Giant rubber snake could be the future of wave power

Giant rubber snake could be the future of wave power

environment.newscientist.com< br />

A giant rubber snake could be the future of renewable energy. The rippling "Anaconda" produces electricity as it is squeezed by passing waves. Its developers say it would produce more energy than existing wave-energy devices and be cheaper to maintain.

Retired physicist Francis Farley and Rod Rainey of Atkins Global dreamed up a flexible tube filled with seawater and sealed at both ends like a giant sausage. The structure streams out in the waves like a windsock pushed by the wind.

The passage of each wave squeezes the rubber and produces a bulging pressure wave that travels down its length. When the bulge reaches the end it sets turbines spinning to generate electricity

(visit the link for the full news article)

There are so many new and interesting way to generate electricity using the energies found around us. Ocean waves are limitless, honestly.

I have a few other threads on ATS dealing with alternative energy solutions, and found this one to be particularly interesting.

One would have to wonder if there would be a way to include some level of weather control from this?

As well, since we are already spanning cables across the oceans, could we not include this technology in that process to gain further energy efficiency?

Article Linked Here
(visit the link for the full news article)

Edit to fix broken link.

[edit on 11-7-2008 by bigfatfurrytexan]

Sounds like a great idea, with great promise, to me.


I'd also like to see the fish one might catch with that big-a$s lure!




[edit on 11-7-2008 by FewWorldOrder]


[edit on 11-7-2008 by FewWorldOrder]

How the hell are you going to extrude a 200 meter long rubber tube? The technology doesn't exist! If you fuse separate sheets together you'll just weaken it and reduce the life expectancy and perhaps making impractical altogether at full scale. It's a neat Idea but I don't think Rubber will cut it. Maybe a textile that behaves like rubber but is very tear resistant. Has anyone developed anything like that yet?

This does indeed sound promising. It's really a wind powered energy source, but by using the waves it will not have as great an impact on the winds themselves as direct turbines.

My major concern (as well as the developers', according to the article) is how well it will survive in the ocean. Not only are there the obvious problems of an extremely corrosive environment and storms that are awesome in their destructive power, but there is also sea life that could bite into, attach to, or simply brush against and damage the tubes. The inner working would have to be very susceptible to corrosion. I think materials will be the real challenge in this (and yes, we can extrude rubber in any size we want if there is enough $$$ to pay for it).

Did anyone else notice the initial response on the site?


Some people just have no vision... that is scary.

TheRedneck

I was aware of the metal snake, but I had not heard of the rubber snake. Good find. I wonder how well they will hold up in rough weather.

Yeah I read that comment too :shk:

I missed one thing in my post above.... 200 by 7 meters. I have never heard of an extruder that can make tubes this big. I was just startled at the audaciousness of the proposal. Though I still think a textile may be better suited if they can tease out the desired qualities. Has anyone thought to even try to create a textile with rubber-like qualities?

[edit on 11-7-2008 by sardion2000]

reply to post by TheRedneck


A special material is needed, indeed. Why not something that is self healing? Like this:

Self Healing Rubber Bounces Back - BBC News

A material that is able to self-repair even when it is sliced in two has been invented by French researchers.

The as-yet-unnamed material - a form of artificial rubber - is made from vegetable oil and a component of urine.

The substance, described in the journal Nature, produces surfaces when cut that retain a strong chemical attraction to each other.

Pieces of the material join together again as if never parted without the need for glue or a special treatment.

This remarkable property comes from careful engineering of the molecules in the material.

Perhaps the tube could be made of some reinforced, amalgamation of materials, with self healing rubber being the main part.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


they are already testing something simmiler to this in the UK
it uses the motion of the waves to generate power and then transfers it by under water cables to a onshore transformer and so on then to the GRID

this isnt new

reply to post by bodrul


do you have any references so that i can look at the company doing this? I would be interested to see the design specs that they have used...how they engineered it.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


news.bbc.co.uk...

video

www.bbc.co.uk...

Engineers are building large devices called the Pelamis system. They are massive, red, steel tubes that look like rounded train cars.

"Pelamis is actually the name of a surface swimming sea snake, which is quite an apt description for the machine when you see how it moves," says Max Carcas, who runs business development for the Scottish firm Ocean Power Delivery.

The firm has already deployed a prototype system around the Orkneys off the coast of Scotland.

These train-like tubes will eventually be linked together, four in a row, with the rows deployed in parallel to each other. More rows can be added to create more electricity and the rows of tubes are connected to the power grid via a single cable. Together, the hinged "snake" will be 140m (460ft) long.

company site

www.pelamiswave.com...


there you go
since the UK is an island we have the sea all around so we arent short of a few waves

reply to post by bodrul


It appears that the giant-water-snake technology is supposed to be a bit more efficient though:

environment.newscientist.com...

"A full-scale device should produce 1 megawatt – enough to power around 2000 houses.

By comparison, each jointed steel cylinder of the Pelamis wave power system which is being trialled in Portugal generates just 0.75 MW."

[edit on 13-7-2008 by FewWorldOrder]