Can a Rotating Fan Be Used to Power a House?

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    Electricity Fan
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the feasibility of using a rotating fan to generate electricity for household use, exploring concepts of energy conversion, efficiency, and potential energy storage mechanisms. Participants consider both theoretical and practical implications of this idea.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests attaching a lever to a rotating fan to generate electricity, potentially powering a bulb or storing energy in a device like a Leyden jar.
  • Another participant argues that using an electric fan in this manner is inefficient, as it consumes energy rather than generating it, and it would be more efficient to power the bulb directly from the same supply as the fan.
  • A participant introduces a humorous idea about dehydrated water, which appears unrelated to the main topic.
  • Some participants emphasize that while the fan rotates and consumes electricity, it generates kinetic energy, raising the question of whether this energy could be harnessed through a mechanical system.
  • Concerns are raised about the inefficiency of converting electrical energy to airflow energy in small cooling fans, suggesting that the energy losses would outweigh any potential benefits of energy recovery systems.
  • Further discussion highlights that increasing the load on the fan motor would lead to higher current draw and additional resistive losses, questioning the practicality of the proposed energy storage idea.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express disagreement regarding the feasibility and efficiency of using a rotating fan to generate electricity. Some participants propose mechanisms for energy storage, while others challenge the practicality and efficiency of these ideas, indicating that the discussion remains unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention various assumptions about energy conversion efficiency and the operational characteristics of electric motors, but these remain unverified within the discussion.

Manraj singh
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Other people must have come up with this before, but what if we attach a lever to a rotating fan. The lever can be attached to a bulb to run it, or maybe something like a Leyden jar or a KERS, (mind me if its the wrong device, i am just a rookie) to store it. So won't the house be self sufficient?
 
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If you mean an electric fan instead of a wind generator.
Losses (you can't get something from nothing), it's more efficient to just run the bulb directly from the same supply as the fan.

boylespmm.jpg
 
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I would like to interest the OP in my idea for dehydrated water. It makes it much easier to ship and it doesn't dry up like the real thing.
 
Fan generating electricity.

I meant that when people are using the fan normally. Like when you are feeling hot. That time all the energy produced can be used
 
Manraj singh said:
I meant that when people are using the fan normally. Like when you are feeling hot. That time all the energy produced can be used

There are waste energy recover systems but a small cooling fan is not very efficient in converting electrical energy to energy in air flow (<<50%) so by the time you build the mechanical turbine system and generator(with their own losses) you won't have much left to keep you cool if you need more than milliwatts of power for a bulb.
 
Manraj singh said:
I meant that when people are using the fan normally. Like when you are feeling hot. That time all the energy produced can be used
You aren't being very descriptive, but what you are saying sounds wrong: an electric fan consumes energy, it doesn't generate it.
 
Yeah, while consuming that electricity, it rotates,generating a lot of kinetic energy. Now what if we attach a lever to one of the rotating blades. That lever attached to a device which can store that energy, which can be consumed later.
 
Manraj singh said:
Yeah, while consuming that electricity, it rotates,generating a lot of kinetic energy. Now what if we attach a lever to one of the rotating blades. That lever attached to a device which can store that energy, which can be consumed later.

The fan motor will just use more electricity (in a very inefficient manner), as you increase the load the motor 'slip' will increase drawing more current to generate the needed extra torque and causing additional resistive heat losses. It's a Rube Goldberg idea for energy storage.
 
Thank you.
 
  • #10
Ya..you will be loading (or perhaps over loading) the motor and the motor will suck more current/power...you may want to try another fan against this one as is done in a fluid coupling...
 

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