Magnetohydrodynamic towed hydro electric generating system

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by Yobarnacle, Jun 7, 2020.

  1. Yobarnacle
    Joined: Nov 2011
    Posts: 1,746
    Likes: 130, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 851
    Location: Mexico, Florida

    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    US8946922B1 - Reverse flow hydroelectric generator - Google Patents https://patents.google.com/patent/US8946922B1/en

    Came across this and it uses a turbine which I think can be dispensed with. The interesting concept I realized from this proposal, is using air injection at depth to increase ascending water flow velocity in a tube! Not a innovative idea, it's been done before, though perhaps not to drive a turbine.

    The little airpump in your home fish aquarium pumps the water through the filter.

    When I was a kid, we made toy jet powered boats, carved from soft white pine. Using a brace and bit, a pocket was partially bored into the body, the diameter of an Alka Seltzer tablet. A short length of plastic tubing was pressed into a horizontal drilled hole intersecting the pocket. The top of the pocket hole was carved so a press on Alka Seltzer bottle cap would seal it by snap on. Placed in a tub, puddle, pool or small pond, water migrated up the tube to the pocket, wetting the tablet, which began to dissolve releasing gas, which expelled the water in a put-put rhythm aft out of the tube.
    Jet propelled!

    I'm not proposing tablet powered propulsion.

    In the patent above, it's intended to take advantage of natural currents. A sailboat moving through the water, towing an object provides the man made current. If the water inlet to the tube was near the bottom of the keel, and air injected there, the water flowing diagonally up the tube to the near surface at the stern, might be accelerated faster than just the boat speed. I'm imaginning a tube that's fastened to or built into the hull.

    Now, the fun part.
    Magnetohydrodynamic drives! Can't they be reversed?
    Iinstead of propelling, could you use water flowing through the tube to produce electricity without moving parts?

    Okay, it's a brain fart, but maybe somebody will be inspired to think of a way it could be practical?
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2020
  2. Yobarnacle
    Joined: Nov 2011
    Posts: 1,746
    Likes: 130, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 851
    Location: Mexico, Florida

    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

  3. fallguy
    Joined: Dec 2016
    Posts: 7,598
    Likes: 1,674, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: usa

    fallguy Senior Member

    There is nothing too novel about producing power this way. But remember Newton?

    There is drag created.
     

  4. Yobarnacle
    Joined: Nov 2011
    Posts: 1,746
    Likes: 130, Points: 63, Legacy Rep: 851
    Location: Mexico, Florida

    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    Sometimes life is a drag, but it beats the dickens out of the alternative!
    Towing a prop impeller type hydro generator causes drag.and big fish like to eat them.
    If you are racing, you eliminate ever impediment you can. If your cruising, you want to be comfortable. That almost makes electricity a priority over drag! Even solar panels incur wind resistance.

    I am not offering a practical solution. I'm suggesting it might become practical.
     
Loading...
Forum posts represent the experience, opinion, and view of individual users. Boat Design Net does not necessarily endorse nor share the view of each individual post.
When making potentially dangerous or financial decisions, always employ and consult appropriate professionals. Your circumstances or experience may be different.