h a l f b a k e r y"It would work, if you can find alternatives to each of the steps involved in this process."
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register.
Please log in or create an account.
|
Lord Kelvin's generator on steroids! By using this generator [1][2] in conjunction with an Atmospheric Vortex Engine [3], it might be able to create a power plant with no moving parts (except the air and water).
With the force of a tornado, some water spouts could be funneled through some metal cylinders
to create one hella Kelvin generator.
(Thanks FlyingToaster and csea!)
(?) 1) Kelvin Generator Demo
http://www.youtube....watch?v=F5PvIPgJGx0
MIT's famous professor Walter Lewin's demo of Lord Kelvin generator [CoolSolutions, Jan 06 2008]
2) Kelvin's Thunderstorm
http://amasci.com/emotor/kelvin.html
How to build your own Kelvin Generator [CoolSolutions, Jan 06 2008]
3) Atmospheric Vortex Engine
http://vortexengine.ca/index.shtml
explaining tethered tornado concept [CoolSolutions, Jan 06 2008]
4) solar chimney video
http://www.youtube....watch?v=XCGVTYtJEFk
a working model of the solar chimney in Spain [CoolSolutions, Jan 06 2008]
A modest proposal
Rainpowered_20Giant...lvin_20Thunderstorm
[MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 06 2008]
6) Floating Solar Chimney
http://www.floatingsolarchimney.gr/
Artist rendition of a floating solar chimney [CoolSolutions, Jan 07 2008, last modified Jan 08 2008]
[link]
|
| |
beautiful... cheap electric generation fom trailer-parks. |
|
| |
Welcome to the HB [CoolSolutions]! |
|
| |
I think your idea is clever, but maybe maybe only 3/8 baked. At a minimum, you'll need four metal cylinders, cross coupled to extract any electrical energy. |
|
| |
Also, please use the [link] function to post URLs, makes it easier to check them out. And specify a category such as "product: power source." |
|
| |
Might be good to read the "meta" section up there on the upper left. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to your next idea. |
|
| |
Believe it or not, not everyone is comfortable with the idea of a tethered tornado ("not in my trailer park!") So, a variation of the AVE is the solar chimney[4]. It's the same driving convective solar winds principle without the ruby slippers. |
|
| |
The expense of erecting a HUGE solar chimney can be reduced by using inflatable donuts (no sprinkles) stacked on top of each other and tied together to make a very long, like totally tubular, chimney. The balloon donuts could be filled with a lighter than air gas to allow buoyancy without necessarily needing guide wires. It would sway in the wind[6], and not be totally rigid, (but at these lengths, who cares?), reaching the troposphere just like the AVE. A single donut blow-out (from perhaps a bullet from big oil) would not cause the structure to fail catastrophically. Instead, the tower could be raised and lowered for repairs, or in case of bad weather like if a tornado was in the vicinity. |
|
| |
Thanks MaxwellBuchanan. I didn't mean to steal your thunder. |
|
| |
Nor I yours - you're welcome. Not entirely
sure I follow your physics - the classic
Kelvin machine has two cylinders and two
buckets cross-connected. But I like the
idea of using such a machine on a large
scale for power generation, so [+]. |
|
| |
Thanks again, Max. csea also made the comment, but I feel a little guilty making changes because the date doesn't change. Oh what the hey... |
|
| |
I was trying to guesstimate the
efficiency of a Kelvin generator -
perhaps someone else can do better. |
|
| |
In the videos I've seen, the water
typically falls a metre or so, and I'm
guessing that a decent size spark
happens for every 100ml (or so) of
water that falls. Hence, one spark is
generated for every Joule (100grams x
1m) of gravitational energy. So how
much energy is in the spark? Again, at
a rough guess I'm assuming that the
spark is 1kW for 1microsecond (no real
evidence for that), or 1mJ of energy.
This would give an efficiency of about
0.1%. |
|
| |
However, this could be out by a factor
of 1000 (though only in one direction). |
|
| |
Good question. I googled the efficiency. Not much came up. Might be a dv/dt thing, but not an EE here (except thats what the diploma says). Can't be anymore than force times distance over time. |
|
| |
So, the Lord Kelvin generator -- wonder if it would work with twin downspouts from a rain gutter on your home or apartment building... |
|
| |
The solar chimney video makes me wonder if you could generate power with hot air from your attic ducted up a tall chimney... |
|
| |
Creating a direct path from the ground to the troposphere might invoke some pretty knarly forces. It's more than a backyard project for the weekend hobbyist. You would probably need a permit. It's not too cheap either. Do you know the price of donuts these days? |
|
| |
Could one build it on the top of a big mountain to get a head start? |
|
| |
Anchoring this monster over a warm body of water works best. We need a big delta (pressure from the base of the tube to the top). Moist air is lighter than dry air for more loft. A draft would form towards the base of the tube from all directions on a calm day.
Water isn't required. A hot desert or open flame would do the trick. Anyone want to build one for Burning Man? |
|
| |
But why on earth would anyone want to generate Lord Kelvins? |
|
| |