The
combined form of all the three non-conventional energy sources working
together.
Now let’s
look at everything in a bit more detail.
Configuration
(from bottom to top)
1) Base-
The base is made up of concrete with steel infrastructure so that it can
support the whole body.
2) Turbines-
The turbines used to produce the tidal power is placed here. A net mesh has
been provided so that only water can come in and the damage to the turbine
due to corrosion is minimum. Thus maintenance cost will reduce this way
considerably.
3) Battery
Storage and Motors- This place is used as a battery-storage and motors
room where the motors to tidal energy would be kept and also the batteries
which stores the current before sending it for supply would also be kept.
4) All
purpose storage room- This room can be used to store almost anything
ranging from extra batteries to store more current or the photovoltaic cell
of the solar cell or a small office may also be set up. It completely
depends upon the person creating the object.
5) Solar
Panels, Photovoltaic cell and wind mills- The roof-top, which no doubt
gets the maximum sunlight can be used for keeping the solar panels. Since,
the solar panels would be kept a little raised from the ground, the space
underneath it can be utilized for keeping the photovoltaic cells. The
windmills can be put on the four corners of the roof and also in any freely
available space as more the number of mills, more the power.
Working
The SWT
works by combining the working of all the cells. When sea water or river
water (if the project is built in an estuary) comes in, it turns the turbine
making the motor connected to it move. Electricity is generated in the
conventional way as in a thermal powered plant. The electricity moves via
high-tension cables to the converters (situated in the battery chamber) and
is converted into DC current and then sent to the battery for storage. The
solar cells also works in its usual way and the electricity is sent to the
battery for storage. The wind mill also sends some electricity when there is
wind and which is again stored in the battery.
A logic
circuit is placed in the battery room or in the ‘all purpose room’ to
control the flow of current from different sources. For example, at night
there will be no current from the solar cells, hence the logic circuit will
stop accepting any current from that source.
Finally,
the stored current in the battery would be sent to the public supply board
who may sent it directly to the people’s homes in DC format or convert it
into AC and then send it.
To
conclude, the SWT would stop the ruthless use of fossil fuels providing
electricity hand in hand. Thus neither will there be any shortage of power
nor will there be any pollution due to the burning of fossil fuels. Also
since non-conventional sources of power does not end, there would not be any
worry of a power shortage in the near future due to the exhaustion of the
fossil fuels. Also, these sources of energy are free for use and hence no
revenue is spent on renewing generation.
The project
is particularly good for our country because we are in a peninsula where
there is abundance of sea-shore and estuaries, thus enabling the project to
be installed almost anywhere. Thus, this way a greater part of India can be
lighted up and that too without any black smoke entering our atmosphere.
Acknowledgements
1) http://home.iitk.ac.in/student/pdiwakar/power.htm
2)http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:ESzrfKtGHtEJ:www.eerc.und.nodak.edu/pubs/reports/ds_Bioenergy.pdf+De-merits+of+conventional+sources+of+power&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
3) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 1999.
4) Toxicological profile for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Atlanta,
GA:
5) U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Public Health Service.
6) NMSEA Energy Pathways.
7) New Mexico Solar Energy Association.
8) NTNU Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet.
9) Fujita Research Institute’s Papers on Wind Power.
10) Berkeley Lab news website.
11) Peter Osborne.
12) Sreetama Dey Das for music and animation effects.
13) Beckman, William A. and Duffie, John A., Solar Engineering of Thermal
Processes. 2nd Ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
1991, pp.768-793.
14) Zweibel, Ken. Harnessing Solar Power: The Photovoltaics Challenge.
Plenum Press, New York and London. 1990.
<<Previous
Page