power from slow water current

baldieman

Here's a new interesting idea!

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/36907;jsessionid=D823F6263EB5BC85934E75F7F96F021E

blackbox

If the water is moving slowly, the amount of energy per tonne is very low.

To capture a sensible amount of energy the device would have to be enormous and really doesn't sound practical.

Focusing on areas where the water is moving fast (i.e. where the energy is more concentrated) would be much more sensible.

Alun

But the engineering challenges in putting something in a fast tidal water flow, and more importantly, keeping it running 24/7 would be higher than what that article is proposing. It would also appear to have a considerable degree of redundancy, and a much lower impact on wildlife especially fish which is also a good thing. Could also be lower cost than the conventional turbine solutions.

AngryHippie

Depends really, could lash a few acres of them onto the arklow bank and see what shakes loose. If they are cheap to install and prove durable, whats the loss. At least someone is thinkin.

blackbox

Alun wrote: »

But the engineering challenges in putting something in a fast tidal water flow, and more importantly, keeping it running 24/7 would be higher than what that article is proposing. It would also appear to have a considerable degree of redundancy, and a much lower impact on wildlife especially fish which is also a good thing. Could also be lower cost than the conventional turbine solutions.

Actually it would probably have a positive effect on fish and seaweed, providing a sheltered reef type habitat as do old cars (with hazardous fluids removed!), tyres etc.
I'm not so sure that the wildlife will have a beneficial effect on the device! I suspect frequent "cleaning" would be required to keep it working efficiently.

Costs, obvously, remain to be seen.

Alun

blackbox wrote: »

Actually it would probably have a positive effect on fish and seaweed, providing a sheltered reef type habitat as do old cars (with hazardous fluids removed!), tyres etc.
I'm not so sure that the wildlife will have a beneficial effect on the device! I suspect frequent "cleaning" would be required to keep it working efficiently.

Costs, obvously, remain to be seen.

I was thinking along those lines too. Maybe they could make the "tendrils" out of a non-stick material that would tend to discourage the growth of barnacles and that kind of stuff, although it's not clear from the description whether it would actually have that detrimental an effect on the efficiency of the system.