A Rainfuel project

This going to be fun.

As for rainfall,  what is your location, nearest town North East of you should give a fairly good indication.

 

Statcoulomb is a good word.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statcoulomb

Edited March 16, 2022 by SteamyTea

 

Bottom of the Isle of Wight. 

14 minutes ago, Marvin said:

 

Bottom of the Isle of Wight. 

Wave power would be better.

 

46 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Statcoulomb is a good word.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statcoulomb

Is there a plain English version?

16 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Wave power would be better.

 

I hope not to endure wave power, being 200ft above sea level.

9 minutes ago, Marvin said:

I hope not to endure wave power, being 200ft above sea level.

What you do is drill a large diameter hole down to sea level.  Then, when the waves hit the bottom of the hole, the air in the tube is compressed, this then runs a turbine at the top of the hole.

The Wells turbine is the type to use as it spins the same way regardless of air direction.

 

Annual rain fall about 470mm over about 180 days.

 

7 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

What you do is drill a large diameter hole down to sea level.  Then, when the waves hit the bottom of the hole, the air in the tube is compressed, this then runs a turbine at the top of the hole.

The Wells turbine is the type to use as it spins the same way regardless of air direction.

 

Yes.. not practical at all for me.

 

Here is the data for Niton.

 

Did not rain much on Jan 1^st.

 

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IENGLAND232/table/2022-01-1/2022-01-1/daily

1 minute ago, SteamyTea said:

Here is the data for Niton.

 

Did not rain much on Jan 1^st.

 

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IENGLAND232/table/2022-01-1/2022-01-1/daily

Well its making up for it today!

3 minutes ago, Marvin said:

Well its making up for it today!

It was alright till 10:30 AM.

“that each rain drop falling form the sky has a small charge”

 

I guess that might explain why we sometimes get a static shock from our zinc cladding?

26 minutes ago, Russdl said:

“that each rain drop falling form the sky has a small charge”

 

I guess that might explain why we sometimes get a static shock from our zinc cladding?

I don't know but it sounds reasonable. Also I understand that's also part of lightening. Searching for information I understand that this process can produce about 50w per square meter.

I saw this discussed somewhere else and a figure of 50W per square metre when it is raining.

 

Solar panels will give more than that, and I am sure the sun shines more than it rains, even in Scotland.

From 1926.

So a reality check is needed.

If a few drops of water could produce a usable amount of power, think of all the metal things, especially aluminium, that is insulated from the ground, say a boat on a trailer. Touching it would hurt.

As this is not a new concept, with the physics known about for over 100 years, if it was viable, we would be doing it.

rspa_1926.0108.pdf

This 1956 paper is easier reading.

It explains why we don't use lightening to charge the national grid.

 

The Electrification of Individual Cloud Droplets.pdf

This is a good example from  Robert Murray-Smith

 

 

 

It's easy to a create a voltage, but without any current there is no power.  I suspect that there is more energy in storing rain water in a roof tank and using its potential energy to drive a water motor.   A typical roof will have ~70m3 of water. 70000 kg x 10 m/s² x 5 m (building height) = 3.5 Megajoules

70 cube of water is either a big roof or someone living in a rain forest.

measured a new build house recently, less than 30 sqm in plan

Where do you live, that a typical roof has 70 tonnes of water on the roof?  That's a lot of water, are sure your maths is correct?

 

A typical house may have a footprint of 70m2, so would need a 1m deep storage tank over the whole roof.  Not sure you would get planning permission.

 

Not sure what you would do with water when you finished driving the turbine, you could store it and pump it back up again, then it becomes a battery.

Hi @Adrian WalkerYes! I have looked at energy from a rainwater turbine! No it's not practical for me to do.

Yes the bungalow is about 100m2 of roof and yearly we get about 450mm of rain, so about 450m3. However being a bungalow we have little height about 2.6m.

The problem would be the weight on the roof when any attempt was made to store the water up high and the fact that rain is even more of an on/off energy supplier than sun meaning the only way to produce the potential power is to have a very big turbine=£££££ as I have no storage capacity.

 

Even putting a turbine on the mains water supply to produce usable power that can be used or stored when the mains water is being used is tricky but we do use grey water.

If a manufacturer combined the rainpower (but would need higher efficiency) into a PV panels, sun out power, wet day power, dull dry day not much power.

2 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Where do you live, that a typical roof has 70 tonnes of water on the roof?  That's a lot of water, are sure your maths is correct?

 

A typical house may have a footprint of 70m2, so would need a 1m deep storage tank over the whole roof.  Not sure you would get planning permission.

 

Not sure what you would do with water when you finished driving the turbine, you could store it and pump it back up again, then it becomes a battery.

 

That is the rain fall for a whole year.  I don't think it's a goer, not much energy.  If you want to use water as a battery, pressure rather than volume is better - that's what the Victorian did.

2 hours ago, Adrian Walker said:

3.5 Megajoules

Sod how large the roof is, or how wet.

It is less than a kWh.

My car does 1.5 miles to the kWh.  Be easier to park closer to 100 metres away from the house i.e. in the road I live in rather than the parking around the back.

I agree, that not a lot of energy 🙂