Vortex Energy Drive for Ecofriendly and Sustainable Energy Harvesting

Background

Hydro-kinetic energy is the most abundant, predictable & reliable sources of energy. But the current technology of harvesting it has limitations like requirement of huge civil structures like dams that emits greenhouse gases making the project not climate friendly. These structures also bares 50-70% of the capital cost of the project. Further, construction of such huge structures results temporary/permanent change in course of the flowing water bodies, and sometimes relocation of human settlements. This creates adverse impact on surrounding ecology, agriculture and socio-economic conditions. Energy harvesting from vortex induced vibration is a relatively new technology which has rapidly gaining the attention of researchers for about a decade. Its feasibility has been testes at IIT Kharagpur through numerical simulations and experiments. This is a promising technology facilitating efficient and environmentally friendly way of harvesting hydro-kinetic energy that doesn’t requires huge civil constructions reducing capital costs by 50-70% . Thus it addresses the ‘Affordable & Clean energy’ SDG. The technology is based on novel concept of utilizing natural vortex induced vibration. It requires in efficient design based on in-depth fundamental study. This representing the SDG ‘Innovation & Infrastructure’. This technology promises zero carbon emissions and zero e-waste making it environment friendly.

The Vortex energy drive is a novel hydro-kinetic energy harvesting technology with minimalistic human foot-print on environment being developed by Honeyloop Technologies a start-up company aimed to commercialize the technology. This project involves laboratory testing, testing of prototype in real-time conditions which reports the range of scalability of the technology. Based on the outcome of the testing, design modification would be proposed to mathematical analysis.

Significance and Contribution

In the present global scenario of increasing climate consciousness and in accordance with the Paris Agreement made through the climate change conference, India is committed to reducing total projected carbon emissions by one billion metric tons through 2030. In accordance, India’s total renewable energy capacity touched 172. 54GW by April 2023 representing 41.4% of the overall installed power capacity. And yet, it has not yet touched its important resource of renewable and reliable energy ‘Hydro-kinetic energy’. Although, India is blessed with enormous amounts of hydro-kinetic resources, its capture is currently limited to only 11.2% of the total installed power capacity of India. Although Hydro-kinetic energy is more reliable, predictable and uniformly distributed across the mainland of the country, its capture is limited by the disadvantages associated with the current method and technology used in hydro-kinetic power conversion.

The current technology of hydropower conversion requires huge civil constructions, which tend to emit greenhouse gases over time. The cost involved in such constructions limits hydel projects as only government projects. If there exists a technology with which hydropower can be efficiently harvested without the construction of dams, this can facilitate access to affordable clean energy. Also, a reduction in capital costs allows private players into the hydropower generation, improving the scope for larger capturing capacities. Unlike solar and wind, hydro-kinetic energy is much more predictable and has better operating periods, reducing investment return times, which attracts investors helping in developing more projects and capturing higher percentages of available hydro resources. The proposal includes the development of the Vortex energy drive prototype and its testing. This involves a novel method of converting hydro-kinetic energy into mechanical oscillating energy using phenomena called vortex-induced vibrations and further driving an electrical generator to convert it into electric energy. Vortex-induced vibrations are currently a forefront topic in fluid-structure interaction research worldwide. Only recently few researchers across the world including in IIT Kharagpur, India observed the characteristics of Vortex-induced vibrations for hydro-kinetic energy harvesting. The observed characteristics of this technology could potentially provide affordable energy without having adverse effects on ecology and the environment. Through this collaboration, a proper framework would be developed between industry and academy which can lead to bilateral cooperation and motivation in their academic and commercial pursuits.

The study is comprised of a team of cross-disciplinary specialists:

• Dr Hao Chen and Prof. Cheng Siong Chin from NUiS.

• Dr Mohammed Rabius Sunny, Dr Anirban Bhattacharyya, Dr Ritwik Ghoshal, Dr Swapnadip De Chowdhury from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

• Dr Zaibin Lin from University of Aberdeen.