Frequently Asked
Questions 
1 The Atmosphere
1.1
How does pressure in the
atmosphere change with
vertical elevation?
1.2
How does temperature in the atmosphere change with
vertical elevation?
1.3
How is the atmosphere heated and cooled?
1.4
What is the relative importance of vertical versus
horizontal heat transport?
1.5
What
is convection?
1.6
What
is sensible heat?
1.7
What is latent heat?
1.8
What is
buoyancy? What is stability?
1.9
What happens to the temperature of an unmixed rising
mass of warm air?
1.10
What is entrainment?
1.11
How does mixing of ambient air affect updrafts?
1.12
What are
clouds?
1.13
How much solar radiation reaches the
earth’s
surface?
1.14
What is subsidence?
1.15
What is CAPE?
1.16
What is Coriolis Force?
1.17
What role does the Coriolis force play in meteorology?
2 Thermodynamics
2.1 What is
Carnot Efficiency?
2.2
What
is the efficiency of thermal power plants?
2.3
What
is the efficiency of the atmospheric upward heat
convection process?
2.4
What
is a reversible process? What is an irreversible process?
2.5
Is upward convection in the atmosphere a reversible process?
3 Thermal Power Plants
3.1 Why
do thermal power plants need to reject heat? How much heat is rejected
in a typical thermal power plant?
3.2
How
do thermal power plants reject heat?
4 Cooling Towers
4.1
What is a cooling
tower?
4.2
What types of cooling towers are used?
4.3
How are cooling towers relevant to the Atmospheric Vortex Engine?
5 Solar Chimney
5.1
What is a
solar chimney?
5.2
What
is the Manzanares solar chimney?
5.3
What is the Enviromission solar tower?
5.4
What is the purpose of the chimney? Why does the chimney need to be so
tall?
5.5
What are the advantages of the AVE compared to a solar chimney?
5.6
What is the minimum surface temperature required for a solar chimney
and for an AVE?
6 Dust Devils, Water Spouts, tornadoes, Hurricanes
6.1
What is the
source of
energy of convective vortices?
7 Atmospheric Vortex Engine
7.1 What is
an atmospheric vortex engine?
7.2
How is
the vortex produced?
7.3
What is the role of Coriolis force in an Atmospheric Vortex Engine?
7.4
How is
the power produced?
7.5
What
is the minimum size of a vortex engine?
7.6
Are there
different types of vortex engines?
7.7
What
types of heat sources could be used for an AVE?
7.8
What
are the byproducts of the AVE?
7.9
How
can the AVE increase the electrical capacity of a thermal power plant
without requiring more fuel?
7.10
How much energy will the AVE process produce?
7.11
What is the net impact of an AVE on global warming?
7.12
Why will the base of vortex stay
in the center of the vortex station?
7.13
Tornadoes have been observed to descend from clouds. Is there is danger
that the vortex will descend outside the vortex producing station? I
have read that the energy produced in the clouds is concentrated and
transmitted to the ground.
7.14
Is
there a chance that the vortex will jump out of the station and cause
destruction in the surrounding area? Why would the base of a
tornado 15 km high would stay in the center of the vortex producer?
7.15
Will horizontal wind will blow away and destroy the vortex?
7.16
How will the vortex be prevented from getting too large, from getting
away or from wrecking the station?
7.17
The efficiency of the the solar chimney is low. The overall efficiency
of the Manzanares solar was approximately 0.2%. How can such a low
efficiency process be advantageous?
7.18
What is the relationship between the height of the chimney or vortex
and the temperature at the base?
7.19
Could a vortex engine operate using ambient air without a heat
exchanger or a heat source?
8 Financial Considerations
8.1
What are the estimated costs of an Atmospheric Vortex Engine?
8.2
What kind of “fuel” does the Atmospheric Vortex Engine use?
8.3
What is the Atmospheric Vortex Engine fuel cost?
8.4
How do Atmospheric Vortex Engine energy production costs compare with
other conventional and renewable energy sources?
8.5
What
other factors will
affect the AVE costs?
8.6
Why is the AVE power generation technology so inexpensive compared to
other
conventional generation technologies?
9 Earth Energy and Entropy budgets – Advanced Topics
9.1
How much
energy does the earth receive from the sun? How is the energy budget of
the earth balanced?
9.2
What are some of the earth's major stored energy resources, and how
much energy is stored in each?
9.3
What is
entropy?
9.4
How is the entropy budget of the Earth balanced?
9.5
Can entropy production be avoided?
9.6
How is the entropy produced? What processes are responsible for
producing the entropy? How can the entropy produced always equal the
difference between the entropy received and the entropy given up?
10 Thermodynamics – Advanced Topics
10.1
What
is the fundamental difference between conventional thermal power plants
and the atmospheric vortex engine?
10.2
What is the thermodynamic cycle of the AVE process?
10.3 How does the thermodynamic cycle of the AVE compare with ideal
cycles for other thermal engines?
10.4 Does the AVE violate the law of conservation of energy? Can closed
thermodynamic systems be used to explain where the work comes from?
What is a Margules closed thermodynamic system?
10.5 The atmosphere is an open system not a closed system. Can open
flow
though system be used to calculate work?
10.6 What is an expander? How come ideal work of convection is so much
larger than the observed kinetic energies? How can work of convection
be dissipated?
10.7 How is energy production affected by air temperature, by air
humidity? How does receiving the heat at reduced pressure affect heat
source temperature?
10.8 Can process calculations be carried out with engineering process
simulatators?
11 Fluid Dynamics – Advanced Topics -
11.1
What is the source of vortex rotation?
11.2 How much energy is required to overcome friction losses?
11.3 How is energy conserved in a vortex?
11.4 What role does centrifugal force play in a vortex?
11.5 What role does viscous friction play in a vortex?
11.6 What are the factors controlling base pressure reduction and
vortex diameter?
11.7 How is an AVE vortex different from a natural convective vortex?
11.9 How is
the ideal work dissipated in a natural vortex? Why will
withdrawing energy with turbines not reduce vortex intensity?
[Home]