A MAJOR INNOVATION: THE VORTEX TOWER POWER STATIONS (SELF SECURE VORTEX TOWERS)
A. Coustou
Bordeaux University, avenue Leon Duguit 33608 Pessac, France Email: coustoualain@hotmail.com
Received: 6 Dec 2007; accepted: 6 Jan. 2008
The Vortex Tower Power Stations relates to a continuously mass-producing electric power station without pollution, greenhouse gas emission, consumption of limited natural resources, wastes and independently of irregularity of wind conditions. The invention is embodied in the form of a hollow tower-shaped structure flared at the base thereof, surrounded by a greenhouse area and is optimised in order to combine several natural forces and effects: chimney effect, greenhouse effect, Coriolis force, Venturi effect and wind. The inventive plant comprises, in particular curved structures for activating an artificial and self-sustaining vortex, peripheral flap shutters for involving a wind quantity and pools optimised for storing calories supplied by sun and optionally by effluents of nuclear power plants, different industrial activities or geothermal waters. The production capacity of the inventive power plant is of several hundreds of MW and the production cost of one kWh could be substantially low.
Alain Coustou
Born in France on 1940, Alain Coustou is lecturer in Bordeaux University. PhD in Economics and university degree of Demography, he is member of the scientific council of the University and officer of the "palmes académiques", a high decoration granted par the French Ministry of Education. He has been one of the main founders of the Douala University Center (Cameroun) and the founder - and during seven years the first director - of the Economic and Business Sciences School (ESSEC) of Douala, from 1977 to 1984.
Actually, his main scientific interest topics are energy, climate change and sustained development. So, his two major scientific projects research are concerning the vortex towers power stations and the climatic risks. His most recent publication is "Le réchauffement climatique, un risque majeur" (climate change, a major risk), an important paper published in the "Cahiers de la Security" (Security Journal, No. 3. P. 38-50, France, January 2008).
He is also the author of a book titled "Terre, fin de partie? La dérive climatique, un risque majeur" (Earth, end of game? The climate drift, a major risk) (205 pages, Eons Editions, France, September 2005).
Introduction
The Vortex Tower Power Stations or Self Secure Vortex Towers ("Tours Aérogénératrices" or "Tours Vortex à Sécurité Intrinséque" in french) are an innovative solution for continuous mass production of electrical energy at a low cost, without the emission of greenhouse gas, without the use of scarce natural resources, without waste, and without being adversely affected by the irregularity of wind conditions.
These towers are neither wind turbines nor ordinary solar chimneys, but they belong to the family of the vortex towers, whose geometry is intended for the obtaining and the permanence of a controlled artificial twister (vortex).
Origin of the vortex towers and environmental concerns
The first example of this type of project has been developed forty years ago by the french engineer and precursor Edgard Henry Nazare, who named it "Artificial Cyclone Generator" (1964)1 or "Aerothermal
'French patent No. 1439849/PV 983953, registered at INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property), August 1964.
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Power Station" (1982)2. The others projects of vortex towers were the one presented in 1975 by the Canadian engineer Louis Marc Michaud (Vortex Power Station)3 on one hand, and two projects very close to the invention of Nazare on the other hand. The first of them has been proposed in the ex-USSR by Georges Mamulashvili in 19854. A demonstration model of the second is actually experimented by the French engineer François Maugis and the Sumatel Corporation5.
Meanwhile, in comparison with Nazare's project and with all that have succeeded it, the Vortex Tower Power Stations bring about substantial changes. These changes concern at once the number of the used natural forces and effects, the variety of the heat sources under consideration, numerous structural details, the characteristics of the peripheral greenhouses and of the calories storage system, an unfailing security guaranteed by the absolute control of the artificial twister generated in the structure and, finally, a probably better efficiency than the one of the rival projects. Those towers have been conceived by the author of the present article, lecturer at the University of Bordeaux (France), energy, climate and sustained development specialist, and by the french computer scientist Paul Alary. They are patented in thirty countries in Europe, America and Asia6.
Combined with the classic nuclear or thermal power stations, the Self Secure Vortex Towers could at first increase their energy efficiency by a substantial increase of the electric production. So the oldest or the less safe nuclear plants and the most polluting thermal power stations could be shut down quickly. In addition, the Vortex Tower Power Station can also function in total self-contained operation with only renewable energy supplies, or recover the heat energy lost by the cooling effluents of the industry, while reducing their thermal impact on the environment. And that, whatever the latitude or the climate of the concerned country.
Later, they finally could take the place of the last thermal power stations and guarantee a soft substitution for the nuclear energy.
In the present world, more than the 2/3 of the electricity is generated by the thermal power station, burning coal, oil or gas. Such a situation contributes to intensify dramatically a greenhouse effect, whose the consequences threaten to be beyond all control. In addition, with the oil prices rise, the production costs of thermal electricity often tend toward an increasing, to the detriment of all the users, companies and citizens.
2French patent No. 8205544 (publication No. 2524530), registered at INPI, Mars 1982.
3US patent No. 2004/0112005A1, belatedly registered in USA. June 2004.
4Ex-URSS invention certificates No. 13119654 and 1526335.
5SUMATEL, Allée Les Perce-neiges, 73540, La Bathie
(France).
international demand No. PCT/FR2005/050659, August 2005.
So the creation of really no polluting power stations, capable of producing a low cost kW-h, is a fundamental target towards the aim of a sustained development. All the more because the hydroelectricity is near of its limits, the solar and wind energies at once suffer of a high cost kW-h and a low average availability in the day and the biomass can supply no more than a minor contribution. For its part, the nuclear power is questioned because of the involved worries, particularly about the reprocessing and the long-term safety of the storage of its waste. A solution happily exists for a short time: the one that's proposed with the Vortex Tower Power Station project, presented in this article. This invention has been patented in France after a demand deposed in 20047. On august 2005, a request for patent has been registered in about thirty others countries.
We expose here the general principles, the description, the functioning, and some of the multiples advantages of this invention.
General principles
The invention is in the form of a hollow tower-shaped structure flared at its base and optimised to combine four and even five forces and natural effects:
- The chimney effect.
- The greenhouse effect.
- The Coriolis force (or effect).
- The Venturi effect.
- Optionally, the wind can add additional energy, without being necessary to the functioning of the tower.
- Lastly, it is possible - and even recommended - to exploit the recovery of heat energy, even low calories, from industry, nuclear power stations, great incinerators or from geothermic, otherwise often needlessly lost.
Description of the structure and functions of the different parts of the plant
The detailed description, the plans and the text of the international patent may be consulted on the Vortex Tower Power Station designer's site8.
Optimum envisaged measurements The tower has a minimum height on the order of one hundred meters, and preferably a height on the order of 300 m, not including the outlet shroud. However, it is possible to apply the principle to towers of different sizes. The tower has a base diameter on the order of 150 to 200 meters (for 300-meter tower) and an internal diameter at the base of the conversion means 18 (cylindrical or quasi-cylindrical portion ) on the order of 25 to 30 meters (estimation for a 300-m tower). Summary of the optimum measurements:
- Height: 300 meters.
- Base diameter: 200 meters.
7French patent No. 0408809000, registered at INPI, August 2004. 8Http://groups.msn.com/ToursAerogeneratrices2/
- Top internal diameter, at the level of the lower turbine: 25 to 30 meters.
- Greenhouses area, all around the base of the plant: 3 to 5 square kilometers in totally self-contained functioning, infinitely less when combining natural forces and effects with the recovery of industrial cooling calories, or other renewable calories (geothermic).
Lower sizes are conceivable, according to the available calories and the needs, the concept operating effectively with all heights equalizing or exceeding one hundred meters. The concept is valid for different dimensions, with heights exceeding one hundred meters and tours over 300 meters being capable of being envisaged.
Description, from the base to the top
The tower includes, in the lower portion, a plurality of air inlets with baffle walls curved so as to cause the air to rotate and to generate in the tower a whirlwind phenomenon maintained and amplified by the Coriolis f
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