Energy without
end: Stream power plants 03: stream buoys 02 with
details
Pionier concerning stream buoys is Mr. Fritz
Mondl from Austria - web site: www.aqualibre.at
Pioneer Fritz Mondl, portrait [18] - A stream buoy
prototype, here is the model with the best electricity
production [8,15] - web site: www.aqualibre.at
A strem buoy prototype, there is a
propeller turning in the water [13] -- The stream buoy
winning model is installed in the Danube, behind a marker
buoy [16] -- Stream buoy by Fritz Mondl 2017, cross
section with labeling: Bow, cable rake, inlet, generator,
rotor, diffuser [28] -- The power increase of the new buoy
model with funnel shape is exponential to the increase of
the flow velocity of the current: at 1.5m/s 10kW, at 2m/s
just under 20kW, at 2.5m/s 30kW, at 3m/s 50kW, at 3.5m/s
80kW, at 3.75m/s 100kW [30].
The stream buoy can be placed e.g. in the Danube, Elbe,
Rhine, Neckar, Inn, Oder, Neisse, Aare, Rhone, Seine, Po,
Spain, China, India, Thailand, Nile etc.
Mr. Fritz Mondl was trained as a graphic artist and
industrial designer. Today he is self-employed (17''),
living in Vienna and is a grandfather of 4 (22''). One of
his hobbies is rowing [e.g. on the Danube] (25''). He is
familiar with streams in big rivers, he knows what force is
in the current (28'').
Joching in Lower Austria, map of Austria [1] - Fritz
Mondl, portrait [2] - Fritz Mondl rowing on the Danube [3]
During a construction project on the Danube, a red boundary
buoy gave him an idea: one should be able to "harvest" the
stream energy of the Danube directly as electricity (37'').
Boundary buoy on the Danube [4] - Joching with households
on the bank of the Danube [5] - Pioneer Fritz Mondl,
portrait [6].
First he constructed a prototype of the current buoy (44'').
Web site: www.aqualibre.at - (44''). The prototype passed
all tests, even a high water (47'').
The plan of a stream buoy by pioneer Fritz Mondl [7] - A
stream buoy is suspended in the Danube [8] - The stream buoy
suspension device floats on the Danube [9].
However, there were still problems with the electricity
production (50''). Even experts were at a loss. Thus,
various prototypes and variants were constructed (58''). The
tests took place at the Trial Association for Shipping
Techniques (orig. German: Schifffahrtstechnische
Versuchsanstalt) (1'2'').
Pioneer Fritz Mondl with co-worker controls the power
production of a stream buoy [10] - Pioneer Fritz Mondl on
the cell phone [11] - Here, a prototype of a stream
buoy is installed being "on the hook" [12].
And the surprise was great: That variant, which was
predicted to have the lowest performance, was finally the
best (1'9''). That was the breakthrough.
A stream buoy prototype, there is turning a propeller in
the water [13] - A stream buoy prototype, there turns a
head [14]
A stream buoy prototype, here is the model with the best
electricity production [15].
Since then, one stream buoy provides electricity for 30
households [this is the model of 2010] (1'15''). There is
no negative impact on wildlife in the Danube (1'20'').
2010: The stream buoy winning model is installed in the
Danube, behind a marker buoy [16].
Conclusion: the clean stream buoy can be installed in any
wide, ice-free river
This stream buoy can be installed in any wide, ice-free
river to produce clean power: In Europe, in Russia, in Asia,
in "America", in Australia, etc.
Michael Palomino, Sep 8, 2019
========
2010: Video: Pioneer Fritz Mondl
receives the Austrian Energy Globe Award
Video: Energy Globe Award Austria
2010 (3'44'')
Video: Energy Globe Award Austria 2010 (3'44'')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnPCDL2ee3E - YouTube
channel: AquaLibreAT
- uploaded on Nov 28, 2010
In 2010, pioneer Fritz Mondl received the Austrian Energy
Award:
Pioneer Fritz Mondl with the energy award "Energy Globe"
2010 [17] - Pioneer Fritz Mondl, portrait [18] - The
energy award cup with the inscription "Energy Globe" [19].
========
[2010 to 2017: The funnel-shaped stream buoy
A funnel-shaped stream buoy was developed that produces much
more current. The output of the stream buoy is designed as a
funnel that provokes suction in the water passing the buoy].
========
Nov 19, 2017: The installation of a stream
buoy with signal buoy in front - video of pioneer Fritz
Mondl
The stream buoy - title of the
video [wiht the old stream buoy without funnel] [22]
-- With the new model with funnel shape, the power
increase of the stream buoy is exponential to the
increase of the flow velocity of the river's current:
at 1.5m/s 10kW, at 2m/s almost 20kW, at 2.5m/s 30kW,
at 3m/s 50kW, at 3.5m/s 80kW, at 3.75m/s 100kW [30] --
The service catamaran with the stream buoy fixes the
position in front of the signal buoy [40].
Video: Stream buoy installation and
working (7'6'') (orig. German: Strom-Boje Montage und Betrieb)
Video: Title: Stream buoy. Power from the stream
(orig. German: Die Strom-Boje. Strom aus der
Strömung) [20]
Stream buoy, sketch by pioneer Fritz Mondl [21]
Stream buoy - title of the video [22]
A stream buoy on a river edge where the
current is highest 01 [23]
A stream buoy on a river edge where the
current is highest 02 [24]
Stream buoy by Fritz Mondl from before 2017, the
underwater view 01 half side [25]
Stream buoy by Fritz Mondl from 2017, the
underwater view 02 from behind [26]
The funnel-shaped stream buoy by Fritz Mondl
from 2017, view from above [27]
Stream buoy by Fritz Mondl 2017, cross-section
with labeling: bow, rope rake, inlet, generator,
rotor, diffuser [28]
Stream buoy by Fritz Mondl, view from above, an
increase in performance is achieved by
installing a funnel-shaped diffuser [29]
With this new model of 2017 with a funnel, the
results of energy production are fantastic:
The power increase of the stream buoy is
exponential to the increase of the flow velocity
of the current: at 1.5m/s 10kW, at 2m/s almost
20kW, at 2.5m/s 30kW, at 3m/s 50kW, at 3.5m/s
80kW, at 3.75m/s 100kW [30]
The installation of a
stream buoy with a signal buoy in front of
it
1. The assembly of a signal buoy
The service catamaran comes for the installation
of the signal buoy [31]
The service catamaran with colums down for
fixing the position [32]
The service catamaran with colums for fixing the
position, view under water [33]
The small excavater is drilling a rod in the
river's bottom for the anchor chain, 5 to 6m
deep [34]
The rod for the chain of the signal buoy is
poured with concrete [35]
The rod for the chain is cut by saw [36]
The columns of the service catamaran for fixing
the position are lifted [37]
2. The installation of the stream buoy
The service catamaran with the stream buoy is
coming [38]
The service catamaran with
the stream buoy arrives, rear view into the
funnel of the stream buoy [39]
The service catamaran with the power buoy fixes
the position in front of the signal buoy [40]
The service catamaran with the stream buoy has
fixed it's position with the colums [41]
The stream buoy gets a chain attached [42]
The stream buoy of Fritz Mondl is sinking into
the water [43]
After fixing the buoy with
a chain on the ground, the service catamaran
is lifting it's colums and leaving [44]
The chain goes up to the tie rod with a
deflection moon [46]
The stream buoy of Fritz Mondl on the chain,
view from above [45]
The electric cable is fixed along a chain
reaching the land [47]
The power cable ends in a container to control
the power buoy, and this is also where the grid
feed takes place [48]
3. The stream buoy during a flood - goes into
diving position
The stream buoy of Fritz Mondl in the
river: a flood is coming [49]
The stream buoy in a diving position
during a flood, this is a good
protection 01: There comes a tree [50]
[The combination of the
chain with the force of the river
The combination of the short chain with the
strong flow during a flood causes the current
buoy to submerge completely].
The stream buoy during a flood with a diving
self-protection position 02:
The large objects float by above the stream buoy
[51]
Decreasing flood: Fritz Mondl's stream
buoy survives a flood without any damage
[52]
Fritz Mondl's stream buoy in the river
back to normal level [53]
4. Die Wartung einer Stromboje: 2x jährlich
und nach Hochwasser
Maintenance of a stream buoy must be
carried out 2 times a year, as well as
after each flood [54]
The maintenance of a stream buoy: the
control of the mooring [55]
Maintenance of a stream buoy: the
control of rope rake and rotor [56]
Maintenance of a stream buoy: the
control of the floater [57]
5. Mensch und Tier schwimmen an der Stromboje
vorbei
A stream buoy is not a danger for
swimmers, the floater steers the
swimmers around the stream buoy
[58]
A stream buoy is not a danger to a
dinghy, the dinghy passes over the
floater's body and is deflected onto
its side [59]
In front of a first stream buoy is a
signal buoy [60]
A stream buoy is not a danger for ducks
or swans, the floater's body directs
them passing the stream buoy [61]
A stream buoy is not a danger to fish, they
simply swim through or are repelled by the rope
rake [62]
========
The development until 2017: 1 stream buoy can supply up to
100 households with electricity:
Germany May 25, 2019: 16 stream buoys are
installed on the Rhine River - up to 100 households per
stream boy get electricity - inventor Fritz Mondl has
success: Loreley meets high-tech: Austrian stream buoy conquer
the Rhine River (orig. German: Loreley trifft auf Hightech:
Österreichische Strom-Bojen erobern den Rhein)
original:
https://de.sputniknews.com/technik/20190525325038733-hightech-oesterreichische-strom-bojen-rhein/
Link im Archiv: https://web.archive.org/web/20201125210659/https://de.sputniknews.com/technik/20190525325038733-hightech-oesterreichische-strom-bojen-rhein/
Photo text: The catamaran "Current Worker" in the Rhine at
the height of the St. Goar-Felsen at work
The article (translation):
<Valentin Raskatov
Constant hydropower without damming, ecological
consequences and danger for fish - that is the promise
of a stream buoy from Austria. 16 of these buoys will
soon be floating in the Rhine River generating
electricity. A single one of them is expected to
supply up to 100 households. Drilling work is already
underway in the Rhine.
Hydropower is a renewable energy. Water, dammed by dams,
can be accessed as needed and is not dependent on
weather conditions like wind turbines and solar panels.
However, dams also bring problems. In addition to the
massive forced relocation of the local population, as in
the case of the Chinese Three Gorges Dam, they can throw
entire ecosystems out of balance: Fish can no longer
reach their breeding grounds, dangerous bacteria
accumulate in the stagnant water - not to mention the
danger of dam bursts. For reasons such as these, wind
turbines and solar plants are primarily installed in
Germany.
[Pioneer Fritz Mondl with stream buoys on the Rhine
in Germany]
A technology from Austria now promises a comeback for
hydropower and has already secured a site on the Rhine
near the famous Loreley Rock. The stream buoy does not
change the flow behavior of the river, but uses the
water flowing through it for constant power generation.
"The stream buoy is so far the only small power plant in
the world that works and uses the free-flowing current,
without any structural intervention in the river,
without any dam, without any rake, completely neutral
without any danger for all kinds of creatures and
inhabitants of the river," Fritz Mondl, inventor of the
buoy, told Sputnik.
[Minimum flow velocity: 2m/s - up to 100 households
- 3500 kilowatt hours / year - average depth 2.5 to
3m]
With a rated power of 70 kilowatts, the eleven-meter
buoy could generate up to 300 megawatt-hours, or supply
70 to 100 households of 3500 kilowatt-hours per year,
depending on "site quality." The "quality" primarily
refers to the flow velocity, which should be over two
meters per second or 7.2 kilometers an hour for a buoy
to be economically viable. In addition, the buoy needs a
minimum depth of 2.5-3 meters of the average annual
water body in which it will be used. At high tide, it
automatically rises on the chain that anchors it to the
bottom.
[Model "Stream buoy 3" in large rivers with up to
250,000kWh - 350 stream buoys in the Wachau region -
16 stream buoys on the Rhine]
The final "Stream buoy 3" (German: Strom-Boje 3) was
originally designed for large rivers such as the Danube
or the Inn, emphasizes Mondl. There, it could generate
between 200,000 and 250,000 kilowatt hours a year, he
says. "In the Wachau, we could make the whole region
self-sufficient in electricity with 350 stream buoys,"
says Mondl. But apart from a prototype buoy that has
been in use in the Danube since 2016, no other buoys
have made it into rivers in Austria. That's because of
the myriad legal requirements, Mondl said. These have
turned out to be far less extreme in Germany, which is
why the first water park of a total of 16 buoys will be
built on the Rhine.
[Rhine: German test program using cameras to monitor
fish behavior in the Rhine around a stream buoy]
Or in better words: it's in the making. Because the
company "Middle Rhine UG" ("MittelrheinStrom UG") has
already had the first eight moorings drilled there and
is waiting for the stream buoys, which are to be
delivered in half a year, the co-founder of
MittelrheinStrom, Norbert Burkart, told Sputnik.
However, the power company is expected to receive a
pre-series model of the buoy in the near future, with
which it will meet the requirements: Among them, fish
monitoring with a camera and net to test how the
technology affects the Rhine's swimming inhabitants.
"There used to be a lot of ship mills on the Rhine,"
Burkart says. He was very interested in these mills, he
says, and at the same time wondered how the current
could be tapped in our time. At the same time, Mondl was
enjoying great success with his buoy. From 2010 on, the
two companies were in contact about this.
And this is all right, thinks Mondl: "Mr. Burkart can
certainly generate 300,000 to 350,000 kilowatt hours a
year at the site with his MittelrheinStrom UG." But that
might not be the most important thing, after all, the
region is well supplied. Such parks make sense above all
in connection with the switch to renewable energies,
because unlike sun and wind, the water in the Rhine flows
constantly. This makes the power buoy "base-load capable"
and can provide the basis for power supply even when the
weather doesn't play along.
[Costs: 1 stream buoy 350.000¤ - with mass production 1
Stromboje 200.000¤ - in 9 months the energy is produced,
which was necessary for the production of the stream
buoy]
Originally, such a stream buoy costs ¤350,000, but in mass
production the price should drop to as low as ¤200,000,
Mondl notes. In terms of profitability, that means "we
generate the energy needed to make the power buoy in about
nine months." The buoys themselves should be able to
operate for at least 25 years. They are made of steel and
polyethylene, and maintenance is only required on two
replaceable bearings every 100,000 hours of operation,
Mondl says.>