Making electricity the easy way
Space Tethers, Balloons and Telephones – Part 4 of the Electricity Series
Putting together our last article, we found a giant, wind turbine sized hole in wind power generation. On the day in question, the grid claimed wind power had generated 42% of all electricity used in the UK. In order for that to be true, we calculated that every single turbine in the country, big and small would have to be running at around 65% capacity regardless of storm force winds. Highest capacity is 41%. How on earth did they manage it? But first let’s talk about telephones.
How do telephones work?
Not by magic! Did you know your telephone line wiring is connected in a round about way to mains electricity? It runs a really quite a low voltage (9-12.5v) and amperage (25-42 milliamps). You will know in a power outage, if you have an analogue telephone, it will still work. This is because the telephone exchange feeding those telephone wires has a back up generator. Here is a super short excerpt on telephone exchanges and a battery room from the 1950’s.
Even though the telephone line entering your house is very low powered, the master socket has something called a surge arrestor at 11 or 26 Amps. The line could, in the correct conditions, such as during a lightning storm, conduct far more electricity than it is designed to. Indeed modern day telephone exchanges now have their own substations, feeding in at 11 kilovolts, stepped down (reduced) to 230 volts or 415 volts. These substations are fed by mains electricity.
If you were born before the advent of fibre optic cable you may remember speaking on an analogue telephone that was only plugged into the BT socket. Sometimes the line crackled and hissed (and may still do in some areas). That was electrical interference, as you can hear on this video. This is why telephone lines are all insulated. So why the interference? Let’s find out.
Sky high voltage
Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist from the United States, also part of the Manhattan Project, specialised in quantum electrodynamics, among other things. He identified that with each metre height above the earth, 100 volts were gained. Between the surface of the earth and 50,000 metres in to the stratosphere, he estimated there was 400,000 volts difference. The amperage of this electricity he claimed, however, was a very low 10 pico amps per metre squared. Not much use in the grand scheme of electricity generation it would seem.
The charge at 50,000 metres up in the atmosphere is extremely conductive – this is known as the stratopause. This is the region where the products of lightning burst out of the top of storm clouds and ash from volcano eruptions gathers. Additionally it is where ions from the ionosphere bond with electrons in a process called recombination. There is a lot of particle activity at 50km!
Feynman found the electric current over oceans on days with similar conditions could vary by 15%. He confirmed this was down to lightning storms inducing particle collisions in the atmosphere. Between the base of a supercell storm and earth a difference of 20-100 million volts can build up. After each lightning bolt, the storm can build up the charge again in seconds. He concludes there is approximately 4 ampers of energy flow within a thunder storm and 10,000 at the peak of a lightning discharge.
For peace of mind, as we humans are connected to the ground by our feet, the 100 voltage increments at 1 metre, or 2 metres if you are tall, actually moves upwards and around you as per the diagram. We are in effect like mini mountains but we can also be struck by lightning, being sticky out contact points. In theory you could gather a charge if you were high in the air and insulated from the ground and would discharge as soon as you connected ground or a grounded object.
Patents, patience
The google patent repository is an interesting place to hang out, filled with inventions of every type from AI, biotechnology to mechanical. Searching the terms ‘atmosphere’, ‘electricity’, ‘harvest’, ‘cable’ and ‘wire’ turns up a whole host of inventions designed to convert atmospheric electricity in to usable electricity.
Clint McCowen, lead researcher from the Ion Power Group LLC, registered patent number CA2993945C for collection devices and equipment to harvest atmospheric electricity. The invention proposessupport structures with collection devices made of graphite, carbon or other, attached to them. These devices can be wired to a load (battery or machine requiring electrical energy), with a capacitor inbetween, to collect and use energy from the atmosphere. The proposed support structures are either moving vehicles such as cars or planes, or large fixed structures such as billboards, towers, and flagpoles. They point out that electrical charges ‘reside’ on the outside of the conductors, and gravitate towards sharpened points. The invention uses fine fibres of carbon, Teflon or similar.
As the Ion Power Group is a living breathing company we have a website. Here is the presentation on the concept behind the ion energy collection. They claim advances in carbon and graphene nanomaterials make electricity collection even more efficient than metals. Graphene being 100 times stronger than metal and incredibly light and thin.
The collectors are designed to harvest energy present in the atmosphere due to lightning discharges. They state ordinary air carries a charge, which is present in the form of static energy. When lightning strikes, the conductor is the air surrounding it. As a consequence, a residual charge spreads out in to the air as a weak electric field that surrounds the earth. The patent author acknowledges recombination of ions with electrons in the stratopause and solar radiation may play a role in the creation of this weak atmospheric charge. The lead researcher in this proof of concept video, says that the higher the collectors the better, presumably because, as Feynman says, the higher up, the higher the concentration of ions. The company have recommended their collection devices to NASA for use in space, and the system has the accolade of being one of NASA iTech’s top 25 most promising technologies. More about NASA later.
There is a problem however. If the electric potential of the atmosphere only provides 10 picoAmps per metre squared as per Feynman’s findings, how is it then that the Ion Power Group believes it is possible to harvest electricity from moving vehicles and static objects as small as a skate board and lamp post?
NB
A brief note on the source of atmospheric electrical potential. From our research, we understand atmospheric static energy is a natural part of the weather system. We do not believe it is solely dependent on lightning, the sun or ion recombination. Weather conditions which also have an effect include wind currents, temperature, ice nuclei particulate composition, relative moisture, precipitation and other factors. Some of these culminate in lightning. The Ewicon ion wind generator demonstrates the use of water as ions is sufficient to generate charge.
Tethered Balloons
This next invention reminds us of the barrage balloons over cities in Europe during the Blitz of World War II. Hermann Plauson, Estonian engineer and inventor lived in Hamburg, Germany when he registered his balloon energy harvesting invention. An impressive 221 entries for his work are listed on Google Patents. In 1922 he was granted the patent for a method of converting atmospheric electrical energy in to usable current without kinetic (moving parts) means. He later added improvements to patent number US1540998A. The patent was published in 1925 and expired in 1942.
The initial idea was to suspend hydrogen filled balloons in the air, covering them with metallic net with very sharp pins connected by a central cable to a series of converters on the ground. This spike design was replaced with a metallic balloon. It was made of a light weight metal skin with a double purpose, collection and conduction of electricity through the cable, and containing the helium or hydrogen necessary to keep it afloat.
The static energy gathered would be high voltage but low current. In a trial using a balloon at 300 yards high, he produced 400 volts of 1.8 amperes. This was the equivalent of an impressive 17.25 kilowatts over a 24 hour period. Using two balloons he managed in excess of quadruple the output to 81.5 kilowatts in 24 hours by using a condenser battery. Rex research has transcribed all of the articles from Science and Invention covering Plauson’s work on generating atmospheric electricity.
The energy gathered on the balloon traveled down the conductor cable to the ‘Static influence machine’. Today this would be known as an electrostatic motor. This video shows how energy can be converted from needle points at the top of an insulated wire suspended in air. The amount of current generated from these small pins is minimal and would not be enough to run any modern day gadget but we can see the principle. Would a bare copper wire gather more current?
Once electricity reaches the static influence machine, the electrode combs charge the condensers, and old term that is now known as a capacitor. When the condenser is full of charge, a spark will jump across to the inductive primary coil to close the circuit. This forms a magnetic field in the first coil, which energises the electrons in the secondary coil without coming in to direct contact. The spark gap means energy remains isolated from the ground, and by using the electromagnetic field of the primary coil it is possible to step up the voltage produced by the spark in the secondary coil. We will talk more about primary and secondary coils in the next article.
So our next question should be, is it possible to create electricity from a simple cable or wire with the correct equipment?
Space Power
NASA have tested something called a Space Tether in collaboration with Japanese researchers. This was designed to generate energy, from a 20 kilometre long tape, for use by space missions. The aluminium tape, acting as the anode (more on anodes and cathodes here) would stretch from a rocket to a hollow cathode. The tether would drag through the charged ionosphere causing ions to contact the moving tape. Electrons would begin to energise inside the conductive tape. The cathode at the end would complete the circuit. This technique has been demonstrated both in the Plasma Motor Generator 1993 and Tethered Satellite Systems
‘Whenever a current carrying conductor is placed in a varying magnetic field an electromotive force gets induced across the conductor. If the conductor is a closed circuit then induced current flows through it.’ The varying magnetic field Faraday’s Law talks of above in this case was the effect of the ionosphere on the tether.
Would it be possible to create a similar effect in the lower atmosphere? In theory, if we created a circuit using conductive wires, and exposed them to ions, the wires should generate charge.
Metal Net
In Power from the Air by Hugo Gernsback, writing about Hermann Plauson’s invention, the author brings attention to the cable running from the ‘kite’ like balloon. He describes it as a sort of aerial which collects static atmospheric electricity. The revised metallic balloon with a heavy cable made of steel coated in either copper, aluminium, or silver, is noteworthy. This means that a flat metallic surface and cable, were collectively more efficient in harvesting energy. The spikes were not necessary.
The article and illustration in Science and Invention 1928, Harnessing Nature’s Electricity, shows a metal mesh suspended across a valley. The cable is made of iron 2000ft (609 metres) long. The valley is 250ft ( just 76 metres) deep. A roughly woven wire net with additional sharp spikes was suspended. Two man-sized insulators sat at either end of the iron cable and a tower was constructed to one side with an electrode on top. The energy generated by ions in the air, and energised electrons in the mesh, would jump across the ‘spark gap’ and charge the electrode. The longer the distance between electrodes the larger discharge of voltage. Mr F W Peek Jnr, an American engineer from General Electric, believed just one foot of spark jump could be producing in the region of 100,000 volts (in vivo) and 150,000 volts (laboratory). The article also points out that there is ‘electrical stress’ in the atmosphere on a clear day as well as stormy days. In order to measure this American scientists were already making use of the electrostatic motor.
These experiments were conducted to explore how physicists might split the atom, at the time with a view to creating even more abundant power. CERN, the Synchrotrons and the Tokamak nuclear fission experiment in early 2022 are the modern day results of these early experiments. The scientists working on the Valley Mesh experiment believed that one of the electrical discharges could be enough to release the same kind of energy as the alpha [rays] from 220 pounds of uranium.
Going briefly back to the Space Tether experiment, the tether was designed to harvest electricity as it was trailed through the ionised air of the ionosphere. The valley experiment harvested electricity from… well… the ions in air between the surface of the valley to 250 feet in the air. This time the air moved, rather than the wire mesh.
Clearly it is possible to generate electricity with cables and the correct conversion equipment, within our breathable atmosphere. So has it already been done?
What is a ‘Corona’?
Corona, or ionised air, can occur within the magnetic field created along transmission cables, and in parts of the equipment tethered to the towers that support the cables. Coronas, even before they discharge, can create a visible purple glow, audible crackling and noise, electromagnetic interference and ozone. Remember the crackling we talked about in telephone lines? Below is a photograph showing a purple corona glow on a 750kv transmission line in a snowy environment (usually dry and high relative static)
The ‘corona’ glow from the Valley Mesh experiment is important. Today the phenomenon is attributed to ionisation of air around cables.
Officially, when the ‘potential gradient’, or the speed, of electrical charge generating on the transmission line increases to 30kv, an electron cascade starts to occur in the surrounding air, growing the magnetic field. This supposedly breaks down the air creating ions, the purple glow and other effects. A discharge occurs when the voltage is so high that the electron energy seeks out the nearest element connected to ground, or to a neighbouring cable with a lower electrical charge.
Some sources claim air is dielectric, or an insulator, therefore does not conduct electricity. This seems at odds with the claim that ionised air causes corona. In order to produce a corona, air must have the capacity to hold a charge, where we have both ionised particles and electrons. Electrons on their own cannot create this phenomenon. The particles they interact with are in the air and not inside the cable. In order to be attracted to the cable, the particles must carry a positive charge. Ewicon classifies a single water molecule as an ion as it carries a net positive charge.
The lead researcher from Ion Power Group says electrons largely move on the surface of the conductor. Logic dictates the electrons cannot escape as they are isolated from the ground, being kept in the immediate confines of the cable strands. Any ions floating by will be highly attracted to the concentration of electrons on and around the cables. The presence of ions will promote an increased effort by the electrons to pair. This increases the jostling (that technical term) of the electrons inside the cable, increasing the electric potential and voltage. In the context of the Valley Mesh experiment the electron rich mesh is building up a charge through contact with air ions. It can only discharge this energy through the spark gap, as all other routes are insulated. The greater the distance to discharge, the higher voltage stored in the mesh and the more likely corona will develop.
Considering the careful regulation of energy along electrical cables, through various pieces of equipment, how do transmission cables gain a swift increase of 30kv?
Transposition of transmission cables
WHAT??!! Transmission and distribution cables across the network are transposed. As they run from pylon to plyon, or pole to pole, the cables switch positions. On a horizontal three cable pole line, they will switch left, right and centre. On pylons they will be lowered and raised as well as moved sideways in increments. This is done to balance out capacitance and impedance. Two more unintelligible words for us to decipher. A quick translation: they switch wires around because if they didn’t, one or more might become overloaded, or another may not generate enough power to keep the system balanced. Why is that?
Here is why we think they are switched around cables as they run through the exposed countryside. Cables at the top of the pylon will generate more energy, not only because they are more exposed to the ions being brought in on the wind, but because they are higher up in the atmospheric electrical field (see Feynman above). Likewise, cables facing in to the wind are more exposed, therefore they are be swapped sideways with another cable that is less exposed.
By this cable jiggery pokery, the charge in the cables remains even. It would be less likely to create corona or discharge, leading to power loss, damage to the line and equipment and power cuts. Windy, wet weather and windy, cold, dry (static charge) weather might well introduce more ions to cables than calm and hot weather.
Wind generation or Ion Wind generation
We are told the electrons within today’s aluminium stranded transmission cables are energised by end-of-the-line power station, wind farm or solar farm. This energy reportedly makes it’s way from the power plant miles away, all the way to your home. Up and down pylons, through substations, underground and overground, and finally in to a small insulated wire leading to your electricity metre.
We know that all electricity is provided as an alternating current. Electrons in the cable are pushed and pulled backwards and forwards, which supposedly creates an energy flow in a certain direction. The electrons do not really physically go anywhere, they just create an electric field as they become more and more energised with exposure to ions in bare transmission cables. We believe the energy does not have a direction, it is only opened or closed to a load. The load being your kettle, fridge, cooker, hoover, television etc. If there was no load, the energy would just sit there in the line waiting. Turning on a plug switch allows the electrons jostling in the main cable in your home, to jostle the electrons in your kettle wire creating heat through a magnetic field. Turn the plug off, the jostling stops.
Air power
We think electricity can be, and probably is, generated through lengths of cable whether horizontal or vertical, without needing to apply magnetic fields or kinetically generated energy in order for that to happen. We believe the magnetic field self generates through contact between electron rich cable and ion rich air as we have seen in the Valley Mesh experiment. The generation of corona on lines in certain conditions, and the need to transpose lines up, down and sideways to keep energy balanced, illustrate the power of the air that surrounds us.
Of course we depend on the structure and maintenance of the transmission system, from substations, that regulate the flow and conversion of electricity in to voltage suitable for our homes, to pylons, cables and of course Power Grid engineers. Wouldn’t it be great to put some of these experiments to the test in the back yard?
Perhaps the 18th February 2022 record 42% wind power generation, actually came from the ionised particles in the super strong winds and rain, rather than UK windfarms temporarily outperforming every windfarm on earth?
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this article, two of whom are specialists in the field of electricity, whose knowledge we have applied to our theories.