Question
I need to know what's wrong with this hypothetical design and idea so that I can sleep at night. I'm an independent researcher/inventor with only a few introductory courses in Physics & Meteorology to my credit. However, I think there's some merit to this, because MIT studied the Coriolis Effect in a controlled setting before, and found that it can have an effect on draining water in a water tank. I propose we use that to design a highly efficient design for green energy.
All Answers (5)
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You should add up the contribution of each stage to the whole energy equation, not neglecting the inefficiency of every energy transformation.
You will find that even if the efficiency will increase with the size of the machines, the balance will never be positive. -
Don't mean to be too much of a bother on this one, but are there formulas you can share, or resources you can suggest for me to do the calculations. I found some, and they were rough calculations, and I was getting positive results, but I know I left some things out. -
First of all, the formula for any energy conversion device :
efficiency = useful energy obtained / raw energy injected into the device
for example, a very good electric transformer will give in the secondary 0.99 of the electric energy consumed in the primary. The difference is lost in the form of heat.
Other typical values can be seen in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_conversion_efficiency -
Some other typical values of efficiency: Electric generator = 0.7-0.8; Big Hydro turbine = 0.9; Hydro pump = 0.6-0.8; electric motor = 0.85.
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Regarding your concept, you are proposing a sort of closed-loop water circuit, because first you extract the energy from the water as it escapes from the first reservoir, but in the last step you pump back the water into the same reservoir. And there is where the efficiency of the technical devices plays against you. If the potential energy available in the first place is 100, your turbine will extract only 90, then your generator will transform (90x0.8)=72 into electrical form. When you are at the pumping station you will need 100 energy units to put the water back into the reservoir, but the pump will require more of that in its shaft: 100/0.8=125, and then the electric motor will require 125/0.85=147 !
In plain words, you will have to INJECT 147-72=75 energy units, energy that you will have to BUY elsewhere.
Well, of course you can try to squeeze out a little more here and there, but clearly you will have a net surplus to sell !
Regarding the coriolis effect, careful measurements made in my previous job demonstrated that it can improve 1% the efficiency of the water turbine at best. (But 1% is vital to win a contract, so it is carefully taken into account in the design of the water ways )
