Alternative types of energy. Review of Sources Electicias.
Limited stocks of fossil fuels and global environmental pollution made humanity look for renewable alternative sources of such energy so that harm from its processing is minimal with acceptable indicators of the cost of production, processing and transportation of energy resources.
Modern technologies allow you to use the existing alternative energy resources, both in the scale of the whole planet and within the energy seal of the apartment or private house.
The violent development of life for several billion years clearly proves the security of the earth with energy sources. Sunlight, heat of subsoil and chemical potential allow living organisms to carry out multiple energy exchanges, existing in the medium created by physical factors - temperature, pressure, humidity, chemical composition.
Createness of substances and energy in nature
Economic criteria for alternative energy sources
The man since ancient times used the wind energy as a propeller for ships, which made it possible to develop trade. Renewable fuel from dead plants and life waste was a source of heat for cooking and obtaining the first metals. The energy of the water difference operated millstone. For the Millennium, these were the main types of energy that we now call alternative sources.
With the development of geology and technologies, the extraction of subsoil has become more costly more profitable to produce hydrocarbons and burn them to get energy as needed than waiting for the weather by the sea literally, hoping for a successful coincidence of the flows, wind directions, clouds.
The instability and variability of weather conditions, as well as the relative cheapness of engines working on fossil fuel, forced progress to develop towards the use of energy of the Earth's subsoil.
Chart demonstrating the ratio of consumption of fossil and renewable energy sources
The carbon dioxide and reworked by living organisms, resting in the depths of millions of years, is again returning to the atmosphere when burning fossil hydrocarbons, which is a source of greenhouse effect and global warming. The well-being of future generations and the fragile equilibrium of the ecosystems cause humanity to revise the economic indicators and use alternative types of energy, because health is more expensive.
The conscious use of the renewable nature of alternative energy sources becomes popular, but, as before, economic priorities prevail. But in the conditions of a country house or in the country, the use of alternative electricity and heat sources can be the only cost-effective option for obtaining energy, if conducting, connecting and installing power lines will be too expensive.
Ensuring a minimum necessary amount of electricity remote from the civilization with solar panels and wind generator
Opportunities for using alternative types of energy
While scientists explore new directions and develop cold-thermaline synthesis technology, homemade masters can use the following alternative energy sources for the home:
- Sunlight;
- Wind energy;
- Biological gas;
- Temperature difference;
According to alternative types of renewable energy, there are ready-made solutions that have been successfully implemented in mass production. For example, solar panels, wind generators, biogas installations and thermal pumps of various power can be purchased with delivery and installation to have its own alternative sources of electricity and thermal energy for a private house.
Industrial solar panel installed on the roof of a private house
In each case, there must be your own plan for providing household electrical appliances by sources of alternative electrical energy, according to needs and capabilities. For example, to power the laptop, tablet, the phone charging can be used by a voltage source 12 V., and portable adapters. This voltage, with a sufficient amount of energy accumulator, will be sufficient for lighting using.
Solar panels and wind generators must charge batteries, due to the impermanence of lighting and wind energy power. With an increase in the power of alternative sources of electricity and the volume of batteries, the energy independence of autonomous power supply increases. If you need to connect electrical appliances operating from 220 V to an alternative source of electricity, then apply voltage converters.
A diagram illustrating the power supply of domestic appliances from batteries charged by the wind generator and solar panels
Alternative Solar Radiation Energy
At home, it is almost impossible to create photocells, so designers of alternative energy sources use ready-made components, collecting generating structures, achieving the required power. The connection of the photocells consistently increases the output voltage of the resulting source of electricity, and the connection of the collected chains parallel gives a greater total assembly current.
Connection diagram of photocells in assembly
You can navigate on the intensity of solar radiation energy - this is about one kilowatt per square meter. It is also necessary to take into account the efficiency of solar cells - at the moment it is approximately 14%, but intensive developments are underway to increase the efficiency of solar generators. The output power depends on the intensity of the radiation and the angle of drops of rays.
You can start with small - to purchase one or more small solar panels, and have a source of alternative electricity in the country in the amount required to charge a smartphone or laptop to have access to the global Internet. Measuring current and tension, the volume of energy consumption is studying the perspective of further expanding the use of alternative electricity sources.
Installation of additional solar panels on the roof of the house
It must be remembered that the sunlight is also a source of thermal (infrared) radiation, which can be used to heat the coolant without further conversion of energy into electricity. This alternative is applied in solar collectorswhere, with reflectors, infrared radiation is concentrated and transmitted by the heat carrier to the heating system.
Solar collector as part of the home heating system
Alternative wind energy
The simplest way to independently create a wind generator is to use a car generator. To increase the revolutions and voltage of the source of alternative electricity (efficiency of electrical energy generation), a gearbox or belt transmission should be applied. An explanation of all sorts of technological nuances is beyond the scope of this article - it is necessary to study the principles of aerodynamics in order to understand the process of converting the speed of the air mass flow into alternative electricity.
At the initial stage of studying the prospects for the transformation of renewable sources of alternative wind energy into electricity, you need to choose the windmill design. The most common structures are a paddle screw with a horizontal axis, a Savonius rotor, and a Daruba turbine. The vane screw with three blades as an alternative energy source is the most common option for self-made manufacturer.
Varieties of turbines Darier
When designing screw blades, the corner speed of wind turbine rotation is of great importance. There is a so-called screw efficiency factor that depends on the speed of the air flow, as well as the length, section, the number and angle of attacking the blades.
A generalized this concept can be understood so - with a small wind, the length of the blade with a very good angle of attack will not be enough to achieve the maximum efficiency of generating energy, but with multiple strengthening of the flow and an increase in the angular velocity of the edge of the blades will experience excessive resistance that can damage them.
Sophisticated windmill vault profile
Therefore, the length of the blades is calculated based on the average wind speed, smoothly by changing the angle of attack relative to the removal from the center of the screw. To prevent damage to the blades under the hurricane wind, the findings of the generator closure short, which prevents the rotation of the screw. For approximate calculations, one kilowatt of alternative electricity from a three-bladed screw with a diameter of 3 meters with an average wind speed is 10m / s.
To create an optimal profile, the blades will need computer simulation and CNC machine. At home, the wizard is used by sweater materials and tools, trying to accurately recreate the drawings of alternative wind energy sources. As materials used wood, metal, plastic, etc.
Homemade wind generator screw made of wood and metal plate
To generate electricity the power of the automotive generator may not be enough, so the masters do it with their own hands generating electrical machines, or transmitted electric motors. The most popular design of the source of alternative electricity is a rotor with alternately placed neodymium magnets and a stator with windings.
Rotors homemade generator
Stator with windings for homemade generator
Alternative energy biogas
Biological gas as a source of energy is obtained mainly in two ways - this pyrolysis and anaerobic (without oxygen access) decomposition of organic substances. For pyrolysis, a limited oxygen supply required to maintain the reaction temperature is required, while combustible gases are distinguished: methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide and other compounds: carbon dioxide, acetic acid, water, ash residues. As a source for pyrolysis, fuel with a large resin content is best. The video below shows a visual demonstration of separation of combustible gas from wood when heated.
For biogas synthesis, methantanks of various structures are used to synthesize the biogasis of vital activity of organisms. Installing methantank at home with their own hands makes sense if there is a chicken coop, pigbird and cattle livestock in the household. The main gas at the outlet - methane, but a large amount of hydrogen sulfide impurities and other organic compounds requires the use of cleaning systems to remove odor and prevent burners in thermal generators or contamination of the engine fuel paths.
It is necessary for a thorough study of the energy of chemical processes, technologies with a gradual set of experience, passing the path of trial and errors in order to obtain a combustible biological gas of acceptable quality at the output.
Regardless of the origin, after cleaning, the gas mixture is supplied to the heat generator (boiler, furnace, plate burner) or in a carburetor of a gasoline generator, - in such ways it turns out a full alternative energy with their own hands. With sufficient power of gas generators, it is possible not only to ensure the house of alternative energy, but also provides work of small production, as shown in the video:
Heat machines for saving and obtaining alternative energy
Heat pumps Widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners. It was observed, to move heat, it takes several times less energy than for its generation. Therefore, the student water from the well has a thermal potential for frosty weather. Having lowering the temperature of the running water from the well or from the depths of the non-freezing lake, the heat pumps are selected heat and transmit it to the heating system, while considerable electricity savings are achieved.
Electricity savings using a heat pump
Another type of heat machine is a stirling engine, which operates from the energy of the temperature difference in the closed system of cylinders and pistons placed on the crankshaft at an angle of 90ยบ. The rotation of the crankshaft can be used to generate electricity. The network has many materials from proven sources, explaining the principle of operation of the Stirling engine, and even the examples of homemade structures are given as on the video below:
Unfortunately, home conditions do not allow creating a stirling engine with energy output parameters higher than that of a fun toy or demonstration stand. To obtain acceptable power and efficiency, it is required that the working gas (hydrogen or helium) is under high pressure (200 atmospheres and more). Such heat machines are already used in solar and geothermal power plants and begin to be embedded in the private sector.
Stirling Engine in Parabolic Mirror Focus
To get the most stable and independent electricity in the country or in a private house, you will need to combine several alternative energy sources.
Innovative ideas for creating alternative energy sources
It is not possible to fully cover the entire range of possibilities of renewable alternative energy. Alternative energy sources are literally in every living cell. For example, algae chlorells have long been known as the source of proteins in the stern for fish.
Experts on the cultivation of chlorella in weightlessness are put on, for applying astronauts, with far cosmic flights in the future. The energy potential of algae and other simple organisms is studied for the synthesis of combustible hydrocarbons.
The accumulation of sunlight in the living cells of the chlorella grown in industrial installations
It should be borne in mind that the transducer and battery of the energy of sunlight is better than the fluoroplastic of the alive cell is not yet invented. Therefore, potential renewable sources of alternative electricity are available in each green leaf exercising. photosynthesis.
The main difficulty is to collect organic material, with the help of chemical and physical processes to get energy from there and convert it to electricity. Already, large areas of agrarian lands are discharged under the cultivation of alternative energy crops.
Cleaning Missantus - Energy Agrotechnical Culture
Another colossal source of alternative energy can be atmospheric electricity. The lightning energy is huge and has devastating effects, and lightning conductions are used to protect against them.
althrodnostility with curbing the energy potential of zipper and atmospheric electricity consists in a large voltage and current of the discharge current for a very short time, which requires the creation of multistage systems from capacitors to accumulate charges followed by the use of stored energy. Also good perspectives are available at static atmospheric electricity.