Sep 14, 2005, 8:15 AM
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Energy Concious Wind Tunnel?
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Does anyone know if there currently exists in any wind tunnel a means of recycling the energy from the exhausted wind? I.E. wind turbines at top powered by the exhausting air?
Sep 14, 2005, 9:44 AM
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Re: [rehmwa] Energy Concious Wind Tunnel?
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It wouldn't recover all the energy used to generate the wind, however it would certainly recover some of it and would save the operators money for sure. I don't have any specifics yet, but was thinking of doing a research project on it, and was just wondering if anything like it already existed.
Sep 14, 2005, 11:22 AM
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Re: [kiittycatt] Energy Concious Wind Tunnel?
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and would save the operators money for sure.
Not what I mean. What you are proposing is the same as saying hooking up a generator light to your bicycle tire won't make you pedal harder.
I don't think you'd recover any of the energy you are speaking to. What you would do is to create a larger draw on the tunnel than without a device. Then the device would recover a portion of that extra loss.
made up example - If a tunnel would use 100 units of energy. This device would increase that to 110 and you'd recover 5 to sell back. Thus you now use 105 whereas before you only used 100 (that type of thought). If you are thinking in terms of an energy/mass balance - remember to draw your control lines to contain both the tunnel system AND the recovery system - then treat as steady state, do the balances, etc.....
Stupid laws of thermodynamics.....
Maybe Kallend could explain more clearly.
(This post was edited by rehmwa on Sep 14, 2005, 11:22 AM)
Sep 14, 2005, 12:55 PM
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Re: [kiittycatt] Energy Concious Wind Tunnel?
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Don't go there
There is a component of work that lifts the people in the tunnel There is a component of work that moves the air through the tunnel There is a component of work that overcomes the resistence to the air moving through the tunnel
What's energy is left in the air after it leaves the tunnel is available for conversion to some other form of energy. That prossess would be lossy.
The cost benefit of capturing that energy would be an interesting equation, but knowing what wind energy costs to produce I would say it would cost more to recature it.
NOW, if you made the air path a closed loop (recirculated) your fans would be more efficient and that would be an interesting equation as well. I'm sure that it has been calculated. As long as tunnel flyers are willing to pay the energy loss costs of open circuit tunnels, my guess is that no greenies are going to build closed circuits for the purposes of saving energy.
if you made the air path a closed loop (recirculated) your fans would be more efficient and that would be an interesting equation as well. I'm sure that it has been calculated. As long as tunnel flyers are willing to pay the energy loss costs of open circuit tunnels, my guess is that no greenies are going to build closed circuits for the purposes of saving energy. 