So far Anacondas have invoked a sense of fear and intrigue in mankind. Now they will help men to gather sea power to meet the energy needs of future! No, I’ not talking about real life slithery huge anacondas but a new device in pipeline being tested by researches now a days in UK. The ‘Anaconda’ is a totally creative concept! It is a wave-energy converter ipso facto.
So far oceanic energy has not been tamed as successfully by scientists and R&D folks as has been the solar energy and off lately the wind energy. Now, plans are being made for future, to produce affordable electricity from the energy in sea waves using a device made up of rubber tubing. The ‘Anaconda’ device looks like an Anaconda snake (hence the name!). It is closed at both ends and filled completely with water and is designed to be tethered just below the sea’s surface, with one end facing the oncoming waves.
Considering the cost involved and efforts to reduce it such projects had not seen the light of the day till date but now the scenario is going to change. Anaconda’s simple design promises durability at affordable costs and low maintenance. Also, it may become the cheapest source of green and clean electricity in years to come.
Mechanism: Once anchored just below the sea surface, one end of Anaconda remains free. An oncoming sea wave hitting this end squeezes it and causes formation of a ‘bulge wave’ inside the rubber tubing of device. As the bulge wave runs through the tube, two types of sea wave movement occurs- 1) bulge wave running inside the tube and 2) the initial sea wave (which caused the bulge wave to emerge) running along the outer surface of rubber tube at about the same speed. The initial sea wave in due course of time squeezes the tube more and more and causes the increase in size of the bulge wave as well. The bulge wave then turns a turbine fitted at the far end of the device and the power produced is fed to shore via a cable.
The light weight anaconda device is still at an early stage of development. Currently it is being tested on laboratory scale. The work is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Anaconda’s inventors and its developer (Checkmate SeaEnergy), engineers at the University of Southampton are now embarking on a programme of larger-scale laboratory experiments and novel mathematical studies aimed at producing viable anacondas for the future.
Some more facts about ‘Anaconda’- the device:
· Invented by Francis Farley (an experimental physicist) and Rod Rainey (of Atkins Oil and Gas).
· When built, it would be 200 meters long & 7 meters in diameter.
· It would be deployed in water depths of between 40 and 100 meters.
· It is our Green hope for future as wave-generated electricity is carbon-free and so can help the fight against global warming.
Via ScienceDaily
Tags: Anaconda, Devices, Eco Friendly, Eco solutions, Energy, Energy Crisis, EPSRC, Green, Nature, Power, Rubber, Science, Sea Waves, Snakes, Turbines, UK Electricity, Wave Energy, Wave Power, Waves