Trains using Wind Power?

General
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to bcc: me

The concept: you get into your electric car, drive through the city, on the highway, and then the battery recharges itself. No plugs, no charging stations, no planning stops. It can soon be a reality. The idea comes from India. Prof. Satyam Jha, this man has developed an automatic charging system based on wind energy. And wait, the best part is that it works even when the car is moving slowly.

The key is a compact wind generator that turns moving air into electricity. This system was designed to work with very light winds, which makes it perfect for city driving or for those days when you don’t go over 30 km/h. The vehicle’s battery receives energy in real time, whether you’re on the open road, driving through the city, or waiting at a traffic light. One of the biggest headaches with electric cars is still charging, so with this system, all of that disappears. Unlimited range: Since the car charges as it moves, you don’t need to think about how much battery you have left or look for the next plug. Lower costs: No more paying to recharge. The energy is generated on the go, so usage costs drop instantly. Almost zero environmental impact: No fuel, no external power. Just air and movement.

Could this b e scaled up to a railway locomotive? Light-rail car?

But this does not completely replace recharging, Just suppliments regenerative braking in extending range between rechargingt.

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The mythical perpetual motion machine.

I bet the Big Three automakers plot against this the same way that they did the mythical car that ran on water

Sure it would be Great, but I will believe it when it is proven

Doug

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Note that the system only works with relative wind – it does not matter what speed you drive. If you were “recovering energy from the vehicle slipstream” all you’d have would be a more defective form of regenerative braking – it would in essence have the wind generator supplied by vehicle propulsion or momentum in the absence of external wind.

Add to this the need to ‘quarter’ a wind generator if the design is not a Darrieus (omnidirectional) type (which already won’t work well on a road vehicle for a number of reasons). If the ‘wind’ is coming in any direction other than ‘straight ahead’ the relative wind may be negative, requiring active blading which would add considerable complexity and cost for the dubiously small benefit.

In areas of fairly constant wind, the vehicle could use that as a source for recharging. Someone could do a comparison of solar charging vs. wind over the presumed lifetime of the vehicle, including the nighttime wind patterns.

The problem with a locomotive is that the dimensions are too great. To do more than a trickle charge of a traction battery would need massively more generating capacity than could be provided in the area of the loading gage over the roof – even in areas where there are no bridges, station roofs, wires, or other impediments.

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Indeed yet another version of the perpetual motion machine.

If the wind is from behind, a sail would work well as long as the vehicle velocity is lower than the air speed. Otherwise, for the proposed device to work the tailing wind speed would have to exceed the speed of the vehicle - impractical for anything other than very low vehicle speeds unless there are frequent hurricanes.

For wind coming from ahead, or generated from the forward motion itself, any energy recovered (in the form of battery recharging) must (due to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics) be less than the energy expended (via some sort of high efficiency turbine or whatever is proposed by the purported inventor).

For a quartering or side wind, all the same arguments apply - I suppose the ideal situation would be a 90-degree wind but even there any “recovery” would necessarily result in energy losses exceeding the amount of recovery. A good analogy is a sailboat on a reach - the keel or centerboard is providing resistance that propels the craft forward rather than sideways, but that resistance also results in a loss of energy and an increase in entropy.

I suppose you could get some kind of recharging from a sail-like device when the vehicle is at rest (station stops or whatever) but this seems a trivial application.

All that being said, perhaps an actual sail device could work - say on a MagLev vehicle where friction is reduced to close to zero. Primary electric propulsion but unfurl the sails (possible some sort of solar panel sail, where you could recharge the batteries via solar) to provide wind assist to the main propulsion,

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In the interests of fair disclosure, here is the slightly-redacted original item from NewsVoir:

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I read through much of the article, granted it was early am, and I wasn’t sleeping well, but this part:

For detailed inquiries and further details: Phone: +91-8240303620, +91-8862885221, Email: Satyam4009@gmail.com or sjha4009@gmail.com

Made me consider the article as a pitch looking for investors, more than as an announcement of some miraculous breakthrough

Maybe it’s the cynic in me, maybe it will make it mainstream, and be a real breakthrough, but I’m not holding my breath, or betting even lunch or beer money on it

Doug

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I can’t wait to tell my conductor to unfurl the mainsail or to raise the mizzen.

I don’t know what a mizzen is, but I’m sure there will be am informational video to watch.

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IIRC, the Mizzen, is a shorter mast Aft of the main mast on a sailing vessel with 2 or more masts

Just a related FYI,
The Jib is a triangular sail forward of the main or foremast secured to the mast and bow or bowsprit,and a Spinnaker is a larger balloon like triangular sail, often very colorful and secured at the top of the mast, and outer lower corners to deck winches

Doug

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“Is the poop deck really what I think it is?”

“I like the cut of your jib!”

“What’s a jib?”

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The “Poop Deck” is the aftermost usually raised deck, I have never heard the origin of the name, but considering its the aftermost deck, the origin may be very intuitive for obvious reasons :wink:

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The Jib sail is a triangular sail attached to forward side of the foremost mast on a sailing vessel, attached to the mast and bow, bowsprit or pulpit at fore end

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The Jib is the sail on these boats ahead of the mast

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Not a Simpsons fan, I take it?

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I have watched the show, I know who Homer, Bart, Marge and Lisa are, so I am somewhat familiar with the show, but not a regular viewer, and I am evidently missing a connection

I even know that it is set in Springfield, never specified what Springfield, in which state, but have read that it is supposedly Springfield, OR which I hear Matt Groening has some sort of personal ties to, but has never confirmed nor denied that it IS Springfield, OR

Doug

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Mmmm, Donuts

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Well, this has definitely diverted to a branchline, if not actually derailed,

But in the spirit of accuracy, my speculation on the origin of the term “Poop Deck” was a bit off

The name originates from the French word for stern, poupe , from Latin puppis . Thus the poop deck is technically a stern deck ,

I grew up around boats, but my family were/are power boaters, though we had friends with sailboats, and I did learn Some from them, but certainly I am no authority on the art of sailing :sailboat:

Doug

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I mean we’re taking about wind powered trains. Is it really a matter to take seriously?

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Nope, I’m not taking this thread seriously, but previously Kalmbach, and now Firecrown have been rather intolerant of threads going off topic.

Doug

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A zing dot keeps your handz varm.

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https://www.ebay.com/itm/335220632826

Speaking of using sails…

Jeff

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One of the earliest vehicles on the B&O used wind power iirc.

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