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reddly
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# Posted: 2 Feb 2013 09:46pm
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The topic pretty much sums it all up. I've watched a youtube video (there are 2 different designs) of some DIY wave generators. Well I don't think they went fully into the making power part of it but they made a wheel spin.
Anyways I was looking at these do it yourself sorta projects, and I figure if you built a pier, or anchored a buoy, or even just had a hard rock face to hang a float off of, anyways getting ahead of myself. Does anyone have experience with wave energy? What kind of power output is possible? any difficulties?
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reddly
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# Posted: 5 Feb 2013 12:52am
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 no one?
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rayyy
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# Posted: 5 Feb 2013 02:52pm
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Noooo,but you know what,reddly,That is a phonaminal power source.And we should all be kicking our selves in the butt for not useing that energy supply to generate pollution free,"free" energy.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 5 Feb 2013 06:46pm
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No, but you just made me think of something. A hydraulic ram pump is a mechanism that will pump water up hill based only on the energy flow of a river or creek. Works slowly, but regularly. If you had a constant water flow, you could hook one of these to fill a tank, then set the tank to automatically discharge all its water through a turbine to generate electricity to charge batteries. When the tank is empty it automatically resets to fill by the ram pump.
Where's the patent office? I thought of it first!!!
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sparky1
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# Posted: 5 Feb 2013 07:38pm
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Years ago when i was a Sailor(US Navy) in the med off the coast of Spain??barcelona i think there are huge "Wave Generators" might want to google it---i have dial up---so the world will end before i could do a bunch of surfing.
hope you find it.
sparky1 in southern Va.
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reddly
Member
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# Posted: 6 Feb 2013 01:47am
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well...
I've been considering (since I live on the west coast and property is fairly cheap and plentiful when you head a little further north) that an easy way to power would be hydro.
I imagine there would be wind, and part of the year solar might be somewhat viable. Realistically both these options are bandaids at best. Wind off the water might be possible but solar is highly unlikely to be effective. Not only does it rain (lots of cloud cover) a lot of the year but the long winters with short days would make this ineffective.
Micro hydro on a stream may or may not be possible depending on location, hopefully it is as I really want to further experiment with water wheels and floating wheels etc.
But for a consistent power source at a location that is remote enough to make a generator not entirely feasible, I figured building a pier with either ropes, or a pivot arms connected to floats and such might work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UxgYOB20QE
was something I found in my searches and it is the basis of my search for more info.
There are some other simple designs I would try, floating buoys, or even anchored poles with floats. There are a variety of ways to make it all work but in general I'm more curious about power output, I know its constant and I know bigger waves can produce more but viability of this could make a large impact in where to purchase property, and what to build when at that property.
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exsailor
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# Posted: 6 Feb 2013 10:34am
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Sorry bldginsp, I had that idea for a long time and finally suggested it in a thread in a different forum,that was running power generation thoughts. As you can see below there are short comings to mine and your subsequent idea. If anybody lives close to a stream maybe the idea clould be tested. I would still like to see it dispproved.
Originally Posted by exsailor
We can make self sufficiency easier with power we generate, but conservation is the key to power self sufficiency. Granted LED lighting is easier to read by than candle light. Power with dependable availability comes from integrating multiple power generating sources, such as wind and solar. I have an idea that may smack of a perpetual motion machine, but it really isn't. I have often wondered if you couldn't use a water ram to move water up into a tank. You could then use the fall from the tank to turn small water turbine for hydro power generation. You are using the kinetic energy of the moving water to "Ram Pump" the water into a tank. The water in the tank then has potential energy released through small water turbine which in turn rotates a generator head creating electricity.
I realize the hydro-system would empty the tank, and the ram pump couldn't keep up with the flow demand of the hydro system. It wouldn't necessarily be a continuous run system but one that operates in cycles. One when the tank is full, you are generating power, and off when the tank is filling, the water turbine is in standby not generating power, so on and so forth. It would be run for "charging sessions" to keep a battery bank charged, as the water is discharged through the water turbine. You might even be able to make the charging sessions somewhat automated dependant on the tank levels. It seems like it would be free power because the inefficient ram pump would fill your tank and gravity could return the water through your hydro- system back into the feed stream, so you don't run afoul of downstream use, like you would if you made a dam. It also wouldn't cause a flood, because there would not be a damn to break. Well just some idle thoughts that I think would work. Does anybody have any ideas why this wouldn't work?The power company around here does something similar,they have a reservoir in the mountains during the day when power demand is high they run the water down hill to turbines at night when it's low they reverse the flow and pump the water back,if you have enough water to run a ram pump then you'd have enough to run a small hydro,ram pumps couldn't lift the water high enough to work,if you don't have a lot of fall from your water it take massive amounts to make any usable power,even a small low head hydro needs 500 gallons a minute,there are many small hydro sites on the net most of them have fall tables that show how much drop and volume you need to make power and there are also many ram pump sites that can show you what a ram pump can do,look it up you'll see whats possible
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Rifraf
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# Posted: 6 Feb 2013 11:33am
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Tidal power is very easy to harness if you have legal access to shoreline waters. The 'one way' turbine is connected to a large cylinder tube in the water (off a pier usually) as water rises the air pressure spins the turbine and the same effect as the water lowers.
Im irritated that coastal cities dont generate the city power this way.. im sure its legal iron tape. Free energy is not good for business after all.
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TomChum
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# Posted: 6 Feb 2013 05:22pm - Edited by: TomChum
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Quoting: bldginsp A hydraulic ram pump............Works slowly, but regularly.
On my way to the cabin, I drive past a Ram pump. It makes the sound of a sledgehammer banging a steel pipe. Yes it's regular, all day, all night, and loud. I would not want one of those at my 'retreat'.
Quoting: Rifraf Im irritated that coastal cities dont generate the city power this way.. im sure its legal iron tape. Free energy is not good for business after all.
It seems like this could be done in coastal industrial areas. Due to the huge size necessary they could be a blight like giant windmills. I like free energy, but building free energy that simply affords lower costs to waste (Like powering Las Vegas) is not worth it.
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reddly
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# Posted: 7 Feb 2013 05:56pm
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Quoting: Rifraf Tidal power is very easy to harness if you have legal access to shoreline waters. The 'one way' turbine is connected to a large cylinder tube in the water (off a pier usually) as water rises the air pressure spins the turbine and the same effect as the water lowers.
do you have a picture of this? or a link to a picture of something I could look at ? I never thought of air pressure change and it makes a lot of sense. I wonder how much power it would generate. how big it would be to have to work properly. This interest me a lot along with other ideas of "off pier" tidal power. hell this wouldn't even need to be off pier. it could simply be anchored.
Quoting: TomChum I like free energy, but building free energy that simply affords lower costs to waste (Like powering Las Vegas) is not worth it.
Not a fan of the waste but there is to much money for them to turn the juice off. More renewable energy is less use of non renewable and most likely less polution. It may not be winning the war changing society but at least it would be a victory on the way.
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reddly
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# Posted: 7 Feb 2013 06:21pm
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continuing the thought with tidal versus wave energy though. wave energy is simple on a small scale. seriously its basically floats connected to something (pretty much anything)
tidal is a little more complex, requiring either currents, or large tidal changes. I don't believe that the changes in high and low tide are enough here (pacific northwest) to simply make an underwater "windmill" and I'm certainly not building a dam to block off an inlet. I don't think the air pressure change would be enough to turn a turbine. at least not a large one. The idea is still curious but I'm not sure it will work. I think the floats and working on wave power are more feasible.
or maybe small boxes attached to the pier with an opening at the top to release air pressure and an intake at the bottom that would allow water in and out as waves and the tide changed the water level. again... getting ahead of myself.
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