Atmospheric Vortex Engine – Twister Power

Fig. 1: Image showing Louis Michaud with the LM 3 AVE prototype

Whenever we hear the word “Tornado” we think of destruction and catastrophe. But for a man it meant, “How can I generate energy with this?” It makes sense. Most large-scale power generation methods involve directly or indirectly rotating parts, and tornadoes possess an enormous amount of rotational kinetic energy. Therefore, if we could create a tornado and harness its kinetic energy, it would effectively provide us with a clean source of energy (as long as it is controlled). Generally tornadoes are caused by the presence of a large temperature gradient present in the atmosphere. The lower atmosphere is heated by the ground and the upper layers remain cold and as the warm air is lighter, it will rise creating a draft. This gives the upward vector and there are also lateral and lateral wind movements caused by the Earth's rotation. This causes the formation of a vortex that rises. Compared to hydropower, raising a unit mass of hot air from the base to the top of the troposphere can produce the same amount of energy produced by a unit mass of water with a potential head of 1000 m.

So, to recreate such a condition, Canadian inventor Louis Michaud designed a machine that would create a controlled tornado and harness its kinetic energy due to convective mixing to generate electricity, the “Atmospheric Vortex Engine (AVE)”. In this article we will learn about this machine and how it works.

1. How it works?

Figure 2: Graphic image explaining various parts of an atmospheric Vortex engine

The basic underlying concept is the temperature distribution in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a boundary between the solid land of Earth and the cold vacuum of outer space. It is therefore heated by the earth (which is heated by the sun) and cooled by cold outer space. Therefore, the atmosphere goes from a hot temperature at the bottom and decreases as we go up. This temperature is a static study of heat transfer. However, a temperature gradient in fluids causes constant mixing. This is due to the direct relationship between temperature and volume, that is, as the temperature increases, it causes the fluid to expand (increase in volume). When the volume increases, the density decreases and therefore the gas becomes lighter and exerts a buoyant force on the upper part of the cold atmosphere. When this force becomes greater than the downward pressure of the other layers, it causes a mixture of thermal convection between the hot and cold elements. Tornadoes generally form when the temperature difference is about 20 ⁰ C between the terrestrial air and the air present above causing vigorous rotational cells.

In the atmospheric vortex engine, air is initially heated in a concentric cylindrical chamber and introduced tangentially into the central area. The heat required to sustain the vortex can be obtained from various sources such as industrial waste heat, solar concentrators, warm sea water, hot springs, etc., and can be transferred to the incoming air through a heat exchanger. Cooling towers (Natural Draft type) present in industries can replace the heat exchangers of an AVE. Industrial waste heat from hot combustion gases can transfer it to tangentially incoming atmospheric air. According to calculations by Louis Michaud, a cooling tower with a base diameter of 200m could produce a tornado with a diameter of 50m at the base and extending to the top of the troposphere. This could produce 50 to 500 MW of power.

After being heated by multiple peripheral heat exchangers, the hot air enters at sub-atmospheric pressure through tangential air intake ducts into the central area which is called the arena. The flow rate can be controlled by variable flow restrictors present upstream of the peripheral cooling section or in the tangential inlet ducts. The arena is covered by an annular roof with a central circular opening that helps incoming air converge and form a vortex. Regarding dimensions, the roof opening can be about 30% of the cylindrical wall, the vortex diameter can be 10% to 50% of the roof opening diameter, the arena height is 30% of its diameter and the tangential entrance height is half the height of the arena. The arena floor may be uneven to optimize mixing in the vortex. Since we need a controlled tornado, the flow of heated air can be restricted to reduce the rotation speed of the vortex. The rotational energy could be transferred to turbines that collect the energy by expanding the gas to turn the blades that turn an electrical generator.

Fig. 3: Cross-section diagram of an atmospheric vortex engine

Cooling towers are usually present in thermal power plants to dump excess heat into the atmosphere. A plant that produces 500 MW of energy expels almost 1,000 MW of energy as waste heat. Coupling a natural draft cooling tower with a vortex engine would increase the plant's output to 700 MW, therefore saving 20% ​​of wasted heat (200 MW out of 1,000 MW) and increasing power production by 40% (500 MW at 700 MW). These vortices could potentially rise up to 15 km into the atmosphere.

Prototype results

1. Prototype results

The concept was tested to confirm the formation of vortices using a prototype made of plywood measuring 100 cm in diameter and 60 cm in height. It had 8 tangential entry baffles and the air was heated to 20 ⁰ C and made to enter a 30cm high arena. To visualize the vortex, smoke emitters were used. The vortex looked like a mini tornado and extended up to 200cm above the roof. The diameter of the roof was 30 cm and the diameter of the base of the tornado was 10 cm. A CFD model of the formed vortex (using FLUENT software) is shown below.

Figure 4: Figure showing the LM 3 prototype

Fig. 5: CFD model of the vortex formed inside the atmospheric vortex engine

1. Security concerns

The biggest concern anyone has is the formation of an uncontrolled tornado that will move sideways off the engine platform. Michaud says this possibility is highly unlikely since the tornado is only being powered by air from the tangential ducts and will therefore disappear if the flow is stopped. There will be multiple redundancies to restrict the flow present at various locations. He says this would be somewhat similar to the various safety measures in place at nuclear plants to prevent plant meltdowns.

In fact, it is possible to use AVEs to increase safety against naturally occurring tornadoes by extracting ambient heat and preventing the formation of a large temperature gradient.

2. The future of AVE

Louis Michaud came out of retirement to restart his adventure by creating an innovative alternative source of energy through the AVE which was patented in the year 2005 in Ontario, Canada. He later founded the company AVEtec which is being financed by the Thiel Organization by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Breakout Labs, a branch of the Thiel Organization founded in 2011, considered AVEtec a viable candidate to receive a $300,000 grant to work on its AVE research. In partnership with Lambton College in Ontario, Michaud and his team are building a large prototype capable of producing a 26-meter-wide, 100-meter-high vortex that functions to spin a 1-meter turbine on their campus to demonstrate the AVE's energy production potential.

Before switching to a completely green energy source, there has to be a transition phase and AVE could be the answer on how to move from fossil fuels to completely pollution-free energy. AVE, together with fossil fuel plants or clean green technologies (nuclear plants, fusion reactors, solar generators, ocean energy, etc.) could increase the productivity of plants, as well as greatly reduce the demand for fossil fuels, by while meeting the energy needs of people on the planet and much more.

Figure 6: LFS atmospheric vortex engine prototype at Lambton College

Fig. 7: Image of Breakout Labs located in Ontario, Canada