Monday, June 29, 2015

How High Altitude Wind is advantageous

Any motion in nature if tapped properly can be converted in useful electricity. Now over here I have mathematically explained how , high altitude winds can be advantageous.



\ v_z = v_g \cdot \left(  \frac {z} {z_g} \right)^ \frac {1} {\alpha},  0 < z < z_g
where:
\ v_z = speed of the wind at height \ z
\ v_g = gradient wind at gradient height \ z_g
\ \alpha = exponential coefficient
The Hellmann exponent depends upon the coastal location and the shape of the terrain on the ground, and the stability of the air. Examples of values of the Hellmann exponent are given in the table below:
locationα
Unstable air above open water surface:0.06
Neutral air above open water surface:0.10
Unstable air above flat open coast:0.11
Neutral air above flat open coast:0.16
Stable air above open water surface:0.27
Unstable air above human inhabited areas:0.27
Neutral air above human inhabited areas:0.34
Stable air above flat open coast:0.40
Stable air above human inhabited areas:0.60

Now look into the above equation. For example someone lives in human inhabited area where at a height of 3 meters, he is getting wind speeds of mere 2m/sec , if the wind is stable the exponential coefficient is α = 0.60, A few blogs earlier I have mentioned about Google's Makani High Altitude Wind power.

Now suppose we have the Makani system stationed in this highly populated area. The Makani Kite can reach heights of 310meteres. Suppose that the Makani Kite is raised upto a height of 300meteres. So what windspeed it gets at this height?

Lets calculate;:
                               0.60
V300=2*(300/3)

V300= 31.7 meteres/sec

So at high altitudes the windspeed is always likely to be very high, if this was unstable wind still the wind speed would have been approximately 8 m/s at a height of 300 meters.

So at high altitudes most of the times wind speeds are likely to be high most of the times in almost all the regions of the world. 


Google Makani and Alteros BAT taps into this and produces electricity and there is indeed a lot of electricity that can be produced this way. Saving us from tonnes and tonnes of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. 


With so much work going into green energy research and renewable electricity technology the world can look into a greener cleaner future. 




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