Irish Tube Compressor: Wave Energy Breakthrough or Pipe Dream?
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.
- » See also: Wave Energy Looking for Breakthrough — Using Aerospace Design
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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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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, can you tell me which would fall faster in a vacuum - an elephant or a feather?
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!
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.
could you please send me more detailes of this apparatus,because I’m also studying of these sea wave energy harvesting devices.