water source heat pump idea

[random]

I'm not smart in these area's but would it at all be possible to use water source heat pump technology to drive a steam engine and where the energy source to drive the heat pump would come from solar energy?

 

I ask because I think it would be a possibility to design seagoing cargo vessels to run on this principle where the entire hull would be covered in solar panels and the consistent temperature of the ocean would be the water source.

 

I also thought it would be interesting to use a sealed engine which ran on liquid nitrogen where the power was gained by the steam pressure because liquid nitrogen boils at below room temp. In this design the water source heat pump would actually be the coolant system. The liquid nitrogen a sealed loop system of course.

 

Please keep your answers in laymans terms.

 

Also I am sure there is a simple answer why but how come with today's highly efficient electric motors no one has replaced the gasoline engine on a generator in an attempt to gain free energy?

 

EG. a 3 h.p. electric runs on 220v 30 amp and a gas 3 h.p. generator puts out 220v 30 amp X2 seems to me with a 100% increase these could be wired in series to create a huge amount of power running off of 1 220v 30 amp connection.

[Mr Skeptic]

I'm not smart in these area's but would it at all be possible to use water source heat pump technology to drive a steam engine and where the energy source to drive the heat pump would come from solar energy?

 

It's both possible and has been done, at the commercial scale.