A solar thermal collector skips the conversion to electricity and supplies renewable thermal energy in a direct and more efficient way. Much less known is that a mechanical windmill can do the same in a windy climate – by oversizing its brake system, a windmill can generate lots of direct heat thr Contact online >>
A solar thermal collector skips the conversion to electricity and supplies renewable thermal energy in a direct and more efficient way. Much less known is that a mechanical windmill can do the same in a windy climate – by oversizing its brake system, a windmill can generate lots of direct heat through friction.
Heat generating windmills convert rotational energy directly into heat by generating friction in water, using a so-called "water brake" or "Joule Machine". A heat generator based on this principle is basically a wind-powered mixer or impeller installed into an insulated tank filled with water.
The Eddy Current of Water Heating (ECWH) system introduces a pioneering approach for converting wind energy into heat, marking a significant step in renewable energy technology. The current study focuses on refining the ECWH system by evaluating eight distinct heat generator models.
In the present work, computational studies are carried out to examine the wind turbine driven heat pump system to produce hot water, where four wind speeds analyzed to determine the COP of a heat pump system and outlet water temperature from the condenser.
By Kris De Decker, originally published by Low-Tech Magazine
Renewable energy production is almost entirely aimed at the generation of electricity. However, we use more energy in the form of heat, which solar panels and wind turbines can supply only indirectly and inefficiently.
Solar thermal collectors skip the electricity conversion and supply renewable thermal energy in a direct and efficient way. Much less known is that a mechanical windmill can do the same in a windy climate — by eliminating electricity conversion and by oversizing its brake system, a windmill can generate lots of heat through friction.
Given the right conditions, a mechanical windmill with an oversized brake system is a cheap, effective, and sustainable heating system.
On a global scale, thermal energy demand corresponds to one third of the primary energy supply, while electricity demand is only one-fifth. [1] In temperate or cold climates, the share of thermal energy is even higher. For example in the UK, heat counts for almost half of total energy use. [2] If we only look at households, thermal energy for space and water heating in temperate and cold climates can be 60-80% of total domestic energy demand. [3]
In spite of this, renewable energy sources play a negligible role in heat production. The main exception is the traditional use of biomass for cooking and heating – but in the "developed" world even biomass is often used to produce electricity instead of heat. The use of direct solar heat and geothermal heat provide less than 1% and 0.2% of global heat demand, respectively [4] [5]. While renewable energy sources account for more than 20% of global electricity demand (mostly hydroelectric), they only account for 10% of global heat demand (mostly biomass). [5] [6]
Electricity produced by renewable energy sources can be – and is being – converted to heat in an indirect way. For example, a wind turbine converts its rotational energy into electricity by the use of its electrical generator, and this electricity can then be converted into heat using an electric heater, an electric boiler, or an electric heat pump. The result is heat generated by wind energy.
In particular, the electric heat pump is promoted by many governments and organisations as a sustainable solution for renewable heat generation. However, solar and wind energy can also be used in a direct way, without converting them to electricity first – and of course the same applies to biomass. Direct heat production is cheaper, more energy efficient, and more sustainable than indirect heat production.
The direct alternative for solar photovoltaic power is solar thermal power, a technology that appeared in the nineteenth century following cheaper production technologies for glass and mirrors. Solar thermal energy can be used for water heating, space heating or industrial processes, and this is 2-3 times more energy efficient compared to following the indirect path involving electricity conversion.
Almost nobody knows that a windmill can produce heat directly.
The direct alternative for wind power that everybody knows is the old-fashioned windmill, which is at least 2.000 years old. It transferred the rotational energy from its wind rotor directly to the axis of a machine, for example for sawing wood or grinding grain. This old-fashioned approach remains relevant, also in combination with new technology, because it would be three times more energy efficient compared to first converting the energy to electricity, and then back to rotational energy.
However, an old-fashioned windmill can not only provide mechanical energy, but also thermal energy. The problem is that almost nobody knows this. Even the International Energy Agency doesn’t mention direct conversion of wind into heat when it presents all possible options for renewable heat production. [1]
Heat generating windmills convert rotational energy directly into heat by generating friction in water, using a so-called "water brake" or "Joule Machine". A heat generator based on this principle is basically a wind-powered mixer or impeller installed into an insulated tank filled with water. Due to friction among molecules of the water, mechanical energy is converted into heat energy. The heated water can be pumped into a building for heating or washing, and the same concept could be applied to industrial processes in a factory that require relatively low temperatures. [7] [8] [9]
The Joule Machine was originally conceived as a measuring apparatus. James Joule built it in the 1840s for his famous measurement of the mechanical equivalent of heat: one Joule equals the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 cubic centimeter of water by 1 degree Celsius. [10]
The most fascinating thing about water brake windmills is that, hypothetically, they could have been built hundreds or even thousands of years ago. They require simple materials: wood and/or metal. But although we cannot exclude their use in pre-industrial times, the first reference to heat producing windmills dates from the 1970s, when the Danes started building them in the wake of the first oil crisis.
At the time, Denmark was almost entirely dependent on imported oil for heating, which left many households in the cold when the oil supply was disturbed. Because the Danes already had a strong DIY-culture for small wind turbines generating electricity on farms, they started building windmills to heat their houses. Some chose the indirect path, converting wind generated electricity into heat using electric heating appliances. Others, however, developed mechanical windmills that produced heat directly.
The direct approach to heat production is considerably cheaper and more sustainable than converting wind or solar generated electricity into heat by using electric heating devices, including an electric heat pump. There''s two reasons for this.
First, mechanical windmills are less complex, which makes them more affordable and less resource-intensive to build, and which increases their lifetime. In a water brake windmill, electric generator, power converters, transformer and gearbox can be excluded, and because of the weight savings, the windmill needs to be less sturdily built. The Joule Machine has lower weight, smaller size, and lower costs than an electrical generator. [11] Equally important is that the cost of thermal storage is 60-70% lower compared to batteries or the use of backup thermal power plants. [2]
Second, converting wind or solar energy directly into heat (or mechanical energy) is more energy efficient than when electric conversion is involved. This means that less solar and wind energy converters – and thus less space and resources – are needed to supply a certain amount of heat. In short, the heat generating windmill addresses the main disadvantages of wind power: its low power density, and its intermittency.
Furthermore, direct heat generation greatly improves the economics and the sustainability of smaller types of windmills. Tests have shown that small wind turbines – producing electricity – are very inefficient and don''t always generate as much energy as was needed to produce them. [12] However, using similar models for heat production decreases embodied energy and costs, increases lifetime, and improves efficiency.
The Danish water brake windmill from the 1970s was a relatively small machine, with a rotor diameter of around 6 meters and a height of around 12 meters. Larger heat generating windmills were built in the 1980s. Most used simple wooden blades. In total, at least a dozen different models have been documented, both DIY and commercial models. [7] Many were built with used car parts and other discarded materials. [13]
A much larger water brake windmill (7.5m rotor diameter, 17m tower) was built in 1982 by the Svaneborg brothers, and heated the house of one of them (the other brother opted for a wind turbine and an electric heating system). The windmill, which had three fiberglass blades, produced up to 8 kilowatt of heat according to non-official measurements – comparable to the heat output of an electric boiler for a modest home. [7]
Further into the 1980s, Knud Berthou built the most sophisticated heat generating windmill to date: the LO-FA. In other models, heat generation happened at the bottom of the tower – from the top of the windmill there was a shaft down to the bottom where the water brake was installed. However, in the LO-FA windmill all mechanical parts for energy conversion were moved to the top of the tower. The lower 10 meters of the 20 meter high tower were filled up with 15 tonnes of water in an insulated reservoir. Consequently, hot water could literally be tapped out of the windmill. [7]
The tower of the LO-FA windmill was filled up with 15 tonnes of water in an insulated tank: hot water could literally be tapped out of the windmill.
The LO-FA was also the largest of the heat generating windmills, with a 12 meter diameter rotor. Its heat output was estimated to be 90 kilowatt at a wind speed of 14 m/s (Beaufort 7). This result seems to be excessive compared to the other heat generating windmills, but the energy output of a windmill increases more than proportionally with the rotor diameter and the wind speed. Furthermore, the friction liquid in the water brake was not water but hydraulic oil, which can be heated up to much higher temperatures. The oil then transferred its heat to the water storage in the tower. [7]
Interest in heat generating windmills resurfaced a few years ago, although for now it concerns only a handful of scientific studies. In a 2011 paper, German and UK scientists write that "small and remote households in northern regions demand thermal energy rather than electricity, and therefore wind turbines in such places should be built for thermal energy generation". [8]
The researchers explain and illustrate the workings of the water brake windmill, and calculate the optimal performance of the technology. It was found that the torque-speed characteristics of wind rotor and impeller should be carefully matched to achieve maximum efficiency. For example, for the very small Savonius windmill that the scientists used as a model (0.5m rotor diameter, 2m tower), it was calculated that the impeller diameter should be 0.388m.
The researchers then ran simulations over a period of fifty hours to calculate the windmill''s heat output. Although the Savonius is a low speed windmill which is ill-suited for electricity generation, it turns out to be an excellent producer of heat: the small windmill produced up to 1 kW of thermal power (at wind speeds of 15 m/s). [8] A 2013 study using a prototype obtained similar results, and calculated the efficiency of the system to be 91%. [9]
Obviously, it''s not always stormy weather, which means that the average wind speed is at least as important. A 2015 study investigates the possibilities of heat generating windmills in Lithuania, a Baltic country with a cold climate that''s dependent on expensive fuel imports. [14] The researchers calculated that at the average wind speed in the country (4 m/s of Beaufort 3), generating one kilowatt of heat requires a windmill with a rotor diameter of 8.2 meters.
They compare this with the thermal energy demand of a 120 m2 energy efficient new building, heated to modern comfort standards, and conclude that a heat generating windmill could cover from 40-75% of the annual heating needs (depending on the energy efficiency class of the construction). [14]
The average wind speed is not guaranteed either, which means that a heat generating windmill requires heat storage – otherwise it would only provide heating when the wind blows. One cubic meter of heated water (1 ton, 1,000 liters) can hold up to 90 kWh of heat, which is roughly one to two days of supply for a household of four persons.
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