Energy tower (downdraft)

This article is about electricity power generation by downdraft created by evaporation of water sprayed at the top of a tall hollow cylinder. For other uses of Energy tower see Energy tower (disambiguation).

Sharav Sluice Energy Tower

An energy tower is a method for producing electrical power for consumer consumption, the brainchild of Dr. Phillip Carlson, which has been expanded upon by Professor Dan Zaslavsky. An energy tower produces electricity by drawing the energy from the air around it.

Concept summary

An energy tower is a tall hollow cylinder with a water spray system at the top. The water is pumped up to the top of the tower and then sprayed inside the tower which cools the warm air hovering at the top. The cooled air, being denser than the outside warmer air, falls to the bottom of the cylinder which causes a turbine at the bottom of the cylinder to spin. The turbine is connected to a generator which produces the electricity.

The tower should optimally be situated in a hot dry climate, which thus allows for the greatest extraction of energy from the air. The energy that is extracted from the air was put there by the Sun, so this is really a form of solar power. It is a form of solar power that works at night! The need for large quantities of water may be solved by choosing a location that is not too far from the coast [1].

An alternative approach to this is the solar updraft tower, which would require huge (up to 7 or 8 kilometres in diameter) agricultural glass house collectors to capture the solar heated air. Even though energy towers use some energy (about 50% of the turbine output) by having to pump water to the top and pressurizing nozzles, their advantage is that they require no such large collection areas, because dry air, if available, is continuously drawn at the top from the surroundings.

Implementation

Currently, no known physical implementation of an energy tower exists.

Potential Problems

If salt water is used, corrosion rates can be very high. Not only would the tower and the turbines be subjected to the salty humid air, but anything nearby or downwind a bit could be affected.
The technology requires an hot and arid climate, and at the same time access to large amounts of water. This poses restrictions to where these plants could be built, such as along the coast of West Africa, Western Australia, northern Chile, Namibia, and along the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and the Gulf of California. Most of these regions are remote and thinly populated, and would require power to be transported over long distances to where it is needed

See Also

• solar updraft tower
• SHPEGS

References

• US patent 3,894,393, Carlson; Phillip R., "Power generation through controlled convection (aeroelectric power generation)", issued 1975-07-15 

• Zaslavsky D (2006). "energy towers". PhysicaPlus Issue No. 7, Online Magazine of the Israel Physical Society (IPS).

• "Concept Overview"

• "Solar Energy Without a Collector"

• energy towers: Pros and Cons of the Arubot Sharav Alternative Energy Proposal

• Evaluation of the global potential of energy towers