Sand Turbine


We can use sand as input to rotate turbine blades — instead of wasting huge amount of water for generating electricity.

6 thoughts on “Sand Turbine

  1. I see some logic in this, if we had a funnel with sand in it and its mouth led onto a large winged fan then the falling sand could be a heavy enough substance to turn the fan.

    Would this be effective? It might.. Considering that we place it in a large cylinder and use multiple smaller fans (easier to move) to generate electricity. How are we getting the sand out of the cylinder?

    Solution! Keep the bottom of this cylinder an open grid to catch the sand droppings into carts that are pulled by one device or another!

    Hope the input is food for thought!

  2. That is very inefficient how would the sand be able to turn a turbine and how would this even work the use of sand would clog the turbine and damage any of its moving parts.

  3. We can add moisture detectors and dryers to our setup.If the moisture content exceeds a desired limit it could be dried and then used. At least it would b better than a hydraulic turbine in which we have to control the flow of water… if we fail to do so it leads to accidents (eg.floods), the entire area near the dam would b destroyed…..but such accidents can b prevented in sand turbines.

  4. How do we ensure steady supply of sand? If we plan to reuse sand (collected below fan) then we will have to port/lift it to a higher altitude to pour it again on fan which would itself need energy which would significantly reduce the net energy generated.
    However I have heard hydro power stations reuse water but not sure how much percentage of energy is used to lift the water back to higher altitude

    Also I feel using sand would cause more wear and tear of fan as compared to water

  5. in case of a underground mining sand can be used for filling the mines in which extraction of coal is completed and also during the same process we can use a turbine to generate electricity.i have used this idea to make a model in science exibition and stood is avery good idea….

  6. Dear Friends,

    I saw an video in last few days back, He succeeded in generating power using sand about 20 to 25 kgs per year (Power generated 800-1000 KVA) (Re-using with conveyor system) and turbine was rotated with sand. And the toatal system was costing about 50,000/- Rs only. That is very good and if it can be apply in industries will be more useful

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