MINI VERTICAL SHAFT WIND TURBINES FOR ULTIMATE FREE POWER

 MINI VERTICAL SHAFT WIND TURBINES FOR ULTIMATE FREE POWER

Giant horizontal shaft wind turbines have their disadvantages which are as massive as they themselves are. Exorbitant initial manufacturing costs, high noise pollution, massive free hold space for installation in remote areas, substantial loss of power during transmission to the usage point, which defeats their purpose of putting them up. The costs of maintenance / repairs and installation are a separate chapter by itself.

Financing such herculean projects becomes risky for the institutions with all the above factors on the negative side. Additionally, the insurance companies have to take big hits when the high winds & tornadoes topple these STEEL FANS like match sticks.  

THINK MICRO & LOCAL

If you want to eradicate poverty, then we have to go the micro financing route and empower the common / poorest man.

If you want to succeed in the garbage removal & disposable area then we have to go the localized route, of handling & disposal of garbage at the very source of its generation.   

If we want free power from the wind, then we have to go the easy route of MINI VERTICAL SHAFT WIND TURBINES. These wind mills will be installed on every pole that the power company owns and uses for power transmission to each household/group of houses. They will supply the power directly into the POWER GRID, when they do turn & twist at unbelievable low wind speeds of 5 kilometers per hour.

Such low velocity winds are always blowing all along the coastline and in-lands on islands like Nova Scotia & Prince Edward. This is how we ensure that there are zero transmission losses because the consumer is using the generated power right there.   

It is proposed to manufacture slender 12 / 15 inches’ diameter mini wind turbines about three feet tall. They will have double plated bases which would be spring loaded to minimize the vibrations caused on account of high revolutions per minute at high wind speeds. They will be locked into positions at the pole tops with innovative low cost arrangements.

SUCCESS OF THE PROPOSAL


This innovative idea uses, the under utilized existing infrastructure of poles & their tops, the managerial setup of big power companies, their ability to out source the manufacture of such mini wind turbines, and finally install them in bulk is the key selling point for this otherwise not so profitable proposal, when done on a piecemeal basis.

Each mini turbine will be of no more the 1 kw capacity or maximum of 2 kw, to keep the cost of manufacture low and standardize the item. It will come in multiple colors to lure the local customer, homeowner to buy or finance it in easy installments. The customer, the consumer of power will be given a standard rebate in his power bill depending upon the RUNNING TIME of the wind mill which should be pretty easy to measure up and record.  50 thousand wind turbines running at full speed will generate 50,000 x 1 kw = 50,000 kw of power.

In a township of 400,000 it should not be very difficult to get 50,000 customers who would love to own their own mini wind turbine, specially when the arrangement between the power company is very TRANSPARENT. The author would definitely like to own one if not more such efficient wind turbines.

The tourism industry would additionally benefit from such an attractive looking site of spinning blades and colorful shades on thousands of POLE TOPS.

Rohit Khanna – Industrial Engineer.

SNOW CLEARING / REMOVAL DURING WINTER SEASON

SNOW CLEARING / REMOVAL DURING WINTER SEASONS

The traditional system of handling snow.

A small city like Halifax has a budget of 20 million dollars just for clearing up the snow on its roads and pedestrian pathways. The budget for repairs of roads is another 10 million. They use giant trucks with wide ploughs for pushing & piling up the snow from the center of the roads onto the two edges & pedestrian paths. Basically we are spending energy & money on displacing the snow in multiple sweeps from the roads onto the side walks first. In the next attempt we try and clear up a narrow path on the sidewalks by displacing the piled up snow the second time, using mini Bobcats with ploughs.

When it snows continuously or in quick secession for three or four occasions, then we have a major problem, because we run out of space on our over stocked sidewalks to pile up the additional snow. In the mean time the first snow has hardened up into solid ice to make matters worse.

The new innovative proposed system of handling snow.

This innovative system is proposing the use of the highly under utilised fire fighting pipeline network & salty sea water, to wash away the snow from the roads. The extensive pipeline network happens to be laid out all along the main roads. Minor modifications will be required to pump in the sea water instead of the regular treated water.

It is also proposed to fix up special purpose nozzles on every hydrant along the roads to spray a shower of salty water on to full width of the road including the sidewalks to wash away the falling snow as it is falling down. The special purpose nozzles/jets will additionally sway left and right to cover a large area of the road up to the half of the next hydrant. This methodology will ensure that every inch of our road is cleared up of the falling snow. Hopefully the salty water spray will absorb the falling snow flakes before they touch the ground and turn them into “rain water”. 

The special purpose nozzles will function / operate at a predetermined pressure, which can be easily controlled at the pumping station control room. Once the pressure is reduced the water flowing from the nozzles stop automatically to conserve the amount of water supply & energy.

Fortunately, the layout of this township is hilly and strategically located on the sea coast. In many locations the ocean creeps into the towns most populated areas.  The flow of salty water from higher regions will additionally assist in sweeping the deposited snow in lower regions. This way we will have tackled the snow only once, the first time as it should be done. 

Advantages & Savings. 

The extensive damages due to the shearing force of heavy ploughs to the roads will be totally eliminated. The additional cost of repairs to these damaged roads will also be zero. The inconvenience caused to the public on account of delays because of rush hour repairs will be mitigated too.

The huge cost of owning and operating the gigantic fleet of ploughs and Bobcats will be minimized to a great extent. The winter parking ban of vehicles on streets can be lifted now for the benefit of public.

It is estimated that the government can save up to at least 15 million dollars annually, if not more. The cost of minor modifications and new nozzles on every hydrant is only a one-time cost which will be recovered in the very first year alone. A pilot study must surely be done on a small area of the township to prove the effectiveness of this out of the world idea.  Good luck.  

Rohit Khanna – Industrial Engineer.