On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 5:10 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > In reply to James Bowery's message of Mon, 19 Aug 2013 16:32:38 -0500: > Hi, > [snip] > > While interesting, there are two problems, one with the prototype, and one > with > the general concept. > > 1) The vortex is driven by a temperature differential, so a height of 100 > m will > have a low temperature differential, resulting in an underestimate of the > power > output of a larger version. This could lead to a promising research avenue > being > incorrectly judged a failure at the first hurdle. > (Real tornadoes and hurricanes have their top at an altitude where the air > temperature is significantly lower than at ground level, or at least have > access > to a stream of cold air - as is frequently the case in "tornado alley".) >
The purpose of the proposed scale is not to demonstrate energy generation but to refine CFD models that predict very small, but measurable, amounts of energy will be produced at the proposed scale. The importance of the funding is not to generate power but to provide more accurate CFD models so that when scale-up occurs, there is a lower risk estimate of the return on investment. > > 2) A vortex over the ocean will probably "decide" to leave the device > altogether, and go off on it's own, in search of "greener pastures", i.e. > warmer > water, since the water available at the base of the device will rapidly > cool. > Granted this cold water will sink, drawing in other warmer surface water, > but > this circulation process is not likely to be fast enough to prevent the > vortex > from simply "uprooting" itself and "taking a hike". Any surface wind that > may be > around will hasten this process. > This is likely to be the primary problem with this concept. > You obviously haven't done, even to a first order of approximation, the power flow estimates. > > >The most newsworthy events are, for some reason, never reported by news > >services. For example, experiments that could change the world are > >imminent. > > > > > http://jimbowery.blogspot.com/2013/08/breakout-labs-funded-prototype-of.html > Regards, > > Robin van Spaandonk > > http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html > >
