Release Date: March 19, 2004

PNGinc Teams with Universities & Environment Group

Helping Industry to Extract Electrical Power from Waste Heat

Munising, MI – Motive power technology developer PNGinc is providing technical assistance for a new university effort aimed at recovering waste heat from industry. The team is out to prove the feasibility of using rankine cycle technology combined with a Tesla disk turbine – supplied by PNGinc – to produce electricity while preventing thermal pollution. Adding their turbo-generator know-how to the project, the company expects this cooperative effort to benefit struggling manufacturers as it protects the environment.

Thermal pollution occurs when water, used by industrial plants as a coolant, is returned to the aquatic environment at a higher temperature than it was originally. This leads to a decrease in the dissolved oxygen level in the water & an increase in harmful bacteria and algae, which seriously affects fish life. In hopes of mitigating this environmental damage, government agencies have imposed fines on companies that contribute to heat pollution.

Although other studies have focused on using waste heat as a source of distributed electrical power using turbines, equipment costs have prohibited widespread market acceptance of the systems. For example, Capstone’s 30 kW and 60 kW microturbines, which use conventional bladed turbine technology, sell for approximately $1000 per kilowatt.

In contrast, PNGinc’s Ken Rieli estimates that a single stage Tesla turbine could be produced commercially at a cost comparable to piston engines today.

Reliability issues also plague conventional bladed turbines. "A disk turbine doesn’t have to be precisely balanced across the surface of the rotor, as is the case with bladed turbines," says Rieli. "Instead, you balance the entire disk rotor assembly. Whereas unbalanced blades will fatigue quickly & eventually fail, a properly balanced Tesla turbine is able to absorb saturated steam and supersonic shock waves – and still hold together. The benefits are longer life and resistance to fluid wear."

Resultant technology derived from this collaborative effort is expected to benefit both industry and environmentalists. On the industry side, it will eliminate fines imposed by the EPA for heat pollution. It will also allow companies to generate a positive electrical flow using a waste byproduct, decreasing their operating expenses.

For environmentalists, use of the technology will eliminate a source of heat pollution which upsets the natural life cycles of plants, insects, birds, animals and aquatic species.

To begin a similar project, contact Pam Rieli at consulting@phoenixnavigation.com

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