Environmental reporter Gary Chittim interviewed Hydrovolts CEO and Co-founder Burt Hamner Thursday in Ballard. As seen in the video, Burt manually turns the Company's small prototype to show how the spinning rotor can make power, in this case to light a conventional 60-watt bulb. Laughs Burt, "I feel like a trained seal!" In the water the turbine spins continuously, and power output is much more stable.
Hydrovolts Director of Engineering Brian Peithman is also shown with the small prototype during an in-water test from last summer. With the larger demonstration unit Burt explains the Flipwing's blade configuration which allows it to spin underwater. Hydrovolts advisor and UW Professor Bruce Adee shows the test tank that he and some of his students used for measurement and performance validation.
Hydrovolts CEO Burt Hamner crouches to check the hinge mechanism
of one of the Flipwing rotor blades. Steady Flux principal Brian Bloudek
and Hydrovolts Director of Engineering Brian Peithman look on.
of one of the Flipwing rotor blades. Steady Flux principal Brian Bloudek
and Hydrovolts Director of Engineering Brian Peithman look on.
The demonstration unit is being built under contract with Steady Flux, and will undergo initial in-water tests within the week.
More video of various turbine tests can be found on the Hydrovolts YouTube channel.
Learn more about the Hydrovolts Flipwing turbine on our web site or other posts in this blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment