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Boosting the reversible hydro power plants

Convenient reversible hydropower plants are gravity force converters, which are converting the potential energy of water mass accumulated at higher altitudes, such as lakes on mountains, drained by the water springs and rivers of the highlands, into electrical energy. The water mass of these natural water tanks is then used to drain the turbines of the power generators, which are situated at the foot of the hills or mountains slopes. The available power depends on available water capacity along with available water head, which represents the conventional way of conversing gravitational into electrical energy.

 

In seasons reach with water the electrical energy is going to be generated over the need, thus the same turbines are used in inverse mode of work to serve as water pumps, elevating the water back along the pathway, upwards until the accumulations lake, situated on the top of the hill above the water head. Although, only approximately three quarter of total amount of water volume could be pumped back using the energy amount, generated with the full quantity of water, the elevated water mass is going to be used along the dry period of year, covering in this way, particularly the needs for electrical energy along the dry seasons. In spite of high losses, the system is recently widely used.

 

Although the feedback is established, the closed loop is not established, since the real-time loopback is missing. This is, along the presence of high losses based on inefficiency of the water pump, the main reason of presence of very high overall losses of this kind of reversible hydropower systems, in opposite of advertising.

 

Thus, the optimization could be introduced at multiple steps and levels. Our optimization with the aim to boost the total performance of power plants is going to be achieved in introducing:

 

  • fractal structure

  • real time loopback

  • additional environmental energy sources

  • high efficiently water pump

 

In doing so, we are going to provide the conditions to get high reliable, scalable, fractal based, thus on need easily extendable reversible hydropower plants, which are going to generate clean fuel-less electrical energy, with minimal needs for maintenance thus, fast justified on investment convenient energy conversion systems. Although, we are capable to build even better thus, more efficient energy converting systems then described, there is not any reason against of introducing at least some of here suggested power plants, because of standard and cheep equipment, which is already presented and available worldwide. Furthermore, the costs of such power plant could be far lower then costs for standard reversible hydropower plant of the same power, and opposed of standard, the fractal based power plant could be build sequentially, and even self-sustained, accumulating the funds by reselling the energy along the time and investing into enhancing the power plant on demand.

 

Let us explain step by step the meaning of single requirements. Instead of one giant water pump-turbine generator pear, we are intending to introduce numerous smaller subsystems merged together to build one big power plant. Furthermore, all subsystems are intended to be the same, thus to consist of the same kinds of contributing devices and substructures, in order to allow for easy to make extension, to simplify maintenance, and to lower the total price.

 

Introducing the high efficiently over unity water pump, we are going to be capable to allow for real-time loopback, and to get in result more generated energy at the output, by converting the gravitational energy into kinetically energy of the turbine, in order to get the additionally energy amount necessary to invest into the system to allow for pumping back the water upwards, keeping the circular water flow running all the time long.

 

On this purpose, Tesla’s bladeless disks-stack turbine described in previous chapter could be ideal choice for high efficient water pump, because of very high efficiency due to missing blades, along with extreme simplicity. Rotational movement is achieved by friction force among the molecules of driving fluid and molecules of material of which disks consist, which is based on adhesion attraction between molecules of different materials. The turbine has only one moving part – the rotor, which consists of stack of disks, mounted on the shaft, close to each another, in order to increase the effective surface of the disks. The fluid inlet is in shape of narrow channel, placed at the outer surface of the pneumatic turbines case, to allow the fluid stream to flow tangential toward the profile of the disks-stake. In this way the speeding up is achieved without any need for blades, which increases the efficiency upon less losses, compared to blades or propeller turbine, which are slowing down the rotation in one half of cycle, since the blades resistance appear due to movement of the blades against the fluid swirl direction in the half of the cycle of rotation.

 

The shaft is mounted into the pneumatic case using high-speed bearings. The number of revolving per minute is very high, which depends on fluid used to drive the turbine, up to 10,000 rpms in working conditions, in case of using compressed air, and approximately 3,000 rpms in case of using the water to drain the turbine. The fluid is swirling along the disks surfaces following the spiral shape pathway, from inlet on the outer side of disks, toward the shaft in their centers, along which are drilled the outlets opens.

 

Furthermore, we are intending to introduce additional energy from environmental surrounding into our energy converting subsystems in order to get more total available energy at the output. On this purpose we’re going to implement swirling accelerators of the fluid in both cases, in case of water pumps air inflow, as well as in case of water flow pathway, which drains the turbine. In the case of the air acceleration, we’re implementing standard snail inlet channel, which decrease in surface along the channel, toward the inlet into the rotor case. This is going to significantly increase the kinetic energy of the fluid inflow mas, due to speeding up the fluid-flow in implosive swirling way. In case of waterway downstream, which drains the turbine-generator, we could introduce additional kinetic energy in similar way, reshaping the water pipe in order to match the snail shape along the water pathway downstream. The swirling of the water should be supported additionally introducing appropriate spiral shape structures along the pipe, such as channels optimally build along the inner wall of the pipe, to allow for swirling. Furthermore, the outlet nozzle should also be of such kind to allow for optimal swirling and maximal water flow.

 

Next, we’re going to introduce the closed loops within our subsystems, to achieve even better results. In the matter of fact this is essential for getting the high efficient energy conversion system. There are two closed loops built in within our energy converting system, of which first concerns the cycling of water stream flow, since another one concerns the airstream cycle flow within the water pumps turbine-motor. The cycling of water is going to be allowed by introducing the high efficiently water pump, which is going to be capable to pump the water upwards to the top of the hill, in needed volume and speed for just the part of total energy generated at the output of the power generator, necessary to be invested on this purpose. This, on the first glance illogical fact is achievable upon introducing additional energy sources into our system.

 

The high efficiency of the water pump is going to be achieved in introducing the closed loop of airflow along with resonance force. All available air mass, which is flowing into the turbine-motor through the snail shape accelerator, is going to be exhausted at the turbine outlet, then looped back toward the inlet into the snail shaped accelerator and introduced again. The join between the loopback pipe and the snail shaped accelerator is achieved using the simplest jet-nozzle, which consists of two axial-symmetric placed within each another conic pipes, joined together at their bright ends, with drilled holes around the longest circumference of the outer pipe. The loopback pipe is mounted on the brighter side of the jet-nozzle, since the narrow side of the nozzle is joined to the inlet of the airflow accelerator. Adding this simple device is going to allow for introducing additional air mass from environmental surrounding due to suction process, to take part within the speeding up of the turbine. In doing so, the need for compressed air, which is also introduced nearby the closed loop jet-nozzle at the airflow accelerators inlet from the output of the external air-compressor is going to be minimized as well, thus the energy needed for produce sufficient compressed air is going to be spared.

 

Since all rotating devices such as motors, generators, turbines are representing oscillating devices we are going to get the maximal power transmission if we would succeed to match the size of the rotating parts of oscillating devices, to get such frequency at working speed, which resonantly matches the self-vibrations of planet Earth. In matching case, we are going to receive additional energy inflow within our energy convertor, from higher fractal structure, implementing the resonant force, which could result in many folds grater energy output then expected. On this purpose, all rotating parts of the system should match the size and weight following the rule of keeping the overall harmony. The simplest way to match it is to keep the measures in steps of ¼ of meter, or even of 1/10th of meter in certain cases.

 

In this extremely simple way, we have get enough additional energy, necessary to establish our closed loop water stream, which would allow for generating sufficient electrical energy at the output of the system, upon the water head and additional kinetically energy introduced into the system due to speeding-up the water flow, implementing the swirling of the downstream water.

 

The water mass introduced in such system is constant, since implemented closed loop allows for cycling always the same water volume. Thus, we would need to fill the water from the lake on the top of the hill only once - initially. The initial potential energy of the water head could be enough to start the system if we would include relatively small water tank located above the water cycling pathway.

 

Generated power of such reversible power generator is limited by the capabilities and efficiency of the water-pump, depends on maximal size, which could be utilized in accordance to the available materials of which consists the rotor. In Tesla’s time, the quality of materials was not high enough to fulfill the high performances needs of high speed spinning of the stack-disks rotor, which caused demolishing of the bladeless turbine disks of relatively long diameter. Recently, we have available enough high quality materials, in order to could build relatively big size turbines, of very high efficiency, thus of very high power.

 

Multiplying such energy converting systems, using the same slope of the hill, we are going to get multiple result of the available total power. Depends of the height of the hill, and available surface of the slopes, it would be possible to get a lot of more total power from our reversible hydropower plants, much more then it would be available using recently conventional reversible power plants.

 

The matter of fact that, the whole energy converting system is of fractal nature, simplify the extensibility, which could be examined whenever the need for this exists, just enhancing the system by adding the needed number of new units on demand. The advantage of the fractal system leis in the matter of fact that, need for many similar units, would mean the possibility for introducing the serial production, thus the final price is going to be lower. The same is valid for maintenance, which could be implemented successively, particularly, and serially which would allow for lowering the total maintenance price.

 

Although, we are aware of the matter of fact that, recently the numerous energy converting systems could be used, which are even better optimized then just described one, the highest value of described energy converted system consists in easy to understand processes of energy conversions, which could be, once understood, simply re-implemented in numerous similar applications. Regardless of this matter of fact, the described system could be successfully implemented worldwide, based on the simple fact that, it is winning producing system, and furthermore the wins are going to be accumulated along the time, instead of the wastes, which are characterizing recently wide used reversible hydropower and another power plants.

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