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![WILL IT WORK?
‘…Nilton Renno, a professor at the department of atmospheric, ocean and space sciences
at the University of Michigan, has spent his career studying tornadoes and water spouts.
He says there is no reason why Michaud’s vortex engine wouldn’t work.’
”The concept is solid,” says Renno.
…‘Still, Renno is not without reservations. He’s particularly concerned about the ability to
control such a powerful monster.’
‘“The amount of energy is huge. Once it gets going it may be too hard to stop,” he says…’
The Toronto Star July
This is where research and development engineering is needed…
“…What’s necessary at this point is to do proofs of concept,” says professor Kerry
Emanuel, the hurricane expert at MIT. “[Michaud’s] idea is pretty simple and elegant. My
own feeling is that we ought to be pouring money into all kinds of alternative energy
research. There’s almost nothing to lose in trying this...”
ODE Magazine March 2008](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/atmosphericvortexengineave-220928161458-3cd274e3/75/Atmospheric-Vortex-Engine-AVE-pptx-22-2048.jpg)
Atmospheric Vortex Engine (AVE).pptx
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- 2. ATMOSPHERIC VORTEX ENGINE(AVE): INTRODUCTION • An atmospheric vortex engine (AVE) is a device for producing mechanical energy by means of a controlled tornado-like vortex. • The Vortex is produced by admitting warm or humid air tangentially into a circular arena. • Tangential entries cause the warm moist air to spin as it rises forming an anchored convective vortex. • The work of convection is captured with turbines located at ground level around the periphery of the arena. • The heat source can be solar energy, warm water or waste heat. • The process could become a major source of clean energy and could provide other benefits such as precipitation and cooling.
- 3. WHAT KIND OF“FUEL” DOES THE AVE USE? • The AVE does not consume “fuel” in the conventional sense. • Instead, the AVE uses waste heat as a fuel source. • In some cases, there may a very small fossil fuel requirement during vortex initiation, however this would only be required for a brief period during initial vortex startup. • During normal steady-state operation, no additional combustion of fossil fuels is required, only a steady stream of low temperature waste heat.
- 4. BASIC PRINCIPLE • Theoperation of AVE is based on the facts that the atmosphere is heated from the bottom and cooled from the top and that more mechanical energy is produced by the expansion of a heated gas than is required to compress the same gas back to its original pressure after it has been cooled. • The energy is produced as a result of reducing the temperature of the heat sink from to temperature at the bottom of the atmosphere to the temperature at the tropopause. • The source of the energy is thermal convection, the process responsible for producing circulation in boilers and in many other industrial processes. The technology is akin to that of cooling towers.
- 7. HOW VORTEX ISSTARTED ? • The vortex is started by temporarily heating the air within the cylindrical wall with steam or fuel. • The heat required to sustain the vortex once established can be the naturally occurring heat content of ambient air or can be provided in a peripheral heat exchanger located outside the circular wall • The heat source for the peripheral exchanger can be warm seawater or waste industrial heat. • The peripheral heat exchanger can be a wet cooling tower or a dry finned tube heat exchanger. • The mechanical energy is produced in a plurality of peripheral turbo-expanders. • The circular wall could have a diameter of 200 m and the vortex could be 50 m in diameter at its base and extend up to the tropopause. • The system would generate 50 to 500 MW of electrical power.
- 9. HOW IS THEPOWER PRODUCED? • The power is produced in peripheral turbines. • The turbines can exhaust either upstream of the tangential entries or in the center of the vortex. • A 200 MW vortex engine could have 20 x 10 MW turbines each driving a 10 MW electrical generator.
- 11. MINIMUM SIZE OFA VORTEX ENGINE • Physical models and dust devils show that it is possible to produce very small vortices. • There is a minimum economical size for vortex power producers and vortex cooling tower because small vortices are more likely to be disturbed by the wind and because there must be an attended control system. • The minimum practical size could be 50 MW(t) for vortex cooling towers and 50 MW(e) for vortex engines.
- 12. HEAT SOURCES USEDFOR AN AVE? • All thermal power plants must reject the heat to the atmosphere via cooling towers or once-through cooling to rivers or lakes. • All of the waste heat could potentially become a fuel source for the AVE. • In addition, there are also numerous sources of natural waste heat which can be used to power an AVE. • For example: • The warm humid air heated by the sun at the surface of the earth. • The heat content of tropical ocean waters is also another enormous reservoir of potential energy. • Warm tropical ocean water at 26 °C or greater would also be sufficient to act as fuel for an AVE.
- 14. Cont.. • The heatto sustain the vortex once established can be the natural heat content of the warm humid air or can be provided in heat exchangers located upstream of the deflectors. • The heat exchangers can be wet cooling towers or dry finned heat exchanger tubes. • The continuous heat source for the peripheral heat exchangers can be waste industrial heat or warm seawater. • There are times and locations where the heat content of ambient air would be sufficient to sustain a vortex without the peripheral heat exchanger.
- 15. BYPRODUCTS OF THEAVE In addition to producing electrical energy, the AVE process has several other useful functions: • Production of clouds • Production of precipitation • Production of fresh water • Enhancement of cooling tower performance • Elevation of polluted surface air • Environmental cooling
- 16. AVE CAN INCREASETHE POWER CAPACITY OF A THERMAL POWER • An AVE can increase the power capacity of a thermal power plant by reducing the cold sink temperature from the temperature at the bottom of the atmosphere which is approximately 30°C to the temperature at the top of the troposphere which is -60°C. Decreasing the temperature of the cold sink of a Carnot engine from +30°C to -60°C can significantly increase the overall efficiency. • An atmospheric vortex engine could increase the electrical output of a 500 MW plant to approximately 700 MW by converting 20% of its 1000 MW of waste heat to work thereby increasing the overall output of the power plant by close to 40%.
- 18. NET IMPACT OFAN AVE ON GLOBAL WARMING The vortex engine can help to alleviate global warming in several ways. • The vortex engine increases the quantity of electrical energy produced by thermal power plants without increasing fuel consumption thereby permitting a reduction in the quantity of fuel required to meet human power needs. • A vortex engine causes upward heat convection in the troposphere to take place slightly earlier than it would without vortex assistance thereby reducing the temperature at the bottom of the atmosphere. • The vortex moves the heat higher up in the atmosphere permitting it to be radiated to space with less interference from greenhouse gases. • A vortex engine whose heat source is either warm sea water or warm humid air produces power without requiring the combustion of fuel except for startup.
- 21. WHERE WOULD ITWORK BEST? • Tropical regions with good geothermal resources such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines • Arid or semi-arid regions such as Australia, the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, Palestine and southern and northern Africa • Along arid regions with good geothermal resources such as Afghanistan, Tibet, northern India, Pakistan, Jordan, Ethiopia and Nepal • South western USA and northern Mexico • Offshore north-western Europe - Britain and the Netherlands reportedly have the highest frequency of tornadoes per unit area on Earth, although of relatively low intensity • Offshore Japan (geothermal resources and high CAPE)
- 22. WILL IT WORK? ‘…NiltonRenno, a professor at the department of atmospheric, ocean and space sciences at the University of Michigan, has spent his career studying tornadoes and water spouts. He says there is no reason why Michaud’s vortex engine wouldn’t work.’ ”The concept is solid,” says Renno. …‘Still, Renno is not without reservations. He’s particularly concerned about the ability to control such a powerful monster.’ ‘“The amount of energy is huge. Once it gets going it may be too hard to stop,” he says…’ The Toronto Star July This is where research and development engineering is needed… “…What’s necessary at this point is to do proofs of concept,” says professor Kerry Emanuel, the hurricane expert at MIT. “[Michaud’s] idea is pretty simple and elegant. My own feeling is that we ought to be pouring money into all kinds of alternative energy research. There’s almost nothing to lose in trying this...” ODE Magazine March 2008
- 23. CONCLUSION Developing the atmosphericvortex engine will require determination, engineering resources, and cooperation between engineering and atmospheric sciences disciplines.There will be difficulties to overcome and there will be many improvements as the process is developed. The existence of tornadoes provides virtual experimental proof that low intensity solar heat can produce high intensity mechanical energy..
- 24. References • http://vortexengine.ca • http://slideplayer.com/slide/5711658/ •http://www.ijrame.com/vol3issue2/V3i201.pdf
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