Turin - A profitable testing week at FIAT “Orbassano” Wind Gallery to study the patented kobold turbine flow effects.A prototype of the system installed in the Strait of Messina on the Sicilian side, was ideated by ship-owner Elio Matacena, President of Ponte di Archimede International SpA , and for the first time in the world, thanks to the national grid company “ENEL”, energy from the sea supplies ENEL users, so to optimize forecast of produced energy.A technology dissemination campaign, promoted by United Nations Industrial Development Organization, in the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia and the Philippines, have already produced two joint ventures in China and Indonesia, to produce customized turbines, designed to achieve maximum yield with the strong oceanic current of such places.So why making tests into FIAT Wind Gallery? “Aerodynamic tests are a fundamental step to achieve the ideal blades design for vertical axis Kobold turbine – as asserted by Engineer Alberto Moroso , that, together Engineer Helena Eriksson and Engineer Alessandro Corso conduced tests on behalf of Ponte di Archimede International Spa – These tests were used to remedy a phenomena that came up looking at the prototype installed since 6 years in the strait of Messina: the working turbine doesn’t allow correct measurement of current speed and these measurements are essential to determine the exact operation point of the machine. This is due to the fact that the speed of the current is the true driving force that produces electricity: comparing two turbines that produce the same power-continues Moroso - but one with a double current speed compared to the second, the result will be that the first will have a performance of as much as eight times more. We cannot be wrong about performance calculations, since we propose a technology capable of providing energy to small islands with depressed economies because of the lack of electricity as they depend on expensive and polluting power generation.The technician concludes, that thanks to the results in the Wind Tunnel, - with a sophisticated Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler , we were able to make test with undisturbed laminar flow, achieving high-precision and with measurements that we will use to design turbines for the UNIDO Program. "We are very grateful to FIAT-emphasizes Elio Matacena – whom offered us to use their Wind Tunnel free of charge to make these basic tests for a very innovative technology, capable of producing clean and renewable energy. Ponte di Archimede International S.p.A. is the first company in the world that has ever achieved a plant for the energy exploitation of marine currents, thanks to the use of its capital and with the support of a United Nations Agency. For this reason, the Company has felt the need to set a standard for measuring performance of the turbine to evaluate the performances in the most possible accurate way.The results of these tests will also be useful -explains President Matacena - to attempt to propose an international standard on how to measure the efficiency of different machines currently being studied (although Kobold is the only one that has reached the prototype, function and production stage), so as to minimize effects due to the slowdown in the flow and then make the results of different experiments more comparable. |
