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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / Science and Technology => Topic started by: blobrana on January 01, 2007, 07:01:19 PM
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"It is a mechanical problem that has troubled scientists since Archimedes and the ancient Greeks, but now a Scottish electrician has come up with the answer - and it could help consumers save thousands of pounds in energy bills.
Ian Gilmartin, 60, has invented a mini water wheel capable of supplying enough electricity to power a house - for free.
The contraption is designed to be used in small rivers or streams - ideal for potentially thousands of homes across Britain.
It is the first off-the-shelf water-wheel system that can generate a good supply of electricity from as little as an eight-inch water fall. "
Read more (http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=5492007)
A portable, water powered computer anyone?
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We get a lot of rainfall in Manchester but there's a lack of streams for the most part ;-)
As for the various canals, they seem pretty sluggish...
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If it can generate enough electricity to powre a house from an 8 inch waterfall, then why not make your own waterfall and use it to power the waterpump of the waterfall itself aswell as the rest of the house?
That'd solve the problem.
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Vincent wrote:
If it can generate enough electricity to powre a house from an 8 inch waterfall, then why not make your own waterfall and use it to power the waterpump of the waterfall itself aswell as the rest of the house?
That'd solve the problem.
That would essentially be perpetual motion, which contravenes the basic laws of thermodynamics. In other words, it wouldn't work ;-)
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Don't get your hopes up. I calculated that to obtain a power output of 2 kW at the specified efficiency of 0.7 and a hydrodynamic head of 18 inches (= 0.45 m), you need a water flow rate of 0.65 m^3/s. You can make do with less, as the water not only creates downwards inertia by travelling down 0.45 m, but also has a sizable amount of horizontal intertia too. Using a clever design, you can probably tap some of this energy too without immediately creating a reservoir.
Nevertheless, 0.65 m^3/s is a pretty big stream to have in your back yard. I looked up some flow rates of rivers and then discovered that the river Semme which flows alongside the vacation house of my girlfriend in central France has the right débit. Here's a picture of the Semme at a wider point; you should think of the width at the place of the visible kayak:
(http://www.maisonbergere.com/art/kayak.jpg)
Not a big stream, but not exactly small either, and definitely not something we all have in our backyard. The inventor is quite a smart bloke to extract energy from the stream at such a small hydrodynamic head---that is certainly a very clever invention---but it unfortunately won't be a device which will see much use.
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Karlos wrote:
That would essentially be perpetual motion, which contravenes the basic laws of thermodynamics. In other words, it wouldn't work ;-)
Not if the energy was stored before use :-P
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And when it is depleted?
Basically you are suggesting using a motor to turn a dynamo which in turn powers the motor (substitute motor for water pump).
If the dynamo is 70% efficient, the whole system loses energy regardless of the motor efficiency, and that's before you take mechanical loss (vibration, sound, frictional heating etc)
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That'll teach me to try and think whilst being extremely pished :lol:
--edit--
Although, I'm very impressed with the spelling and grammer of my drunk posts :-D
What my brain lacks I must make up for in co-ordinance.
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Karlos wrote:
That would essentially be perpetual motion, which contravenes the basic laws of thermodynamics. In other words, it wouldn't work ;-)
Heh! As a kid, I always wondered why someone didn't make a solar-powered light that could just "power itself"!! Would be a nice way to save energy if it was true!
- Ali
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InTheSand wrote:
Heh! As a kid, I always wondered why someone didn't make a solar-powered light that could just "power itself"!!
I used to think the same thing when I was a kid :-)
--
moto
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The currents running through superconducting magnets come the closest to perpetual motion as you'll realistically get. Even they need to be "topped up" and you have to expend energy to maintain the conditions required for the superconductivity...
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Ja, there is no such thing as a free MRI scan :-P
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The solar-powerd light exists:
http://www.solareagle.com/sunmate_flash.html
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X-ray wrote:
The solar-powerd light exists:
http://www.solareagle.com/sunmate_flash.html
I think the "solar-powered light" in question was a hypothetical device which powered itself forever using its own light output.
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Doh!
I misread that one, yessir.
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NoFastMem wrote:
I think the "solar-powered light" in question was a hypothetical device which powered itself forever using its own light output.
That "solar-powered light" is called the "sun" and its on its own timer that can't be changed, however, it turns itself on and off every day, so you don't have to remember.
;-)
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Karlos wrote:
We get a lot of rainfall in Manchester but there's a lack of streams for the most part ;-)
As for the various canals, they seem pretty sluggish...
Close, but it should be spelt 'sludgy' :-P
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Karlos wrote:
As for the various canals, they seem pretty sluggish...
"I once caught a 2lb black ribbed knobbler!"
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I think every home should have it's own flywheel buried under it and solar/wind generators on the roof.
Also, if the water and gas companies are sending us pressurised supplies can small dynamos not be introduced into taps, ovens, garden sprinklers to harness the flow of water/gas?
And it would be good if exercise bikes were fitted with dynamos to offset the carbon footprint of fat people who don't walk anywhere.
There's been talk that energy might one day be generated by solar satellites and beamed down to Earth in the form of microwaves too.
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Hyperspeed:
"There's been talk that energy might one day be generated by solar satellites and beamed down to Earth in the form of microwaves too."
Even if that were possible I can imagine it would be an immense disaster waiting to happen :-o
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The US military will test it over Manchester first to avoid killing human beings.
:-D
(http://www.nbma.com/cat/oct98/deathstar.jpg)