I appreciate the fact that you shared the information in literally half the time as other videos. Some of us do watch for the knowledge rather than entertainment. You provided enough to demonstrate what you were doing in a flavor much like a class room. I get it. Thank you.
Has some parallels to magnetohydrodynamics. Idea has been around for fifty years or more but problem is inefficiency and very high voltages and potential for ozone pollution mean so far no more than lab curiousity. Radio operators have observed related effects when wind blowing over an electrically isolated antenna leads to very high static charges. Although not very promising, good someone is tinkering with it as you never know if a breakthrough might be possible.
Jim, I am pretty sure this concept is a waste of time but I consider myself to be an expert on naturally powered watercraft (human, wind, current, waves, solar...) so to maintain self-respect I need to consider all possibilities. Could you help me do a napkin level calculation for this concept? A typical cruising sailboat would have ~1000sf of sail spanning 64ft with air speeds of 20mph on the lee and 10mph to windward. 100w would be useful, 1kw would be revolutionary. Is this anywhere near reality?
@@skyak4493 Hi there, Broadly agree, the issue is extracting useful power from winds kinetic energy. Wind turbine and sailing craft use similar aerodynamic principles. Modern upwind wind turbines are around 60-70% efficient in extracting the wind's theoretical kinetic energy. I expect some of the latest high tech sailing craft designs operate at similar levels of efficiency. While I have no doubt some energy is possible using the solid state ion approach, the idea has been around for fifty or so years and as far as I am aware never led to an efficient or practical power source, reportedly efficiencies of about 5% are possible, one tenth of that from conventional wind turbines. However, you never know, new electrostatic materials (particularly nano fibres) new designs might throw up something useful particularly for wind power in urban areas where windows turbines are less acceptable. It might even be possible to add electrostatics to wind turbine blades lifting overall efficiency. It's probably worthwhile continuing to explore the idea.
@@jimgraham6722 I like some of your ideas, like adding electrostatic elements to turbines... Of course, even 5% efficiency might be practicable if cost is 10% of turbine generation. And one might hope that 5% might become 6% etc, particularly if combined with some other technology -which, for the time being, no-one has thought of?? "Sometimes it is the people who nobody imagines anything of, who can do things which no-one else can imagine." Time will tell.
I live in the humid southeast USA. We use high voltage grids all the time. You see these blue lighted devices in backyards. They are called Bug Zappers!
My experience with these is the grid elements on electrostatic devices like this is they eventually need either chemical cleaning or full replacement of the grid wires/slats on a regular basis. As it ages, the efficiency decreases as the elements get corroded/oxidized/contaminated. The cleaning can require corrosive chemicals and produce toxic waste (which can be recycled if no spills all the way from cleaning to processing). Each cleaning reduces the surface area a tiny bit so the efficiency decreases that way as well.
Jack Fanning. Not all parts are cheap. Especially if they have to be replaced often and you have to do a lot of them. Also we may need to use some rare material in these to boost efficiency or duration. High demand could raise prices for that as well. Chemical cleaning would prolong the use, but the disposal costs of the chemicals may make that a less viable option depending on how often. And all of these could limit the overall size of these as currently maintenance on the giant wind turbines is a nightmare.
Video: Wind turbines can fail from wear due to moving parts Also Video: Thumbnail shows device at 10's of kV potential in a highly corrosive salt water environment
"highly corrosive salt water"???? if it's so corrosive I wonder how current offshore windmills deal with it???? BTW the fact fellow, morns liked this simplemind comment is proof SM is making us all en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_and_Dumber... SMH....
@@synergyfiles3536 FWIW since there are current offshore windmills that deal with salt water... there is no need to defend the concept to moronic trolls...
@@nc3826 Oh, you asked, how... e.g. they must not stop moving. They have motors to keep them spinning when there is no wind. Also: constant maintance like painting and replacing corroded parts.
@THIS.IS.HOW.GENOCIDE HAPPENING AGENDA21 2021 next year; Covid 19 schoolchildren back to school people back to work slave labour, TORIES fro me Deaths WCA DWP 10's of thousands Killed so fare build up for year 21
Millions of large air ionizers ionizing the atmosphere around the planet sounds like a dystopian Star Trek episode I once saw. I think it was called "What could possibly go wrong?"
On my planet they are called wind traps, and they became so popular that we calculated that the traps slowed the rotation of the planet by 1.2%. We decided it was worth it and just hope it doesn't stop rotating completely in a few thousand years.
A great video to introduce a development, but the ending statement -stating that universities are globally intensifying their efforts- is disappointing. Drawbacks are not mentioned, which leaves a lot to the imagination. With every new solution experts should always disclose a full debate, just to inform the public (like me).
It is difficult to believe that such a generator can produce large amounts of power efficiently. Further, there are a number of questions about the side effects of this apparatus. What effect will the resulting ion cloud have on radio transmission?With such a high voltage, is it just as dangerous to birds as the turbine technology? Does the ion cloud that is produced attract lightning? Can such a electrostatic generator operate at all levels of humidity and in the presence of salt spray? Could please add links to published scientific papers on the subject?
It would seem the components are all commonly available and inexpensive. I don’t think he quoted any potential power output relative to size. 5% efficiency but super cheap. Might make sense for a lot of people. Large scale power production would likely require quite massive structures. But they could also be placed on top of every industrial and commercial building. It seems a combination of engineering challenge and environmental impact study on all those points you raised.
China has started using a similar device in an attempt to reduce pollution, not for power generation. If used in cities the ozone (ion clouds) would be neutralized almost instantly, you can bet they’ll be looking into this.
richard gould , I was about to raise the point that these new devices, like the ion drive aeroplane, would generate ozone. You say it would neutralise ozone? That would be awesome. What's the mechanism?
so i think i put my comment here since i think it is good to be critical about this, but since you can create ion wind with an anode and cathode and a high voltage difference im quite sure you can do the reverse. since there are not large discharges i don't think it will disturb radio a whole lot, it will be better for birds if it will look like a solid barrier all the time, it might have an influence on lightning and humidity and salt spray will have a significant effect. But my question is, how efficient is it compared to a 'traditional' wind turbine ?
also i hear people saying 5%, that is not that great, plus when you saturate the area with ions wont that mean that other solid state wind generators in that area are not gonna be able to fully do their job ?
How would they deal with the ensuing ozone problem from all that ionized air? Edit: Honestly, I was expecting to see some form of piezoelectric effect device acting like a reed in the giant wind instrument/power generator.
What if your initial ionization on the incoming air was then followed by a de-ionization/recombination at the end, as the flow stream exited the device?
@@manofsan I'm not enough of a physicist to know the answer to that, but I think there is no way to do that while maintaining efficiency, which will already be bad from the energy needed to break down the bonds between the dielectric material and it's electrons in the first place. All I can see are the problems caused by production of Ozone, oxides of nitrogen, and corrosion of the electrodes caused by the ionization process. Having said all that, again, I am no physicist, nor do I even play one on TV, so my thoughts should probably be taken with a can-full of salt... 🤓
@@davidbierbaum4881 Ozone is reactive and eventually recombines with the air anyway. But the point of wind power is to tap the motion of the air, and not its charge - so deionizing the air shouldn't cost us more energy. Recombination is natural -- that's what makes ozone so reactive and dangerous. No extra energy has to be supplied to get the unstable ozone to revert to normal O2.
Thats why you don't put ultraviolet light inside home, because it creates ozone from oxygen and in enclosed space it's toxic. So maybe only outside where is wind and where is the most space available...
In terms of piezoelectric effect and vibration of reeds... SF writer Colin Kapp's 1964 tale "The Subways of Tazoo" (not Yazoo, despite what the Android spell-checker is trying to assert) describes working on a planet whose highly-advanced civilization has mysteriously collapsed and left no-one alive. They realize that this is a rather windy place, and the millions of "harps" which they find the remains of in the desert were not to deliver the sounds of the subway to desert-dwellers but had vibrating string tuned to resonate in the wind and generate power via piezoelectric crystals in the arms of the harps. This story is much more interesting than it sounds; but I remember this aspect and wonder whether a solution like the one described in the story wouldn't be similarly efficient in generating power in the windier parts of the world. This was from a series of stories under the title "The Unorthodox Engineers". I can recommend Colin Kapp as a very readable author, as far ahead of his time as many science fiction writers are. When I first saw the Delft generator, I thought it might be one of these harps; but their solution seems (to me) to be cleverer for lower wind speeds at least.
What is the environmental impact when use of this technology becomes widespread, generating large amounts of ionized air? What is the impact on the health of humans, animals and plants?
a great idea in theory but, this is also how Ionizing air filters work. What effect would it have on plants, being it would cause pariculate ( pollen included ) build up on one of the electrodes scrubbing the air going through it. That also brings into question of cost of cleaning off the buildup. That said, it may be a very good idea for very poor air quaility areas. An air filtration system that also gives back some power so it pays for itself
Not to mention that each wind turbine requires about 16 klms of Copper wire in construction and power transmission. So if you're against mining on environmental issues then it's counter productive. Very cool idea here. Hope it works.
@@spencerwilton5831 Off-shore Wind turbine are already at around $50/MWh and this is only the begining for price drop. There is no way you could deal with that, off-shore wind turbine will be even more cheaper than land based wind turbine.
To have them working efficiently, you will have to place them somewhere where you'll have bone dry air. Moisture in the air will obviously tend to short the electrodes. That makes low pressure systems the opposite of candidates. Deserts or permafost regions might be options if the basic principle can be proven economically interesting.
These things are much more prone to failure and produce much less energy. Wind turbines are incredibly well researched and developed, and we would see these already if they worked well.
Wind turbines often get a lot of criticism for killing birds (mostly exaggerated, but it does happen). Some might think bladeless designs like this would be better for birds, but they probably aren't. There are now camera and radar systems that detect birds near wind turbines. The critical thing is that they slow down the turbines, they don't stop them! Birds are really bad at seeing large non-moving objects. They're better at seeing and evading slowly moving ones. So for the environment, a moving turbine (with bird detection system) might be better than a solid state one.
They'll be like giant bug zappers. Just imagine how many birds will get flash fried when there's thousands of these things on rooftops all over the world.
@@J4999 I find that hard to believe. Do you mean to tell me that birds are just stupid and fly straight into walls more often than they get sucked into turbines by vortices?
@@PhazonSouffle "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that between 140,000 and 500,000 bird deaths occur at wind farms each year."...... "According to a 2014 article in the ornithological journal Condor, an estimated 365 million to 988 million birds die each year by colliding into buildings in the United States." If you still don't believe me, feel free to look it up yourself. I was also shocked when I found out through some random UA-cam video
How fast will it charge my phone if I install one into my back end? I have a good recipe for some proper belly wind production. Though It might work better with combustion engine generator...
Is this only 5% efficient? is that theoretical or actual efficiency from the demonstration unit? A vertical windmill is 59% efficient (in theory - I don't know the actual percentage) and Solar, is currently at around 22% but expected to reach 30% actual efficiency in the next few years...
Yep the efficiency is still pretty abysmal. 3 wing regular wind turbines generate at least 30% It'll probably come down to economy of scale. As much as electric motors an batteries are easier to produce theroretically, internal combustion engines are still cheaper to the end consumer because the infrastructure already exists. I think the same thing will apply to these solid state wind things. You gotta convince investors thats the problem
@M Detlef At 5% efficiency how long does it take to pay back a loan at 10% interest, and payback investors, and make a profit. It could take a really long time!
The principal behind the solid state windmill is best used in space applications. Ion drive electrostatic engines have been used to propel interplanetary spacecraft or can be used as a space tug to boost satellites to higher orbits and prevent orbital decay. Very low thrust, but very high specific impulse.
In the southwest of the U.S. can I install a small unit on an electric truck or vehicle and drive around doing 45- 75 mph to create energy to power my vehicle and charge my vehicles batteries? Just a thought.....
Some of the newer wind turbines have eliminated the gearbox and use a generator which has a larger diameter and many more poles. The same thing is done with ceiling fans, which run slowly on 50 or 60 Hz without any gearbox. I think this high voltage system is too vulnerable to foreign objects causing short circuits. Insects or debris could cause problems and it would have to be constantly cleaned.
The gear-less wind turbine use neodymium magnets, which is not very environmentally friendly. The movement issue remains with the bearings and the blades
If I understand this correctly, the ion drive is useless in any kind of distance due the positive charged particles being stationary near an electrode?
Would you be able to increase the efficiency by adding another unit just downwind of the primary, which does not ionize the air on its own, but instead allows the ions in the air to collect upon it, creating the same effect in reverse?
I'm not complaining about the efficiency because as you said it can be used in tandem with solar panels as this will work at night also when the solar panels does nothing. So spread out thru the day (year) compared to solar panels they might not be that far off each other.
I really hate when these videos introduce some new "technology" but don't give any equations or even examples of viability. I can't help thinking that these are extremely dangerous to birds and in rain. Do they work in high humidity?
some versiond NEED humidity to operate LOL so yes i imagine some forms that are optimal for high humidity can hypothetically be made, of course as youve mentioned it needs to be tested in order to ascertain its viability.
I agree on the lack of equations but this is youtube and not a white paper. Regarding the birds.... no moving parts. My initial thought is that it's about as dangerous as a tree branch or electric wires to birds.
Solid state wind generators may be more useful as enhancements to existing wind turbines, where they could add a few extra percent of efficiency when the blades are moving, and even a small amount when there is not enough wind to rotate the blades, but enough to produce a voltage on the solid state devices.
Please add source for information, patents, and viability concerns. How does it perform against solar in Germany for example? Otherwise we have no way of understanding potential. Aside from that, thanks for pointing it out, I didn't know about the technology.
You can get zapped by a million volts and feel nothing when the current is low enough. And the current cant be that high since the ions movement has to be dominated by wind for any net gain in power.
Climate change will kill alot more than windmills. You sound like the whalers from Nantucket. They were kings of the see passing through drakes passage hearky. Whalers lrize cargo was oil made from rendering whale blubber while at sea. It revolutionized the way people spent their evenings!. Many a book was written under the lantern's glow. Whalers did not like the fact that crude oil was found and it was vastly superior to whale oil in every possible way. Whalers fought the coming of the end for the bussiness and like repubkicans they would have shut down the new oil production permanently. That is what republicans are doing today. They would get rid of wind power, hydroelectric, geothermal, biodiesal, solar paneles and todays republicans are even refusing to build 4th generation walk away nuclear powerplants which are critical to moving from whale oil to crude oil. Actually it is the move from fossil fuel to renewable energy systems. The movement from fossil fuel to renewable enetgy will do three thinngs 1. Make energy cheaper. 2.Allow the people to use alot more electricity than we can now 3. Provide millions of real and high paying jobs. Mitigating climate change isnt the only reason or even the main reason for building the new grid.
The problem I have with videos like this is they make it look like next week I should expect to see this popping up in my local DIY store. This has so many issues needing resolution or mitigation before it ever sees the light of day its just not going to happen in this way. Video saying lab curiosity shows promise in these areas if ...... engineering and physics issues can be resolved. Would be a much more accurate and useful demonstration of where we are right now. This is overly optimistic to be kind.
I would like to see some numbers. This looks like it could work but I'm wondering if this would be able to produce enough power to make it a viable alternative. I would need to see numbers.
Years ago I saw a wind turbine proposal that had the appearance of a cooling tower. The shell of the machine was open at the bottom to allow air to enter. By using natural convection, the air would increase in velocity as the cross section of the shell decreased in diameter the farther up you went in the tower. Located in the upper reaches of the shell were the turbine rotors connected to the generators. I don't see why this design of wind turbine didn't come into use.
I think they are called "solar chimneys". They seem practical in hot climates, and you can make them work in the evening by using stones at the bottom to store the heat of the day
Wastes distilled water and makes ozone, both "serious green house gases," and then releases them both directly into the atmosphere? Lowest efficiency of energy conversions? It is an interesting phenomenon. But is there a reason to think that as a source of renewable energy that begins in the wrong direction, that it will right itself in the future?
@@irchristo It was in this video... He said that the earliest prototype was the one that released ionized water, but that there have been new developments that don't... Didn't he? That's what I understood... I'll re-watch in a minute...
As cool as this maybe you would have to have one the sizes of a HOUSE or at least the square footage to power a TV or oven your phone. You would need three or even five times more then you would wind or solar panels.
Mad T scientist ... Golden gate bridge outfitted with sets of wires running along side either side of the deck. All bridges in cities become wind generators
Venturi wind generators need no gear boxes and put out more then the ones that need them,,, smaller less moving partys lower cost, operate over larger wind speeds,
... and thyey don't work. Some many wind generator lies out there. If any of you want to really know what works or not, go read books by Paul Gipe or visit here : wind-works.org/cms/
40kv... that's a very different kind of 'bird strike', perhaps now... 'bird lightning strike' :P could be ineresting on the blades of the wind turbines themselves, assuming that energy generation is somewhat proportional to wind speed, and the tips get moving far faster than the actual winds hitting them.
Curious about the energy cost to build vs energy production over the course of its lifespan. This is one of the most important ratios for energy source evaluation.
Exactly , that is important along with cost of productions and contamination in both the start and the end of their lives , since things like wind turbines and solar panels are made out of extremely toxic components that does damage the environment
@Stephen Ferree the materials that are used to make them are the ones that are toxic and mining them is super detrimental for the environment , albeit the solar panels are the ones that has the most toxic components
i might be wrong on this, but as i remember, ionized air has even lower resistance to electricity, thus electricity flows thru the ionized air.. just saying... would that not attract Lightning, cos of the least resistance effect?
You do realize that the odds of a lightning strike are astronomically low, right? Even if it does increase the odds 100 fold, that’s still a low probability. And since the wind generators are cheaper than solar cells, it wouldn’t be much of a loss, and it’ll be fairly easy and inexpensive to replace.
Could this be used on a sailboat? The energy is created by the charge difference between the air and the ground but on a boat how is it grounded? I want to retire on a boat and I’m planning.
@@synergyfiles3536 no, you say it is generating a high voltage and by inference that this is a good thing, suggest that it is an indication of power generated. Something much of the public assume. Voltage is an indicator of the frequency of the carrier wave, and by itself is not any indicator of power. Amps or Watts denote power and there is no mention of the power out. You could theoretically use 40,000volts to carry half a milliamp. So as a video, this does not propose potential outputs, practical applications or any theory to overcome any of the current limits to this technology. It's a bit like saying "we can travel faster than light in a warp bubble" without talking about the necessary tech, current limitations, possible solutions, or even what a "warp bubble" is. Not trying to put a downer, but you need to up your game on providing information otherwise you become another "tabloid" Channel with click bait headlines.
@@synergyfiles3536 apologies, I stand corrected. I misunderstood your use of the voltage. However, I still think that it would be helpful to budding engineers if you presented the current achievable power from systems such as the one at Delft. For example, adding that ion turbines currently only achieve 7% compared to wind turbines' 45% would be useful to know. As well as the proposed 25-30% theoretically achievable by the ion turbines. If you were able to add the technical reasons for the current constraints on achieving the 25% conversion rate then that may be helpful to your viewers/budding engineers. Just trying to offer some constructive criticism not dismiss the idea or your efforts.
@@islandsedition As long as we're being precise here, how is voltage "an indicator of the frequency of the carrier wave..."? That implies a mathematical relationship; what is it? Also "Amps" obviously cannot "denote power" absent an indication of voltage. Most of what you said makes sense but these two things caused me a double-take on this end.
Must say found it a little difficult to understand everything that was said, however one thing that wasn't mentioned was the likely output relative to the size of the device.
My main hero Nikolai Tesla would like this I love the concept of a non-moving part design intent to reliability you’re quite right it’s like always much better to have less this would be as reliable as the electronics used but I have worked with electrostatic speakers and air cleaners I I am used to very small currents so how many watts output ? These would be great to integrate with a Tesla system you guys should talk !
Synergy Files , it would be interesting to know ; do to unfamiliarity; have lived in areas of high rain , high humidity, fog , and blowing dust relatively close to high power wires and seen electricity discharge all over the place , wonder if this is a concern or negates these areas , thank you .
Does it have issues with creation of o3 ozone? If so the environmental impact would be unreasonable.If not, wow what an exciting tech. New Wings, New wind turbines. This could be a revolution in energy and transport.
How does the betz limit apply here? Does it apply at all? Could it be said that this IS the equivalent of an infinite amount of infinitesimally small blades with a frictionless gearbox? If so, this becomes even more exciting!
Could these end up being cheaper than solar? I don’t know how complicated the ionizing process is, it doesn’t seem as complicated as photovoltaic cells. Also, great video.
"Batteryless Battery"???? a. Small aluminum cones with an electrical wire running through the center of the cones, cones spaced apart (not touching I'm thinking) but end to end. b. Electromagnetic radiation energy in the atmosphere interacts with the aluminum cones. c. Jostled atoms and molecules in the cone eventually have some electrons try to get away from other electrons of which those electrons gather at the larger end of the cone, of which also creates an area of positive charge at the smaller end of the cone. d. The electron's in the wire are attracted to the positive end of the cone and the positive 'end' in the wire are attracted to the negatively charged end of the cone. e. Basically a 'battery' has been created inside the electrical wire itself, different areas of electrical potential. Basically a 'wire battery' or a 'batteryless battery', however one wanted to call it. f. Numerous cones placed end to end increases the number of 'batteries' in the wire. Then of course, one could take that generated dc electricity to split H2O into H2 and O2 of which could be burned or utilized in a hydrogen fuel cell to get the electricity back with a byproduct of basically pure water. Species need pure water too. With the increased cosmic radiation that is going to be impacting this Earth this century as well as possibly a mini-ice age, might as well put that cosmic radiation to work for us.
Waaait a minute. I recognise the voice. You also host the excellent channel 'Electric aviation', right? Do you host any other channels related to sustainability? Love your videos!
It looks like a nice idea. But I feel that the problem with it is the very low efficiency is basically built in in the idea itself, so it looks to have a low ceiling for efficiency improvements. Both wind and solar have low efficiency too, but these are constrained by the present materials and knowledge, so there is quite a high theoretical ceiling for future efficiency improvements. I just can't see it with this technology. My prediction: it will remain a curiosity toy for a foreseeable...
I appreciate the fact that you shared the information in literally half the time as other videos. Some of us do watch for the knowledge rather than entertainment. You provided enough to demonstrate what you were doing in a flavor much like a class room. I get it. Thank you.
Thank you for your appreciation. I was a lecturer once.
I do have some of the same concerns that others have pointed out, but I still think is this very cool and enjoyed learning about it.
Has some parallels to magnetohydrodynamics. Idea has been around for fifty years or more but problem is inefficiency and very high voltages and potential for ozone pollution mean so far no more than lab curiousity.
Radio operators have observed related effects when wind blowing over an electrically isolated antenna leads to very high static charges.
Although not very promising, good someone is tinkering with it as you never know if a breakthrough might be possible.
Jim, I am pretty sure this concept is a waste of time but I consider myself to be an expert on naturally powered watercraft (human, wind, current, waves, solar...) so to maintain self-respect I need to consider all possibilities. Could you help me do a napkin level calculation for this concept? A typical cruising sailboat would have ~1000sf of sail spanning 64ft with air speeds of 20mph on the lee and 10mph to windward. 100w would be useful, 1kw would be revolutionary. Is this anywhere near reality?
@@skyak4493 Hi there, Broadly agree, the issue is extracting useful power from winds kinetic energy. Wind turbine and sailing craft use similar aerodynamic principles. Modern upwind wind turbines are around 60-70% efficient in extracting the wind's theoretical kinetic energy. I expect some of the latest high tech sailing craft designs operate at similar levels of efficiency.
While I have no doubt some energy is possible using the solid state ion approach, the idea has been around for fifty or so years and as far as I am aware never led to an efficient or practical power source, reportedly efficiencies of about 5% are possible, one tenth of that from conventional wind turbines.
However, you never know, new electrostatic materials (particularly nano fibres) new designs might throw up something useful particularly for wind power in urban areas where windows turbines are less acceptable. It might even be possible to add electrostatics to wind turbine blades lifting overall efficiency. It's probably worthwhile continuing to explore the idea.
@@jimgraham6722 I like some of your ideas, like adding electrostatic elements to turbines... Of course, even 5% efficiency might be practicable if cost is 10% of turbine generation. And one might hope that 5% might become 6% etc, particularly if combined with some other technology -which, for the time being, no-one has thought of?? "Sometimes it is the people who nobody imagines anything of, who can do things which no-one else can imagine." Time will tell.
Tesla did research, use a Tesla coil and the information on atmospheric electrics the earth is a giant battery
What I fear is.... Do it produce something dangerous like nitrous-oxide? N is 80% in air......
I live in the humid southeast USA. We use high voltage grids all the time. You see these blue lighted devices in backyards. They are called Bug Zappers!
My experience with these is the grid elements on electrostatic devices like this is they eventually need either chemical cleaning or full replacement of the grid wires/slats on a regular basis. As it ages, the efficiency decreases as the elements get corroded/oxidized/contaminated.
The cleaning can require corrosive chemicals and produce toxic waste (which can be recycled if no spills all the way from cleaning to processing). Each cleaning reduces the surface area a tiny bit so the efficiency decreases that way as well.
Parts are cheap.
Jack Fanning. Not all parts are cheap. Especially if they have to be replaced often and you have to do a lot of them. Also we may need to use some rare material in these to boost efficiency or duration. High demand could raise prices for that as well. Chemical cleaning would prolong the use, but the disposal costs of the chemicals may make that a less viable option depending on how often. And all of these could limit the overall size of these as currently maintenance on the giant wind turbines is a nightmare.
Video: Wind turbines can fail from wear due to moving parts
Also Video: Thumbnail shows device at 10's of kV potential in a highly corrosive salt water environment
That is just an artistic render. They can be used on land alongside a highway
"highly corrosive salt water"???? if it's so corrosive I wonder how current offshore windmills deal with it????
BTW the fact fellow, morns liked this simplemind comment is proof SM is making us all en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_and_Dumber... SMH....
@@synergyfiles3536 FWIW since there are current offshore windmills that deal with salt water... there is no need to defend the concept to moronic trolls...
@@nc3826 They do have big problems due to the highly corrosive salt water. Off shore is not as great as you think.
@@nc3826 Oh, you asked, how... e.g. they must not stop moving. They have motors to keep them spinning when there is no wind. Also: constant maintance like painting and replacing corroded parts.
I been taking about this tech for 30 years! Thank you!
Won't work, not enough animations and no empowering background music.
LOL!
some go get thunderf00t
It definitely won't work with that negativity
I'm positive this will work in this current age!
What's that you say, Wilbur?
Another advantage it that it will frazzle anyone trying to steal it
massive bug and bird zapper
@@punker4Real yes bird stikes
@THIS.IS.HOW.GENOCIDE HAPPENING AGENDA21 2021 next year; Covid 19 schoolchildren back to school people back to work slave labour, TORIES fro me Deaths WCA DWP 10's of thousands Killed so fare build up for year 21
What I fear is.... Do it produce something dangerous like nitrous-oxide? N is 80% in air......
@@prachayaputtapanasub1113 Plus Ozone poison
Millions of large air ionizers ionizing the atmosphere around the planet sounds like a dystopian Star Trek episode I once saw. I think it was called "What could possibly go wrong?"
Bill gates dimming the sun
On my planet they are called wind traps, and they became so popular that we calculated that the traps slowed the rotation of the planet by 1.2%. We decided it was worth it and just hope it doesn't stop rotating completely in a few thousand years.
Well building of Dams does impact on the magnetic field of the planet
A great video to introduce a development, but the ending statement -stating that universities are globally intensifying their efforts- is disappointing. Drawbacks are not mentioned, which leaves a lot to the imagination. With every new solution experts should always disclose a full debate, just to inform the public (like me).
It is difficult to believe that such a generator can produce large amounts of power efficiently. Further, there are a number of questions about the side effects of this apparatus. What effect will the resulting ion cloud have on radio transmission?With such a high voltage, is it just as dangerous to birds as the turbine technology? Does the ion cloud that is produced attract lightning?
Can such a electrostatic generator operate at all levels of humidity and in the presence of salt spray?
Could please add links to published scientific papers on the subject?
It would seem the components are all commonly available and inexpensive. I don’t think he quoted any potential power output relative to size. 5% efficiency but super cheap. Might make sense for a lot of people. Large scale power production would likely require quite massive structures. But they could also be placed on top of every industrial and commercial building. It seems a combination of engineering challenge and environmental impact study on all those points you raised.
China has started using a similar device in an attempt to reduce pollution, not for power generation. If used in cities the ozone (ion clouds) would be neutralized almost instantly, you can bet they’ll be looking into this.
richard gould , I was about to raise the point that these new devices, like the ion drive aeroplane, would generate ozone. You say it would neutralise ozone? That would be awesome. What's the mechanism?
so i think i put my comment here since i think it is good to be critical about this, but since you can create ion wind with an anode and cathode and a high voltage difference im quite sure you can do the reverse. since there are not large discharges i don't think it will disturb radio a whole lot, it will be better for birds if it will look like a solid barrier all the time, it might have an influence on lightning and humidity and salt spray will have a significant effect.
But my question is, how efficient is it compared to a 'traditional' wind turbine ?
also i hear people saying 5%, that is not that great, plus when you saturate the area with ions wont that mean that other solid state wind generators in that area are not gonna be able to fully do their job ?
How will you handle toxic NxOy after ionized and deionized the air?
so what is the percentage of efficiency of this technology? How much electricity is produced for a given wind speed?
That's all good and nice but I'm more interested in figures. How much power it can generate for the space it takes? Need more information overall.
How would they deal with the ensuing ozone problem from all that ionized air?
Edit: Honestly, I was expecting to see some form of piezoelectric effect device acting like a reed in the giant wind instrument/power generator.
What if your initial ionization on the incoming air was then followed by a de-ionization/recombination at the end, as the flow stream exited the device?
@@manofsan I'm not enough of a physicist to know the answer to that, but I think there is no way to do that while maintaining efficiency, which will already be bad from the energy needed to break down the bonds between the dielectric material and it's electrons in the first place.
All I can see are the problems caused by production of Ozone, oxides of nitrogen, and corrosion of the electrodes caused by the ionization process.
Having said all that, again, I am no physicist, nor do I even play one on TV, so my thoughts should probably be taken with a can-full of salt... 🤓
@@davidbierbaum4881 Ozone is reactive and eventually recombines with the air anyway. But the point of wind power is to tap the motion of the air, and not its charge - so deionizing the air shouldn't cost us more energy. Recombination is natural -- that's what makes ozone so reactive and dangerous. No extra energy has to be supplied to get the unstable ozone to revert to normal O2.
Thats why you don't put ultraviolet light inside home, because it creates ozone from oxygen and in enclosed space it's toxic. So maybe only outside where is wind and where is the most space available...
In terms of piezoelectric effect and vibration of reeds... SF writer Colin Kapp's 1964 tale "The Subways of Tazoo" (not Yazoo, despite what the Android spell-checker is trying to assert) describes working on a planet whose highly-advanced civilization has mysteriously collapsed and left no-one alive. They realize that this is a rather windy place, and the millions of "harps" which they find the remains of in the desert were not to deliver the sounds of the subway to desert-dwellers but had vibrating string tuned to resonate in the wind and generate power via piezoelectric crystals in the arms of the harps.
This story is much more interesting than it sounds; but I remember this aspect and wonder whether a solution like the one described in the story wouldn't be similarly efficient in generating power in the windier parts of the world. This was from a series of stories under the title "The Unorthodox Engineers". I can recommend Colin Kapp as a very readable author, as far ahead of his time as many science fiction writers are. When I first saw the Delft generator, I thought it might be one of these harps; but their solution seems (to me) to be cleverer for lower wind speeds at least.
What is the environmental impact when use of this technology becomes widespread, generating large amounts of ionized air?
What is the impact on the health of humans, animals and plants?
@@sunmoon1234 lol
fatal
1:20 "The *fewer* the moving parts, the more reliable the system is."
finally, a bug zapper without the annoying UV light.
exactly, now birds won't go "splash", they go "brrrr"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla SMH.... but thx for deriving the expression a "little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing"...
a great idea in theory but, this is also how Ionizing air filters work. What effect would it have on plants, being it would cause pariculate ( pollen included ) build up on one of the electrodes scrubbing the air going through it. That also brings into question of cost of cleaning off the buildup. That said, it may be a very good idea for very poor air quaility areas. An air filtration system that also gives back some power so it pays for itself
Ionized air eventually falls to the ground where it de-ionizes
G.E. will never let this technology get a foothold in the market.
G, E, is caput. G.E. Stock has fallen 25% in the last year.
@@jackfanning7952 I'm glad they are hurting. The leadership has become power hungry and monopolistic.
3:43 Small correction. Delft is also a town just like Rotterdam is. So the university is in Delft not in Rotterdam.
My apologies. I learnt it later
Really interesting, thank you.
One small nitpick: Delft University and its campus is in a place called Delft, not Rotterdam.
He didn't say Rotterdam. He said the Netherlands.
@@peternyc nop he said Rotterdam
Kevin Van Dal Sorry. My mistake. You’re correct.
How does the installed power density [MW/acre] and installed cost [$/MW] compare with wind turbines?
Art Bell talked about this 20 years ago. RIP Art.
Not to mention that each wind turbine requires about 16 klms of Copper wire in construction and power transmission.
So if you're against mining on environmental issues then it's counter productive.
Very cool idea here. Hope it works.
I think this would be amazing for ocean travelling ships. Most of the time, it could accumulate power and then use sails to push the rest.
If your inputs are free and large, efficiency becomes less important.
Absolutely
Electrical efficiency will be poor, but financial efficiency will be high, and it's money that will drive development.
Efficienci is less important unless you have a competitor that does better with the same exact inputs: Conventionnal wind turbine.
yutuniopati Not if that more efficient competitor is more expensive to build, install and operate.
@@spencerwilton5831 Off-shore Wind turbine are already at around $50/MWh and this is only the begining for price drop. There is no way you could deal with that, off-shore wind turbine will be even more cheaper than land based wind turbine.
To have them working efficiently, you will have to place them somewhere where you'll have bone dry air. Moisture in the air will obviously tend to short the electrodes. That makes low pressure systems the opposite of candidates. Deserts or permafost regions might be options if the basic principle can be proven economically interesting.
That's very interesting! Thank you for this video.
These things are much more prone to failure and produce much less energy. Wind turbines are incredibly well researched and developed, and we would see these already if they worked well.
Ah, the same discussion again that we had when the automobile came... Horses are much more reliable than the first automobiles. True....
Wind turbines often get a lot of criticism for killing birds (mostly exaggerated, but it does happen). Some might think bladeless designs like this would be better for birds, but they probably aren't. There are now camera and radar systems that detect birds near wind turbines. The critical thing is that they slow down the turbines, they don't stop them! Birds are really bad at seeing large non-moving objects. They're better at seeing and evading slowly moving ones. So for the environment, a moving turbine (with bird detection system) might be better than a solid state one.
They'll be like giant bug zappers. Just imagine how many birds will get flash fried when there's thousands of these things on rooftops all over the world.
There's a downside to everything. It's a matter of finding the solutions.
fun fact: much more birds die from flying into skyscrapers than from flying into wind turbines
@@J4999 I find that hard to believe. Do you mean to tell me that birds are just stupid and fly straight into walls more often than they get sucked into turbines by vortices?
@@PhazonSouffle "
@@PhazonSouffle "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that between 140,000 and 500,000 bird deaths occur at wind farms each year."...... "According to a 2014 article in the ornithological journal Condor, an estimated 365 million to 988 million birds die each year by colliding into buildings in the United States." If you still don't believe me, feel free to look it up yourself. I was also shocked when I found out through some random UA-cam video
Wow, Amazing ! ! ! Thank you for this info. I'll keep watching.
I'VE HAD THIS IDEA FOR YEARS, AND I DO BELIEVE IT'S POSSIBLE
Need part list,, wire diagrams.. Battery's??. Transformers??. Shit, I need a teacher
2 frank
How fast will it charge my phone if I install one into my back end? I have a good recipe for some proper belly wind production. Though It might work better with combustion engine generator...
I wondered how this generation would be affected by rain? And what is not mentioned is the efficiency or net gain of the system.
Is this only 5% efficient? is that theoretical or actual efficiency from the demonstration unit?
A vertical windmill is 59% efficient (in theory - I don't know the actual percentage) and Solar, is currently at around 22% but expected to reach 30% actual efficiency in the next few years...
Yep the efficiency is still pretty abysmal. 3 wing regular wind turbines generate at least 30%
It'll probably come down to economy of scale. As much as electric motors an batteries are easier to produce theroretically, internal combustion engines are still cheaper to the end consumer because the infrastructure already exists. I think the same thing will apply to these solid state wind things.
You gotta convince investors thats the problem
I mean it's very early stages
the potential SURFACE area though can be enormous with this , unlike a turbine
@M Detlef At 5% efficiency how long does it take to pay back a loan at 10% interest, and payback investors, and make a profit. It could take a really long time!
The principal behind the solid state windmill is best used in space applications. Ion drive electrostatic engines have been used to propel interplanetary spacecraft or can be used as a space tug to boost satellites to higher orbits and prevent orbital decay. Very low thrust, but very high specific impulse.
And who does the regular cleaning?
The maintenance cost is probably insane compared to what they generate.
In the southwest of the U.S. can I install a small unit on an electric truck or vehicle and drive around doing 45- 75 mph to create energy to power my vehicle and charge my vehicles batteries? Just a thought.....
thunderfoot need to watch this
Some of the newer wind turbines have eliminated the gearbox and use a generator which has a larger diameter and many more poles. The same thing is done with ceiling fans, which run slowly on 50 or 60 Hz without any gearbox.
I think this high voltage system is too vulnerable to foreign objects causing short circuits. Insects or debris could cause problems and it would have to be constantly cleaned.
The gear-less wind turbine use neodymium magnets, which is not very environmentally friendly. The movement issue remains with the bearings and the blades
If I understand this correctly, the ion drive is useless in any kind of distance due the positive charged particles being stationary near an electrode?
Would you be able to increase the efficiency by adding another unit just downwind of the primary, which does not ionize the air on its own, but instead allows the ions in the air to collect upon it, creating the same effect in reverse?
It looks like a wind turbine driven Van de Graaff generator, but what can you do with the high DC Voltage, with no current..
I'm not complaining about the efficiency because as you said it can be used in tandem with solar panels as this will work at night also when the solar panels does nothing. So spread out thru the day (year) compared to solar panels they might not be that far off each other.
The part about reversing the propulsion principle, is a bit short. Is this just an idea or an actual concept and if the latter, how would it work?
40,000 volts sounds like a lot but a static spark has 25,000 volts
I really hate when these videos introduce some new "technology" but don't give any equations or even examples of viability. I can't help thinking that these are extremely dangerous to birds and in rain. Do they work in high humidity?
This "technology" was more than half century ago. This author does not know what is patent's office
some versiond NEED humidity to operate LOL so yes i imagine some forms that are optimal for high humidity can hypothetically be made, of course as youve mentioned it needs to be tested in order to ascertain its viability.
I agree on the lack of equations but this is youtube and not a white paper. Regarding the birds.... no moving parts. My initial thought is that it's about as dangerous as a tree branch or electric wires to birds.
This Is just scientific diffusion for the people. Dont be a hater
Solid state wind generators may be more useful as enhancements to existing wind turbines, where they could add a few extra percent of efficiency when the blades are moving, and even a small amount when there is not enough wind to rotate the blades, but enough to produce a voltage on the solid state devices.
yeah lets Ionize the Air ... i love thunderstorms :D
Please add source for information, patents, and viability concerns. How does it perform against solar in Germany for example? Otherwise we have no way of understanding potential.
Aside from that, thanks for pointing it out, I didn't know about the technology.
Sir, just a remote crazy thought. If a device is constructed to harness
tremendous Gravitational Force, a lot of electric energy could be produced.
What happens when birds and insects start getting vaporized, it's 40,000 volts after all
basically you just installed a massive bug and bird zapper
Good point.
You can get zapped by a million volts and feel nothing when the current is low enough. And the current cant be that high since the ions movement has to be dominated by wind for any net gain in power.
Climate change will kill alot more than windmills. You sound like the whalers from Nantucket. They were kings of the see passing through drakes passage hearky. Whalers lrize cargo was oil made from rendering whale blubber while at sea. It revolutionized the way people spent their evenings!. Many a book was written under the lantern's glow. Whalers did not like the fact that crude oil was found and it was vastly superior to whale oil in every possible way. Whalers fought the coming of the end for the bussiness and like repubkicans they would have shut down the new oil production permanently. That is what republicans are doing today. They would get rid of wind power, hydroelectric, geothermal, biodiesal, solar paneles and todays republicans are even refusing to build 4th generation walk away nuclear powerplants which are critical to moving from whale oil to crude oil. Actually it is the move from fossil fuel to renewable energy systems. The movement from fossil fuel to renewable enetgy will do three thinngs
1. Make energy cheaper.
2.Allow the people to use alot more electricity than we can now
3. Provide millions of real and high paying jobs.
Mitigating climate change isnt the only reason or even the main reason for building the new grid.
Great video!
Incredibly well done and informative video!! Thank you
I could fear corrosion may be a problem in such an open system. Any considerations on that topic ?
Great video. But it will make ozone. Bad. 5% conversion efficiency? 🤨
The problem I have with videos like this is they make it look like next week I should expect to see this popping up in my local DIY store. This has so many issues needing resolution or mitigation before it ever sees the light of day its just not going to happen in this way. Video saying lab curiosity shows promise in these areas if ...... engineering and physics issues can be resolved. Would be a much more accurate and useful demonstration of where we are right now. This is overly optimistic to be kind.
Also positively charging the leading edge of a wind turbine blade might aid in rotation?
Question? How much of an issue is Ozone with this type of system?
I would like to see some numbers. This looks like it could work but I'm wondering if this would be able to produce enough power to make it a viable alternative. I would need to see numbers.
Your youtube channel is very interesting
Years ago I saw a wind turbine proposal that had the appearance of a cooling tower. The shell of the machine was open at the bottom to allow air to enter. By using natural convection, the air would increase in velocity as the cross section of the shell decreased in diameter the farther up you went in the tower. Located in the upper reaches of the shell were the turbine rotors connected to the generators. I don't see why this design of wind turbine didn't come into use.
I think they are called "solar chimneys". They seem practical in hot climates, and you can make them work in the evening by using stones at the bottom to store the heat of the day
Wastes distilled water and makes ozone, both "serious green house gases," and then releases them both directly into the atmosphere? Lowest efficiency of energy conversions? It is an interesting phenomenon. But is there a reason to think that as a source of renewable energy that begins in the wrong direction, that it will right itself in the future?
No, but it will certainly attract video clicks and thus turn electrical power into indignant self-righteous contempt for the status quo.
The water waste was the first prototype, the new models don't do that. Don't think the ozone is preventable.
@@jeremygrant1325 New models? Link?
@@irchristo It was in this video... He said that the earliest prototype was the one that released ionized water, but that there have been new developments that don't... Didn't he? That's what I understood... I'll re-watch in a minute...
@@jeremygrant1325 Ah!...ok.
As cool as this maybe you would have to have one the sizes of a HOUSE or at least the square footage to power a TV or oven your phone. You would need three or even five times more then you would wind or solar panels.
Let them do more research and development and see what comes from it before discarding the whole idea.
Mad T scientist ... Golden gate bridge outfitted with sets of wires running along side either side of the deck. All bridges in cities become wind generators
Venturi wind generators need no gear boxes and put out more then the ones that need them,,, smaller less moving partys lower cost, operate over larger wind speeds,
... and thyey don't work. Some many wind generator lies out there. If any of you want to really know what works or not, go read books by Paul Gipe or visit here : wind-works.org/cms/
i remember this idea 45 years ago
Will the design be susceptible to bird strikes? Can the wire cross members be made more visible to birds?
40kv... that's a very different kind of 'bird strike', perhaps now... 'bird lightning strike' :P
could be ineresting on the blades of the wind turbines themselves, assuming that energy generation is somewhat proportional to wind speed, and the tips get moving far faster than the actual winds hitting them.
Curious about the energy cost to build vs energy production over the course of its lifespan. This is one of the most important ratios for energy source evaluation.
Exactly , that is important along with cost of productions and contamination in both the start and the end of their lives , since things like wind turbines and solar panels are made out of extremely toxic components that does damage the environment
@Stephen Ferree the materials that are used to make them are the ones that are toxic and mining them is super detrimental for the environment , albeit the solar panels are the ones that has the most toxic components
i might be wrong on this, but as i remember, ionized air has even lower resistance to electricity, thus electricity flows thru the ionized air.. just saying...
would that not attract Lightning, cos of the least resistance effect?
You do realize that the odds of a lightning strike are astronomically low, right? Even if it does increase the odds 100 fold, that’s still a low probability. And since the wind generators are cheaper than solar cells, it wouldn’t be much of a loss, and it’ll be fairly easy and inexpensive to replace.
Could this be used on a sailboat? The energy is created by the charge difference between the air and the ground but on a boat how is it grounded? I want to retire on a boat and I’m planning.
High voltage is one thing, but that is not an indicator of power. How many Amps are being made available?
High voltage here is the input. Amps will be the output
@@synergyfiles3536 no, you say it is generating a high voltage and by inference that this is a good thing, suggest that it is an indication of power generated. Something much of the public assume. Voltage is an indicator of the frequency of the carrier wave, and by itself is not any indicator of power.
Amps or Watts denote power and there is no mention of the power out.
You could theoretically use 40,000volts to carry half a milliamp.
So as a video, this does not propose potential outputs, practical applications or any theory to overcome any of the current limits to this technology.
It's a bit like saying "we can travel faster than light in a warp bubble" without talking about the necessary tech, current limitations, possible solutions, or even what a "warp bubble" is.
Not trying to put a downer, but you need to up your game on providing information otherwise you become another "tabloid" Channel with click bait headlines.
@@islandsedition Where I have said that its generating high voltage and thats a good thing?
@@synergyfiles3536 apologies, I stand corrected. I misunderstood your use of the voltage.
However, I still think that it would be helpful to budding engineers if you presented the current achievable power from systems such as the one at Delft.
For example, adding that ion turbines currently only achieve 7% compared to wind turbines' 45% would be useful to know. As well as the proposed 25-30% theoretically achievable by the ion turbines.
If you were able to add the technical reasons for the current constraints on achieving the 25% conversion rate then that may be helpful to your viewers/budding engineers.
Just trying to offer some constructive criticism not dismiss the idea or your efforts.
@@islandsedition As long as we're being precise here, how is voltage "an indicator of the frequency of the carrier wave..."? That implies a mathematical relationship; what is it? Also "Amps" obviously cannot "denote power" absent an indication of voltage. Most of what you said makes sense but these two things caused me a double-take on this end.
3:25 You can't call it a turbine if there are no spinning propeller like objects.
The gyro wind turbine has smashed Betz limit regards Graham Flowers
Must say found it a little difficult to understand everything that was said, however one thing that wasn't mentioned was the likely output relative to the size of the device.
Nice video! white board looks better than grey🤩
I think so too!
But what is the output in watts for a given size compared to the same size turbine?
My main hero Nikolai Tesla would like this I love the concept of a non-moving part design intent to reliability you’re quite right it’s like always much better to have less this would be as reliable as the electronics used but I have worked with electrostatic speakers and air cleaners I I am used to very small currents so how many watts output ? These would be great to integrate with a Tesla system you guys should talk !
Great video!👍 Thumbs up and subscribed!
Now I live in a desert area where blowing dust heavy in minerals is quite common - how would this effect such units
Cannot say. The research and implementation has happened in relatively green areas.
Synergy Files , it would be interesting to know ; do to unfamiliarity; have lived in areas of high rain , high humidity, fog , and blowing dust relatively close to high power wires and seen electricity discharge all over the place , wonder if this is a concern or negates these areas , thank you .
Very encouraging! Blending solar with this, in varying conditions, I think this could be next step stuff. Love it
Does it have issues with creation of o3 ozone? If so the environmental impact would be unreasonable.If not, wow what an exciting tech. New Wings, New wind turbines. This could be a revolution in energy and transport.
Good research
How does the betz limit apply here? Does it apply at all? Could it be said that this IS the equivalent of an infinite amount of infinitesimally small blades with a frictionless gearbox? If so, this becomes even more exciting!
same rules at a guess,slowing the wind down lowers the change of momentum available
@@graemeallan54 I'm going to have to re-watch it and pay attention
@@IizUname nice to hear from a tech person,like to see your conclusions
I got a charge out of this......good idea needs development.
How much electricity can a panel generate and where can I find out more information?
Could these end up being cheaper than solar? I don’t know how complicated the ionizing process is, it doesn’t seem as complicated as photovoltaic cells. Also, great video.
Yes they are cheaper than solar PV
Photovoltaics and complicated??? There is not much on this planet simpler than solar panels 😅
@@synergyfiles3536 Cheaper? shopping.google.com finds zero of these (search terms: "solid state" and "wind energy"). How is your comparison made?
@@petergoestohollywood382 simple to install, but not simple to make. this tech (which i'm skeptical about the yields of) consists of "some wire"
Can you use sunlight instead of wind to create the PD?
"Batteryless Battery"????
a. Small aluminum cones with an electrical wire running through the center of the cones, cones spaced apart (not touching I'm thinking) but end to end.
b. Electromagnetic radiation energy in the atmosphere interacts with the aluminum cones.
c. Jostled atoms and molecules in the cone eventually have some electrons try to get away from other electrons of which those electrons gather at the larger end of the cone, of which also creates an area of positive charge at the smaller end of the cone.
d. The electron's in the wire are attracted to the positive end of the cone and the positive 'end' in the wire are attracted to the negatively charged end of the cone.
e. Basically a 'battery' has been created inside the electrical wire itself, different areas of electrical potential. Basically a 'wire battery' or a 'batteryless battery', however one wanted to call it.
f. Numerous cones placed end to end increases the number of 'batteries' in the wire.
Then of course, one could take that generated dc electricity to split H2O into H2 and O2 of which could be burned or utilized in a hydrogen fuel cell to get the electricity back with a byproduct of basically pure water. Species need pure water too.
With the increased cosmic radiation that is going to be impacting this Earth this century as well as possibly a mini-ice age, might as well put that cosmic radiation to work for us.
How does one keep a charged surface clean in outside air?
hose it off ?
Is the generated current roughly equal to the ions dispersed into the wind? That would seem like there is no net energy generated.
Waaait a minute. I recognise the voice. You also host the excellent channel 'Electric aviation', right? Do you host any other channels related to sustainability? Love your videos!
Yes. The other one is called Electric Aviation . Thanks
Obviously, call it Solid-state Wind Energy Electrostatic Transformer- SWEET!
since it kinda looks like a fence, could you use it like one too?
Just like a power plant from the video-game Dune 2000!
It looks like a nice idea. But I feel that the problem with it is the very low efficiency is basically built in in the idea itself, so it looks to have a low ceiling for efficiency improvements. Both wind and solar have low efficiency too, but these are constrained by the present materials and knowledge, so there is quite a high theoretical ceiling for future efficiency improvements. I just can't see it with this technology. My prediction: it will remain a curiosity toy for a foreseeable...
I agree. The beauty of this is simplicity of its design