AVEtec Energy Corporation
Challenge/Opportunity:
AVEtec is a Sarnia based corporation which has developed a novel technology using vortices to produce electrical energy from low temperature heat. The heat source can be warm air or sea water or industrial waste heat. Between 2013 and 2015 and through the support of NSERC and Breakout Labs from California, LC and AVEtec built and tested an enclosed 8 meter high prototype at LC and an unenclosed 3 m high prototype at the LC Fire School to evaluate the technology and to study the effect of various operating conditions. Coherent rope like vortices extending 20 m to 50 m or more above the prototype were produced at both sites respectively and were documented with video and photos. Based on the outcome of this study, AVEtec was approached by companies with commercialization interest including an AVE that would send the waste heat from a 10 MW(e) gas turbine to an AVE thereby increasing power output by 5%. A large international utility is interested in using the AVE to enhance cooling and energy production from 200 to 600 MW(e) coal power plants. However, the process conditions for this large scale needed to be studied using the existing modified or new prototypes. This step was essential to enhance performance and efficiency and was done by LERC and AVEtec researchers.
Solution/Collaboration:
The follow-up LERC project was tested with modifications of previous arrangements and entirely new arrangements to provide all technical information for large scale commercialization. The proposed project had received worldwide publicity including being features in the Atlantic and in the National Geographic Channel Breakthrough science series where it was recognized as one of very few projects with the potential of overcoming current energy and global warming problems. Several academic and atmospheric science institutions collaborated on AVE development.
Area: Renewable Energy Conversion & Storage
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