Small turbines can capture wasted energy and generate electricity from man-made wind sources

A pair of electrical engineers at Distance University of Madrid, working with a colleague from Mision Critica-Data Center, ZFB Technology Services, in Columbia, has developed a methodology for generating electricity from man-made wind sources using small turbines.

In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, Isabel Gil-García, Ana Fernández-Guillamón, and Álvaro Montes-Torres describe their methodology and outline how they used it to generate electricity from wasted wind generated by chilling machines at a data center in Columbia.

Prior research has suggested that there are many ways to capture some of the wind energy that is wasted by many technologies. Air moving across a ship or train, for example, or wind created by fans used on HVAC cooling systems. In this new study, the research team has developed a general methodology for capturing some of the energy typically lost by such technologies.

The new methodology starts with identifying a possible man-made resource, such as a ship, truck, train, or fan used for general cooling. The second step involves investigating how much of the resource is being wasted. In the case of wind applications, an anemometer can be used to test wind speeds, which can be used to determine the amount of wind being generated, and how much of it is available for use.

The next step is to estimate the amount of electrical energy that can likely be harvested from such a resource to ensure that it is worth the effort. The final step is selecting the technology that can be used to capture the wasted wind—typically a turbine. Once a plan is in place, an initial test can be conducted.

To demonstrate their methodology, the research team identified a possible source as wind emanating from cooling devices used to keep computers used in a data center in Columbia from overheating. The site featured three chillers, each with eight fans. The fans operated at 480 V and ran at 900 rpm.

The researchers chose to use Tesup V7 wind turbines to capture the wasted wind because of their small and lightweight features. They mounted six of them above the fans and were able to produce 513.82 MWh annually. After deducting the energy consumed by the fans, the researchers found that adding the turbines reduced net electricity by 467.6 MWh annually.