Vaneless ion wind generator
Encyclopedia
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....
device that produces electrical energy directly by using the wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
to pump electric charge
Electric charge
Electric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
from one electrode
Electrode
An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit...
to another, with no moving parts
Moving parts
The moving parts of a machine are those parts of it that move. Machines comprise both moving and fixed parts. The moving parts have controlled and constrained motions....
.
Wind energy is usually extracted to make electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
by means of a wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
. The bird deaths, vibrational noise, and moving shadows associated with wind turbines would not occur with ion based power generation.
One design uses water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
sprayed from a nozzle facing a toroidal charged electrode. This induces an opposite charge in the water, and when the water flows out of the nozzle, each drop carries a small amount of charge. These water droplets are then blown by the wind, going through the center of the charged toroid without touching it. The droplets then hit a fine mesh, adding to its charge.
The other alternative is to use the Earth
Ground (electricity)
In electrical engineering, ground or earth may be the reference point in an electrical circuit from which other voltages are measured, or a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the Earth....
as the second electrode. The main advantage of this system is that it has no moving parts except the water droplets. The disadvantages are that it needs a constant supply of water, its wind profile can't be reduced, it requires many small parts, and it has to be well-crafted to reduce corona discharge
Corona discharge
In electricity, a corona discharge is an electrical discharge brought on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor that is electrically energized...
losses. The device would produce direct current
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
, which would need to be inverted
Inverter (electrical)
An inverter is an electrical device that converts direct current to alternating current ; the converted AC can be at any required voltage and frequency with the use of appropriate transformers, switching, and control circuits....
to apply to a standard AC power grid.
Lord Kelvin created a similar device that used the energy of falling water droplets to generate high voltage
High voltage
The term high voltage characterizes electrical circuits in which the voltage used is the cause of particular safety concerns and insulation requirements...
, sometimes called "Kelvin's Thunderstorm
Kelvin water dropper
The Kelvin water dropper, invented by Lord Kelvin , is a type of electrostatic generator. Kelvin referred to the device as his water-dropping condenser...
".
Patents
: Charged aerosol generator with uni-electrode source (Alvin Marks): Charged aerosol wind/electric power generator with solar and/or gravitational regeneration (Alvin Marks)External links
- Collection of information about Marks' invention including 1967 Popular Mechanics article
- Lord Kelvin's Thunderstorm
- Lord Kelvin's water-drop electrostatic generator