Canadian engineers aspire to make cyclone generators

Future cyclones can help produce up to 200 megawatts of electricity, meeting the needs of thousands of families.

Canadian engineer with an ambition to build a cyclone generator

National Geographic on December 6 reported that Louis Michaud, an engineer in Ontario, Canada, is trying to create tornadoes to harness energy. According to him, all that needs to be done to produce tornadoes is to create a stream of hot air and make it spin in an upward direction.

Michaud is building a machine called Atmospheric Vortex Engine to prove that humans can create tornadoes. On a small scale, the test version of the machine can create a small and thin whirlpool of air, easily smashed by strong winds.

Tornadoes can generate energy to turn a turbine to generate electricity.(Photo: Mike Theiss).

However, to power a community, tornadoes need to be bigger and stronger. According to Michaud, it must be 14km high and 30m wide. This cyclone will not be dangerous because it is fixed and under control.

Michaud envisions the heat discharged from a power plant going into his system in the form of a funnel. The swirling air will supply the turbine with energy when it rises in the air.

Tornadoes can be a way of providing clean energy with available fuel and low cost in the situation that the world is looking to meet electricity demand without promoting global warming.

Michaud's idea was born in 1969 but the original purpose was not to create energy, but to replace the conventional water distillation method. However, the experiment failed.

In 1980, Michaud noticed a Spanish experiment aimed at creating energy by using the Sun to heat the air near the ground, passing it through the air duct to rotate the turbine. But this experiment requires building an air duct system at an incredible height.

Engineer Louis Michaud.(Photo: Scott Gries).

Based on these experiments, Michaud continued to build some versions of his engine, including a prototype located on Lambton University campus in Toronto, Canada. He has proven that humans can create tornadoes under control but have not found a way to collect energy.

In order to borrow the cyclone to rotate the turbine, Michaud needed to create a more powerful and stable machine. He estimated that it needed to invest about $ 1 billion, along with the support of multidisciplinary experts to achieve this goal.

A cyclone engine when fully operational can provide 200 megawatts of electrical capacity, enough to serve thousands of homes. Currently, Michaud is still not sure how to make the engine reach that scale. But he believes this problem can be solved within the next few years if we focus on research.