Vortex power plant
An air vortex power plant is a previously unrealized theoretical possibility of generating energy, in which the energy of an artificially generated, swirling updraft ( chimney effect ) is used to generate electricity. It works similar to a solar chimney power plant , with the difference that the air sucked in at the bottom through nozzles in twist is added, and so a huge vortex generated, similar to a stationary dust devils or the "trunk" of a tornado . This vortex replaces the very high and therefore expensive chimney of the updraft power plant.
Various heat sources can be used to generate the updraft. As with the updraft power plant, the preferred energy source is solar energy, which uses the greenhouse principle to heat the air under a huge glass roof. As an alternative, the solar heat could be replaced by another source of warm, moist air, such as waste heat from cooling towers or even sea water.
history
The principle of the air vortex power plant was probably first designed in 1964 by the French Edgare Nazare and filed for patent in 1982.
At the end of the last century, the Australians Norman Louat and the Canadian Louis Michaud took up the idea again independently of one another.
The main application of the Michaud patent is for use in cooling towers of conventional power plants, where 20% of the energy contained in the exhaust air is to be used by turbines at the base of the tower. With the planned size, the output of all power plant types would be in the three-digit megawatt range.
Applications
So far, no working applications are known. A prototype was constructed at the University of Utah . The University of Western Ontario is also looking at a model.
criticism
So far it is not clear whether the air vortex can be sustained with stronger supra-local winds. Fears that the air vortex could take on a life of its own, jump over the structure and mutate into a tornado, were allayed with reference to the possibility of cutting off the energy source.
The application in cooling towers of conventional power plants as in the Michaud patent would impair their cooling effect. So far there is no proof of the economic efficiency of such a system.
swell
- ↑ http://vortexengine.ca/
- ↑ Patent FR2524530 : Procede Pour La Construction De Tours De Centrales Aerothermiques Solaires Et Aerorefrigerants. Published October 7, 1983 , inventor: Edgare Nazare.
- ↑ Patent WO0042320 : Unbounded vortical chimney .. Published July 20, 2000 , inventor: Norman Louat (also known under application number PCT / AU99 / 00037).
- ↑ Patent application US2004112055A1 : Atmospheric Vortex Engine. Published June 17, 2004 , inventor: Louis Marc Michaud.
- ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1501021.htm
- ↑ Bill Christensen "Vortex Engine - Tame Tornadoes May Generate Power"