Crazy idea??

[Wanderlust Art Glass]

Anybody ever think about putting a small wind generator outside your studio exhaust vent to reclaim some of that energy? Mine pushes so much air I thought maybe it'd be worth trying, maybe to power the lights while I'm working. Have to make sure it doesn't restrict the ventilation of course, have to consider the heat and whether that will affect it, etc... Could be a fun project, could be a silly idea. Any thoughts?

[Shattered Dreams]

silly idea, the only way to harness energy from the air movement would restrict your ventilation.
you would have to oversize your fan to make up for the restriction and still have adequate ventilation.
the extra energy your oversized fan uses could just be used to power the lights in the first place.

[kage]

I wouldn't know where to begin with this but it sounds feasible. Good luck, I'd like to see what happens.

[TlkQ]

I don't think it would have to cause hardly any restriction... I think you've got a decent idea here. Run with it

[Jason Lindquist]

59763

[Mike_Aurelius]

It will cause back pressure (static pressure) on the airflow, because you are restricting it by forcing it through additional fan blades. Any "wind" powered blade that generates power has normal resistance to the air flow caused by the turbine or generator it is attached to.

Your net entropy in the system will be negative, and you will burn out your exhaust fan.

[Jason Lindquist]

There's no such thing as a perpetual motion machine.

Put that wind generator on a pole 20 feet above the peak of your house. Screw the CC&Rs.

[T-Rex]

Put me on the 'no' bandwagon. You're creating the wind with electricity. Now you want to turn it back into electricity?

Just use less electricity to create less wind (the right amount) in the first place. Get a smaller fan if yours is too big. Converting energy from one from to another - always so many losses.

As soon as you block your exhaust with something to harness the energy, your exhaust output will drop since now it is fighting pressure. Yes, you might recover a minor amount of energy. But you'd be better off if you were just to drop your exhaust output in the first place with a smaller fan. The savings in energy would be greater.

Can't create energy, and converting it from one form to another almost always causes losses.

[menty666]

If it's outside the system it may not restrict it.

Not the worst idea we've heard on here :) I always wondered if there as a way to reclaim some of the heat from the torch during the winter, brrrr

[Mike_Aurelius]

Reclaim the heat? Yes, put heat fins on the exhaust ducting and use micro fans to blow air through them.

[D. dino i ninjah]

have seen the heat reclaimers .. in contemp.. lampworking 3.. in the Laushka section... Dude put a radiator.. in his hood .. and piped the hot liquid back through .. and other radiator.. what his make up air went through..

[FredLight]

Just like the perpetual motion machine, this won't work.

Losses are too great for any benefit.

Try hooking a lamp to a solar panel and shining that lamp onto the solar panel. Isn't gonna go very far.

You'd get more power if you pedaled the generator while you worked.

[menty666]

I don't think he's going to offset the energy used completely, more like reducing the inefficiency in the system. It might make more sense to have the turbine power dump into a battery to be used for ancillary task lighting. Combine that with a solar cell and you might offset a radio or a Roku. It's not much, but it's a little bit.

[khan]

You could probably spin one of those little plastic whirly gigs with the excess wind if you sit it outside right in front of the fan...
then you could watch the little thing spin around while you work.
Some large kilns have a system to preheat the combustion air... done by forcing the air thru tubing fit inside the chimney... that air is used in the forced air burners..and it does make a huge difference because you dont have to heat that air in the burner..its already hot going in. But thats a hugely different than using a fan to push a windmill...:)
hehe
Khan