Alternative Energy

How this design is better than the old fashioned wheel? I do not see any gains in productivity despite complex design.

I appreciate new concept. However lateral movements of plates would badly effect on efficiency.

I agree with Stasulos. It seems like a very complex inefficient way to do what a water wheel already does.

Besides friction factor that can reduce efficiency drastically, you also need to overcome river pollutants.

Need to factor in a filtration system that is self-cleaning to reduce accumulation of river debris that may reduce moving parts within or outside the systems. This contribution is added friction and even may malfunction the system.

As a fundamental thought: since we are dealing with random water movement, isn’t it obvious to devise a system that works on random movements (>1-DOF) to help harness energy efficiently?

The drag factor would take most of reneable energy harvest . If the energy collector plates could turn 90o on the upstream stroke it would be better . If Ravi wants some good advice he should either come to us 4paz.org .As we are developing a number of proven REH systems for simple DIY for countries like his and our own . Also join a.y.r.s London ) The members are the some of the best in the world . If he wishes to see what we do and invent then search in Eureka ( Findlay media uk )REH articles by Dr Tom Sheely>> Ken Upton<>Tesla life and inventions .

It looks like the plates move backwards when upwards until they come out of the water, then return back to the starting position while out of the water. i would expect that because the plates have those horizontal flaps, each time the plates began to move upwards out of the water a huge body of water would be lifted up with the plates. loads of energy would be lost in this process.

Some twenty years ago I came up with two systems, first of which was a half submerged paddle wheel attached to floating pontoons, two generators, one each side of the wheel with auto sprocket connectors via gearboxes. On a rising tide one generator would operate and on the ebbing tide the other would operate. The other idea was a vertical rotating wheel with curved fins, this system turned the same way whichever direction the tide was flowing. Directional flat plates were installed to increase the flow of water towards the fins thus producing huge torque ratios. it never got off the ground (or water) because of lack of funding. The main advantage of the second system is that it can be built to any size from a small 12 charger clipped onto the back of your boat to a 15MW system to feed a small town.

Sarfraz,
Innovation is appreciated but this system seems highly inefficient comparative to other energy conversion systems such as the tried & true paddle wheel format, propellers, turbine or submerged screw mechanisms. Take into account the maintenance issues, the invasiveness of these structures on the medium and visual impact and I couldn’t see a positive embracement of this concept. I’ll bet with some modifications this thought process has merit in the right situations.

It looks like it could be suited to chronically and near uniform slow speed waterflow. The force applied to the drive vanes could be maximized if they ran with the waterflow through an enclosed tube or venturi type enclosure. As noted previously, the edge vane will be inefficient because it is lifting water for part of the up stroke. A large radius curve section limited to nominally 30deg max arc instead of a flat plane at 90 deg to the main vane as shown might give better results in harnessing the water force in the exit/up stroke. It also occurs to me that an articulated, rather than fixed, leading edge mounted on a spring-loaded hinge would allow a variable angle of the vane on entry and exit from the water. Whether the whole thing will show any better mechanical advantage over a wheel I’m not sure. Just a couple of thoughts. Go for it!!