Cool wind and water power!

[Trek]

Out and about exploring the countryside this weekend and stumbled upon these two cool things.

This I thought was a cool looking wind turbine. If I translated the information sign about it correctly, it said it averages a yearly output of 50W/m2. Not sure if that sounds right or not. I'm not up to date on my Estonian wind turbine engineering words. But anyway, I think it's a cool looking wind turbine and I like the natural log base which you can climb to the top of for a great view!

Then I ran across this by accident and thought it was even more interesting.

"A Hydraulic Ram is a pump that uses the momentum of flowing water as an energy source. This pump was designed and built by Friedrich Johanson to supply his farm with water. It has been working since 1939. Every 24 hours it pumps 5 cubic meters of water into a water tank that is located 30 meters higher than the pump itself." It then goes on to explain the hydraulic ram was originally invented by a French guy in 1780, it operates automatically and requires no maintenance, etc....

 

[TromboneAl]

The uncircumsized version is even more efficient.

 

[sailor]

This I thought was a cool looking wind turbine. If I translated the information sign about it correctly, it said it averages a yearly output of 50W/m2. Not sure if that sounds right or not.

It's little on the low side, but not unreasonable if average winds are not that great. It's quite nice example of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) - which have some advantages for example rarely kills birds, does not need furling in strong winds. But its' more expensive and less efficient than typical HAWTs you see everywhere else.
As a side note for our resident LBYM/DYI types, you can make quite cheap Savonius VAWT from a 55 gallon drum.

 

[Trek]

It's quite nice example of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) - which have some advantages for example rarely kills birds, does not need furling in strong winds. But its' more expensive and less efficient than typical HAWTs you see everywhere else.

When I first saw it I thought it was some kind of radar station.

I'm used to seeing ones like these that I shot on the NW coast a couple weeks back.

 

[calmloki]

"Then I ran across this by accident and thought it was even more interesting.

"A Hydraulic Ram is a pump that uses the momentum of flowing water as an energy source. This pump was designed and built by Friedrich Johanson to supply his farm with water. It has been working since 1939. Every 24 hours it pumps 5 cubic meters of water into a water tank that is located 30 meters higher than the pump itself." It then goes on to explain the hydraulic ram was originally invented by a French guy in 1780, it operates automatically and requires no maintenance, etc...."

Cool! That's what we called a thump-pump. Very distinctive noise as it operated, yes? As a teen we had one working away in a little stream. Not efficient, but it did pump water up the hill to a holding tank for gravity feed to the house - man, I can almost remember the sound of it shhh-thonking away in the middle of the night.

 

[Trek]

Cool! That's what we called a thump-pump. Very distinctive noise as it operated, yes? As a teen we had one working away in a little stream. Not efficient, but it did pump water up the hill to a holding tank for gravity feed to the house - man, I can almost remember the sound of it shhh-thonking away in the middle of the night.

Yes, it had a very distinctive thump! Very cool device indeed!

 

[bpp3]

This I thought was a cool looking wind turbine. If I translated the information sign about it correctly, it said it averages a yearly output of 50W/m2. Not sure if that sounds right or not.

It's little on the low side, but not unreasonable if average winds are not that great.

I don't understand the units used. Is that 50 Watts per square meter (of turbine cross-section, presumably), or a typo for 50 W per meter-per-second-of-wind-speed, or ... ? (But neither of those make sense as yearly output numbers.)

 

[sailor]

I don't understand the units used. Is that 50 Watts per square meter (of turbine cross-section, presumably), or a typo for 50 W per meter-per-second-of-wind-speed, or ... ? (But neither of those make sense as yearly output numbers.)

It actually quite common to use in "marketing materials". It means that at this specific site they are getting around 438 kWh / year ( 50W x 365 days/year x 24 h / day ) from 1 square meter of turbine sweep area (not quite cross section but close).
So if this turbine had a sweep area of 10 square meters it would generate around 4380 kWh annually.

 

[bpp3]

It actually quite common to use in "marketing materials". It means that at this specific site they are getting around 438 kWh / year ( 50W x 365 days/year x 24 h / day ) from 1 square meter of turbine sweep area (not quite cross section but close).
So if this turbine had a sweep area of 10 square meters it would generate around 4380 kWh annually.

Thanks for the explanation. From the picture, it looks like roughly 10 square meters, so... this unit generates enough for maybe one house?

 

[Trek]

So, on furthur research I found out that turbine was park of a larger "energy park" that I didn't even notice. I just stopped in that town for lunch and saw that thing and didn't investigate further. Here is the deal with it which will help you understand the low output.

"Rõuge Energy Park (Rõuge Energiapark) was established in 2001. The aim of the energy park is to promote the use of renewable energy and innovative solutions of energy production as well as to provide information about energy savings.

A 20-meters-high wooden viewing tower, which will provide a magnificent view to the chain of lakes, will be constructed on the edge of Ööbikuorg. The viewing tower will be unique, because a wind generator with horizontal rotation will be placed on top of it. The planned capacity of the generator is 3 kW. The generator will be connected to the power system of the Centre of Ööbikuorg in order to provide the centre with renewable energy as well as use the energy for lighting the pathway to school. Therefore, the energy park of Rõuge will get as an addition to its geothermal-, solar- and water energy devices a wind generator for the purpose of promoting and demonstrating renewable energy."

 

[sailor]

Thanks for the explanation. From the picture, it looks like roughly 10 square meters, so... this unit generates enough for maybe one house?

I would say roughly one small American house or 4 Estonian flats (Trek, do you remember how many kWh are your monthly electricity bills?).

 

[TromboneAl]

If the capacity matched the planned capacity of 3 kW, and it ran 24 hours a day, that would be 72 KWH (Kilowatt hours) per day. If the wind blows 3 hours per day, it would generate 9 KWH per day.

Our house usage averages about 9 KWH per day.

 

[Trek]

I would say roughly one small American house or 4 Estonian flats (Trek, do you remember how many kWh are your monthly electricity bills?).

Last bill shows 103kWh for the month, but I draw more power than the "average" Estonian would. I'm home all day long so the TV is always on, I have a large capacity washer and dryer unit, 2 computers running constantly, etc.......