Hacked Gadgets went to Island Tech 2009 which was on Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada to check on the technology that was being demonstrated. Daniel Perera, a graduate student of the Mechanical Engineering Technology program at Camosun College demonstrated a project he and some other students had just completed. It’s a Organic Rankine Cycle which captures thermal energy and converts it into electricity. It captures solar energy in addition to either waste industrial heat or geothermal energy.
The DuPont Suva R123 (PDF link) refrigerant is heated which turns it to gas, the gas is directed into a Tesla Turbine which turns a generator creating electricity. The system is a closed loop which allows the cooled refrigerant to continuously cycle through the system. I wonder if the Hard Drive Platter Tesla Turbine could be adapted to this system!
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Very cool graduation project !
Congrats to the guys !!!!
When I was watching the movie a question came to my mind:
Since we are talking about alternative energy generation I was wondering if the students made any kind of environmental impact study of a full size version of their project.
As a fellow engineer I saw lots of great technical ideas been shoot down by their projected hazardous impact and a number of others getting major redesign work for the same reason.
I think that this kind of study should be incorporated in engineering graduation programs.
By learning ahead to design taking the environment in to account will save BIG $$$$$ for the companies this guys are going to work for or are going to own.
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Very interested in where you sourced the turbine and what kind of input pressure/power you made! Please email me!
Sincerely,
Adam
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Congratulation!
A very good project!
Tell me, please, how much power can develop this device?
Thank you!