News on the Penta Power Turbine
Calgary inventor's 'Penta Power' turbine garners big interest.
By Greg Williams, Calgary Herald: June 5, 2009
Calgary inventor Brian Moore had to wait for his aha moment. Now that he's had it, though, his latest invention could impact the automotive industry.Some five years ago, Moore had an idea for an efficient turbine, one that when placed in wind, water or steam could spin a pair of alternators and generate electricity.
But the idea for the ideal design did not come to Moore immediately, that happened last summer, while he was sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon watching a movie, North By Northwest, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. "I just thought of the perfect design for the turbine, which had eluded me before,"Moore says of his vision.
To ascertain if his vision had any merit he quickly built himself a very simple prototype. He searched and found some empty toilet paper rolls. He cut these in half lengthwise. An Orville Redenbacher popcorn box was sacrificed, and two circles were cut out of the cardboard. Moore arranged the toilet paper roll halves just as he had envisioned between the cardboard circles (the inside rolls face out, and these are surrounded by the outer rolls, which face in and cover the gaps), and put a straw through the middle to act as a simple shaft. "I blew on the split paper rolls, and it turned,"Moore says.
Then, Moore was in his garage cutting Coca-Cola cans in half lengthwise, and affixing them to plastic ice-cream bucket lids. This time, he used the round handle borrowed from a fireplace tool as a shaft. Again, he blew, and the apparatus turned. He kept going, now cutting plastic tubing and acrylic sheets. This heavier version required a bit of a blast from an electric hair dryer, but the concept was proved.
Now, Moore has had a machinist manufacture his latest prototype, this one made of lightweight aluminum. He's built a stand for the turbine apparatus, and is eager to show it to anyone who is interested.
Moore says, "The next day at work, a customer asked me what I was thinking about. I told him it was of this invention." The customer was Sandy Dunn, and he asked Moore if he could see the turbine. Dunn was shown the turbine, and was sold on the concept. Moore and Dunn are now business partners. "Dunn invested some money to help me get going on a patent and get other things done that were to help the business,"Moore says.
Currently, the turbine is mounted on the frame with two fixed closed bearings so it will spin when demonstrated. But ultimately Moore sees these bearings being a pair of very high-efficient, low resistance generators at either end of the turbine. Moore is now in talks with Vancouver firm Exro Technologies, themselves working toward a breakthrough in generator technology. They are purported to be the first company to build a Variable Input Electric Generator, or VIEG -- they pronounce it "veej."
Traditional generators have a difficult time "generating" electricity when the "fuel," be it wind or water, is not at a constant speed. And, Moore needs his generators to be flexible. With the Exro generators at either end of his turbine, when it spins, it should easily generate electricity. And unlike other turbines, it will do it without the use of gears, belts or pulleys.
Moore says his "Penta Power" turbine, as he has dubbed it, could have applications in a variety of environments, not the least of which is the automotive world. He sees the Penta Power turbine mounted on an automobile, either under the vehicle, in front under the hood, on top, or by the wheels. As the car moves, the passing air would turn the turbine, and Moore says the electricity could be captured and stored in onboard batteries. "(That power) can be sold back to the grid through future battery depots," Moore says.
In an electric vehicle, however, this on-the-fly recharge could potentially increase the driving distance and decrease the need to plug into the grid for a full charge. So far, Moore has not done any real world performance testing of his device. That's next. Calgary car modifiers the Compact Tuning Lab have agreed to run some tests. They will mount the turbine unit on a chassis powered by a motorcycle engine and put the device through its paces. "Compact Tuning Lab will need to construct a 'cover'," Moore says.
"In order for the turbine to effectively use the passing wind it needs to be guided into the (turbine's) vanes at a precise angle for maximum efficiency. They'll have to use a scoop to deflect the air into the vanes." He adds: "There's no air escaping behind the turbine, it's almost like it's gobbled up. I think it could be 75 per cent to 90 per cent efficient, but we need to test it and take a look at some results." He hopes to make more progress in the next two to three months.
In the meantime, Moore has a patent pending on the Penta Power, and he has shared his turbine theory with David Suzuki, Discovery Channel and a few companies, such as Canadian Pacific Railway, Motive Industries and Tesla Motors. Until he sees his test results, though, Moore cannot really move ahead.
This article was written by Greg Williams of The Calgary Herald newspaper on June 5, 2009.
Click here to view the article on The Calgary Herald website.
