Harnessing wind energy generated by moving trains

The theme for last month's report forced us to think of Sustainable transport, which indeed is the need of our developed world that relies heavily on transportation. I am taking the topic a bit further through my free report of December

As a child, I very enthusiastically used to participate in various art and literary competitions, many of them related to environment and sustainability. The topic for the Theme report of November reminded me of one such ‘On the spot art contest’ with the theme. I had drawn a school bus that had wind mills on the roof to harness the energy of wind generated by the moving bus! 

While planning to write this report, I researched the topic, curious to find out if my wild idea was shared by anyone else! I found out that such a project may not be feasible considering that in such a situation the windmills would impede the speed of the moving bus and create a drag that would cause more energy to be consumed to run the bus. Any effort to harness the wind energy would be a waste as a lot more energy would be needed to run the bus.

However, I was thrilled to find out another concept somewhat in a similar direction, when I came across a report that mentioned that some Delhi University students have been working on an innovative project with the purpose of generating electricity by harnessing wind energy generated by high speed movement of Metro trains. The students had noticed that fast moving trains in tunnels and enclosed spaces generate a lot of air movement, the energy of which gets wasted. They proposed to install a turbine along underground tracks at one of the metro stations to explore if this could succeed in harnessing wind energy.

The project by Kalindi College in Delhi, not only received a monetary university grant but was also supported by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), The students were allowed to run a trial and physically test their research by installing a turbine at one of the underground metro stations. Starting with a three blade turbine installed at the mouth of tunnel with maximum wind velocity, the students progressed to a five blade light rotor turbine connected to a battery and measured the power it generates. 

It is heartening to note that while the project started with the ideas and research by students, the DMRC engineers eventually gave their valuable input to the project to test the feasibility and further develop the concept.

During the course of the project the students realized that different layouts and constructions required different turbines and thus they could not use a standardized machine at allmetro stations. To quote Dr Punita Verma, Principal Investigator of the project, “We are now working on different designs of the turbines whose size, shape and orientation will be customised according to the wind velocity and frequency of trains at different stations. Once the design is approved by DMRC, turbine firms will be approached to make these turbines.” 

I do hope that the students succeed in their efforts to promote sustainability through transport systems. Even if the project does not end up as a great success, it fuels the spirit of innovation and sustainability. Due encouragement and support for such research oriented projects will go a long way in a better tomomrrow.

Source and Reference:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/du-students-harness-wind-energy-produced-by-metro-trains/articleshow/46811472.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst