T-Dam:

Technology Overview

US Patent Pending: 11542692

Abstract:

A Trick Dam (T-Dam) is a scaleable buoyancy engine which can rotate a shaft, or compress a surface.    T-Dam applications range from power generation to marine engines.   T-Dam power generation applications are on a continuum from battery replacements, to Giga-watt municipal systems.  T-Dams can be noisy, but have no recognized negative environmental impacts.

Background: T-Dam vs conventional hydro-electric dam

In a traditional hydro-electric dam, water is the medium, but gravity is the primary source of potential energy. Gravity is also the source of potential energy in free-flotation.   Negative buoyancy powers a traditional hydro-electric dam.  Positive buoyancy powers a T-Dam. It follow then that T-Dams, operate on the same principle as a conventional  dam.  i.e.:Fluid is employed as a transport medium, facilitating conversion of  gravitational potential energy to mechanical energy.

Overview & Analysis:

The essence of the T-Dam method, is to circulate a two-state rotor in an elliptical pattern using flotation to raise the rotor, and then harvesting energy by dropping the same rotor.

A brief summary of a simple T-Dam design; a unit comprised of at least two channels, tightly linked at the top, and at the bottom with small near fluid-tight revolving paddle wheels (called gateways).  One of the channels is filled with fluid, (i.e. water, or some other more dense liquid), and the other is as empty as possible (ideal would be a complete vacuum). The channels can simply be formed from wide pipes, as simple as drain pipes, although a wider channel can dramatically increase the power generating potential of the T-Dam.

Circulating through these channels are multiple ball shaped devices, acting as rotors.  These rotors are moved up or down, these channels, using gravity alone.  Flotation, and free-fall are the transport methods.   Energy is harvested from the system by capturing the force of these rotors as they fall down the empty channel.   In large scale implementations each rotor may weigh over a ton, thereby generating significant power.

With advanced designs, and wide spread acceptance, trick dams could replace the bulk of fossil fuels within our lifetimes.   While with research advances, in nano-technology, T-Dams, will become increasingly effective, and powerful.   

We envision a T-Dam world, where energy is essentially as free as fire or fertility.  T-Dam designs can be applied to a both rivers, and lakes.  Please examine the applications for jungle rivers, and still ponds.  The moving river application can be constructed from local materials, and immediately applied to water management for irrigation and  consumption.

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Before we talk about the technology in more detail;  Please click here to review our insights on gravity as a source of power.  

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The Trick of a T-Dam:

Our challenge was "how to use, such a magnificent force as gravity, in a controlled way to make it more useful to man".   For example, how to change gravitational energy in to the more useable electric energy? 

A brief analogy may help.   Light is a force with an efficacy similar to gravity, in that its naturally occurring state is weak.  A thin shield can stop light in its tracks.   And yet, when light is concentrated, as in a laser beam, it can cut through diamonds.

A T-Dam is a gravity concentrator, much like a laser is a light concentrator.

A T-Dam, uses a small amount of energy, to channel gravity into the continuous circulation of a heavy object. It works in much the same way that a pile-driver uses relatively small energy outlays, to accomplish a greater goal.  After the pile is driven, the work done may total millions foot/pounds, but it was done say in 200 pounds increments.

The tricks of a T-Dam are multiple.   Like a good magic act, apparently impossible feats are accomplished with ease and alacrity.   And just like a magic trick is based upon skillful slight-of-hand, or mis-direction the T-Dam is based upon skillful execution of real methods, such as buoyancy and efficient transfers. 

E=:Δ.

E = energy

Δ=State Differentials

The first and perhaps the most dramatic trick, of a T-Dam, is to overcome  the basic dilemma of gravity power.  If you want to use gravity to drive a steel pole into the ground, you must raise some heavy mass to a height sufficient to generate the required downward force.  In the modern pile drive, steam, hydraulics, or explosive forces are used to elevate the driver.  Or the farmer uses a heavy post setter to drive a pole into hard soil, with human muscle.

A T-Dam does this by taking advantage of the dual, or contextual, characteristics of some materials or structures.   These are materials which are both heavy, and buoyant.   Simply consider the operation of a multi-ton modern submarine which rises and falls by altering its buoyancy.  A submarine is a massive object that can be floated by altering its overall density. 

Objects and materials will float due to, for example trapped low pressure fluids like air.   Good examples are ocean buoys, or a piece of Styrofoam.  If either is submerged, and then released they will rapidly return to the surface. The energy for these ascents is from gravity.   The submarine or the buoy, may way tons on land, and if you dropped either off steep cliff, imagine the tremendous amount of energy could be captured. 

If a thing exists... it is real, even if it is not understood.

The second trick of a T-Dam, is that most buoyant objects, have a mass which is dis-proportionate to their weight.   For example even a large piece of Styrofoam, will only weigh a few pounds, or a large buoy, which floats, but weighs tons out of the water.

This is one of the most fundamental problems of gravity based sources.  The problem is that if you want to generate a significant amount of energy, you must raise a significant weight to a significant distance.  For example a piece of Styrofoam would make for a poor source of energy, even if it was dropped a significant distance.  Therefore, an energy generator based upon simple buoyancy would be large, inefficient, and ineffective.

A T-Dam uses a clever choice of materials to overcome this problem.   A T-Dam uses a floatable object, called a rotor.   This rotor has a hard hollow shell, probably a metal shell, but rubber or plastic shells may be appropriate for particular applications.  

The shell is perforated, like a child's wiffle-ball, and the interior is filled with two special components.   The first is material with enough positive buoyancy, that it will cause the heavier shell to rise, at an acceptable rate.  

This can be for experimental sake, something like ping-pong balls.  The ratio of positive buoyancy materials, to the potentially negative buoyancy materials of the shell,  must be optimized to generate a sufficiently fast ascent, but still leaving the shell mostly empty.

These two components alone, will allow the T-Dam to operate, but at low efficiency.  This low efficiency is primarily due to the power required for gateway manipulation of  the rotors at the top and bottom of the system.

However, the T-Dam rotor is also filled with a sponge like, or neutral buoyancy material. This neutral buoyancy material would consist of some open celled foam like a kitchen sponge.   This material will trap fluid from the flotation ascent, which adds significant weight during the falling or energy generation phase.

Since this material, which fills the bulk of rotors internal void, is neutrally buoyant, it does not impact on the rotors ability to float in fluid, but makes it significantly heavy during ascent.

Therefore the second trick of a T-Dam, is to raise a light object, but drop a heavy one.

The next question is the net energy potentials, or effectiveness,  of the system.   How much energy can be harvested from the system if power is required to run the gateways at the top and the bottom? 

The givens are;

1. Given is that the power required at the bottom, (base gateway: insertion into ascent/flotation channel),  proportional to the height of the ascent channel.

2. Given also, that fluid will inevitably be transferred from the filled ascent channel to the empty descent channel, and energy will be required to move this fluid back to the ascent channel.

First of all, these questions are all questions of manufacturing efficiency.   All of the questions are legitimate concerns, that will determine the evolutionary development of efficient and effective T-Dams.  Design factors like choice of materials for the rotors, and the design of the impeller blades (base gateway), will allow for quite a bit of optimization for efficiency sake.  

The early internal combustion engines were heavy and inefficient in comparison with the 200 horsepower engines in our vehicles today.

However, the T-Dam has a few tricks to deal even with these efficiency questions.   First, the insertion of the rotors by the base gateway need only to displace the dry mass of the rotor, because the bulk of the trapped fluid has been released during the descent, or free-fall stage.   Consequently, with the energy required for even inefficient insertion is significantly less than the energy that can be captured from the saturated rotor during descent.  

Secondly, fluid that has been released in the descent phase, and due to inefficient transfer, is returned to the ascent channel using gravity based siphoning, and therefore requires limited if any power from the T-Dam's gross power potentials.  

In many implementations, where even a minimal water flow, such as from a small stream, the ascent channel can be constantly refreshed.  While excessive fluid transfer can simply be drained.

This approach makes the T-Dam, and effective water flow multiplier for hydro-electric applications.

How might the future developments in fields like nano-technology, and materials science?  We speculate that  nano scale improvements in;

• gross surface area, 
• crystallite scale, 
• fluid density

of materials may allow us to dramatically increase direct induction potentials.

Dramatic increases in potential magnetic charges that a material may hold, would have geometric impacts on effectiveness. 

Most question the potential efficiency of this design, but effectiveness is the true test.  At today's energy costs, the current efficiency of the design will not lead to a quick penetration into the residential sector.  But the industrial and municipal sectors can more readily modify existing structures and immediately gain significant cost or environmental benefits. 

We realize that the idea is new and hard to accept.  Therefore, we are willing to offer proof of the effectiveness of the technology in a variety of different methods.  First, we are offering a 5% royalty agreement to any manufacturer. We will provide  technical support during development.  We will also be happy to build you a copy of our working prototype, which is a 1 Hp, fan generator at our cost.

This device is approximately 6 * 6 * 3  ft, and will operate a 5 ft fan, will generating a steady 12 v power stream. This fan/generator is particularly well suited for industrial exhaust operation, in factory or mining applications.

We are particularly in search for industrial concerns, who would be willing to develop and benchmark  Gw class T-Dams.

US Patent Pending: 11542692

Contact our development team