Irkutsk graduate student has created a solar-wind installation

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The inventor warns that its installation, of course, will not replace a fully centralized power supply channel and the main demand for it will come from residents of remote villages and summer cottages, tourist centers and other facilities remote from powerful power grids.

However, even residents of cottage settlements that are connected to city networks, in his opinion, the installation will be useful - for the period of interruptions in city networks, which happens quite often in the Irkutsk region. As a kind of insurance.

A solar-wind power plant, or SVU, is a combined source of thermal and electrical energy, consisting of a solar-receptive surface and a vertical-axial wind generator. The wind generator generates electricity, and the solar surface, on which the tubes with the coolant and the photocell are located, generates both electricity and thermal energy.

Ivan Menshenin, inventor, postgraduate student at NI ISTU

The inventor clarified that a hybrid of solar and wind installations had not been designed before. Maximum - they put one and the other side by side and connected to a single power system, which did not have the best effect on the efficiency of the devices. The average calculated power of the installation he developed is 10-15 kW (for comparison: 5 kW is quite enough to meet all the energy needs of one apartment).

The increased power is not the only difference - according to the author's idea, if the device is installed on the roof of the house, natural ventilation will be carried out with the help of ventilation ducts. In addition, the young scientist finalized both the solar installation and the wind turbine. On the first, a sun tracking system was installed, which will deploy the solar modules so that the rays fall on them at the optimal angle (otherwise, as in the classical model, the generator would reach its maximum power only at lunchtime, when the sun is at its zenith).

Viktor Sergeev, an employee of ISTU, helps to assemble and mount the elements of the IED

The wind generator, in turn, generates nominal 10 kW in this model even at low wind speeds of 2-3 m / s. Other models have to wait all 10 m / s (a rare speed for a continental climate). In general, according to the developer, most of the territory of Russia is characterized by a relatively low wind speed in summer, but a lot of sun. And in winter, on the contrary, there are many strong winds and little sunshine.

The hybrid system, therefore, produces more energy when it is really needed: in cold weather, the decrease in the performance of solar panels is compensated by an increase in the efficiency of wind farms, and in summer, on the contrary, the performance of solar modules increases.

The inventor says that potential sponsors have not yet been interested in the installation, but potential partners have already contacted - for example, a Chinese plant for the production of solar panels and generators. Now the scientist is finishing collecting a demo version of the IED, which he plans to test this summer.

We have already hung it with the necessary sensors - we will start watching soon. Then we will make 2-3 prototypes in full size - about 3 m in diameter and 4 m in height, and we can think about the industrial scale of production. We will make the generator reliable in Japanese and easily disassembled in Russian. All parts will be easily replaced when worn. When upgrading the device, we even expect - and this inevitably happens - to change the new model for our customers for a small surcharge or to supplement the previous versions of the installation with additional options free of charge.

The estimated service life of the installation, according to the inventor, will be up to 20 years. Irkutsk entrepreneurs are already interested in the invention.