It seems flying helps my creative process, since most of my creativity has been going to my actual job.
In many places wind energy is generated during non-peak demand times. What can’t be sold at full price is sold at a discount or is sent to a dump load. (Giant resistive heaters.)
Long ago I suggested that the excess energy could be used to make renewable hydrogen, however moving hydrogen is difficult and it is not energy rich, so it isn’t really worth the money. However, with a ramjet at the end of the turbine blades, there is something to be done with the hydrogen. Traditional jet engines (they tried so called tipjets in helicopters with little success) could be used but there complexity and cost, combined with the inefficiencies of using such a large wind swept area makes them a poor choice. However, if you have a source of near or faster than the speed of sound air then the low complexity and high efficiency of a ramjet make it the perfect choice. (Ramjets have no moving parts so they have to be brought to operating velocity by other means.)
By making hydrogen when electric demand is low it can be stored, then used as fuel in the ramjet to turn the blades when the wind is not blowing or not blowing very hard. The generator could briefly draw power from the grid to start the feathered blades, then once up to speed the ramjet would ignite and drive the blades with the exhaust gases. Since the ramjet would run in a very fixed speed range and altitude it could be designed to be highly efficient, and run very lean. Ramjet/scramjet wind turbines would have to be in very isolated areas, because the exhaust gases would exceed the speed of sound. However the shockwave would be away from the blade itself, reducing the wear on the to rotating mass.
Without a source of a fuel that was cheaper to sell as electricity than it was to move, this idea is not practical. You might be thinking why not put the hydrogen through a fuel cell since it is more efficient? Well if you already have a wind turbine with ramjet tips, then the equipment is already there, and isn’t as service intensive as a fuel cell.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Improving the design and output of wind turbines
It seems that the two biggest problems with wind turbines are bug drag and super-sonic tips.
Bug drag:
By adding a additional structures to the lead edge of the blades like a razor edge or spikes the air could shaped in advance of the blade itself to push the impacting bug or dust sideways into the airstream so that it would have a reduced chance of impacting the blade. Also, by adding those little raised wings or a longer sweep on edge like you see on the end of new aircraft wings the tip would be less turbine have a shape that prevents end strikes and reduces noise.
Super-sonic tips:
As the blades on wind turbines get longer and they spin faster they approach the speed of sound. The sonic boom makes them bad neighbors and puts a great deal of wear and strain on the parts. A ramjet at the end of the blade in the super-sonic region would reduce the sound and increase the energy captured. A ramjet has no moving parts, so it is hard to break, (in this case it would have a set of spring loaded doors that would open only as the blade approached the speed of sound.)
The air moving through the inlet would be slowed, increasing the overall drag but as it exited it would accelerate contributing to the thrust. The shockwave would be damped inside the body of the ram, making the blade quieter even at high speeds.
Bug drag:
By adding a additional structures to the lead edge of the blades like a razor edge or spikes the air could shaped in advance of the blade itself to push the impacting bug or dust sideways into the airstream so that it would have a reduced chance of impacting the blade. Also, by adding those little raised wings or a longer sweep on edge like you see on the end of new aircraft wings the tip would be less turbine have a shape that prevents end strikes and reduces noise.
Super-sonic tips:
As the blades on wind turbines get longer and they spin faster they approach the speed of sound. The sonic boom makes them bad neighbors and puts a great deal of wear and strain on the parts. A ramjet at the end of the blade in the super-sonic region would reduce the sound and increase the energy captured. A ramjet has no moving parts, so it is hard to break, (in this case it would have a set of spring loaded doors that would open only as the blade approached the speed of sound.)
The air moving through the inlet would be slowed, increasing the overall drag but as it exited it would accelerate contributing to the thrust. The shockwave would be damped inside the body of the ram, making the blade quieter even at high speeds.
Second generation probiotics
Second generation probiotics
I saw a talk about the skin microbiome (all the organisms mostly bacteria that call our outer surfaces home). If you think I don't care my skin is clean you might be interested to know that we are out numbered in our own bodies ten to one.
Your immune system has a cease fire with the numerous species of bacteria that cover every inch of your body. They are the gate keepers they alter your skins chemistry to their liking and zealously guard their patch from all other comers. As long as they don't try and come in the immune system largely tolerates them. The system works well, you can see this in the fact that some seriously nasty bugs are on you right now but the other bugs keep them in check.
Like it or not most of the skin diseases like are caused by bacterial imbalances. If your immune system or bacterial population gets out of balance the bad bugs begin to overwhelm the natural suppression and begin to invade the body. The immune system responds and a vicious and itchy cycle begins. Moisturizers swell and seal the skin hindering access and movement of bacteria. Cortisone reduces the over enthusiast immune system letting the bacteria settle things amongst themselves.
Antibiotics kill certain classes of bacteria partly restoring the balance and letting the bacteria settle it amongst themselves. If you noticed that the last two scenarios ended with the bacteria settling amongst themselves, you might have figured out that the immune system holds little sway in the epidermis. It is like the situation in less stable countries the where along the border region warlords or tribal chiefs enter into deals to keep mutual enemies at bay. The central government and the UN might not like it, but if they don’t have to resources to stabilize the region then it is the only way to bring order.
Enough background…
While Americas spend billions to fill our gut with "healthy" bacteria we insist that our skin should be sterile. We slather ourselves in Purell in a vain attempt to reduce our bacterial load. Mostly what we accomplish with Purell is to dry our skin, open the keratin and smear the dirty around. I am not saying Purell doesn't reduce the spread of the
flu. I am saying that hand washing if done properly is better, and likely healthier.
(If the Purell people are reading this, drop me a note and I'd be happy to explain to you how to make a product that is microbiome friendly.)
I predict that once evidence that sterile skin is both not possible and it is generally a bad idea to try (at least for otherwise healthy people) we will see the emergence of probiotics for the skin.
At first they will be targeted to conditions that have a fixed location on the body like Eczema and Psoriasis so a generic bacterial blend is possible. (The bacteria from behind you ear or in your armpit in most cases are not the same ones as on the skin of your forearm or scalp. So, a whole body blend will be hard to make.) Other locations will follow soon after probably scalp (dandruff control), face (acne control), nail bed (fungus control) and elbow pit (reduction in hospital acquired infections).
Then designer second generation probiotics will follow. Bacteria that colonize the hair follicles and suppress sterol synthesis and processing could regrow hair. Bacteria that make and secrete UV absorbing compounds would act as natural sun screen by decreasing the skin’s UV exposure. These bacteria need not even be generically engineered, they could be found by Bioprospecting for people that regrew hair spontaneously or resisted a clear linage of baldness, or people who despite being fair skinned and getting high sun exposure were sunburn resistant.
Vanity second generation probiotics could follow, with bugs that made vanillin or other esters, so dirty socks and sweaty shirts would smell nice, probiotic deodorant. GFP or pigment producing bugs, habitat restricted to the hair follicles, so people could have bacterial dyed hair. Going gray would be a thing of the past, since bacteria would produce natural pigments into the forming keratin. (This could also make self painting nails by colonizing the nail bed with pigment producing strains.) Bugs could straighten or curl your hair, by altering the oxidative environment of the hair follicle. In most people the effects would temporary since without repeated application the natural bacterial strains would be overwhelmed and pushed out.
As you can see second generation probiotics are more than a regular bowel movement, they are a whole new market.
I saw a talk about the skin microbiome (all the organisms mostly bacteria that call our outer surfaces home). If you think I don't care my skin is clean you might be interested to know that we are out numbered in our own bodies ten to one.
Your immune system has a cease fire with the numerous species of bacteria that cover every inch of your body. They are the gate keepers they alter your skins chemistry to their liking and zealously guard their patch from all other comers. As long as they don't try and come in the immune system largely tolerates them. The system works well, you can see this in the fact that some seriously nasty bugs are on you right now but the other bugs keep them in check.
Like it or not most of the skin diseases like are caused by bacterial imbalances. If your immune system or bacterial population gets out of balance the bad bugs begin to overwhelm the natural suppression and begin to invade the body. The immune system responds and a vicious and itchy cycle begins. Moisturizers swell and seal the skin hindering access and movement of bacteria. Cortisone reduces the over enthusiast immune system letting the bacteria settle things amongst themselves.
Antibiotics kill certain classes of bacteria partly restoring the balance and letting the bacteria settle it amongst themselves. If you noticed that the last two scenarios ended with the bacteria settling amongst themselves, you might have figured out that the immune system holds little sway in the epidermis. It is like the situation in less stable countries the where along the border region warlords or tribal chiefs enter into deals to keep mutual enemies at bay. The central government and the UN might not like it, but if they don’t have to resources to stabilize the region then it is the only way to bring order.
Enough background…
While Americas spend billions to fill our gut with "healthy" bacteria we insist that our skin should be sterile. We slather ourselves in Purell in a vain attempt to reduce our bacterial load. Mostly what we accomplish with Purell is to dry our skin, open the keratin and smear the dirty around. I am not saying Purell doesn't reduce the spread of the
flu. I am saying that hand washing if done properly is better, and likely healthier.
(If the Purell people are reading this, drop me a note and I'd be happy to explain to you how to make a product that is microbiome friendly.)
I predict that once evidence that sterile skin is both not possible and it is generally a bad idea to try (at least for otherwise healthy people) we will see the emergence of probiotics for the skin.
At first they will be targeted to conditions that have a fixed location on the body like Eczema and Psoriasis so a generic bacterial blend is possible. (The bacteria from behind you ear or in your armpit in most cases are not the same ones as on the skin of your forearm or scalp. So, a whole body blend will be hard to make.) Other locations will follow soon after probably scalp (dandruff control), face (acne control), nail bed (fungus control) and elbow pit (reduction in hospital acquired infections).
Then designer second generation probiotics will follow. Bacteria that colonize the hair follicles and suppress sterol synthesis and processing could regrow hair. Bacteria that make and secrete UV absorbing compounds would act as natural sun screen by decreasing the skin’s UV exposure. These bacteria need not even be generically engineered, they could be found by Bioprospecting for people that regrew hair spontaneously or resisted a clear linage of baldness, or people who despite being fair skinned and getting high sun exposure were sunburn resistant.
Vanity second generation probiotics could follow, with bugs that made vanillin or other esters, so dirty socks and sweaty shirts would smell nice, probiotic deodorant. GFP or pigment producing bugs, habitat restricted to the hair follicles, so people could have bacterial dyed hair. Going gray would be a thing of the past, since bacteria would produce natural pigments into the forming keratin. (This could also make self painting nails by colonizing the nail bed with pigment producing strains.) Bugs could straighten or curl your hair, by altering the oxidative environment of the hair follicle. In most people the effects would temporary since without repeated application the natural bacterial strains would be overwhelmed and pushed out.
As you can see second generation probiotics are more than a regular bowel movement, they are a whole new market.
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