The atmospheric vortex engine - a new kind of power plant?

[Atahualpa]

I've just read about this in the news. Sounds promising. It's called the Atmospheric Vortex Engine and it uses an artificially created hurricane to produce energy.

While this is similar to some other sorts of upstream powerplants, this one is not restricted to the use of solar collectors.

You can read about it here: http://www.vortexengine.ca/index.html

A vortex engine is a machine for producing and controlling a tornado-like vortex. A vortex engine consists of a cylindrical wall open at the top and with tangential air entries around its base. Heating the air within the wall using a temporary heat source such as steam starts the vortex. The heat to sustain the vortex once established is provided in cooling tower bays located outside of the cylindrical wall and upstream of the deflectors. The continuous heat source for the peripheral heat exchanger can be waste industrial heat or warm seawater. The intensity of the vortex is regulated by restricting the flow of air with dampers located upstream of the deflectors. The vortex can be stopped by restricting the airflow to deflectors with direct orientation and by opening the airflow to deflectors with reverse orientation.

The power output could be around 200MW

[Japher]

that's pretty neat

[child of Thor]

I want one for my Ogame universe

But yeah it sounds pretty cool - the kind of thing that might help bring mankind from the brink of its idiocy(along with many other progresive idea's+designs that better work with nature). So a to the vortex engine.

[VetLegion]

You're playing Ogame? Is it any good?

[Tingkai]

Sounds like a common turbine.

There are power generators that burn natural gas to drive a power turbine. The heat from the natural gas is then used to power another turbine. I think it is called cogeneration.

[Theben]

Is it in Omaha, Nebraska? I always thought that place had a tornado factory somewhere.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by VetLegion
You're playing Ogame? Is it any good?

off topic(appropriate for this place ) : check in the 'Other games' forum here - a load of people are playing it, and yes its good

on topic:

I wonder how efficient it will be? and i'm guessing it will have close to zero waste product, it all being steam etc? I still like it

[Atahualpa]

Theben, I think I read he tries to do something like that in Utah.

Tingkai, well, not quite, since this is not an upstream heat converting plant. The heat is just used to feed the hurricane and the power is generated with the flow of the air. At least that's how I understood it.
It's a pretty green technology, I'd say and I hope that it'll proof effective.

[Tingkai]

Where do you get the heat?

[Japher]

geothermal wells

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Where do you get the heat?

read the page man... warm seawater, heat-waste from industries, solar,...

[BlackCat]

If I remember right, then Deadlock has a Vortex emitter - wreaks nice havoc on opponents coasts

[Gatekeeper]

Atmospheric Vortex Engines — heh, fascinating stuff. Hopefully something good will come of it eventually.

Gatekeeper

[Flip McWho]

But you're forgetting the terrible day when the hurricanes generated within get to big for their containments and join into one super hurricane intent on world destruction.

[_BuRjaCi_]

Yes the huricane would be led by a reanimated alien Elivs and would seed the Earth with little mutated death hamsters .