Air Thermal Energy Converter

About

This is about to design and test a new kind of wind turbine that would be more efficient and can generate much more in comparison to any market available model of similar size. In this design, these goal has been achieved by using Edge effect, Venturi effect and Coanda effect by combining them in a unique way based on the findings of Professor Michael Waters. The main rotating body i.e. the turbine will look like a disc instead of a fan like the conventional wind turbines. The main reason for using this disc shaped structure is to force the wind flow towards the edge of the turbine for maximum effect. The edge effect will accelerate the flow towards the edge at the expense of internal enthalpy of the flow and thus generating more power with the same flow velocity at the end. Another aspect of this model is use of shrouds to catch wind from any direction and guide this towards the turbine and also increasing the velocity while guiding this towards the turbine by using venturi effect. The shrouds will eliminate the need of any kind of rotating mechanism for adjusting the turbine with the wind direction and thereby get rid of a very big technical problem and reduce both installation and maintenance cost. It’s a new kind of wind power generation system based on the works done by Professor Michael Waters. In my invention, I want to put my designed turbine under shrouds in a fixed either facing it towards the sky or towards the ground. The shrouds will be fitted one above the other with gaps in between them for letting wind inside. The shrouds will be designed like a disc having a hole in between. The body of the shrouds will be curved for sucking wind towards its centre by using Coanda Effect. Such kind of shrouds can be seen in many kinds of shroud augmented wind turbines that are now in development stage or in use. The main purpose of the shrouds will be catch wind and divert that towards the turbine. The turbine will be fitted close to the middle hole of the last shroud and all the flow sucked in by the shrouds will be concentrated towards it. The turbine too has been designed in a unique to take advantage of the Edge effect that are being observed when any wind or fluid flow struck any solid surface partially blocking its flow. The part of the flow that are being obstructed increases its velocity to catch up with the unobstructed flow. In my turbine, all the flow thing the middle part of the turbine will be forced towards the edge of the turbine where the blades are fitted and due to this edge effect, the flow will strike the blades with enhanced velocity and thereby increasing the output by this process. And it is to be noted that the shrouds too will also increase the flow velocity as the flow sucked by them is being forced to go out through the smaller outlet fitted in their middle. These too increases the velocity of the flow at the expense of the internal enthalpy of the flow (proved fact). Thereby this wind turbine increases the flow velocity at the expense of the internal enthalpy of air and that’s why it’s called Air Thermal Energy Converter. The unique design of the machine will suck flow from any direction and that’s no rotating mechanism is needed to align it towards the direction of wind flow for maximum output. The generator/dynamo will be attached to the rotating part through a shaft fitted in its middle or by any other means possible. The final product will be compact and smaller size and therefore can be fitted at the top of buildings, roofs and high-rises or even at the top of factories. And due to its unique geometry, it can generate sufficient power even at low wind speed of just 3 m/s or less. The unique part of this project is its convertibility of wind power with very high efficiency in comparison to other market available models. When in use, it may surpass the Betz limit but that doesn’t mean it can violate any scientific law. The apparent increase in output above the Betz limit is due to its unique way of using venturi effect and Edge Effect together to increase the velocity of the wind at the expense of its own internal enthalpy. Due to that aspect, a smaller size turbine will be able to generate more power in comparison to its presently market available counterparts. And another innovative aspect of this technology is absence of any kind of rotating mechanism for adjusting it with the direction of wind. The unique geometry of shrouds will suck flow from any direction towards the turbine. And for this reason, the maintenance and overall costing of the turbine will less in comparison to market available models of similar output. At present, a 3D printed model of the turbine has been built and tested by putting it under ceiling fan and table fan with different flow velocity. The testing has been done without any load and that means only the RPM has been measured. It generated around 65 RPM under a ceiling fan generating a flow of around 2.8 m/s velocity. When placed before a table fan, it has generated the RPM of around 570 with a flow velocity of around 6 m/s. It has a shaft of around 220 gm weight and the mass of the rotating part is 225 gm. Altogether the mass of the rotating parts is 445 gm. The diameter of the turbine is 25 cm, but it has a band of 1 cm width for fitting the blades at the periphery. Therefore the effective diameter i.e. the area where the wind flow will strike will have a diameter of 23 cm. Now, the power contained by a flow of 6 m/s velocity hitting a 23 cm diameter area is 5.5944168588 W. but at 570 RPM, the rotational energy contained by the rotating part is 6.0480558046875 W. This is the proof that how the unique geometry of this turbine has increased the velocity of the flow by using Edge Effect and thus can be able to increase the output to a great extent. Only the rotating turbine has been built and the shroud part is yet to be build. But, kindly note that shrouds are already in use in other kind of wind turbine systems and can be considered to be a well-tested matter. Therefore it can be said that when the shrouds will be added, further increase in output can be observed. Shrouds are already tested and now in use in various kinds of wind turbines a few of which are in commercial use now. Therefore, the effect of shrouds can be understood easily.