!
Solar thermal organ
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why no information on HOW this thing works? or a link to find out? i want MAKE not just LOOK. :)
if anyone knows more on this please post. thanks.
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Yes, this really needs some explanation. I tried digging around and didn't find much info. I did find this though if someone can track down Sota53 from his youtube site?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoacoustics
There appears to be a connection with Make's previously featured Stirling engine as well.
More info please :)
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This could be a Rijke tube? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijke_tube
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In the same way that a hologram can be used to encode the shadows for a digital sun dial it would be possible to use a hologram to encode a musical score that took 6 months to play, with individual daily cycles. The pattern of light and shade would determine the intensity of sunlight projected onto individually tuned thermoacoustic oscillators and thus the sound produced over time.
dan@tekgnu.com
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http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=JASMAN000105000002001011000003&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes
sounds like its something like this, wish i could see a write up of how it was built, id love to re-create this
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i asked the first question and posted followup but this blog said that it was awaiting approval....
i said something like "since the author didnt do a google search i did" (so im not so sure it will be approved)
anyway heres another attempt to show what i found-
im guessing mike D is M.R. Duffey... see this from the LMJ:
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/lmj.2007.17.51?cookieSet=1&journalCode=lmj
also i think the fist experiment in this video illustrates what is going on in the blog... shows you how to do it even.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGL5kLioRrU
thanks for this interesting and extremely thin article, make :)
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How the sound is done is easy with thermoaccoustics, and one can easily recreate this with ceramic gas grill heat disappaters. bead and glasswork stores will also carry such ceramic honeycomb=like material (square box cells, double open ends) but they cost several hundred dollars!!! yikes!
I am more interested in where he got the reflectors! they look very nice indeed! (high speed record-player and plaster or epoxy surface and silver nitrate, nickle plate? lathe turning? )
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I emailed Mike (via youtube) and he responded by saying that he's working on a "how to". I hope to see it in the future.
From other digging on the web, it looks simple... a pipe with some sort of metal mesh on one end. I can't tell if the other end has to be sealed or not, I think it does.
One site made it look easy (just a bunch of wire mesh jammed into a pipe) another site made it look complicated, with a plastic piece with a bunch or preciscion holes drilled in it, sandwiched between two thin pieces of copper that had to also line up with the holes.
Like I said, I hope to see more on this.
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