Irish Tube Compressor: Wave Energy Breakthrough or Pipe Dream?

May 20th, 2009 by Derek Markham

Irish Tube Compressor

A new method of harvesting wave energy, the Irish Tube Compressor, is under development by the Dublin company JOSPA, which hopes to demonstrate superior performance in sustainable electricity production with their device.

The Irish Tube Compressor is based on reinforced, flexible tubes lying on the water, using air and water driven forward in successive ‘slugs’ by ocean waves, with the resulting water head and air pressure being converted to electricity, either by conventional means or being used directly in other processes (such as water desalination).

It looks like some kind of Rube Goldberg invention, but early tests show promise and possible ‘proof of concept’, which may lead JOSPA to fully develop and market the model.

According to the company, the benefits of the Irish Tube Compressor are:

A big improvement in lower maintenance costs
Tube- or Hose- based, it mitigates the severity of marine conditions while it cannot remove them entirely.
A lower specific capital cost is expected (€ or $ per kW installed capacity)
A greater response to varying waves – superior bandwidth availability – greater time availability
Lower specific production costs – lower € or $ cost per kWh of production
Greater marine survivability
Faster return on capital invested due greater annual salable output

For more info, and test results, see the company’s Irish Tube Compressor tests page.

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Tags: Electricity, Irish Tube Compressor, Jospa, Ocean Energy

About the Author

Derek Markham lives in southwestern New Mexico and digs bicycles, simple living, organic gardening, sustainable lifestyle design, slacklining, bouldering, and permaculture. He loves good food, with fresh roasted chiles at the top of his list of favorites. Catch up with Derek on Twitter, RebelMouse, Google+, or at his natural parenting site, Natural Papa!

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Uncle B

Please! Bigger better diagrams! This looks like a low cost survival tool for the New Wave of low cost, practical “closer to the earth” folk that will supersede the Great Hulking American Neanderthals we all emulate today! Similar compressor design at Rapid Chutes in Cobalt, Ontario fed mines there all the air they needed! Simple is better! We use Oil because it is there! Other ways are very possible! As a boy, we burnt coal, had an Ice Box refrigerator, and ate eggs fresh from the farm, horse drawn to city lane ways daily! Milk same story! No Oil involved! That came later – we survived and prospered even without video games, color TV, but radio sure was nice to have – battery radio, albeit radio. America! Asian fact: You will share world’s finite resources with rising Asian populations from now on! Be ready for shortages, be ready for a new way of life.
Uncle B

Please! Bigger better diagrams! This looks like a low cost survival tool for the New Wave of low cost, practical “closer to the earth” folk that will supersede the Great Hulking American Neanderthals we all emulate today! Similar compressor design at Rapid Chutes in Cobalt, Ontario fed mines there all the air they needed! Simple is better! We use Oil because it is there! Other ways are very possible! As a boy, we burnt coal, had an Ice Box refrigerator, and ate eggs fresh from the farm, horse drawn to city lane ways daily! Milk same story! No Oil involved! That came later – we survived and prospered even without video games, color TV, but radio sure was nice to have – battery radio, albeit radio. America! Asian fact: You will share world’s finite resources with rising Asian populations from now on! Be ready for shortages, be ready for a new way of life.
Uncle B

Please! Bigger better diagrams! This looks like a low cost survival tool for the New Wave of low cost, practical “closer to the earth” folk that will supersede the Great Hulking American Neanderthals we all emulate today! Similar compressor design at Rapid Chutes in Cobalt, Ontario fed mines there all the air they needed! Simple is better! We use Oil because it is there! Other ways are very possible! As a boy, we burnt coal, had an Ice Box refrigerator, and ate eggs fresh from the farm, horse drawn to city lane ways daily! Milk same story! No Oil involved! That came later – we survived and prospered even without video games, color TV, but radio sure was nice to have – battery radio, albeit radio. America! Asian fact: You will share world’s finite resources with rising Asian populations from now on! Be ready for shortages, be ready for a new way of life.
Uncle B

Please! Bigger better diagrams! This looks like a low cost survival tool for the New Wave of low cost, practical “closer to the earth” folk that will supersede the Great Hulking American Neanderthals we all emulate today! Similar compressor design at Rapid Chutes in Cobalt, Ontario fed mines there all the air they needed! Simple is better! We use Oil because it is there! Other ways are very possible! As a boy, we burnt coal, had an Ice Box refrigerator, and ate eggs fresh from the farm, horse drawn to city lane ways daily! Milk same story! No Oil involved! That came later – we survived and prospered even without video games, color TV, but radio sure was nice to have – battery radio, albeit radio. America! Asian fact: You will share world’s finite resources with rising Asian populations from now on! Be ready for shortages, be ready for a new way of life.
feanando w. l. s. k

could you please send me more detailes of this apparatus,because I’m also studying of these sea wave energy harvesting devices.
feanando w. l. s. k

could you please send me more detailes of this apparatus,because I’m also studying of these sea wave energy harvesting devices.
feanando w. l. s. k

could you please send me more detailes of this apparatus,because I’m also studying of these sea wave energy harvesting devices.
feanando w. l. s. k

could you please send me more detailes of this apparatus,because I’m also studying of these sea wave energy harvesting devices.
http://www.jospa.ie Joss Fitzsimons

Patrick, I presume that guy Russ just saw the first of the three video clips. Perhaps we should state at the top that there are three (soon to be 4) video clips under TESTS on the jospa site.
http://www.jospa.ie Joss Fitzsimons

Patrick, I presume that guy Russ just saw the first of the three video clips. Perhaps we should state at the top that there are three (soon to be 4) video clips under TESTS on the jospa site.
Joss Fitzsimons

The tube has a cross section of over 1m2. The velocity at outflow is 6m/sec. Pressure approx 1 bar gauge. That is equivalent to an energy flow from one tube of approx. 0.6MW. Russ, thats a capital M not a m!
Joss Fitzsimons

The tube has a cross section of over 1m2. The velocity at outflow is 6m/sec. Pressure approx 1 bar gauge. That is equivalent to an energy flow from one tube of approx. 0.6MW. Russ, thats a capital M not a m!
Joss Fitzsimons

The tube has a cross section of over 1m2. The velocity at outflow is 6m/sec. Pressure approx 1 bar gauge. That is equivalent to an energy flow from one tube of approx. 0.6MW. Russ, thats a capital M not a m!
http://www.jospa.ie Patrick Duffy

Russ, can you tell me which would fall faster in a vacuum – an elephant or a feather?
http://www.jospa.ie Patrick Duffy

Russ, can you tell me which would fall faster in a vacuum – an elephant or a feather?
russ

The demo unit is a piece of plastic pipe nailed to a tree? Maybe they can win some school competition for 4th graders!

The volumes to be handled to produce even one kW would be rather large.
russ

The demo unit is a piece of plastic pipe nailed to a tree? Maybe they can win some school competition for 4th graders!

The volumes to be handled to produce even one kW would be rather large.
russ

The demo unit is a piece of plastic pipe nailed to a tree? Maybe they can win some school competition for 4th graders!

The volumes to be handled to produce even one kW would be rather large.
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