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This unique concept unlocks the potential for electricity generation in low volume waterways such as a stream or a brook. Opening up a whole range of unexplored sources of sustainable energy in many areas of the world. The rolling fluid turbine is a viable alternative to conventional hydroelectric generators, which have been providing power from water since they were developed in the 1880s. Typically hydroelectric power requires a huge head of water to function, relying on blades submerged in high-velocity water streams. The rolling fluid turbine relies on physics to convert water's natural flow into upward pressure to generate electricity, this promises to change how water current is transformed into electrical power.
This is achieved by exploiting a unique hydrodynamic principle, the rolling fluid principle vortex dynamic, which can create a large amount of energy. This is achieved by using the naturally occurring suction of water by driving it through a specially shaped turbine casing, Sedlacek and his team have managed to generate power with an output of up to 10 kWh per day at 60% efficiency from a small turbine. This is enough power to meet the requirements of 5 European families or an entire African village.
The invention is a tubular canister that floats like a buoy on the surface of a small body of water. Beneath the surface, the natural flow of water is directed through a tube driving the water pressure upwards with increased suction as a result of the vortex principle. Inside the turbine shaft, the vortex energy rotates a cup mounted on a generator shaft that converts the rotation into electrical energy.
When installed in a slow moving stream, the turbine can generate energy for a small house at levels of up to 400 watts. Ideally, the bladeless turbine operates more effectively at flow levels of 22 to 250 litres per second, but it can produce results in flow rates as low as 2 L/sec.
The mechanism is unclear, but other designs exist that convert low-head flow into electricity.
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 14 2017, @08:47AM (2 children)
I was wondering when the scientists would finally harness the great sucking force for the greater good.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday March 15 2017, @04:32AM (1 child)
Sedlacek and his team have managed to generate power with an output of up to 10 kWh per day at 60% efficiency from a small turbine. This is enough power to meet the requirements of 5 European families or an entire African village.
Or half a US household.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 15 2017, @08:43AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @09:34AM (8 children)
one image would replace a thousand words ... time for [img src] tag allow maybe?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:23AM (1 child)
As wonderful as that would be for most of us, there does exist a very small number of us that will ruin this site by abusing it.
If you think the flamebait and trolls can get bad... just think how an image can be mis-used.
This whole site will likely denigrate to NSFW status so a few people can get their jollies off putting up inappropriate images.
Believe me, I would love to support you. But my experience gives me a really bad feeling about doing it.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:38AM
SN supports images in the summary:
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/03/11/2014253 [soylentnews.org]
If they were overused, they would hurt those with tiny bandwidth caps. Or using the interplanetary internet.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by choose another one on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:50AM
TFA has images and video, including this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1mZkdu7uYs [youtube.com] - clearest description/views are about 5mins in.
A static image probably doesn't help much as the video, because it looks like it's dynamic effects and 3D shape that are important.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:51AM (1 child)
one image would replace a thousand words ... time for [img src] tag allow maybe?
Or you could always RTFA ... or at least open it and look for a picture (or in this case a video).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @02:59PM
i just mentioned it because i come across sensational headlines (or videos, like trump mustering a alien invasion) only to have to click AT LEAST 3 click-deep until the real "meat" is revealed, sorta because you have to PAY to see the whole details.
one site w/ article links to another and another and ... nobody wants to actually show the picture or video (because maybe uploader didnt allow embedding, duh, or the uploader didn't allow "my" country/region).
it's totally starting to suck ...
maybe poster could just do all the "de-boning" and also straight up provide the youtube link or direct link to an image (but hotlinking is probably turned off ...)
anyways, about abuse ... if the editor can read the submission maybe they could also glance at the provide image or video? the xenix (?), xenax(?) article seems to get a .. screenshot of a computerscreen : )
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday March 14 2017, @05:37PM (2 children)
Images on posts? I believe I speak for everyone here when I say fuck that and fuck you.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:55PM (1 child)
but aruba said they would be feeeelthy, dirrrrrrty pictures ! ! !
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday March 15 2017, @06:16AM
Once we enter the realm of graphics, there is no turning back. Now, Soylentils can convey their meanings by symbolic communication, this thing we call "language", and more specifically written language. Just think of it! Symbols that stand for sounds, that stand for ideas! Amazing! But if we allow image posting, or even more insidious, video, no longer will Soylentils be able to commune at the level of ideas.
We instead will be sucked into an emotional vortex of spinning water with pictures of Marines, and Trump cabinet members, and all possibility of communication on the level of ideas will become impossible.
So, think, those who would want a (img src) tag, do you really know where that would lead SoylentNews? Is the convenience of posting your revenge porn worth the destruction of the last sane forum on the internets?
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:39AM (2 children)
How does it work? Bernoulli's principle (which sets up the instability, pressure increases where there's blockage and decreases where there's flow) and for the rotational motion, sponanious symmetry breaking (that gets it going one way, a direction it sticks to until it stops), by the looks of it.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:53AM (1 child)
I'd be more interested in tidal - this might be ideal for tidal flow turbines without having to build massive barrages etc., not sure it is reversible though.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday March 14 2017, @05:53PM
Let's reinvent the waterwheel, shall we?
(Score: 3, Informative) by bradley13 on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:48AM (10 children)
up to 10 kWh per day...is enough power to meet the requirements of 5 European families
Um...we live in Europe, and our family uses somewhere around 10000kwh/year, which comes out to 30kwh/day. I just checked online: The average US family residential customer uses 10812 kwh/year. [eia.gov] So 10kwh/day (400 watts) would supply about 1/3 of one family's needs.
Anyway, TFA actually makes you more skeptical, rather than less. They show a video of the device working, only: it's up against the back of a tank, so there cannot be any water flow. How is it spinning? Plus, the device shown is far too small to generate 400 watts from slow-flowing water: either that is only part of the device, or it is a much smaller prototype.
All in all, I have almost the same feeling as from that Italian guys mysterious reactors. Ok, this is slightly more believable, but it is being totally oversold.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by datapharmer on Tuesday March 14 2017, @11:23AM (9 children)
Yes, but many in the US do not have gas appliances or wood/coal furnaces. I'm guessing you likely have a gas stove, water heater, boiler/furnace? In my home those all run on electrical as there is no natural gas supply for a couple miles and coal/wood pellets for heat have their own issues and are more efficiently used in a power plant than in my home. So while it might provide for the electrical for your home needs, it likely doesn't provide enough power to offset your total energy consumption.
I'm with you though, it is clearly spinning as a result of the power cord you can see next to his foot at the end of the video... it is possible something is pushing flow through it, but it doesn't really show enough to have any indication if this thing works, and that is REALLY small for generating 10kwh/day.
(Score: 2) by weeds on Tuesday March 14 2017, @01:53PM (8 children)
"Exaggerated" is being too kind. This is pure nonsense. There is no indication that any water is actually moving in the tank. If it was flowing through the device, you would be able to see some kind of interference where the hands are in the water. How is the water flowing in the tank? The thing is plugged in.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @03:48PM (7 children)
There is a rectangular water tank on the left. He opens a valve, dumping it into a round tank on the right. From there it overflows into an inner tank, and then down through the device.
He obviously needs an electric pump to put the water back; he isn't claiming perpetual motion. The alternative would be to let the water spill out onto the floor.
(Score: 2) by weeds on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:03PM (6 children)
I didn't see that at all. You have better eyes than I do. I didn't think he was claiming perpetual motion, just that he could get more energy out of the water than what was there to begin with and his explanation is not very complete.
Generators (many DIY) that work off of a moving stream have been around for a while. At the end of the day, there is no miracle supply of energy in the free stream. If your device causes the water to move in some other direction than the free stream, it doesn't add energy,
Ek = 1/2*rho*A*S*v^2 (A*S is volume, rho is density, v is velocity.) Period. We are ignoring pressure and altitude changes. I don't see an altitude change and the pressure in the free stream isn't going to go down allowing you to extract energy from the pressure head. The free stream has some elevation drop, but the energy, mgh, is trivial compared to the free stream energy.
That's the energy available. There is no magic here, this is well understood. No claims of mysterious vortex or vacuum is going to make it any different.
If the chalkboard showed 1/2*rho*A*S*v^2 + some other terms that had something to do with fluid flow, there would be something to discuss. Instead it's just a poor sketch of the device with a few letters tossed in for good measure. My fluid dynamics professor laughed out loud when he saw this.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:57PM (1 child)
My understanding is that the innovation here is that his bladeless turbine can operate at very low pressure differences and flow rates - such as you might find in a small stream, rather than requiring fast-moving rivers or large dams.
I.e. it's not some innovation that's going to replace large-scale hydro-electric generation, but rather make hydro power viable in lots of places where it's currently. That said, I'd love to see some direct efficiency/production comparisons between his turbines and, say, a simple paddle wheel immersed in the same slow-moving stream.
If nothing else it's interesting that someone has managed to harness a previously undocumented aspect of fluid dynamics, though it does seem like the necessity of that small gap through which water is flowing would make them far more prone to blockages than most of the alternatives.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Wednesday March 15 2017, @10:21PM
"My understanding is that the innovation here is that his bladeless turbine can operate at very low pressure differences and flow rates..."
you mean like it makes a point of saying in the very first sentence ? ? ?
huh, funny all those close readers missed that...
'TL;DR' applies to the first sentence, now ? ? ?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 15 2017, @08:49AM (3 children)
What's the exact quote (translation thereof) which gives you that impression? What you've reported is even worse than perpetual motion, as it's over unity. I heard nothing like that in the video I watched.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by weeds on Wednesday March 15 2017, @12:33PM (2 children)
Bad wording on my part... What is available is not 100% of the kinetic energy of the stream. In order to get 100% of the kinetic energy out of the stream, it would have to be stopped. Obviously that's a problem for any system. So, "more energy than there is to begin with" is a reference to that amount of energy.
Still, my biggest complaint is the stuff about somehow taking advantage of the "vortex dynamic" (aeros know a lot about vertices and the energy in them. It's one of the ways to calculate lift.) And this business of somehow creating a suction by diverting the flow through a special shape - therefore being able to get more energy out of the flow. When I see claims like that, it's a red flag for me. I can accept the fact that it's my ignorance in the way. We shall see, this is far from the first claim of this type.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 15 2017, @05:17PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by weeds on Wednesday March 15 2017, @06:43PM
You have it exactly. Thank you for looking that up. I could not remember what it was called, just the concept.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 3, Informative) by UncleSlacky on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:54AM (4 children)
From https://www.thoughtco.com/viktor-schauberger-1992456 [thoughtco.com]
"Viktor Schauberger was an Austrian inventor and naturalist who built and patented a water ram pump involving a spiral flow which he claimed to have learned from a visit to the Egyptian pyramid. Schauberger is considered the father of implosion technology. Many of his inventions are based on his study of fluidic vortexes."
See also http://schauberger.co.uk/articles/ [schauberger.co.uk]
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Tuesday March 14 2017, @03:30PM (3 children)
Good call. A friend linked me a fascinating 2008 documentary [youtube.com] (IMDB [imdb.com]) about his ideas, work, and life a couple months ago. The segment towards the end covers some modern work towards attempting to build an electric generator based on his design.
“Die Natur kapieren und kopieren.”
At the very least, any Gurren Lagann fans here ought to appreciate spiral energy!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by delt0r on Wednesday March 15 2017, @12:33AM
the only problem is that its all far worse than existing designs that are already 90% + efficient. And if you have a small head (small drop) then Archimedes spirals do the trick with good efficiency. Basically its a case of "look i see patterns" without running the numbers properly. That is why they have problems getting them to work at all.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 15 2017, @08:55AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 15 2017, @09:50AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves