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Get Compressed Air From Falling Water With The Trompe: A Simple and Ingenious Method



The two are indeed working by similar means.The trompe though more or less uses the flow of water to bring with it air bubbles, though with a thin enough entry tube, the surface tension of the water would eventually be sufficient for it to work like the Sprengel pump.




Get Compressed Air From Falling Water With The Trompe




The site was originally built by the Montour Run Watershed Association as a passive water treatment system. The group allowed Leavitt, and the non-profit he works with, BioMost, to add a trompe, to enhance its treatment.


The diameter of the air-intake tubes dictates the size of the air bubbles that enter the water. Bruce Leavitt found that thinner air-intake tubes make the trompe a more efficient aerator. A large trompe in Michigan used 11,800 tubes, 3/8-inches in diameters, on each of its three aerating cones.


The height of the water-intake pipe affects the pressure inside the air reservoir. Though hard numbers are hard to come, trompe discussions across the internet tend to use 14.5 psi : 10 m or 15 psi : 32 ft to estimate pressure output.


Once the water flows into the outtake pipe, pressure from the air reservoir pushes the water upward. According to Geoff Lawton, the returning water can be lifted to 85% of its original height. When the compacted version of a trompe is used, Mollison described the returning water as going back up in a whirl.


Trompes can easily self-regulate. If pressure inside the air chamber becomes too great, it will push the water level below the mouth of the outtake pipe. The air then escapes through the outtake pipe as bubbles, spewing out a geyser of water, steam, or ice in the discharge. A trompe in Michigan was recorded to have shot discharge up to 700 feet high.


Trompes can provide ventilation, power pneumatic tools, aerate water, and much more. Though not much data is available on trompe performance, here are some numbers we have found through preliminary research. (We will update this article as more data is found.)


Geoff Lawton noted that trompes with different purposes need different sizes. If the trompe will aerate a fish pond, for example, the water needs about 3 feet of head. For collecting compressed air, the trompe needs a 100-foot-plus drop.


A trompe is an ancient technology which uses falling water to compress air. The compressed air can then power machinery, aerate water, refrigerate, etc. Although the trompe fell out of fashion once fossil fuels became a major source of energy, the modern world can still harness its power.


A trompe, often placed in a river, has a simple design. Flowing water falls into an intake pipe which has an air cone (or some other aerating device) on top. The water falling around the cone creates suction, pulling the air down with it. Air bubbles travel down the pipe with the water until reaching an air chamber.


At the air chamber (also called a plenum or reservoir), the bubbles escape from the water. In the process, the air has been compressed, dehumidified, and cooled to the same temperature as the water. The pressurized air can now be put to use.


At Lost Technology, we would like to design and collect data from small-scale trompes. We believe that trompes, if researched and developed, can help individual households and large corporations alike. Plans for further research are being developed. If you wish to help in any way, please contact us here.


Many tools in the manufacturing industry have been around for a long time, and they are still in use today, along with more modern counterparts. A trompe is one of these tools. A water-powered gas compressor, the trompe is used for a variety of tasks in many different industries. They are mainly used to transport air and gases and to compress them. Only some types of gases can be effectively compressed by a trompe.


Trompes were more commonly used before electric powered compression became mainstream. They are still often used today, however, due to their ease of use and their low cost. A trompe is powered in the opposite way from an airlift pump, since it uses water as the major energy source instead of air. This does not mean that a trompe does not work in the same way; it simply uses a different power source. It is designed to achieve the same results as an airlift pump.


This type of water-powered gas compressor was commonly used to provide compressed air to bloomery furnaces, a type of operation that smelted iron. These furnaces were very popular in Spain and the United States, where iron smelting was frequently done. The falling water created pressure that forced air through the trompe and into the furnace, keeping the flames burning.


Since they are not used as widely today, some larger trompes are now popular tourist attractions. Trompes are particularly popular with tourists when they create displays of falling water or are powered by natural waterfalls. Due to the fact that they are environmentally friendly, since they do not use electricity and are naturally powered by flowing water rather than by fossil fuels, trompes are also becoming popular as a source of green energy.


Trompes can be enormous. At Canadian Hydro Developers' Ragged Chute facility in New Liskeard, Ontario, water falls down a shaft 351 feet (107 m) deep and 9 ft (2.7 m) across to generate compressed air for mining equipment and ventilation.[3]


Hydropower is power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Historically, hydropower from many kinds of watermills has been used as a renewable energy source for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as gristmills, sawmills, textile mills, trip hammers, dock cranes, domestic lifts, and ore mills. To harness the energy from hydropower a trompe that is a water-powered air compressor, is commonly used before the advent of the electric-powered compressor.


In the late 19th century, hydropower became a source for generating electricity. The first commercial hydroelectric power plant was built at Niagara Falls in 1879. A typical hydroelectric plant is a system with three parts: a power plant where the electricity is produced, a dam that can be opened or closed to control water flow and a reservoir where water is stored. The water behind the dam flows through an intake and pushes against blades in a turbine, causing them to turn. The turbine spins a generator to produce electricity. The amount of electricity that can be generated depends on how far the water drops and how much water moves through the system.


Hydro-power or water power is power derived from the energyof falling water and running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes.Kinetic energy of flowing water (when it moves from higher potential to lowerpotential) rotates the blades/propellers of turbine, which rotates the axle.The axle has a coil which is placed between the magnets. When the coils rotatein magnetic field it induce them in the coil due to change in flux. Hence,kinetic energy of flowing water is converted to electrical energy.


Since the early 20th century, the term has been used almostexclusively in conjunction with the modern development of hydro-electric power,which allowed use of distant energy sources. Another method used to transmitenergy used a trompe, which produces compressed air from falling water.Compressed air could then be piped to power other machinery at a distance fromthe waterfall. Hydro power is a renewable energy source.


Water's power is manifested in hydrology, by the forces ofwater on the riverbed and banks of a river. When a river is in flood, it is atits most powerful, and moves the greatest amount of sediment. This higher forceresults in the removal of sediment and other material from the riverbed andbanks of the river, locally causing erosion, transport and, with lower flow,sedimentation downstream.


The most common type of hydroelectric power plant uses a damon a river to store water in a reservoir. Water released from the reservoirflows through a turbine, spinning it, which in turn activates a generator toproduce electricity. But hydroelectric power doesn't necessarily require alarge dam. Some hydroelectric power plants just use a small canal to channelthe river water through a turbine.


Another type of hydroelectric power plant - called a pumpedstorage plant - can even store power. The power is sent from a power grid intothe electric generators. The generators then spin the turbines backward, whichcauses the turbines to pump water from a river or lower reservoir to an upperreservoir, where the power is stored. To use the power, the water is releasedfrom the upper reservoir back down into the river or lower reservoir. Thisspins the turbines forward, activating the generators to produce electricity.


At its simplest, a bloomery is a hollow furnace that resembles a chimney, made from heat-resistant material such as earth, clay, or stone. It has an opening at the top and in the base, and at least one pipe, called a tuyere, inserted near the bottom. The process begins by crushing iron ore, removing any large chunks of impurities, and then roasting it in a fire to drive off moisture. Meanwhile, the bloomery is preheated using charcoal or coke fuel derived from the slow anoxic pyrolysis of wood or coal, respectively, and when it reaches the correct temperature a 1:1 mix of fuel and ore is dumped inside through the top opening. The burning fuel releases carbon monoxide, which reduces the ore to metallic iron by removing oxygen from the oxide compound to create carbon dioxide, without melting the iron. The temperature and the ratio of fuel to ore must be carefully controlled to prevent the iron from absorbing too much carbon, otherwise it becomes too hard and brittle to be work-forged. Since the process is self-fluxing, no limestone needs to be added to produce slag to trap impurities.


Airflow in turn is key to temperature control: the stronger the flow, the more vigorously the fuel will burn and the hotter the furnace will become. The air enters the furnace through the tuyere. A small bloomery can use the natural draught created by the chimney-like design, but larger bloomeries require stronger flows, usually by one or more bellows powered by humans or animals, or by water or wind-driven wheels making use of cams, while the very large Catalan forges would require a trompe. This is a machine that uses falling water to compress air, creating high pressure. A waterfall is a convenient source of elevated water, but any source where a supply of water is suspended off the ground will work, such as a dam. The water is directed down a narrow pipe, into which air is introduced. The air is compressed by water pressure, which is produced by the hydraulic head, or the height through which the water falls. The greater the height, the stronger the head, the greater the pressure, and the more the air is compressed. When the water enters a separation chamber at the bottom of the pipe, the compressed air is released and exits through an air pipe to perform whatever work is needed; in this case to provide air for a Catalan forge. 2ff7e9595c


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