Topic Tag: scale

The idea: To make a large scale extruder, to make a timber replacement product, which is Solar powered and uses mixed plastic.   There's nothing new about mixed plastic "timber", you can get park benches made this way.   But here I would like to go through the practical challenge of making this happen and what it would take to use the sun.   The Extruder has two main elements: the heat input and the pressure pushing it out. i'll start with the heat source:   option 1:  a solar powered heat source could be made with a concentrated solar array, pointed at a sand mass which the body of the extruder would be within.   option 2: concentrated solar with a working fluid (such as motor oil) and pump it around a jacket which might give better temperature control.   option 3:  photo electric panels leading to a "standard" electrical extruder but the efficiency would be very low leading to greater cost. however this does mean that "standard" equipment can be used     Next the motive force required to push the plastic out i.e. pressurise it.   option 1: "standard" electrical motor with photo electric panels,  geared as required   option 2: steam powered piston, batch process, large cylinder head to "gear up" the pressure. Basically pool a reservoir of molten plastic inside a syringe attached to a bigger piston. its simple, can generate alot of force and with proper safety valves....     option 3: steam turbine or sterling engine geared as required to replace the "standard" motor   option 4: gravity feed melting funnel i.e. get enough pressure of plastic on top that it is forced out the bottom. not practical because plastic isn't very dense, so would require a very tall column and assumes it doesn't stick to the sides. Also worth remembering that there is energy required to lift something up that high in the first place.   Questions: energy input to melt 10kg of plastic? energy/force required extrude 10Kg of plastic? (or calcs to find that info with variables)   fyi: Steam pressure tables: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/saturated-steam-properties-d_101.html