Renewable Technologies: Harnessing Power

Today, we're grappling with power cuts due to the massive disparity between demand
and supply. Looking for alternative sources of power is not merely a necessity, but the
need of the hour

Taking a step forward in this
direction are the techniques
conceptualized by Praveen
Krishnan from Tamil Nadu, who
has a degree of M. Tech. Chemical
Engineering from the Coimbatore
Institute of Technology. Environmental
consciousness coupled with the urge
to resolve the problem of intermittent
power supply urged him to come up with
three simple yet innovative techniques
of generating power. We spoke with
Praveen to know more about his work.

How did you come up
with the idea for these
techniques?

I have been always interested in nonpolluting technologies. The existing
technologies cause a lot of pollution with its dangerous by-products, such
as radiation wastes and CO2. The only pollution-free techniques of producing
power are those that utilize wind, solar and water energy, but production
through such sources is very low compared to the demand. Today, we are facing major power cuts due to lack of production to meet the ever-increasing demand. All this made me to think of alternative sources, and I came up with three techniques that I think are environmentally friendly

Can you explain the
techniques?
OWES (OCEAN WAVE ENERGY
SYNTHESIS)
 In OWES, a fl exible diaphragm is stretched by a spring arrangement. The diaphragm consists of two openings joined to pipe lines, one for sea water inlet and other for the outlet. Both the pipe lines are fitted by one-way valves, so that water can fl ow only in one direction. The diaphragm may be made into a cone shape to focus the force at one point. The diaphragm is placed facing the waves. The inlet pipe line is dipped in the sea and the outlet is taken to the
overhead tank. So while the waves hit the face of the diaphragm, it begins to
reduce, thus creating a positive pressure which causes the water to fl ow through
the outlet valve to the overhead tank. At the same time, the inlet valve closes so
that water cannot escape. As the wave recedes, due to spring
action, the diaphragm enlarges and creates a negative pressure, which
makes the inlet valve open, allowing the sea water to enter the diaphragm
unit. At the same time, the outlet valve closes. Thus sea water is pumped to
the overhead tank intermittently. Anumber of similar units are constructed
close to each other so that water fl ows continuously to the over head tank. From
this tank, the water is made to fl ow over the turbine unit, which is connected to
the dynamo. The dynamo produces the required electrical energy...
OMT (OSCILLATING MAGNET
TECHNIQUE)
In this technique, a freely suspended magnetic pendulum oscillates, so that
the magnetic fl ux cuts the coil and creates an Electromotive force (EMF).
By coupling the EMF from numerous such units, we can achieve the required