Gorlov Turbine: Alexander's Marvelous Machine

[Astronuc]

Alexander's Marvelous Machine
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/05spr/gorlov1.asp

by Jill Davis

It looks like an oversize eggbeater, but Professor Gorlov thinks his turbine can change the world.

It seems impossible that anything of technological significance could emerge from the basement of Richards Hall, the engineering building of Northeastern University in Boston. It is a haphazard warren, home to discarded office chairs, old lockers, and unclaimed pencils, all covered in a coat of fine gray dust. But it is also the home of the Hydro-Pneumatic Power Laboratory, where a 73-year-old Russian-born mechanical engineering professor named Alexander Gorlov spent a decade redesigning one of the world's oldest and simplest machines, the turbine.

Smiling, Gorlov walks over to a cluttered corner of the lab and wheels out a gurney. Strapped to it is an object that looks remarkably like an oversize beater from an old hand-held mixer. Still, this is it, the Gorlov Helical Turbine, which may someday help turn hydroelectric power into one of the most important and environmentally benign renewable energy sources on the planet. Gorlov's turbine received the 2001 Thomas A. Edison Patent Award, given each year by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which hailed its potential "to alleviate the world-wide crisis in energy."

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002383.html
http://www.gcktechnology.com/GCK/articles_CSM.html
http://www.gcktechnology.com/GCK/pg2.html

I've seen similar technology adapted for windmills.

 

[jasc15]

Forgive me for saying so, but what's the big deal? Unless this is significantly more efficient than current hydro-power devices, then why all the hooplah? And there has been an endless refinement of hydro turbines since they have been invented, trying to squeeze out a bit more efficiency. Is there something fundamentally different here, because I must have missed it.

 

[Topher925]

Forgive me for saying so, but what's the big deal? Unless this is significantly more efficient than current hydro-power devices, then why all the hooplah? And there has been an endless refinement of hydro turbines since they have been invented, trying to squeeze out a bit more efficiency. Is there something fundamentally different here, because I must have missed it.

I concur. I don't really see anything news worthy going on here either.

 

[RandomGuy88]

I don't know much about hydro-power devices but this seems like it has a lot of potential compared to dams. Much smaller environmental impact and cheaper. The fact that it is small and modular means it can be put in remote places without access to other forms of electricity.

I think they should look into to building some kind of frame to act as a barrier to wildlife and debris and to make it sturdy in the event of storms. Although any kind of screen or mesh would reduce the amount of energy it could recover.

There are two issues I have this. They claim that it rotates at twice the velocity of the current. Does this make it more efficient? Because otherwise it just makes it more dangerous. I think a larger slower rotating turbine would be safer.

Also, they claim it is environmentally benign because there are not emissions but have there been studies to see what other effects this kind of technology could have. It is extracting energy from the flow (river, ocean current) so couldn't this conceivably have some impact on the environment?

 

[Studiot]

Interesting, thanks.