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 Joule Machine has lower weight, smaller size, and lower costs than an electrical generator. Fitted to a wind turbine system, a run / stop switch enables you to temporarily slow down and/or stop the turbine from operating should you wish to, for example, to reposition it. Storing the high heat underground in rocks seems like a cheap option. In this case, it becomes possible to build a pretty reliable heating system with a smaller heat storage tank, because the combination of two often complementary energy sources increases the chances of direct heat supply. YOUR SHED, YOUR WAY. September 28, 2020 at 10:19 PM. In case someone might be interested, there is a UK-based company called "H2O Turbine", and they have wind turbines using water breaks to produce hot. Once you have a mechanical-input heat pump, it's a simple matter of rerouting the refrigerant flow as to whether the machine extracts heat from the outdoors, and brings it inside, or vice versa. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Second, converting wind or solar energy directly into heat (or mechanical energy) can be more energy efficient than when electric conversion is involved. Still, thanks for expanding our horizon of the possible! To work out the power rating of your inverter, simply add up the required wattage of all the equipment you'll be using. Sure could DIY one instead from hydro power, but would be just like a prototype - not extensively tested and very efficient. If oil or pressurised water could be used as the brake fluid, then much higher temperatures could be achieved. First, thank you for putting up such an interesting web site. It's probably going to be less practical compared to using a water brake. The study referenced in note 15 contradicts your claims. kris de decker | See our Wind turbines rely on a steady breeze to keep the blades turning, so good positioning is paramount. Keeping Some of the Lights On: Redefining Energy Security | This can happen automatically via a temperature limiting switch located on your water storage tank which tells the system when to turn off the windmill. To simplify the process of powering your shed, there are kits available with all the parts you need included. Good question. Posted by: 14. Or maybe even - to add in another low tech concept - it could then double as a barrage balloon defence system in certain cases; a place like Ukraine, for example, could hypothetically generate heat it needs in winter by way of tethered barrage balloons with heat mills attached Posted by: Compression will give you a heater, and then releasing the compressed air will give you cooling. Question I have is: Does anyone, any companies make these devices for sale? I went looking for a source for eddy current heaters, however, and came up with nothing. There is much more to win on the demand side than on the supply side, and the habit to heat the whole space of a building can indeed be questioned. Once you have a mechanical-input heat pump, it's a simple matter of rerouting the refrigerant flow as to whether the machine extracts heat from the outdoors, and brings it inside, or vice versa. The calorie was defined already in 1824. However, energy losses (self-discharge) should also be taken into account, and this explains why the Danish heat generating windmills usually had a storage tank holding ten to twenty thousand liters of water. The LO-FA was also the largest of the heat generating windmills, with a 12 meter diameter rotor. The main point was that there's no way for direct heating to be that much more efficient than using electricity as an intermediate energy form. The oil then transferred its heat to the water storage in the tower. Also on a larger scale, I think it makes more sense to have heat generating and electricity generating windmills standing alongside each other, rather than combining them into one machine. According to Eco-shed of the Year winner. FREE delivery Mon, Feb 20 . , Selfbuilders, Winds of Change website, Erik Grove-Nielsen. Not sure about your approach though. Geoffrey Greene | A heat pump with mechanical input could be run from wind, low-head hydro, a Stirling Engine, or even an electric motor on PV cells. 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. Kris De Decker | [8] A 2013 study using a prototype obtained similar results, and calculated the efficiency of the system to be 91%. Can be a good source of power during the windy, sun-restricted, winter months. From 1993 to 2000, the Danish firm Westrup built a total of 34 water brake windmills based on this design, and by 2012 there were still 17 in operation. Most used simple wooden blades. [14]. Budget space heater pick: Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater. However, in this case a gearbox is required to achieve optimal efficiency. [15]. The four heating concepts are ranked based on their yearly capital and operational expenditures, assuming a lifespan of 20 years. Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them. Free delivery to most postcodes. Using eddy current heaters, windmills could provide direct heat at higher temperatures, making their potential use in industry even larger. All Rights Reserved. Direct conversion of wind energy into heat using joule machine. Posted by: The thing about heat pumps is that they move more heat energy than it takes to drive them. The oil then transferred its heat to the water storage in the tower. All text in Danish, but Google translate is your friend! I'm very curious to read those results, but you did not provide the link you are talking about Posted by: 4, 2013, Joules experiment: An historico-critical approach, Marcos Pou Gallo Advisor. No reviews. A UK based solar system could suffer from a lack of available sunshine, particularly in the winter months. Thanks for your speedy reply. In the same way that solar-generated electricity is reduced in wintertime, during the summer, lighter winds can limit the amount of power available from wind turbines. On average, a free-standing 5kW wind turbine may cost between 20,000 and 25,000. Davide Honey | I think I would like to experiment with this idea and build a mini Water Brake Windmill with the intent of heating a small off grid house. I absolutely hate the "new" math illiteracy. Barton Chen | or knows someone who could? 8 A 2013 study using a prototype obtained similar results, and calculated the efficiency of the system to be 91%. If driven by a windmill, such as my Sharp Cycloturbine, good load matching should be possible. Or would it be better to generate e-power all the time if the turbine is capable of it? The direct alternative for wind power that everybody knows is the old-fashioned windmill, which is at least 2.000 years old. URLs automatically linked. They can be ordered inour Lulu bookstore. For a ground source domestic heat pump, that is typically 4 times more heat energy out than electrical energy in. Please enable JavaScript if you would like to comment on this blog. No. It would need off the shelf part preferably OpenSource (cost wise it would be better to pay someone most in need to design for instance in Bangladesh with a low fee cryptocurrency to design it). Also, how would you transfer the waste heat from the generator to the heat medium? A heat generating windmill can also be combined with a solar boiler, so that both sun and wind can supply direct thermal energy using a smaller water tank. It all seems to be an interesting concept, but "proof of concept" and "worth doing" are very different. Check Price 15% OFF. BULETINUL INSTITUTULUI POLITEHNIC DIN IAI. 1 J = 1 Nm. Household items, like computers, washing machines, phones etc., require a 240V AC power supply. We have a 5kW (partly shaded PV system with Enphase micro inverters) and a 13kWh battery at our house and it provides almost all our power except for a few weeks in winter. "", Fair points. March 01, 2019 at 10:10 PM. Seems like they suffered from mechanical and plumbing trouble, probably related to the fact that the system was basically a semi-prototype. 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. Also say you've got the 20 mph wind consistent enough to sustain the power output. Renewable energy production is almost entirely aimed at the generation of electricity. The trick here is to turn the lower heating element to a much higher setting than you would the upper heating element. Or they could be fabricated locally. This is not about math, it's about language. Simply enter your email address and click Join. February 28, 2019 at 12:49 AM. Essentially one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump_and_refrigeration_cycle#Gas_cycle - they're not technically as efficient as a phase change, but if it's simpler and there are fewer moving parts, it might be a win. I thoroughly enjoyed the article on heating with windmills. The heat medium would be work done inside the house by the electricity. February 28, 2019 at 12:36 AM. 7 Many were built with used car parts and other discarded materials. Say you have a turbine rated as 500 Watts @ 20 mph. SMALL WIND ENERGY SYSTEM WITH PERMANENT MAGNET EDDY CURRENT HEATER, Joules experiment: An historico-critical approach, Concept study of wind power utilizing direct thermal energy conversion and thermal energy storage, Real-world tests of small wind turbines in Netherlands and the UK, Usage of the Wind Energy for Heating of the Energy-Efficient Buildings: Analysis of Possibilities, Expanding the horizons of power-to-heat: Cost assessment for new space heating concepts with Wind Powered Thermal Energy Systems, four volumes with a total of 2,398 pages and 709 images, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump_and_refrigeration_cycle#Gas_cycle, https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/energyresources/article/144/4/040802/1120767/State-of-the-art-of-Windthermal-Turbines-A. Your comment has not yet been posted. Windmills have braking systems that can stop them from turning when you dont need their energy to impute. In these applications, small wind electric systems can be used in combination with other components -- including a small solar electric system -- to create hybrid power systems. Posted by: Anyway it's not a point - end goal is to reduce our dependence on resources. As the stirring rods are lowered into the BBs, the resistance rises very quickly. July 17, 2020 at 06:37 AM. [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. Russ Mattson | It compares these four technologies for three system sizes: a small windmill aimed at heating an off-the-grid household, a large windmill aimed at supplying heat to a village, and a wind farm producing heat for 20,000 inhabitants. But these don't generate very much electricity, so it will take a very long time to recoup that cost. What about adding thermoelectric generators to the set-up to generate some electricity for low current devices? Direct heat production is cheaper, can be more energy efficient, and is more sustainable than indirect heat production. Does anyone know of a source for where to buy a small permanent magnet eddy current heater for water or oil heating generation? We receive very little for any exported power so self-consumption is preferred. HyLite. But that's because you heat people, not spaces. luxury apartment hotels paris. Subject: To build a water brake windmill from scratch. March 01, 2019 at 09:19 PM, > The conclusion says that coupling a wind turbine to a heat pump is the most cost effective realization of wind powered heating. I would believe 30% more efficient. The powerful battery fueled Mr. Heater Hero offers 35,000 BTU, heating up to 850 square feet of space. Heat storage can solve this issue but it requires the storage capacity to store 'few months' of generation to fully decouple the generation and demand. That said PV panels are so cheap now particularly as many people are upgrading that a simple resistance water heater does the job and probably for rather less than a heat pump. Photo by Claus Nybroe. Like the stangenkunst that you dedicated a few articles too? Posted by: A solar thermal collector skips the conversion to electricity and supplies renewable thermal energy in a direct and more efficient way. Having trouble reading this image? This is not about math, it's about language. All other technologies are in between. 5 6. Dimitar Bounov | To use a heat pump and avoid using grid power we would have needed quite a large PV array or we would have had to operate it from our battery which would reduce our overnight reserve power. 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. Step 2: Familiarise yourself with the equipment Battery Power storage is essential for downtime On a global scale, thermal energy demand corresponds to one third of the primary energy supply, while electricity demand is only one-fifth. March 09, 2022 at 09:17 PM. The four heating concepts are ranked based on their yearly capital and operational expenditures, assuming a lifespan of 20 years. Converting the stored heat into electricity is at most 30% efficient, meaning that two thirds of the wind energy is lost due to needless energy conversions -- and the same is true when solar thermal is used for power production. Taking into account both investment and operational costs, small-scale heat generating windmills with mechanical heat pumps are equally expensive or cheaper than conventional gas boilers when assuming the typical performance of a small windmill (which produces over a period of one year 12% to 22% of its maximum energy output). February 28, 2019 at 12:20 AM. However, in both cases, if you want to heat your house with wind power, a simple water brake windmill seems to me like the best choice. ben.ben0911@gmail.com, Posted by: Larger heat generating windmills were built in the 1980s. 16 In these systems, the generated heat is converted to electricity by the use of a steam turbine. The thing about heat pumps is that they move more heat energy than it takes to drive them. Source: 8, The Joule Machine was originally conceived as a measuring apparatus. Source: [7], Providing enough storage to bridge a week without wind thus requires up to 7 tonnes of water, which corresponds to a volume of 7 cubic meters plus insulation. Fourth International Conference on Environmental and Computer Science (ICECS 2011), Singapore, Sept. 2011. The best oil-filled radiator heater: De'Longhi TRD40615T. Images from Test at very high wind speed of a windmill controlled by a water brake, O. Helgason andA.S. Sigurdson, Science Institute, University of Iceland. 2) Open fireside BBQ grill with charcoal. If more information is needed maybe we could pool our resources and help one another to gather information for a Proto build. Given this, there is far more value in driving a heat pump rather than directly converting the mechanical energy to heat. The convolutions used (and I'm only guessing here) is that 70% efficiency means 30% loss, and that 90% efficient means 10% loss, so 1/3 the loss is the same as a 3x gain. If you want to think outside the box and you have some time and solid DIY skills, you could try running hot water pipes into your shed like a radiator. Third, you lose a significant cost advantage because you reintroduce all the electric components. The simplicity of direct mechanical heat production by wind brake is alluring. If you also want renewable electricity, you could use solar PV or a second windmill instead of trying to fit everything into one machine. Hugh Conway | To convert the 12V DC current from your battery bank, you need to route the electricity from the battery through an inverter, which converts the power to AC. View an alternate. free uk mainland delivery this would not matter so much in this context as the unutilized heat So why not generate electricity that can be put to good use first? ", (note: 3x AS efficient is not the same as 3x MORE efficient). Happy to see an article related to my PhD research topic! However, larger systems also reveal a problem when scaling up the technology: storing heat may be cheaper and more efficient than storing electricity, but the opposite holds true for transportation: the energy losses for heat transportation are much larger than the energy losses for electricity transmission. January 05, 2023 at 07:29 PM. First, thank you for putting up such an interesting web site. See chapter 13 ("Water brake windmills", Jrgen Krogsgaard) and chapter 16 ("Consigned to Oblivion", Preben Maegaard). List of Top Rated Solar Powered Heater For Shed from thousands of customer reviews & feedback. [2], A water brake windmill built at the Institute for Agricultural Techniques in 1974. A Calorius windmill producing up to 4 kW of heat. The scientists calculate that the maximum distance that is cost-achievable under optimal wind conditions is 50 km. Ecoheater 1000mm Slimline Greenhouse & Shed Heater HHT310 (120W) Read Review. Heat pumps are certainly the most efficient way to heat either stored water or a house directly however they do not operate on a varying amounts of input power as does simple resistance heating. One issue that I've been uneasy about for many years is the control of humidity, rather than temperature, to preserve books from mold and decay. Images from "Test at very high wind speed of a windmill controlled by a water brake", O. Helgason and A.S. Sigurdson, Science Institute, University of Iceland. A direct mechanically coupled heat pump may not be as efficient as it sounds. Much simpler, less material (i.e. Publicat de Universitatea Tehnic Gheorghe Asachi din Iai Tomul LIX (LXIII), Fasc. We looked carefully at direct water heating via the actual PV panels and found there are two manufacturers (one French and the other Turkish) but they only seem to be effective at lower temperatures such as pool heating plus we have long very hot summers and solar water heaters tend to spend summers venting hot water to avoid overheating in any case. https://www.highviewpower.com/technology/. Journal of Sustainable Architecture and Civil Engineering 10.1 (2015): 58-65. A division of Posted by: Consequently, hot water could literally be tapped out of the windmill. In terms of using wind-driven mechanical heat pumps to produce heat. The LO-FA was also the largest of the heat generating windmills, with a 12 meter diameter rotor. Final Words. March 09, 2019 at 11:46 PM. Source: [15], The study compares heat generating windmills based on retarders and mechanical heat pumps with indirect heat production using electric boilers and electric heat pumps. Some chose the indirect path, converting wind generated electricity into heat using electric heating appliances. However, energy losses (self-discharge) should also be taken into account, and this explains why the Danish heat generating windmills usually had a storage tank holding ten to twenty thousand liters of water. steve | It's cheaper than my oil fired neighbours, 100% carbon free and practical for many people to install now. According toWhich, while micro roof-mounted wind turbines are cheaper, theyre also less efficient and will produce a lot less electricity than pole-mounted ones. Your comment could not be posted. 3, In spite of this, renewable energy sources play a negligible role in heat production. page for more details. Source: 7, Providing enough storage to bridge a week without wind thus requires up to 7 tonnes of water, which corresponds to a volume of 7 cubic meters plus insulation. the generator is not up on the tower (requiring a stronger tower). 7- DIY Solar Panel Air Heater Another ingenious design that enable you to build a solar garage heater using recycled soda cans. As the stirring rods are lowered into the BBs, the resistance rises very quickly. December 13, 2021 at 11:30 PM, New paper on heat mills: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/energyresources/article/144/4/040802/1120767/State-of-the-art-of-Windthermal-Turbines-A, Posted by: But that's because you heat people, not spaces. Almost nobody knows that a windmill can produce heat directly. Efficiency = (work output) / (work input), "it would be three times more energy efficient compared to first converting the energy to electricity, and then back to rotational energy. That's also an interesting idea, and it could be more practical than what Job proposes. Company registered number: 7120391. However, using the stored heat for electricity production is considerably more costly and less sustainable compared to using heat generating windmills for direct heat production. February 28, 2019 at 06:18 AM. Show sites now open. Like a joule machine, it converts rotational energy into heat without the involvement of electricity. If you just need some light for putting away yard tools, you can get by with a simple system costing $100 or less. Kris De Decker I believe the research institute of your reference [15] - DLR (German Aerospace Centre) do have a project to build and test a prototype of this kind of system. Does anyone have a step-by-step instruction of how to build one that is functional in "actual size", not just a model for display? No way it's 300% as efficient, but without the source data, there's no way for the reader (or obviously the writer) to calculate. For instance, what if you moved it to a nearby higher elevation during the summer? 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). Posted by: How would it be easily replicable? 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. This adds back an electric generator to the system but it only has to be sized for average power*, not peak windy day power, February 27, 2019 at 07:40 PM. From 1993 to 2000, the Danish firm Westrup built a total of 34 water brake windmills based on this design, and by 2012 there were still 17 in operation. In general, the higher the tower, the more power the wind system can produce. Maybe a storage system with both hot and cold stores might be interesting. I don't have the answer but I've sent a mail to some scientists who wrote about the eddy current heater. Heat storage can solve this issue but it requires the storage capacity to store 'few months' of generation to fully decouple the generation and demand. [7] Many were built with used car parts and other discarded materials. The result is heat generated by wind energy. Instead of having the turbine use the water as a break, you could use the turbine to pump the water through a cooling track and suck the heat out of the house. The same windmill as the one pictured above, seen from below. The conclusion says that coupling a wind turbine to a heat pump is the most cost effective realization of wind powered heating. 15. [7]. Others, however, developed mechanical windmills that produced heat directly. 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. For even larger systems, energy needs to be transported in the form of electricity, and in that case direct generation of heat with all its benefits becomes unattractive. Energy 164 (2018): 925-936. February 27, 2019 at 06:28 PM. Thinking about it some more, you should also be able to get kinetic energy out (or electricity) and water, by running a turbine on the compressed air and collecting moisture from the cooled air. March 06, 2019 at 11:45 AM. 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 conclude that a mechanical heat pump + mechanical windmill is the most cost effective realization of wind powered heating. from electricity generation or industrial plants (usually nasty fossil Kris - thanks a lot for this great article, very inspiring! So, let's say wind -> electric -> heat gives an overall efficiency of 70%. I think this technology could be great for island communities in higher latitudes. Could be a topic for a future article. However, an old-fashioned windmill can not only provide mechanical energy, but also thermal energy. When the heating is turned on, the water is pumped through the house and then flows back into the tank, where it can be heated again. Larger systems present the same rankings the combination of mechanical windmills and mechanical heat pumps is the cheapest option but they have up to three times lower capital costs due to economies of scale. If you had any pointers to resources, links to other people's DIY direct wind-to-heat pump setups, or were planning on doing an article on those, that would be greatly appreciated! [12] However, using similar models for heat production can decrease embodied energy and costs, increass lifetime, and improve efficiency. [7], Interest in heat generating windmills resurfaced a few years ago, although for now it concerns only a handful of scientific studies. Could this heat storage via water tank double as a way to store potable water? A gear box would help, but this adds complexity. [1] [15]. James Joule built it in the 1840s for his famous measurement of the mechanical equivalent of heat: one calorie equals the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 cubic centimeter of water by 1 degree Celsius. Furthermore, the friction liquid in the water brake was not water but hydraulic oil, which can be heated up to much higher temperatures. Posted by: . HeadakusMaximus | Directly coupling a mechanical windmill to a mechanical heat pump is cheaper than using a gas boiler or the combination of a wind turbine and an electric heat pump. Would the heat be sufficient to kill pathogens in the water tank for longer-term water storage? 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). [3], In spite of this, renewable energy sources play a negligible role in heat production. If you also want renewable electricity, you could use solar PV or a second windmill instead of trying to fit everything into one machine. For example, you could build a desk or a bench with water pipes inside, heated by a small mechanical windmill and heat storage. 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. The convolutions used (and I'm only guessing here) is that 70% efficiency means 30% loss, and that 90% efficient means 10% loss, so 1/3 the loss is the same as a 3x gain. If driven by a windmill, such as my Sharp Cycloturbine, good load matching should be possible. In particular, the electric heat pump is promoted by many governments and organisations as a sustainable solution for renewable heat generation. 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. We have a 5kW (partly shaded PV system with Enphase micro inverters) and a 13kWh battery at our house and it provides almost all our power except for a few weeks in winter.