Projects
Joint venture partners are sought to develop & commercialise the projects below.
If you have any questions please contact me
regards
Charlie
Sir Charlie Madden
Bt BSc MTech MBA
charlie.madden@internode.on.net
1. SunDew – fresh water from sea water or polluted water powered by the sun & gravity.
Cold brine flows from a tank – in this case winched up the tree behind. It runs through the condenser pipe in the ceiling of the insulated still, condensing vapour to fresh water. This tops up the solar tubes before the excess flows out through a counter flow heat exchanger. More cold brine flows in the other way – being heated up before flowing into the sump.
Which is heated by a plastic coil thermosyphoning hot water from the solar tubes.
Excess hyper saline continuously flows out through a similar heat exchanger – so all outgoing fluids are stipped of their heat, to evaporate more water, and leave cold.
An output of 50L/d is sought.
2. Water boatman – fresh water from sea water or polluted water powered by wind and/or water turbines from the currents ( Patented )
Fresh water from the sea. Powered by the wind &/or the water currents.
Thermal distillation – no filters- no chemicals- no moving parts
Hulls loaded with fresh water to await collection – salt returned to the sea (as mother nature does when she makes those clouds)
- For the water borne units – the transmission goes through a seal in the bottom of the barge to a water turbine beneath. The transmission is configured to accept power from either turbine , leaving the other free-wheeling, so as not to impose a drag.
- Fresh water from the sea. Powered by the wind and/or water currents
- Thermal distillation – no filters – no chemicals – no moving parts
- Hulls loaded with fresh water to await collection – salt returned to the sea (as mother nature does when she makes the clouds)
3. WindWater – fresh water from salt water or polluted water powered by the wind
The 8kW self-starting, self-governing turbine has been finite element analyzed for a life of 20 years in carbon fibre:foam:carbon fibre. Detail design of the cntrifugsl speed limiting lift dump valves has yet to be done.
The first churn I made was at Strathclyde University, Scotland.
This churn had 80 steel static blades mounted on the inside of a drum, and 79 central steel rotating blades – shearing water between them, heating it up to 83C
In production a composites churn will be used to avoid the corrosion of warm brine.
4. WindHeater – wind powered water heating
For cold climates where wind is plentiful like Scotland, Canada & Nepal – WindWater’s churn can be used to provide heating.
5. WindOil – wind powered generation of biodiesel from algae
WindOil is a product that allows biofuel to be harvested from algae grown in the ballast tanks of a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT).
Up to 160 L/d of the vegetable oil may be extracted. Blends of up to 20% biodiesel with conventional fuel can be used without engine modification.
The VAWT will:
- Hold the algae tanks at optimal temperature
- Make the electricity for the lights for the algae’s photosynthesis
- Continuously mill the algae allowing the oil to float to the top and the residue to sink to the bottom for reingestion.
6. WindPump – wind powered pumping of water or oil
A similar configuration to 3
WindPump can be arranged so the turbine drives a centrifugal pump at the base. Centrifugal pumps and vertical axis turbines share the same characteristics so once matched they will speed up & down together with the wind gusts.
Pumping is the biggest Carbon cost for SA Water in a state shooting now for 40% of her electricity to come from the sun & the wind.
WindPump could also pump oil.
7. WindAir – wind powered aeration of foul water or slurry
Most domestic waste water is ‘cleansed’ by flinging it across a carbon bed. The units are powered by electricity and the work is done by the bacteria in the air. Those motors are about 4.5kW – and there are many thousands ijn operation all the time.This is a base load that can readily be augmented by wind powered vertical axis turbines in windy areas.
Animal intensive farming has a problem sometimes with unacceptable smells and places like piggeries often pass air through slurry to ‘cleanse’ it . Compressing this air uses a large amount of electricity – which can be replaced by a vertical axis turbine driving a centrifugal fan in the same way as WindPump.
8. SunOil – solar powered generation of biodiesel from algae
The heat for WindOil can come from solar tubes as used in SunDew.
9 Wandering maid – pneumatically activated self angling sail, sailing boat
Solar PV panels power a compressor to fill cylinders with compressed air. This is used to erect/park free standing masts with hard aerofoil ‘sails’ each held at a constant angle to the apparent wind by smaller foils at their rear.
Erection/ parking by an epicyclic gearboxes driven by an air motors.
The auxiliary also to be driven by an air motor.
Anchor winch – air motor/epicyclic powered to drive a length of flat nylon webbing held on a role.
The rig to be transerrable to fishing boats etc or used as a fuel/ carbon emissions reduction device for larger craft.
10. AirCar
A Sydney student has made the 02 Pursuit motor cycle about a single scuba tank and an air motor.
It has a range of 100 km and a top speed of 140 kph.
The averange distance driven in Australia is 14,300 km a year ~ 45 km/day.
South Australia has the largest amount of old cars in Australia – most are fine mechanically but tend to have large often V8 engines that are expensive to run at current petrol prices.
It is intended with AirCar to take such a vehicle, fit it with a new cam shaft to make it 2 stroke, fit sufficient scuba cylinders in the petrol tank space and boot to yield 75 km range and run the engine as an air motor.
Then to fill slave cylinders ‘at home’ with a solar powered compressorduring the day – allowing the commuter to recharge their car cylinders on return from work.
This will yield a fleet of ecocars without the need and cost of buying a fleet of new cars.
BlueSkyWater uses a StrawBaleStill which is a low temperature solar still to make fresh water from salt or polluted water.
PV powered pumps in the sump of the still insulated with straw bales (or similar) pump the brine/ polluted water though clear PVC tube on matt black trays which are covered with clear acrylic.
The UV kills any bacteria & heats the brine/ polluted water. On return to the sump, it gives off vapour. On the ceiling of the still is another coil of pvc tube carrying cold brine from a tank at a higher level. This condenses the vapour which drops to a drip tray & out. The condensing brine/ polluted water in return gets preheated before dropping in the sump.
Excess hypersaline brine/polluted water continuously escapes from the unit. Both it & the fresh water leave through tube-in-tube PVC heat echangers up the middle of which runs a smaller tube carrying cold brine to the sump. It arrives preheated – both the condensate & the hyper saline leave cold – so keeping the heat in the still and maximising the output.
Solar still – with foil covered wall behind, for winter heating
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Fresh water from the sea or polluted water.
-
Powered by the sun,
the wind &/or water currents. -
Thermal still -
- no filter
- no chemicals
- no moving parts
The first still was made with expanded polystyrene. This is a completely unsustainable material. This one is made of straw bales which are cheaper, have better insulation and have a long life once suitably rendered. They also offer higher thermal insulation – & are sustainable.The aluminium foil is there to provide most sunlight in winter months.
Our test rig thermal desalination unit made its first water last week. It is a compromise, since until we get some more funding we can’t make the parallel plate condenser in wettable plastic – which is our plan. But it did show that a desal unit is possible:
Water boatman
Using renewables to get fresh water from salt water or dirty water
Prototype thermal still.
No filters
No chemicals
No moving parts
1/10 the capital cost of alternatives
Easily assembled by unskilled labour at destination.
To be mounted on a barge anchored in fast moving water. Heating by a water brake powered by a vertical axis water turbine under the hull
Charlie 0433 565 039
Sir Charlie Madden Bt BSc- mech eng MTech – design MBA - marketing
charlie.madden@internode.on.net
Hi I’m Charlie, an engineer.
Water boatman is a concept based on my recent experience with vertical axis wind turbines & this simple – heavily insulated – thermal desalination unit that I made.
Plus the awarenes that the water situation may overtake humanity before the CO2 one.
I plan to start a company called ‘Water boatman’.
The trial water still you see here makes over 800 L/day of distilled water. The target for the production one is a ton a day – 1,000L/d.
It is a box made of foot thick expanded polystyrene. Its objective is that any power that is put in is trapped – & can only escape as distilled water.
It is easily assembled from a kit of blocks of polystyrene by the buyer.
The cold brine flows in here, & goes 3 ways
The still holds a metal sump, this one with a 4kW electric immersion heater in it. And a condenser – which has 30 of these styrene ‘envelopes’. They are glued all round, & at the top – held slightly apart and then glued to the underside of the top of the condenser. A channel on the top carries the cold brine to a series of holes – so each envelope gets brine flowing in. It flows across the envelope to a similar hole on the other side & flows away – back to the sump. It is now prewarmed by the steam on the outside of the envelopes. In exchange, the steam is cooled – condensing as fresh water which drops down to the base of the condenser & flows out here.
The Fresh Water is warm, and as it flows out of this plastic pipe, some of the cold brine flows the other way through a copper pipe up the middle – to the sump, prewarmed. The fresh water leaving cold.
More water flows into the still than is extracted as freshwater, the excess leaves by a similar plastic tube – again with cold brine flowing up the other way it in a copper pipe – to the sump. So the excess salt or pollution continuously leaves cold.
Heating can by a solar heated coil of black plastic pipe, or wind or water powered liquid friction heaters like this.
When I was an apprentice at Perkins Engines, we tested powerful diesel engines with water brakes & we made a great deal of noise, smoke – & so much hot water, there were cooling towers outside the sheds.
Water brakes are as old as the hills.
In the barge mounted stills , a water brake heater will be driven by a vertical axis water turbine under the hull.
Futuris PL may fund the manufacture of a professionally made still - & help apply for a Commercialisation grant.
First markets are seen for the tidal version in such places as Kangaroo Island & the towns adjoining the Gulf of St Vincent. For the river versions, markets exist by the heavily polluted rivers in India & Kathmandu. 40% of the deaths there are caused by people drinking dirty water.
In addition, some of the Yachting fraternity are becoming tired of the filter costs & fussiness of Reverse Osmosis desalination. A small version of the above making only 40L a day is expected to find a market there – maybe first!
$1M is sought in exchange for shares to commercialise Water boatman – the tunover in 5 years is forecast to be $10M pa.
I am happily married to an Austalian & am now a citizen.
Are there any questions?
Charlie
Water boatman is a unit on the water, that takes in polluted or sea water, distills it & either stores the pure water – or pumps it ashore. Water boatman is a unit on the water, that takes in polluted or sea water, distills it & either stores the pure water – or pumps it ashore. 
