VAWT in HAWT Mode Animation
- 8 years ago
A table top model for presentations for these turbines I have been designing recently.
Fuel can be both air (installed over highways) and water (installed inside canals).
I had this idea the other day, when a 22 wheeler stormed by me. What if we install turbines like these over our roads, specially the highways. Lots of wind energy available their to capture.
There are many advantages of canal turbines (but in this configuration differences are minimal) over wind turbines, prominent one's being:
1. Unidirectional flow
Water flows in one direction in a canal so we don't need pitch and yaw control surfaces.
2. Constant flow rate
We (humans) control water flow rate through canals and it's almost same all year, so we don't have to worry about blade aero foil design to suit variable/abruptly variable flow rate.
3. Large Electricity potential
Canals are 100s of km long, imagine the electricity potential in the canals. You can put these turbines in irrigation canals and it'll power nearby villages and all the irrigation equipment etc.
4. Higher Power/Discharge Ratio
Water is ~816 times dense (powerful) than air, so for the same discharge (flow) rate we get 816 times more power. Which means more we can make designs that are smaller and easier to manage.
5. Easy maintenance
Fitted less than ~1 m deep inside the canal and can be retracted for maintenance at ground level, making maintenance very easy.
Fuel can be both air (installed over highways) and water (installed inside canals).
I had this idea the other day, when a 22 wheeler stormed by me. What if we install turbines like these over our roads, specially the highways. Lots of wind energy available their to capture.
There are many advantages of canal turbines (but in this configuration differences are minimal) over wind turbines, prominent one's being:
1. Unidirectional flow
Water flows in one direction in a canal so we don't need pitch and yaw control surfaces.
2. Constant flow rate
We (humans) control water flow rate through canals and it's almost same all year, so we don't have to worry about blade aero foil design to suit variable/abruptly variable flow rate.
3. Large Electricity potential
Canals are 100s of km long, imagine the electricity potential in the canals. You can put these turbines in irrigation canals and it'll power nearby villages and all the irrigation equipment etc.
4. Higher Power/Discharge Ratio
Water is ~816 times dense (powerful) than air, so for the same discharge (flow) rate we get 816 times more power. Which means more we can make designs that are smaller and easier to manage.
5. Easy maintenance
Fitted less than ~1 m deep inside the canal and can be retracted for maintenance at ground level, making maintenance very easy.