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Helium balloon wind generator

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t.o.

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I learnt from the magazine that people had installed wind generator into a small helium ballon and sent it 100 meters about the ground. It will generate electricity power for two household use. I think it is cool and easier to install for your house. People will not complaint about the noise problem.:eek:
 
Helium is naturally found in the amptmosphere but extracting it isn't easy as it requires the air to be cooled until it liquifies, then is fractionally distilled.
 
If I remember from correctly, I believe helium, along with hydrogen, is one of the gases that escapes from the atmosphere into space. The thermal energy in the atmosphere causes the atoms of helium to achieve escape velocity and leave Earth never to return.
 
Helium is not present in large enough quantities to distill out of the air- not unless you invent free cryogenic refrigeration. If you had that, forget about generating electricity with wind power, we've got free air conditioning!

Helium is only generated from nuclear isotope decay inside the earth. It is present in a small amount in all natural gas, however, despite its value there are only a few fields in the world with a great enough concentration to capture. The natural gas fields around Amarillo, Tx has been the primary source of helium, around 7%, for the entire world since 1925, but it's fast running out. There are only a limited number of other sources in the world and when they're gone, they're gone, and being an element there's no way to make more out of something else. Not unless you're going to use a nuclear reaction and that's way too slow.
 
hydrogen

Use hydrogen then. It's cheap, easily available and lighter. :)

The only real drawback it its flammability but unless there are people present or a significant fire risk to persons or property, why worry?
 
elfcurry said:
Use hydrogen then. It's cheap, easily available and lighter.

The only real drawback it its flammability but unless there are people present or a significant fire risk to persons or property, why worry?
This is an excellent idea. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd totally pour some of it into bringing back the zeppelin. I think the dangers of hydrogen gas explosions are way out of proportion to what current engineering could make possible in terms of safe use. Given the superior lifting abilities of hydrogen to helium, its greater availability, and now safer manipulation and storage of hydrogen, I'd be really surprised to not see it make a significant comeback in the next two decades.
 
I learnt from the magazine that people had installed wind generator into a small helium ballon and sent it 100 meters about the ground. It will generate electricity power for two household use. I think it is cool and easier to install for your house. People will not complaint about the noise problem.:eek:

Any chance of a web page or some reference to this? I'd like to read it.

On another forum a poster said his doctor had filled a surgical glove with helium and it had not deflated for a month. Perhaps we could float it up with gloves as helping hands.
 
On a side note, I'd be interested in seeing if anyone has tried this with kites.

I know they have massive kite systems to help reduce ship fuel consumption for cross ocean vessels.

I personally fly sport kites and with strong wind (20mph) my 80" dual line kite puts up a hell of a fight (~50lbs of pull, not very fun for kite flying). I'm not sure how good it would be a holding up generator though... especially without having anything to easily stabilize it to prevent it from spinning.

Maybe if you put it across both of the lines...

Either way, you'd have to have a pretty sophisticated control system to make sure the thing doesn't just fall like a rock when the wind quiets down.

Just a though. :rolleyes:
 
sounds interesting, would anyone have any ideas how to overcome the torque issues. a turbine surely will only work if it is anchored to something solid, or the whole turbine will spin and do nothing.
 
sounds interesting, would anyone have any ideas how to overcome the torque issues. a turbine surely will only work if it is anchored to something solid, or the whole turbine will spin and do nothing.

Its like a rolling pin held by lines on both ends . The alternator in one or both ends fixed to the handles, the roller part with fins along the tide allowed to spin. So the center is fixed and the outside spins . No torque on the lines
 
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