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Faraday Earth Loop

Faraday Earth Loop Generator
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This is to recover 'clean' energy, no where near over-unity, but fairly simple to make. Faraday experimented with the earth's North-South lines of magnetic force, forces strong enough to move the smallest magnetic needle. To tap this energy one could build a Faraday Earth Loop Generator -- it would be a hollow 20-foot or larger loop made with copper-windings, mounted on a shaft or tower, able to cut these lines of force and create energy as it rotated in an East-West direction, powered by a small motor, by a wind turbine, or by other clean power source like hydro or solar. The Loops could be used inside large structures or buildings as well for proper shielding/grounding. Several Faraday Earth Loops could be connected together. Minimal RPM required for generating wattage.

Added 6-18-08: An earlier idea used wind power as direct-drive for the Loops (as in VAWTs or Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines with Darrieus or Giromill type blades using lightweight windings; when these blades turn on the axis, crossing the Earth's Nort-South magnetic field, a current would result). Just a note: The windings would be on or within the arc blades/aerofoils, and there could be more than set of blades (egg-beater types). One comment is suggestive of another variation that had been considered: this system could also collect static-to-ground potential energy (from rotating through air with a ground connect) as well as magnetic flux induced current plus wind energy, thus giving 3 sources of energy conversion: wind power, Earth's magnetic field, and air electrostatics-ground potential.

Up to a certain wind strength, the VAWT designs spin at a constant RPM with wind from any direction, utilizing braking systems, but may need to be 'kick-started' to started spinning. The amount of EMF recovered is a function of the magnetic field strength and the type of windings used.

This is a basic demo of a Faraday discovery, but may have applications for further development. Thanks.

elektronyzer, Jun 15 2008

VAWT blade designs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine
VAWT blade designs for direct wind-power type [elektronyzer, Jun 16 2008]

STS-75 http://science.ksc....mission-sts-75.html
Lists Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R) [CwP, Jun 17 2008]

CNN: Tether testing http://www.cnn.com/...25/630pm/index.html
CNN shows video of tether tesing plus links [CwP, Jun 17 2008]

NASA: Tether Origami http://science.nasa.../y2007/11jun_ff.htm
Describes the tethering principles and experiment [CwP, Jun 17 2008]

Wikipedia: Tether satellite http://en.wikipedia...ki/Tether_satellite
Has nice descriptions of tether science with pictures... and great links that lead nowhere... [CwP, Jun 17 2008]

The Space Tether Experiment http://www-istp.gsf...cation/wtether.html
Description of the NASA Tether experiment. It actually has links that work... mostly. [CwP, Jun 17 2008]

Model of Farady Earth Loop -- Darrieus Turbine Version http://en.wikipedia...rrieus_wind_turbine
Thanks for all the links; maybe the Loops could be placed on terrain with highly magnetic 'hotspots'. The wiki articles show an approx. 90foot tower-type model for a Faraday Earth Loop gen. [elektronyzer, Jun 17 2008]

[link]






       So you are not actually generating power from the Earth's magnetic field, just using it to avoid having to get another magnet? I don't think you'd get any power unless there is a net change in the magnetic field and since you are rotating with the magnetic field.
MisterQED, Jun 15 2008
  

       Surely all the power (minus efficiency losses of course) is coming from the turbine/hydro/solar unit? Generate more and you're getting into over unity territory, no?
Texticle, Jun 15 2008
  

       Just a small point: magnetic fields do not rotate, nor do they stay still. Confused? Well, you should be, most people are, including me when it comes to Electromagnetic field details.
Ling, Jun 15 2008
  

       Firstly, //forces strong enough to move the smallest magnetic needle// can only be [marked-for-tagline].   

       So. Use some "free" energy (wind, solar, other) to move your coil through a magnetic field, and generate electricity. Baked! Although users of this system don't seem to like the magnetic field and coils to be seperated by large distances. In fact they try and get them as close as possible.   

       Your cunning use of the statically induced EMF pales into insignificance against the veritable "V8" of the hamster wheel.
4whom, Jun 16 2008
  

       So what's the link for?   

       This idea seems to propose using the incredibly weak magnetic field of the Earth as the field of a generator's stator. That's fairly silly, and not a bit green. There's a lot of inefficiency and not a bit of saving in energy.   

       Then it seems to suggest using the blades of a windmill as the rotor, and the Earth's magnetic field as the stator. That's a bit clever, as it gets more swept area in the incredibly weak field. But it won't work, either. The field is just too weak--it can only affect the best-balanced of compass needles, not the smallest.   

       We all ignore the Earth's magnetic field in our daily lives, whether pushing airplanes through it or waving umbrellas in it, we just don't care. It isn't noticeable, it isn't useful. It certainly isn't going to work as imagined.
baconbrain, Jun 16 2008
  

       // It certainly isn't going to work as imagined//
Perhaps then it will work in ways we've can't imagine.
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jun 16 2008
  

       // It certainly isn't going to work as imagined//
[marked-for-tagline]
csea, Jun 16 2008
  

       I’ll give you a bun for thinking about it.   

       1) The earths magnetic field changes all the time but very slowly. It’s good for geology dating work and a pain for old style surveyors updating very old maps. 2) The earth has an E-Field that drops in voltage at a semi-linear rate until about 10K feet but is useable from ground to a much higher altitude as a leveler (across a 30 foot span). A great RC experiment. 3) The sun changes violently all the time and reverses it’s pole every 11 years (the solar cycle). We are just starting a new cycle this year.   

       During the early design of all space born structures of any large scale, like the International Space Station (ISS), this was a topic of significant discussion. Yes, any long stretch of conducting material passing through a magnetic field will generate an E-Field (actually any conductor, any size). Given the chance, the E-Field will cause current loops which turn into a trivial amount of heat but, importantly, continually slow (braking) and decay the obit just as a shorted out motor will stop spinning. Naturally, the opposite is true too. The ground loops that cause a braking action require more orbit corrections and is a significant voltage hazard to sensitive equipment. Thus, all the pre-design discussion is a good idea.   

       Free electrons are there too and can be picked up for free. There were a couple of shuttle missions (STS-75) where tether and plasma experiments were conducted to show it’s effects and to prove out the then theoretical orbital mechanics of long tethers stretching toward both inner and outer orbits (more free electrons in the inner that outer, thus -/+). See Links. At one time I could have given you dozens of links on the subject but NASA is strangely quite about these experiments and now all the interesting links have vanished.   

       Maybe they found they could collect enough electrons to keep a platform boosted and powered up…and they are keeping it a secret! Conspiracy theorists unite!
CwP, Jun 17 2008
  
      
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