Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion System : DigInfo

[MakaiOceanEngineer]

Please see our company website and blogs for the latest developments in heat exchanger and cold water pipe research and development.

-Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc.

[thorargent]

"Our Future Motive Power" published in Everyday Science and Mechanics in December 1931, an article written by Tesla, outlines his ideas and how the system works. I will look for an original paper in the notes and books I have.

[WaiWu]

Might as well use solar power...common it's more direct than all the other conversion energy method... it all came from the sun anyway way...

[MillyVanillification]

@WaiWu The only direct conversion of heat (without using aggressive chemicals in the amounts of megatonnes) is from the earths crust. Its right there below our feet. Everywhere. Weather independent. 24/7 availability. Cheap to harvest. each town can have a power plant. We dont need megamaniac constructions which harvest energy in dangerous places where nobody needs it. Its ineffiicient and ammonia is harmful.

[shotputsteve]

This is one of the lowest efficient energy generating technologies out there. Its crazy expensive with little output. It will never come to commercial scale plants.

[2020tuber]

Using the ocean to cool the liquid seems fine at first, but what about long term dumping of heat into the ocean? Effects of ecology immediate local ecology and eventually surrounding areas? Fishes & planktons die because of increased heat will cause a chain reaction. Polar ice cap melting? Doesn't what form of energy we used, the output is always heat. While some maybe cleaner than others. The real problem is how do we solve the waste heat!!!

[enticed2zeitgeist]

Not just a revision of the patent system is required. As energy is only one part of a larger problem that is facing all of humanity. A complete revision of society in it's totality is required. This is why I advocate The Venus Project. Lets put the integrity of the biosphere and human prosperity at the forefront of society instead of self interest and perhaps we can have technology like this in widespread use.

[prollandjayver]

REAL Free energy technology exists!But Millions are spend in supressing that information,Find the real deal, a free energy device at LT-MAGNET-MOTORdotCOM ,take part in the revolution!

[thorargent]

You know what amazes me? This was invented in the 1930s using the ammonia cycle and producing 22 kw of power by Georges Claude. Then Nikola Tesla wrote an entire paper showing OTEC in 1931. This is old, old news. Wake up, this stuff has been around for many decades but ignored or downplayed. Now that they have everyone by the throat they trot out this "new" idea. This is just like broadcast power and electrostatic nuclear fusion. Politics and lawyers are killing us, not "shortages".

[ShipMonster]

@thorargent Broadcast power was always one of my favorite Tesla ideas. You should save your fingers and breath though. I've been saying the same things for years and no one listens until it affects them. It's what our society has taught us to do. Now it's electric cars whose battery producing factories put out more emissions than the car their replacing.

[jackmcslay]

@thorargent Do you know the exact name of Tesla's paper on it? Now I'm interested in reading it

[arcart0]

Probably they should be investigating new ways to save energy before they spend vast amounts of money. A case in point is that in 2005 the Government, Market Transformation Program had tests made on a new type of cleaner that employs Air Recycling Technology. The results show that it could save 1.5 Terawatt (1,500 Gigawatt) each year in the UK alone. Simply, by changing the type of cleaner we use in our homes. It was originally designed to remove health hazards inherent in the vacuum cleaner.

[petitealicita22]

Thanks God some people are doing something for the planet! i hope this system could be applied soon so we wont end up all burnt up in global warming

[Ypipable]

Oslo understands

[fgherger]

When you say steam, it's not only water steam. What is turned insto steal is AMMONIA. Depending on the pressure, ammonia can boil at temperatures as low as -20ºC or colder, well below the freezing temperature of water...

[fgherger]

For the scientifically challenged people: Ammonia is already the main refrigeration fluid used in cold storage and Ice prodution in industrial scale the world. It's not suitable to be in supermarkets and homes because ammonia is dangerous if spilled.

What these guys did is to use this concept to generate electricity, heating the deep ocean and cooling the surface. It's as if they are collecting the energy of the sun that was absorbed by the water. Maybe it will even help slow the global warming.

[davematthewsblows]

@fgherger

Do you think there could be any possible negative effects from using this technology on a grand scale, such as the removal of heat from the ocean surface which might have effects on weather, climate etc. and/or the heating of the deeper regions of the ocean possibly having effects on deep ocean currents? Just curious as to what someone elses take on this might be.

[UncleKennybobs]

@davematthewsblows The heat at the surface escapes just as it would anyway. Besides, the ocean is far too big for something like this to make any difference to its energy levels.

[Peopleunit]

@davematthewsblows - one of the ultimate sources of all the energy on earth comes from the sun. The sum total for all the energy man used by man is a tiny fraction of that daily solar input. We could utilize this technology on a grand scale and the effect would probably go unnoticed.

The patent landscape needs to be revamped, totally.

[RandomDirectors]

@Peopleunit The energy comes from the Sun which makes its energy through fusion.

[jaberjaw123]

I love these haters,"it won't work unless you use coal,lots of coal and pour some crudeoil over those pretty lights for god sake" One of the first things Regan did as president was remove the already installed solar panels. Thes haters are everywhere. sorry for the rant .

[JasonJohn31]

Great invention but is it hurricane

resistant?

[zzcomputerkillerzz]

wow look red and blue LEDs lol

[Piscivorus]

Ocean surface water may be warmer than deep ocean water but it's still lower than average room temperature. How do they use that to turn cold water into steam? I think it's just the ammonia that turns from liquid to gas and back. And I'm pretty sure that once the deep ocean water is used to condense the ammonia, it isn't pumped back down and released in the deep, it's released on the surface- where it will threaten to cool the surface water unless a current carries it away.

[vayoran]

You´re correct. Ammonia is the fluid which moves the turbine. No water.

What happen if the ammonia is pumped to the deep ocean thru a close cycle pipe.

[Piscivorus]

It would release heat down there possibly effecting what lives down there.

[nationaleventphoto]

wouldnt matter if on a large scale it heated the ocean or not, during the winter it would cool down again then repete the process each year, if it did heat the ocean too much melting icebergs would easily cool down the warm seas anyhow

[vayoran]

For success, is necesary to study the ocean currents. Exist certain places where this system is feasible.

This system uses warm water coming from equador. All year is possible to be working this system.

[foxdik]

You can build a refrigeration/heating system using just this principle. My design incorporates a small Tesla turbine driving a propane/butane mix refrigeration plant that is reversible, using the difference between the air temperature or the surface temperature of the deck of a sailboat and the water temperature at the keel. Runs for free as long as you have 20' F or more differential.

[JonThm]

The oceans pump solar heat around this planet.

[cba999casey]

my idee look the same bud i should use 12v genarator and 12v water heater.

boil the water until your system olmost explodes. and slow release the press to turn the turbine or somthing. then when steam cools down it returns to water

[ltcornflakes]

Except that what you just described is a perpetual motion device.

I think you're gonna have to sleep on that one! :)

[SuperRC51]

This is just a simple compression cycle using NH3 as the refrigerant (as is done commonly in yesteryear's refrigeration cycles). Theoretically it makes sense, however they didn't discuss the required head to pump all of the working fluid throughout the system. Static head can be ignored due to the fact that it is a closed system, however friction head would be significant as the delta y between the "evaporator" and the "condenser" would need to be quite large to get a sufficient delta T.

[travelbound2cu]

on a large scale would that heat the ocean in spots changing the environment like just another problem. slight ocean temp changes will make migration of animals change due to food sources reacting to change in water temp. make power but dont change the environment . try it with a man made ocean with out animals. you could fill it with alge and multi task better.

[maulerrw]

eh, makes sense.

only drawback is system would need to be quite large to produce decent amounts of power. effects of cooling surface water and heating deep ocean water may be of concern?

[velpukondaramesh]

fff

[ycats1000]

hey they say it's not affected by weather variations but whats driving the evaporation

of the ammonia side?

[bjelkeman]

@chemicalMikeUK the ammonia is in a close loop system. It does not get used up.

[kdplbrs]

wow, this would be great if this were mass produced to the 3rd world countries like ours.

[Parubhi]

KD,

I think you might need more than just a single LED to light up your house...even if it is in a 3rd world country.

[ChemicalMikeUK]

what hapens to the ammonia? does this get reused also? does it ultimately become a waste product?

[SuperRC51]

The NH3 is going around a closed loop system. It is being evaporated at the surface of the ocean (it stays in the system, just changes phases from liquid to gas), then condensed at the bottom of the ocean floor (again, within the equip). The total mass of NH3 would remain constant within the system (minus any leaks that may occur).

[Nutmegitito]

!!!

[arlenepr41]

We need this in Puerto Rico...

[sn1pe352]

I'm now learning about thermoelectric generated electricity and how thermoelectric modules work. but this honestly woke me up to a whole new level of how it really works

[luisfcayo]

it pissed me off how people in the United States only think about how big will their next truck will be. Very few people subscribed to this channel very sad.

[ycats1000]

no worries dude, the world is changing fast-

[ChemicalMikeUK]

luisfcayo, thats not true. being an american myself i happen to know from experience, that we are also think of other things. like burgers,how much porn we can download, the cost of gas to fill our big trucks.., etc!! lol ;)

[defect530]

STFU !!!