The Future of Solid State Wind Energy - No More Blades

This episode is brought to you by Brilliant...click the link in the description below. Wind

energy

is one of the fastest growing renewable sources and works well on a large scale, but it is not perfect. The large size and moving parts of a

wind

turbine make their deployment challenging due to the space they take up as well as maintenance. But what if we could reduce that force to something that could fit on your roof? And be self-contained with smaller moving parts... or maybe no

blades

or moving parts? Let's look at some

future

alternatives to take advantage of

wind

energy

.

I'm Matt Ferrell...welcome to Undecided. It is not difficult to see that wind energy, along with solar energy, has been a major player around the world in reducing our carbon emissions from fossil fuels. According to the latest World Wind Report, 93 GW of new wind energy capacity was installed globally in 2020, with the United States and China leading the way. Currently, 743 GW of wind energy has been installed worldwide, making it the green energy source with the highest decarbonization potential per MW. Helps avoid

more

than 1.1 billion tons of CO2 worldwide. But wind turbines are not all good. As I mentioned in a previous video, wind turbines have several disadvantages.

Harnessing wind requires high upfront costs and power generation is not as effective for individual homes or small-scale facilities as it is for large-scale facilities. The construction of wind farms has also had consequences for nature. Although they kill a large number of birds and bats each year, it is a bit disproportionate when you look at those numbers. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that between 140,000 and 500,000 birds die each year in wind farms. Compared to the 2.4 billion birds killed each year in the United States by domestic cats, or the 1 billion birds killed by flying into windows. There are simple solutions that seem effective for this, such as painting one of the countertops black.

But there is also the fact that turbines have many moving parts, such as the gearbox, which require quite a bit of maintenance. They should be reviewed two or three times a year. And this is where

solid

-

state

wind power comes into the picture. In 2013, researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands eliminated the need to move mechanical components and created EWICON, which stands for Electrostatic Wind Energy Converter, initiating the development of the ion wind generator concept. Although still under development, it offers significantly lower maintenance costs, less wear and tear and no noise problems. And how it works is quite fascinating.

EWICON uses wind to create a flow of charged particles through the air that can be harnessed to produce electricity. In this case, water droplets are used to maintain a positive charge and when the wind blows on them, this movement of the droplets produces electricity that can be transferred to the grid. A prototype of the EWICON has been installed at TU Delft. An obvious disadvantage of this idea is the dependence on water to transport cargo. You would need a water line that ran to the facility and wouldn't work in sub-zero temperatures. But there is another idea, the Solid State Wind Energy Transformer (with the unfortunate acronym...SWET), developed by Richard Epstein.

His approach is very similar to the one developed by the Dutch, but instead of using water, his concept uses ionic currents to produce electricity. This process is called "electrohydrodynamics." Richard Epstein described the prototype as a series of 55 parallel aluminum cables strung between two 28-foot-high wooden masts, about 25 feet apart on a flat roof, with all cables electrically insulated from the masts. In the prototype there were two types of wires: attractor wires, which were regular wires, and emitter wires with small tufts of 7-micrometer-diameter carbon fibers attached about every 6 inches. When small negative currents flow through the emitter wires, the strands create a coronal discharge, releasing negative ions into the air.

It's not that different from the ionic air purifiers that were all the rage in the early 2000s...if you remember ionic breeze...I'm still trying to forget those commercials. Thus, as in the EWICON concept, the wind blowing along the cables transports the negative ions and gives the assembly a slight positive charge. This causes electrons to flow from the ground, which can be captured as electricity. The prototype developed by Epstein has only 1/20 watt of power, but it is only a prototype to prove the concept and is still in the early stages of its development. Following the same principles as EWICON, the Dutch company Windwheel is developing a

future

monument 160 to 180 meters high in Rotterdam.

It looks a bit like a giant donut. The hole in the center will put this

solid

-

state

power generation to work. The structure also aims to bring together multiple environmentally friendly technologies, including rainwater harvesting, wetland water filtration and solar energy. Not to mention apartments, a hotel and a sky bar. Who doesn't love a good sky bar? It's expected to be built sometime between 2022 and 2025. As interesting as that technology is, it's still in the early stages of development, but there are some other technologies that could hit residential and urban markets sooner. Vortex Bladeless has developed another type of wind turbine without moving parts.

But warning...it looks a little weird. This Spanish company has developed a resonant wind generator with vortex-induced vibrations, which is based on the principle of Vortex Shedding. The generator is shaped like a cylinder and produces electricity through a dynamo system when the mast swings. The bottom of the rod is firmly attached to the ground, but the top is not limited and may vibrate. The structure is built with materials used in traditional wind turbine

blades

, using resins reinforced with carbon and/or fiberglass. Bladeless wind turbines eliminate mechanical elements that can wear out due to friction. But how does this vibrating, wobbling column produce energy?

To understand this we have to delve a little deeper into the world of fluid mechanics. When wind passes over a blunt body, the flow changes, creating a cyclic vortex pattern known as vortex shedding. Imagine placing a cylinder partially submerged in running water. If the water moves too fast or too slow, the eddies that form around the cylinder are chaotic. But if the speed of the water and the frequency of the object match, the vortices form

more

consistently and will exert force on the cylinder, causing it to move. Each body or structure has a natural frequency. If the frequency of these vortices is close enough to the structural frequency of a body, it begins to oscillate and resonate with the wind.

This is also called vortex-induced vibration (VIV). You've probably seen or heard the results of this effect on bridges that are not properly designed, such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Engineers and architects design bridges and skyscrapers to avoid this effect. They design structures that have resonance frequencies different from the resonance frequency of the wind. But Vortex Bladeless does exactly the opposite by putting vortex-induced vibrations to work. Vortex mast geometry is specially designed for maximum performance at typical wind speeds. To convert these vibrations into electricity, Vortex Bladeless turbines use a dynamo system made up of coils and magnets, which can adapt to the dynamics of the vortex without gears, shafts or rotating parts.

This design reduces maintenance and eliminates the need for lubrication. This magnetic confinement design acts as a “tuning system” so that it can increase the stiffness of the system based on wind deformation. Basically, it adjusts and synchronizes its natural frequency to match the frequency of the wind. Today, Vortex bladeless turbines take advantage of approximately 30% of the area covered by the blades of a traditional three-blade wind turbine of identical height; this is called swept area. The bottom line: Vortex technology is less energy efficient than traditional 3-blade turbines because energy production is proportional to the swept area of ​​a wind turbine.

On the other hand, a smaller swept area allows more bladeless turbines to be placed in the same area, compensating for that gap in energy efficiency. It operates at low to medium wind speeds and can generate the same power for less cost. It is approximately 45% cheaper than a traditional 3-blade wind turbine. The Vortex Tacoma, which stands 9 feet tall, has an estimated power rating of 100 watts, and the company expects the Vortex Tacoma models to be priced similarly to mid-range solar panels. As we approach the residential wind turbine market, Savonius turbines are gaining popularity. These wind turbines are simple towing devices consisting of two or three blades.

Due to their curvature, the blades experience less resistance when moving upwind than when moving with the wind, so they extract less wind energy than other lift turbines of comparable size. However, they are cost-effective, can operate regardless of wind direction, the turbine blades do not require any mechanism to change angle, and are friendlier to birds and bats than conventional three-bladed turbines. With this idea in mind, Iceland-based company Icewind has produced Savoniuos turbines for residential and commercial applications. Their CW100 model, sold as THE FREYA in the US, is designed to provide long-lasting performance, with little to no maintenance for over 25 years.

This 5 foot tall turbine can withstand wind speeds of up to 130 mph (60 m/s) and generates up to 600 watts. The company sells each turbine for $3,200 and a complete grid-tied system with a 1.5 kilowatt inverter for $4,180. In the United States, the cost of a set of solar panels to produce the same 600 watts would be approximately $1,932. The turbine is a little more expensive, but you also have the option of producing energy at night. But innovations in wind energy do not end there. Halcium, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based startup, hopes its portable wind turbine will be the next big innovation in green energy.

The company has developed the so-called PowerPod, a small-scale wind turbine designed specifically to operate in cities. The PowerPod has a tray system, but is completely contained within the stationary housing, making it safe for children, pets, and wildlife as it has no external moving parts. The shape of the wind generator can collect wind from any direction, change direction or even multiple directions at the same time. A 1 kW wind turbine would produce up to three times more energy than a normally mounted turbine of comparable size and area. This additional power comes from the capsule's advanced blade system, which increases wind speed by 40%.

To make this possible, the PowerPod takes in air and directs it towards a smaller outlet, which accelerates it before it hits the internal blade. It reminds me a little of the whirlwind of a Dyson vacuum cleaner. Like some of the other turbines I've talked about, the interesting angle of the PowerPod is its ability to be attached to a building on its own or combined with solar power to diversify its energy sources. And thanks to the PowerPod's design, it can be installed anywhere: house roofs, public buildings, fences, etc. Nick Hodges, the founder of Halcium, has created a graph showing the average daily power of a 1 kW PowerPod compared to a 1 kW solar panel system in different parts of the world.

In most cities, the PowerPod can perform as well or better than a conventional 1 kW solar panel system. A major reason for this is the 24/7 operation, while solar energy is limited to daylight and has lower output on cloudy or rainy days. While the PowerPod is not yet available for purchase and specifications are not known, it is an interesting idea to bring wind generation closer to our homes in a more flexible package. The PowerPod will most likely be available at the end of 2021. As we see, wind energy generation is not limited to the traditional three-blade turbines that we are used to seeing everywhere.

These innovative, small-scale, low-maintenance wind generators with no hidden moving parts or no moving parts are promising. In the coming years we will probably see more of these alternatives on the roofs of office buildings and even homes. I think I'd prefer the PowerPod over the wobbly column, but I won't be too picky. But if you want to know more about howHow does the Vortex Bladeless design work, or how ions flow in the solid state designs I talked about, you can learn a lot from the Electricity, Magnetism and Brilliance course. It helped me get a better idea of ​​how everything related to electricity or magnetism starts with a charge.

And how ions can flow over various elements, such as salt water. But even if you're not excited about learning about electricity (I love good dad jokes), they have over 60 courses, including computer science, physics, and math topics. They have something for everyone. All concepts are taught through fun, interactive challenges to help you understand the "why" of something... not just the "how." It helps develop your intuition, which is my favorite part of Brilliant and suits the way I learn. Visit www.brilliant.org/Undecided to register for free. The first 200 people will receive a 20% discount on their annual premium membership.

Thanks to Brilliant and all of you for supporting the channel. So, do you want something like a PowerPod for your home? Jump into the comments and let me know. If you liked this video, be sure to check out one of the videos I linked here. Don't forget to subscribe and ring the bell if you think I deserve it. And as always, thanks to all my customers and a warm welcome to the new Serverless Nomad producer. Thanks for watching. See you next time.